Kruger & Sabie Park

 After a lot of packing (it seemed to never end)! We finally were ready to leave on 20th March. It was sad leaving the house for the very last time, but it had to be sold, as keeping three houses going is just too expensive. 

We pulled the two trailers to Sabie Park & the large truck drove back to Bloemfontein loaded with stuff for both Chantelle & Francois, & later some stuff going to Pearly Beach. It was a long & uneventful drive, arriving just before 9pm. All of us were exhausted! The next few days were all about unloading & getting the house in order. It was a lot of hard work!

The view from the house.

Everything is looking very green after all the rain.

Male Cape Buffalo cooling off.

Red-backed Shrikes are

still around in good numbers.

Delana & I first visited Kruger on the afternoon of 23rd March. It was largely uneventful, but nice to be back.

Mosque Swallow

They will be leaving soon, as this species 

is a summer visitor here.

The next day I went to the park in the afternoon for a short drive around. The highlight were a pair of Mosque Swallows.

Large Spotted Genet

In the evening a Large Spotted Genet paid us a visit.

Leopard, just chilling!

Red-crested Bustard

On 25th March we drove through the park on our way to shopping in Hazyview. The undoubted highlight was a superb male Leopard asleep in a tree.

Kruger is looking incredible at the moment.

Many of the shallow pans are flooded.

The view from Nkumbe.

On 27th March I did a full day inside Kruger, driving a massive loop via Lower Sabie, Nkumbe, Orpen Dam & back via the low water bridge. It was a pretty good day out, with two lots of Lions & three new species for my yearly photo challenge.

Sabie Park Picnic Site.

The river is high.

Burchell's Coucal

The next few days were spent at home, still doing jobs around the house! We visited the picnic site on 28th March. The river is high, but not yet at flood level. 

Giraffe

Brown-headed Kingfisher

On 29th I did a bird walk around Sabie Park, recording 50 species in a couple of hours.

Lake Panic

Delana at Skukuza Nursery

On the last day of the month we visited Skukuza Nursery & Lake Panic, finishing with a late breakfast at the nearby Golf Club.

We had to drive to Nelspruit on 1st April for a consultation with my oncologist. See video for details.

Spotted Hyena

fI one looks closely you can see the deep marks

where the snare used to be.

This individual was darted last year

 & the snare removed.

Very relaxed around people.

Spent all day on 2nd at home, only seeing a Hyena inside Sabie Park close to the TV Room. The next day Ricus, Shileen & family arrived from Botswana to stay for a few days. It is the first time that they have been here.

On the 4th April we stayed home & cooked a nice brunch at the picnic site.

The 5th saw us go into Kruger for a short drive around via the S114 & Stevenson Hamilton Memorial. It was a nice outing, however, nothing special was seen.

The next day I did a bird walk in the morning & in the afternoon we visited Lake Panic & the Golf Course.

On the 7th we were up early & drove into the park. We drove to Lower Sabie & back. It was a very overcast& dreary day & rain set in later on.

Nylsvlei

 To be completed

Zaagkuilsdrift Lodge

 To be completed

Wildlife of our Pretoria Garden

 Delana built this house in 2001 & lived here for many years. However, when she met me nearly seven years ago, things began to change, as we went travelling the world, sometimes for months at a time. We used the house less & less. Delana then decided to rent out the house & for us to use the one bedroomed flat, attached to the house. This worked fine for five years, as we used the flat as a base & to store our off-road caravan. However, we probably only spent two to three weeks here during an entire year.

Things changed in December 2025, when the tenants gave us notice that they were leaving, as a change in circumstances meant that they could no longer afford this house. So, we arrive here in early January this year. It made sense for us to be based here, at least for the next few weeks. I needed to be close to hospitals for scans etc. I will find out soon if I qualify for liver surgery, as I have two large mestatices on my liver. The surgery will remove these tumours, but it is major surgery & I will be largely off my feet for a minimum of six weeks. Then it will take several months to get back to a kind of normality. So it makes sense to be here, at least for the next couple of months. 

Spartanly furnished at the moment.

However, we are kind of indoor camping, as we sold off most of the furniture for this house when the tenants moved in. But it is not too bad. I will probably be sat in the garden for long periods over the coming months, so I thought it made sense to post a blog about the birds & animals which visit us on a regular basis.

We arrived back from our little Waterberg trip on the 10th February, ready for me to go into hospital on 11th February. I was admitted at 9 am & to my surprise they said they were going to operate in three hours time. This is highly unusual, as one normally waits for many hours. 

Videos taken on 12th February

Video taken on 13th February.

Video taken on 14th February

After three nights in ICU I was moved to a normal ward on 14th February. It is always good to get out of ICU as soon as possible, as it is pretty intense in there & incredibly noisy. Very hard to get any sleep, a combination of high nurse/doctor activity; constant beeping of the machines & been woken up every one & half hours by nurses taking blood pressure etc. 

Tom is on the right.

Male Nyala

Young male

Female Nyala at the pool.

Common Duiker

Banded Mongoose

A fairly regular visitor to the garden 

& surrounding areas.

Bush Squirrel

Crested Francolin

The commonest Francolin species in the garden.

African Wattled Lapwing:

A pair are in the area, but prefer the open lawns 

of our neighbour's garden!

Crowned Lapwing

European Bee-eater

A common summer migrant.

White-throated Robin Chat

A pair are resident in the garden

Male African Paradise Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Yellow-bellied Greenbul: an unusual species here.

Juvenile Greater Honeyguide

An unusual & hard to see species here.

Red chested Cuckoo

Grey-headed Bushshrike:

Often heard, but rarely seen.

Red-backed Shrike:

An uncommon summer visitor to the more

open areas, surrounding the garden.

Black-collared Barbet: an ever-present 

in the garden.

Grey-backed Camaroptera

Neddicky: not in the garden but present

 across the road.

Willow Warbler: a common summer visitor.

Male White-bellied Sunbird

Has decided to nest in our atrium.

Delana brought in my computer & I spent the afternoon watching rugby. England lost to Scotland! Meanwhile Tom my Scottish  mate, was watching the match in a pub in Ilkley with his friends. He went home very happy!

On 15th nothing much happened, apart from me trying to move around. The pain is still quite bad, but I tried to push through it.

Me watching cricket at home!

On the morning of 16th February the surgeon came to see me & told me I could go home! This was most unexpected, as I was expecting to stay at least four nights in this ward. Delana was summoned to pick me up, but she was worried I was not ready & should be staying in hospital a little longer. It was nice to prove her wrong!

Spent 17th reading & doing my exercises. Sent the above video to Rob in Gibraltar. The next day I sat in the garden for most of it. The weather was brilliant & I tried to photograph the Red-throated Wryneck which is in the garden. One hears it all the time, but seeing it is another matter! However, a very unexpected visitor, was an immature Greater Honeyguide, which I managed to photograph. Our 420th photographed species since starting on 1st September 2025.

Not bad!

The 19th February was a quiet day at home, with me getting slightly more mobile. I decided to do the big reveal of my scar!

The next day was another quiet day but I am getting better! Almost no pain now, just a hell of a lot of aches! Went on my first short bird walk with Delana.

On 23rd February I did this video to show my progress, just twelve days after my operation. It appears I am healing faster than what everyone thought!

Red-lipped Snake

We found a Red-lipped Snake in the garden. This species is harmless to humans & is a specialist Frog & Toad hunter (of which we have plenty here). Not often seen. 

Rust de Winter Dam

On 26th February we made a day trip to Rust de Winter Reserve. This was a new area for me & a very scenic one. Birding was however very slow & we saw little off note during the day. 

Good advice!

One can dream!

The next day we visited the largest Outdoor & Camping Show in South Africa. We didn't buy much but it was a great day out & fantastic to view all the outdoor gear on offer.

We then stayed home until 3rd March, when we embarked on a week long birding trip.