We left Sabie Park early morning on 2nd May. It was a cool, overcast morning as we drove into Kruger National Park, through the Paul Kruger Gate.
Spotted Hyena
It turned out to e an amazing first hour, first six Hyenas in the road,giving exceptional views. One youngster even suckling milk from its mother. Then we spotted a large male Leopard in a distant tree. It was too far for ay decent photos, so I didn't bother trying.
Wild Dog
Minutes later we spotted five Wild Dogs in the road. We spent several minutes with them before they eventually left the road & went into the bush.
African Python
A little further into the park & we came across an African Python in the middle of the road.This is a rarely seen species by us, so we were quite excited by this sighting.
We were driving through the park as a short cut to get to the Mozambican border just beyond Komatipoort. We breezed through both sides of the border & on to Maputo, where we stocked up on beer & other essential supplies.
Here at last!
We drove south & entered the newly created Maputo National Park. This was a destination we had been wanting to visit for a while having heard nothing but good reports about the place.
It was 38 kms of sand driving to get to Porto Membene our destination & home for the next five nights. It was a difficult drive but through spectacular scenery. The whole park is a mixture of immense wetlands, (including some of the biggest vleis I have ever seen), plains & isolated patches of woodland.
We arrived at our destination just after dark, settled in to our chalet & the enjoyed a nice meal in the restaurant.
View of the Indian Ocean just outside our chalet.
An early morning snorkel for Delana.
Ridges of coastal dune forest interspersed with
wet areas of grassland.
On the way to the lake,
close to where we are staying.
Huge lakes are common in this area,
but with surprisingly little bird life.
African Great White Egret
A beer at the end of a hot day!
The next day was spent around Porto Membene doing some gentle birding & loafing around. It was a very nice day. Birding is hard work in these coastal dune forests, with both a low densities of birds & a low density of species. Red-capped Robin Chats were common, as were Yellow-rumped Tinkerbirds. twelve species was the norm after a mornings birding.
Typical mosaic of habitats in this area.
Common Reedbuck
Male Nyala
Crested Guineafowl
Quite common in these sandy forests.
On 4th May we were up early & set off to explore this newly created national park. The weather was superb & the scenery amazing & although game was not prolific, we racked up around 15 species of the larger mammals.
Waterbuck
The park holds good numbers of this species.
Grey Heron
The facilities at the campsites are excellent.
This is a toilet/shower/laundry block for each site.
At the restaurant/bar in the evening.
Andrew & Jackie arrived in late afternoon, & we had an enjoyable evening in the bar.
Andrew & Delana went snorkelling early morning on the 5th May. They saw quite a few species & said it was very worthwhile. I went birding around the resort & along the beach.
In the afternoon Delana & I went for a little drive around a lake a few kilometres away. The scenery was again superb.
On 6th May Delana & I went out for an early morning drive before coming back to the resort for Delana to go snorkelling.
The very nice empty beach!
Low tide, exposing the rocks.
White-fronted Plover
I went for a walk along the beach & birded the surrounding dune forest. We seem to have developed a problem with the car.The service is over due & it has gone into limp mode, where there is little power I 4x4 mode. Decided not to go out again in the afternoon. Hope we ca get out of here in the morning!
Morning dawned & the car was the same. We had no 4x4! This is going to be tough drive out. We had a puncture on the way out & while fixing it, discovered that the day before, we had hit a buried log in the sand & it had it the wires which going into the computer which controls the car. We managed to limp along through the deep sand & eventually reached the gate w we reinflated our tyres. Once on the tar we were able tp pick up a little speed, around 60kms per hour & we made the border post. We had another little shock for us here, as they only gave me seven days entry! Not my customary ninety days.
We spent the night in Malelane & then drove o Nelspruit the next morning where we turned the engine off & couldn't get the car to start again! Luckily we were at Palm Motos & they gave us a curtesy car to drive to Pretoria. At the time of writing the car is till in the garage awaiting the parts.
