On 9th November we had a run through the park on the way to shopping in Hazyview. Little of note was seen, the best being a recently arrived Steppe Buzzard. Both Greenshank & Wood Sandpiper were on the edge of Nyamundwa Dam.
We decided to spend a morning in Kruger on 10th November. After a bit of congestion entering, we found the park to be strangely deserted & enjoyed travelling on traffic free roads.
We drove north on the main road & our first sighting of note were four Lionesses feeding on a freshly caught Cape Buffalo. We spent quite sometime at this sighting & Delana took a few videos with her phone. The Lions were very relaxed & gave us fantastic views.
We then took the turning on the S36 & our first stop was Jones Dam, which was completely dry! This is normally a reliable water source & I have never seen it dry before. Just a couple of forlorn looking Waterbuck were present.
We carried on to Nhlanguleni Picnic Site where we stopped for a bite to eat. Yet again it was very dry & we saw little here.
We then continued along the Vitomi Road seeing general game species. We returned home along the main tar road. just in time to watch the rugby!
On 12th November did a small shop at Skukuza. Once again the weather was poor, with continuous rain. Consequently both the game viewing & birding was poor, with nothing of note being seen. The highlight was a pair of African Black Duck on the Sabie River at Skukuza.
The 15th November saw us driving along the S3 & S4 roads, then south on the Waterhole Road & on to Shitlhave Dam, where we saw a 400+ strong herd of Cape Buffalo.
On 20th November we drove along the S21 road towards Lower Sabie. The main reason was to see if the pans along this route had filled up with water after recent rains. They hadn't! It was a quiet drive both for birds & animals, although we did record exactly 80 species of birds without too much effort.
On 24th we drove through the park to do some shopping in Hazyview. It was very hot & we didn't see very much. Best being a Spotted Hyena at the side of the road.
On 27th I was up at the crack of dawn & drove into the park. Delana stayed home as she had a zoom meeting with her team & work to do on a recent project. I drove the S3 & S4 roads before driving south on the Waterhole Road, a brief look at Transport Dam & then a loop back to Skukuza via Stevenson Hamilton Lookout Point. It was a nice drive but it soon turned hot & I was back home around noon.
The next day Delana & I were in the park driving along the Salitje Road & the bush savanna just north of Lower Sabie. We were there for the birding rather than game watching. We wanted to see if some northern migrants had arrived. We saw quite a few European Rollers; a Lesser Grey Shrike & a couple of Red-backed Shrikes. However, even after the recent rains, the pans were moist but not holding water, so the water dependant migrants had not yet arrived.
On 30th November we had a run to Hazyview through the park seeing Tawny Eagle & an immature Eurasian Hobby.
On 3rd December we had our last run through the park for this trip. We drove our usual mornings drive along the S3, on to the Diospane Road, then south on the Waterhole Road to Transport Dam & back via Lake Panic & a late breakfast at the Skukuza Golf Club where we saw a pair of Little Bitterns jumping around in the reeds. It was a pleasant mornings outing without seeing anything too special.
