Sabie Park & Kruger in the Fall

Our room for the night.

The view from our room.

We left Pretoria on 5th April & stayed over at Milley's, which is exactly the halfway point. The room was excellent, right on the lake. It did mean we could do all the food shopping the next morning & arrive in Sabie Park with plenty of daylight to do all the organizing.

My little house in the bush!

We bought a gazebo, so we have a roof over the area.

We re-thatched the serving area at the back 

of the lapa area.

The next week was all about cleaning the house & getting the land around the house cut back. The vegetation had grown a lot since our last visit last September. We also revamped the lapa area & made it much more comfortable than previously. 

Delana had bought me a new house sign 

as a birthday present.

And very nice it looks too!

The swings!

We also put up a couple of swings

 overlooking the river.

Blue Wildebeest are a common sight in the garden.

Plains Zebra in the driveway.

Bushbuck

This individual has many growths

 around its head & neck.

Otherwise it appears to be healthy.

Female close to the security fence.

Lizard Buzzard

Much rarer in Sabie Park than it used to be.

White backed Vulture

Quite a common sight from the garden.

Adult White headed Vulture.

Getting increasingly rare in these parts.

Bearded Woodpecker

Female

Cardinal Woodpecker

African Black headed Oriole

An ever present in the garden.

Retz's Helmet Shrike.

What was quite surprising was that they are still

feeding young this time of the year.

Red backed Scrub Robin

Yellow breasted Apalis

Stierling's Wren-Warbler

Uncommon, localized & hard to find resident.

They made it!

Finally they arrived! Clare, Rowan & Jonathan arrived on 16th April. I hadn't seen Clare for two & half years due to the covid pandemic. It was great to have them here again.

Rowan, Delana & Clare.

The gazebo all set up for our first meal together.

Thick tailed Bushbaby is a regular nocturnal visitor

 to the garden.

The birthday people!

The Picnic Site.

Jonathan

The picnic site is great for viewing Elephants.

Crossing to our side of the river.

Hadeda Ibis

African Open billed Stork.

African Pied Wagtail

Clare, Rowan & Jonathan.

It was my birthday on 12th April. But we decided to have a joint celebration with Clare (March 21st) at the Sabie Park Picnic Site. Luckily it turned out to be a lovely day.

The girls at Skukuza.

Due to the dull conditions this Spotted Hyena 

was out & about!

Warthog.

A little further down the road we came across 

two Hyena pups, which were very inquisitive.

Always a great day when you spot one of these!

Chetah: it was on a kill, but in thick bush.

Grey Heron

African Jacana

Swainson's Spurfowl

Lilac breasted Roller

Brown hooded Kingfisher

The two girls hadn't been to Kruger & Sabie Park for several years & it was all new for Jonathan. So one dismal & grey afternoon we made a quick trip into the park. 

Our transport for the day. 

Please notice, it is slightly damaged!

Klipspringer

The Ant Hill

Rowan & Jonathan.

Three banded Plover

Pied Kingfisher

This was a particularly confiding bird.

Giant Kingfisher

Lion

Young Spotted Hyena

Completely fearless!

Southern Ground Hornbill

Still declining, even here in Kruger.

We came across a couple of Lionesses with at least five cubs in a dry riverbed. Watched them for quite sometime, they were very relaxed & playful.

Hippos in the Sabie River

Croc taking it easy!

Goliath Heron

Always a great bird to see.

Giant Kingfisher

White Rhino

Still declining in this part of Kruger.

Don't know if it is because of poaching 

or relocation of animals.

Dwarf Mongoose

Very cute & entertaining!

Black Stork

An uncommon winter visitor here.

Hammerkop

Big prey!

Hinge-backed Tortoise.

This was Clare's last day in the park, 

as she was only here for six nights.

All too brief a visit.

Early one morning on the Sabie River Road

He was strolling around on the rocks.

This was a fantastic quality sighting, 

observing it for quite some time.

It doesn't get much better than this!

An old male Cape Buffalo.

Lilac breasted Roller

Elephants drinking.

Many old bulls feed on grass

 in the open areas.

Kori Bustard.

White backed Vulture

Bateleur

African Hawk Eagle

There was a pair in the tree but then

 an interloper arrived!

A bit of a squabble in the sky!

Returning from shopping in Hazyview,

 we found these two on the side of the S3.

As usual they just ignored us completely!

They were very relaxed.

Always on the alert when other animals appear.

They are making a real come back

 in this part of Kruger.

This old male Cape Buffalo has been around 

for some time. 

He is lame in the front left leg.

Male Nyala walking by the river at the picnic site

 in Sabie Park.

Egyptian Goose

African Fish Eagle

An ever present here.

A pair of Nyalas in my driveway.

Red backed Scrub Robin

African Wild Dog in the early morning light.

They were very alert looking for prey.

Suddenly they were off & we lost most of them.

Burchell's Coucal in lovely morning light.

Lappet faced Vulture

Coqui Francolin

This species is found in dry woodland 

with long grass.

It is widespread within Kruger, 

but much more often heard than seen.

Female

Wearing my new birding t-shirt in honor of 

Global Birding Big Day.

Read the back!

Painted Reed Frog.

The 14th May was Global Big Birding Day & we decided to spend most of it in Kruger National Park. It was also our last day in the park, as we have to leave for Pretoria for a few days. As we entered the park we came across a pack of 20 Wild Dogs, which took up a bit of our birding time!

Malachite Kingfisher

The hide at Lake Panic can be great for

 photography, but often the light is not quite right.

Today wasn't one of those days!

Lighting was superb!

I just kept shooting!

Our route was a relatively short one, along the S3 & 4, down the Waterhole Road, Transport Dam, Skukuza, Lake Panic & the Golf Course. We were back home by 3pm & finished off the day by gently birding the garden, which added quite a few new species to the list. Our first bird was Barn Owl at dawn found by Delana, & our last species was Red-faced Cisticola found by me, at dusk. Altogether we recorded 92 species, which is not too bad for the middle of winter! We also recorded some great mammal species, the highlight being the large pack of African Wild Dogs.

Unfortunately we had to leave the next day for a few days in Pretoria doing mundane chores. We had spent just short of six weeks at the house & it had flown by as usual. We are back at the house for two nights over 21st/22nd May to pack the trailer & get ready for our next little adventure!