Just one of those days!

Male Leopard.

22nd February saw me once again in Kruger. It was a dark depressing morning with a little rain. Poor conditions for birding, but as it turned out brilliant for wildlife! It was just one of those mornings when everything went right!

This male Leopard was on the Diospane Road. The light was terrible, but it stuck around for a few minutes giving excellent viewing.

 Female Leopard.

 Then a cub came out & joined its Mum!

Unbelievably, just 500 m further down the road a female Leopard was seen on a rock, with a young cub. Female Leopards often keep their cubs out of the way of male Leopards, because of the chance of infanticide. So, this sighting was unusual.

Bateleur.

Pair of Wild Dogs.

Just half an hour later, I came across this pair of Wild Dogs. It was pouring down with rain, but they seemed to have moved away from the rest of the pack because they had mating on their minds.

A very wet Bat Hawk!

Another very wett individual - this time a 

Kori Bustard.

Carmine Bee-eater.

Yellow-throated Longclaw.

Lioness with cubs.

Amazingly, this was the second of two groups of Lionesses with cubs this morning!

GroundHornbill with Puff Adder as prey.

Lesser Black-winged Plover.

Yet another Leopard!

African Finfoot: Photo Essay.

Male African Finfoot.

African Finfoot is a very scarce resident of rivers & some lakes throughout sub-saharan Africa. However, it is very secretive & even in areas you know it to be present, it is rarely seen & if it is seen, it is often only fleetingly. 

This morning was quite exceptional in that I found a pair on the Blyde River at Swandini & they were unconcerned & just stayed! Posing almost for the lens! It was an unbelievable hour & I thought I should share it with you.

Nocturnal Nylesvlei + other stuff!

Unfortunately, the entire area was dry!

Drove to Nylesvlei on 18th & did some birding in the afternoon.

Male Amur Falcon

Evening vigil over the marshes produced: 8 Roan Antelope; 10 Tseesbe & lots of Amur Falcons & Black-collared Pratincoles. An African Marsh Owl flew by.

Grass Owl

A different bird, with prey.

After dark commenced a night drive & results were spectacular: 5 Grass Owls; 7 Rufous-cheeked Nightjars & 3 Spotted Dikkops.

Early morning birding around the reserve on 19th produced very little. A nice breakfast though, in the restaurant.

The Taita Falcon site, sans falcons!

Drove to Swadini to find it was closed until April! On the way called in at the Taita Falcon site, but no joy!

The fantastic Blyde River.

Found a great place to stay at ................. 

Male African Finfoot.

Female.

Early morning birding on 20th without my camera produced heart stopping views of Half-collared Kingfisher on the river! Went back to get my camera, the Kingfisher had of course gone, but in the same area found two amazing African Finfoots which just stuck around for photos!

Packed up & left for Mt Sheba Hotel

Blesbok.

Western Red-footed Falcon - 
a bit of a rarity in this area.

Blue-grey Flycatcher.

On 21st walked some of the lodge trails, but birding was very quiet.

Blyde River Canyon.

Drove home to Sabie Park via the Blyde River Canyon.