We arrived in Sabie Park on 1st July. It was nice to be home after all this time away. The place looked quite dry. We enjoyed nice cool sunny days, but cold nights. We spent the first few days getting the house cleaned & unpacking. No one had been in the house since January, so it was very dirty.
Sabie River.
At the picnic site.
Me with Cath & Rob.
We have known each other since 1986!
Sean & his girlfriend.
We spent most of our time around the house or at the picnic site. Rob & Cath arrived from Nigeria & it was great to see them again. They had their son Sean with them & his Brazilian girlfriend.
Elephants crossing the Sabie River
from the picnic site.
Hippos grazing on an island in the river.
Kudu coming to drink at the river.
Saddle-billed Stork
The picnic site is a great place for seeing flyovers.
Immature African Fish Eagle.
This individual was quickly driven out
by the resident pair of adults.
Adult Martial Eagle.
Large Spotted Genet
One evening we went for a meal at Rob & Cath's house, which was very nice. We also had an unexpected visitor!
We stayed home until 9th July when we had to return to Pretoria to have my port installed ready for my chemotherapy to start. We returned to Sabie Park on 14th July.
White Rhino
Cape Buffalo
Steenbok
Dwarf Mongoose
Pink-backed Pelican at Sunset Dam
Sabota Lark
As soon as I started chemotherapy I started feeling unwell, but could still function albeit slowly. Somedays were worse than others & I could be totally out of it. We only visited Kruger a couple of times, but one day we saw a great rarity for the park in the form of a Pink-backed Pelican.
Vultures arriving
128 White backed Vultures came down,
with small numbers of the other species.
White-backed Vulture
White-headed Vulture
Nice to see this rapidly declining species.
The 22nd July proved to be a red letter day! Mid morning the Vultures started arriving. There had been a Lion kill in the river bed, but try as we might we couldn't see it properly because of the reeds. It was just in front of our house & we were in prime position to see all the Vultures arriving. It was a spectacular sight seeing them plummeting down so close to us.
Thick-billed Cuckoo
We then moved to the picnic site to see if we could get a better view of the kill (we didn't) but we found a Thick-billed Cuckoo! This is a rare species here, normally seen in the summer. Winter records such as this are very rare indeed. This individual stayed for several weeks & seemed to have territory between the picnic site & my house. Great to see such a rare species so well. Normally very difficult to spot, unless display flighting over the woodland.
Bush Squirrels, sunning themselves in the
early morning sun.
Leopard
A pity that the light was coming from the
wrong direction for photographs
Tawny Eagle
Martial Eagle
The next few days were spent around Sabie Park because I was enduring terrible side effects from the chemotherapy. We didn't visit Kruger again until 28th July when we did our usual circuit from the hodse down the Waterhole Road & Transport Dam & back via Skukuza. It was a lovely winters day with blue skies although the game viewing was nothing exceptional. The only thing of note was a good sighting of a Leopard in a tree.
A pair of Egyptian Geese on the Sabie River
African Pied Wagtail
Cape Buffalo coming to drink
Blue Wildebeest have had a very good breeding
season in Sabie Park this year
Nyala is now a regular visitor to the garden
This individual is present nearly every morning
Lizard Buzzard is now an uncommon
to rare visitor to SP.
Fork tailed Drongo
Retz's Helmetshrike is a regular visitor
to my land
Ashy Flycatcher
Vervet Monkeys are a constant threat to
general security around the house.
Thick-tailed Bushbaby is a regular nocturn al visitor
We yet again spent the next week at home, just visiting the picnic site when I felt well enough.
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