Tag: photography

South Africa Safari 2025 Day 12 The Day of The Lion

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Wow…what a night…the wind really came up..the ill-fitting door banged into its frame every few seconds, along with a lot of other bangs. At day break it was evident what the other bangs were…within our wire mesh enclosed veranda the chairs and bin had been blown around, a tree in front of our chalet had lost a large branch and section of its trunk, several people were chatting to Park staff about the damage to their chalet/huts, bin had flown everywhere leaving only their lids anchored to the ground…to put some it up there was a right mess everywhere…we were extremely grateful that both our car and our hut had escaped damage.

The wind had dropped considerably by morning and although it was a cold day, 18 degrees Celsius, we were ready for more game viewing. After our, now usual two yogurts for, breakfast John loaded the car. Bless him he has dome all the fetching and carrying…..even when he’s on holiday his packhorse duties continue….

Off we went, we were moving on to Shingwedzi Camp, taking the main tar road north. We hadn’t expected to see a great deal because of the dry run we had had from Satara to Letaba….we were pleasantly surprised…Mother Nature likes to keep life interesting. John decided he was going to anticipate Giraffe as the first spot of the morning and I selected elephant…. We were both wrong!!! Just outside the Letaba camp gates 30 seconds after leaving was a largish troop of banded mongoose.

We continued on our way and guess what our next spot was? ……An elephant, in fact two….much to Johns annoyance as that put me at 4:1 up…..yes I did gloat…we are very competitive 🤣🤣🤣🤣 However just a short while after this we did see a giraffe.

In fact we saw pockets of wildlife for most of the trip. The landscape was once again different. Lots of quite thick dry bushes right up to the roadside. Quite often a movement would take us by surprise…..a large herd of elephant were right next to the road and we only noticed them at the last minute.

We stopped for various sightings along the way., although the photography was not easy through the more dense bush.

After a couple of hours the landscape changed again and we were back to anthills….we came to the conclusion that as the anthills were in very dry areas this was why we didn’t see much wildlife around them…..it didn’t stop us from looking.

Today could quite easily been called The Day of the Waterbuck. As we continued north and the landscape changed again saw some lovely small herds.

What seemed to be a dried rivermectin had some quite big pockets of water in it. These areas were love oasis and we saw a far denser population of impalas, zebra, wildebeest, waterbuck and elephant around them.

About 109 kms- 3.5 hours drive with stops for wildlife sightings, we arrived at Shingwedzi camp. We booked in and were allocated chalet A6, which was near reception, the shop and the restaurant. Unfortunately there was no room on the sunset drive so we booked for the following night.

Our chalet was very pleasant…a little old style but spacious with a kitchen on its veranda, the fridge was inside …everything seemed to work although we certainly didn’t need the air conditioner…..infact I had put on the nice scarf John had bought be and he had kept the car window closed for much of the trip. The temperature had risen to 20 degrees for about an hour before dropping back to 17/18 degrees. We rested up in the chalet for a couple of hours.

At 4.pm we headed out of the camps back gate to drive down to the dam along the riverside. We hadn’t gone far when a vehicle infront of us blocked the road giving a Safari vehicle instructions to somewhere. The Safari vehicle sped off I. The direction we had come from so we pulled alongside the car in front and asked him if he had any info…he kindly told us he had seen 20 lions at the side of the S53 river loop. He told us how to get there and said it was about 10 minutes away. We spun the car around and headed after the Safari vehicle. 10 minutes was an understatement…after 20 minutes we were wondering if we’d been sent on a wild goose chase… we stopped to view a large herd of buffalo.

Where there’s buffalo there are often lions. It is a lions choice of food because they are big and will feed a full pride of lions. In fact lions have been known to follow a herd of buffalo for a month or until the buffalo wander out of the lions territory into another lions territory. The lions will hunt them every few days, The size of the pride determines how often they need to make a kill, the bigger the pride the more mouths they need to feed, the more often they need to hunt.

So we continued up the tar in the direction the Safari vehicle had gone. It was by now out of sight and our rather ancient Kruger map didn’t have the S53 marked on it. We don’t speed in Kruger the speed limit on the tar roads is 50km and on the dirt 40km. We usually do 45km on the tar as it’s a speed you can still spot at. Thankfully we kept to our self regulated speed because not long after the buffalo a policewoman was stood at the side of the road with a speed camera, an armed ranger guarded her and the vehicle was well hidden in the bush…..we passed without incident…however the car behind which had been haring down on us was stopped….a lesson to be learnt always stick to the speed limit or you can be fined, removed from the park and refused entry again….its really not worth speeding not just for the sake of the animals.

Just after the speed cop was a right turning yeah!!! The S53 a 2km loop. After about 1 km we came across the Safari vehicle and 3 other cars and a motorhome…under the bushes to 5he right were a large pride of lions sleeping. They were spread around under a variety of bushes, so everyone could get a view. A lovely sight…there were some adolescent cubs and lots of lionesses…we counted 11 in total.

The Safari vehicle didn’t watch for long before moving off, which meant we could get closer.

It’s always such a wonderful sight seeing the big cats in their totally natural environment. They all had big rounded bellies, so they had obviously eaten recently.

What joy. After watching for about 15 minutes we decided to complete the loop and head on back along the tar as we had no idea how long it would take us and it was already quite dark even though it was only just after 5pm.

We got back to camp at 5.45pm. Our days wildlife count was 99+ impala, 1 squirrel, 11 banded mongoose, 24 Guinea fowl, 7 yellow billed hornbill, 1 red billed hornbill, 1 crested barbet, 63 waterbuck, 19 elephant, 5 kudu, 13 giraffe, 29 wildebeest, 1 grey heron, 1 white stork, 2 nyala, 2 yellow billed stork, 36 zebra, 36 buffalo, 8 spurrfowl, 11 lion, 3 Chacma baboons, 16 Malibu storks…..extremely good for what we thought was going to be a pretty dry day for wildlife viewing.

We decided to eat in the restaurant because it seemed chilly outside and it was still a little windy…I don’t like braiis in the wind as I am frightened a spark may be caught on the chalets thatched roofs. We both decided to have T-bone steaks because it came with vegetables…we seem to have missed out on vegetables for quite a few days….unfortunatly when it arrived we were told they hadn’t got any vegetables so it just came with chips…..hey ho we tried.

We had a couple of games of cards and retired to bed early…….no need for the aircon tonight.

South Africa Safari 2025 Day 11 The day of the Ant Hills

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We had a slow start to the day, I’d had to take an antihistamine which knocks me for six and it takes a good long sleep for my brain to catch up with my body. It’s not unusual when we are away, my delicate skin doesn’t like detergents, at home we use one for babies🤣🤣 consequently after about a week I end up itching like a baboon🤣🤣🤣hence the necessity for anti histamines….anyway that aside we have also been doing a lot of driving so we decided to take it easy.

John made lunch and elevenses – rolls..I had marmite in one and cheese and marmite in another, he opted for just cheese. We had a couple of yogurt before we set off at around 10.30 am.

We headed down the tar to the Phalaborwa gate, as we wouldn’t be doing this route at any other time. It was a slow day for game. The plains are dry with nothing to eat for grazing wildlife. This area has always been strewn with huge anthills.

Time hasn’t changed this they were everywhere old and new, large and small standing out like the Egyptian pyramids as far as the eye could see, to the horizon and probably beyond.

These termite mounds are called Macrotermes mounds or heuweltjies as the locals call them ( means little hills in Afrikaans). They are inhabited by termites which build an underground network of tunnels and nests The mounds are made of a combination of soil, termite saliva and dung. The extensive tunnels and alleyways are used to control the temperature inside the mound. The heat is pushed up through the chimney type structure. Termite mounds usually last longer than the colonies of termites themselves. The disused mounds are often used by other species of animals. The warthog is particularly partial to digging a hole in the mound and reversing in blocking the entrance with its head so it can still look out. We always keep an eye out for the elusive aardvark and the, never seen by us, pangolin, both of whom enjoy feasting on termites.

After initially sighting a pair of giraffe and some Waterbuck we clocked up a lot of kilometres before seeing anything other than ant hills.

Eventually we came across a herd of huge tuskers at a water tower quickly followed by several giraffe.

At the gate we asked security if we could use the toilet. We parked inside the park gate and walked back to the loos the other side…wow it was mayhem…coaches trying to get in, cars queuing to get in, vehicles queueing to get out….we’ve never seen an entry gate like it…there were dozens of security checking vehicles, police organising the traffic, a few very shady characters loitering around….how things change over time, this used to be a very quiet sleepy gate with little or no traffic. We quickly used the loo and returned to the car.

We took the dirt road back, with the hope of seeing a little more. We did see a few impala, two zebra and another herd of elephant. Not long after this sighting a car coming towards us flashed us so we stopped….the lady looked like an honorary ranger and if she wasn’t one she should have been…her enthusiasm in sharing her recent sighting was infectious………”Take the next left track, then take the right one then 5 kms further there are two mating lions at the side of the road…it’s quite along way 36 kms further but this road is dead” she gushed at us….we said thank you and decided to follow her instructions…..about 15 kms further on another car stopped us the young man and his lady informed us “there are two mating male lions in about 15 kms”, we thanked them and continued…when we were well out of sight of these kind youngsters we had to chuckle with each other “ I don’t think we’ve ever seen two mating male lions”🤣. Our information was very correct to the exact kilometre we came across and lion and lioness mating…. I must admit the lion was a handsome fella with a lovely mane.

Just before reaching the lions the river is very visible. On the opposite bank was the body of a dead hippo and literally dozens of different raptors feasting. It was a strange sight. I had read a face book post a couple of days ago with a picture of a hippo floating down the river with a crocodile feasting on it. I had presumed it was photoshopped, but seeing the sight ourselves, it was probably the same hippo.

We continued our drive around another gravel loop where the young couple had said they had seen 7 lionesses, but we were not that fortunate.

We returned to camp on the tar road enjoying seeing some more wildlife in particular along the riverside and on the bridge.

Our number count for today was considerably lower than on previous days…99+ impala but it took us until 5.30 pm to reach this number, 1 squirrel, 18 waterbuck, 4 crocodile, 3 lilac breasted roller, 1 grey heron, 36 elephant, 8 giraffe, 5 zebra, 11 kudu, 1 yellow billed hornbill, 2 red billed hornbill, 2 spoonbill, 2 quail, 5 Spurfowl, 1 steenbok, 1 terrapin, 2 lion, 31 Chacma baboon, 30 WBV, 3 warthog, 4 guinea fowl, ……. It was still a day full of wonderful sightings even if it wasn’t as prolific as previous days.

We finished our viewing by driving on to a nearby bridge and photographing the sunset and its reflection.

We ate in the restaurant before retiring to our chalet for a game of cards and bed.

South Africa Safari 2025 Day 9 The day of the Blue Wildebeest

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We set off from Lower Sabi to Satara a 138 km drive. Taking the direct route on the tar road led us to cross The Sabi river and enjoy its multitude of various mammals, reptiles and bird life…it did not fail to deliver.

We continued up the H10 viewing large herds of Blue Wildebeest. We were delighted as the last twice we have visited they have been few and far between. Our count soon recorded 99+ of both the wildebeest and its companions the zebra. The Blue Wildebeest is a dark grey colour often with a brown sheen, but more often it stands out looking jet black amongst the dry landscape. Both sexes have horns and its tail is horselike. They like the zebra are grazers…..our former sunset drive guide told us they tend to group with zebras because there is safety in numbers. However many years ago a very knowledgable game ranger told us that the zebra and wildebeest eat different sections of the grass. The zebra eats the top sweeter grass and leaves behind bacteria in its saliva. The wildebeest eats the lower part of the grass and the zebras bacteria helps with the wildebeests digestive system. Who knows which of these philosophies are correct.

The road takes you up and over an escarpment. From the top you can see for literally miles and miles in every direction. There is not a building, industry, road or track, other than the one we were on, to be seen…this really is raw, unspoilt wilderness – untouched by humans and their progression of time …it takes your breath away …miles and miles of nothingness except nature at its very best…magnificent, this is why we keep returning…unless you’ve seen it you can’t imagine the feeling this vista gives you.

We had nearly reached the H1-4 at Tshokwane picnic/ rest site, when we saw a few cars on a bridge. Looking along the almost dry river bed on a low lying branch of a big tree was a leopard. It was in a typical, textbook leopard pose.

We stopped at Tshokwane for the toilets, a look around the shop and a stretch of our legs.

Not long after this we spotted a hyena cooling off in a muddy pool. We sat watching it while we ate our cheese sandwiches. This is the usual way in which hyena stay cool. Further on toward Satara we came across a big herd of buffalo.

During our day we saw 99+ impala, 99+ elephant, 10 hippo, 3 crocodile, 15 waterbuck, 2 warthog, 1 leopard, 99+ Wildebeest, 8 kudu, 99+ zebra, 4 vervet monkeys, 23 Chacma baboons, 2 nyala, 2 bateleur, 1 spotted hyena, 50 buffalo, 3 ground hornbill, 4 quail, 1 lion, 1 black backed jackal.

We arrive at Satara slightly after 2pm….the booking in queue was about 20/25 people long. So while John queued I nipped into the shop opposite to pick up bread, cheese, fruit, yogurts, eet-sum-mor biscuits , water, chocolate and crisps….alas it was very badly stocked, no bread or fruit at all, I came out with water, crisps, eet-sum-mor biscuits and chocolate a really great combination for someone who tries to eat healthily and reduce the sugar intake🤣🤣🤣…having paid the non smiling assistant I joined John in the queue.

We were eventually greeted by the stern check-in lady…I tried all the usual niceties but failed to raise a smile…but we did get our room key….geeeze F144 chalet was defiantly a museum piece…I don’t think it had been updated since I first stayed in Kruger in 1989🤣 The curtains almost met in the middle on one window the other had a foot gap…hey ho I could be accused of flashing if anyone was looking in but what the heck🤣 The air conditioner was an original model which rattled so loudly it even smothered the rumblings of the fridge it was next to….It had only three working settings, on, cold or hot. The cold worked very well blasting the pillows on each bed with winds from the Arctic…unfortunately there was nothing in between so I spent most the night turning it off, dozing and sweating and then turning it back on again. The fridge and the air conditioner took up the only plug socket apart from the one over the sink…so we plugged in the extension lead and hoped we didn’t electrocute ourselves during the night.🤣

Our late afternoon 2 hour drive was of course along the S100. This is a favourite dirt road we have driven hundreds of times because it always shows us the unexpected . We had been going on it for about 3/4 of an hour and seen very little, a few wildebeest, zebra, impala, ground hornbill, a giraffe and a massive tusker of an elephant who stood hidden in a bush next to the road and nearly gave me a heart attack when it suddenly moved. We asked several other vehicles coming in the other direction if they had seen much but they said nothing, it was very quiet. We decided to U-turn.

We were just saying that it was the first time ever the S100 had failed us when!! …….both myself and a car coming towards us jammed on our breaks….walking out from behind some tall grass across the road in front of us was a massive male lion. We sat and watched him for 3 minutes before he disappeared from sight again. We pulled up alongside the other car to compare our elation, they had actually seen a lioness cross first of all….wow…the S100 never fails to deliver the unexpected.

We headed back on the H1 and past Satara camp gates, deciding to head up the tar for 30 minutes and see what was about. It was prolific with elephants, zebra, wildebeest and impala. Just as we were about to turn around we saw a black backed jackal…these are one of my favourites.

We returned to camp highly satisfied with our days game viewing and a magnificent sunset.

We went straight to the Cattle Baron restaurant. We were as usual greeted with a smile and highly attentive service. Thank you Permission you certainly earnt your big tip….we thoroughly enjoyed our Chateaubriand flamed in Brandy followed by ice cream and chocolate sauce…naughty but nice…and to be even naughtier I had my first Savannah Light of the holiday…it all came to the princely sum of £32…..

We retired to our museum chalet for a few games of cards and an uncomfortable nights sleep.

Portugal & Southern Spain Trip – Day 9 – Sunday 18th May 2025- Donana National Park – El Rocio.

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A fitful nights sleep was had in our cupboard…too hot without the aircon and too cold with it, even set to 21…. So it was a very rude awakening, having finally gone into a deep sleep around 4.30 am, when the alarm invaded my musical snoring chorus at 6.40 am….does this time really exist ….cant believe that I used to be on my way to work at this time 7+ years ago….But needs must….I quickly showered and dragged on some suitable clothing whilst cursing John for being so awake and jolly at this unearthly time!!!!!
Breakfast was hard rolls which you toast to make them even harder, with nice cheese, ham, Salami, yoghurts, fruit, cereal and some fairly decent strong black coffee. By 7.15 we were ready to go in search of the National Parks office……back along the deep sand road we’d walked the previous evening. It was only about a 10 minutes walk. We queued to get to the ticket desk where we handed over our voucher. We thought we had paid at the hotel but the really nice English speaking parks board receptionists explained we had paid €24 to the hotel for the convenience of them booking it and now we pay €54 for the actual trip….ummm we’ll see if we’ve been ripped off when the Mastercard bill arrives…but we felt this was genuine so we handed over the Euros…cash only…and we were given a ticket stating Lucia 5, and told Lucia would call us to her bus….so we waited outside with the other eager visitors.

Sure enough at 8.00 am a couple of drivers arrived and shouted out their names. They were taken to the 24 seater 4×4 high tyred buses. Then a nice young lady came and shouted Lucia and we hurried after her to another identical bus. The number on the ticket was the number you were allowed to board the bus and choose which seat you want. We selected two seats next to a sliding window which we could open, so that John could stick his camera out of it…….

Lucia gave the commentary in Italian, Spanish and, thankfully, English. She told us the town of El Rocio had 1000 residents. In June they have a religious week/ festival which involves over 1 million visitors and 100,000 horses….Wow, unimaginable. She informed us a lot about the National Park. For the first time in 15 years the heavy rains had filled the marshes and the horses and some birds had retreated into the forest section of the park because the water was so high in the marshes. We saw a heron nesting in the wooded area, which she said was unheard of. We soon came across a couple of groups of deer browsing in the forest. There seemed a lot of excitement about seeing rabbits…they evidently are the bottom of the food chain for foxes and lynx to survive. But the rabbits survival had been threatened by the eucalyptus trees which drain the moisture out of the soil and prevent the natural undergrowth, which rabbits feed on, from growing. So the eucalyptus trees had been felled with only two remaining. Their stumps were moved to another area where the dead stumps were placed as a memorial to the trees and a good breeding ground for the rabbits. Lucia pointed out many species of birds including the black kite and the many storks, herons etc.

Before continuing into the wetlands Lucia explained that farmers were allowed to graze cattle and sheep etc and that they belonged to farmers where as the horses were just wild. The horses were managed by the parks board. We continued along a causeway which the farmers had built, across the marsh land, to make access to their cattle easier.
We stopped and stretched our legs on the causeway. There were dozens of different species of birds, flamingos, ibises, little and greater egrets, several types of heron, loads of different ducks like the poacher, teal, coot, moorhen , grebes, plovers and even the endangered Marbled teal……an ornithologists’ paradise.

We continued along the track to a visitors centre. This had toilets……but take your own paper!! ….. a coffee shop and a huge glass viewing area overlooking some Lakeland. We learnt there were over 4000 nesting birds in this area alone. Lucia set up her telescope and I managed to get a picture through it of a couple of flamingos….

There were plenty more pictures taken to capture the moment

On walking back to the bus we noticed not only the vibrant flora but also a stork nesting on an electricity pylon. There was a chick in the nest.

We were just about to re-board the bus when we heard the thunder of many hooves….it was a “Round-Up” with “Gouchos “ driving them along the road….there must have been 200+ horses and 4 herdsmen. We followed them down the road and they were driven into a corral through some water. Evidently they will be divided up into different areas from there.

On our return to El Rocio Lucia told us that the cork tree was now protected, not least because the Lynx often have their cubs in holes in the cork tree because it helps regulate their temperature. She told us there were several hundred Lynx in the park…she had seen one the day before.
At the end of our 3 hour tour we went back into the office and booked the 5.00 pm tour the following day with Lucia again. It had been a splendid experience. We wandered back to our hotel along the lake shores promenade which was a lot easier than trudging through the deep sand. The square in front of the hotel was again buzzing…a hive of activity…

We had a bite of lunch …a hamburger or so it was described but a rubber frisbee would have been a more accurate description. We wandered back to our cool, quiet hotel stopping on the way to chat to a very pleasant Australian couple who had been on the same bus as us……they are visiting Kruger South Africa at the same time we are later in the year…perhaps we’ll run into them again. After siesta on the terrace and a few games of cards we went in search of an earlish evening meal. We ordered grilled chicken which came with fries….unfortunately it was very tough and my gums are struggling with all the hard food and also the lack of vegetables…but hey Ho….a huge horse rode in behind John and breathed down his neck while his well manicured very smart rider had a fantastic brought to her.

What a surreal place this is…very busy, but an experience we wouldn’t have missed for the world…. Looking forward to tomorrows venture and fingers crossed for a sighting of a Linx.

Portugal & Southern Spain trip – Day 4- Tuesday 13th May – Sagres.

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We planned to have a beach day, however when we woke up there was hardly a hint of blue in the sky and a chilling breeze…in fact it was a jeans day rather than a shorts and t-shirt….or so John informed me and he was right. Just as we were having breakfast we received a phone call asking if the management could bring a photographer around. A building is planned for the plot next to our apartment and they wanted photos incase the new building caused cracks in the apartment. We agreed to let them come as we weren’t going out for a while. The General manager was a nice gentleman and asked how our stay was going. We explained that we really liked the luxurious, massively spacious apartment. During the day there is the sound of traffic from the Lagos road but at night it was very peaceful. There was no noise from other residents, if indeed there were any and we loved our door step guests, the swallows. We did explain that although we had been a bit put out by the receptionist’s attitude, when we arrived, we were actually delighted by the peace and tranquility of being so far away from the complex’s main amenities. We can’t fault where we are. They soon finished their business and off they went, shortly followed by us.
We took advantage of the cooler day and drove along the coast to the west. We took the A22 and then the N125 to Vila do Bispo where we turned south on to the N268 to Sagres. Sagres has been known for many years as the most Southernly point of Europe – although the mudflats near Faro are now a national park and they do protrude a little further south, however they are not inhabited. So I think it’s fair to say that Sagres which jots straight out into the Atlantic is the most southernly inhabited place in Europe. Although surrounded by the Atlantic it does have a Mediterranean climate.
At the end of the peninsula is a fortress and then a lighthouse. We did a reccy and found a parking space. All the car parking is at the bottom of the hill……We wandered up the cobbled footpath to the entrance of the Fort.

We queued a short while and then paid our €10 for two senior admission tickets…we were asked our ages because obviously we look so youthful….. in we went. It was a large courtyard with a museum, a chapel, toilet block, steep ramps up to the fortification/ fort’s outer wall. There was a long cobbled path straight down to the light house and a smooth foot path going down both sides of the top of the peninsula. We opted to go straight down the middle. It was a strange landscape. It was described as limestone pavement – but nothing like the smooth walkable ones we get in Yorkshire- we thought it looked like how we would imagine a “Luna Landscape”.

On reaching the point we decided to take different paths back. John took the more northerly path which was much longer. My little legs were feeling tired so I decided to take the more southernly shorter, smooth path back and we would reunit at the fort. Both sets of views were magnificent. There were information boards all the way around, describing the fauna and flora. I could see John most of the way around and some 4000 steps later we met in front of the fort. By now the sun had burnt the clouds away and the heat of the day was tiring, so we made our way back to the car.

We retraced our drive back to Luz, stopping firstly at Lidl ( they get everywhere!) and buying some lunch, then dropping down into the fishing village and beach area of Salema. We struggled to find a parking spot and in the end we drove onto the cliff road. Here we found a seated area overlooking the view of the village. An ideal place for our late picnic lunch.

Returning to Luz we drove to the beach and indulged in an ice cream. After a siesta back at the apartment, I prepared the evenings meal. This time it was very large prawns – which took me longer to clean and peel than it did to eat – and salad. It was yummy, the prawns very fresh and meaty, the beetroot sweet and the cherries to follow delicious. ..oh!! I forgot to say on returning to our apartment there was a half bottle of Grahams 2017 Late Bottled Vintage Port , two port glasses and a message of thanks for letting the photographer in, from the General Manager, whom we had met in the morning….what a lovely gesture.
What can one say…another day in paradise….oh!!! just remembered we passed Guadelupe on our trip…but because it’s missing an “o” and it’s in Portugal and not the Caribbean, there was no “Death in Paradise” and we didn’t see Selwyn !!!!!