Back home again!

 We drove through the pouring rain, off the escarpment & into the lowveld on 21st April. As we entered White River, it stopped raining & we picked up our Amarok from the panel beaters & they had done an excellent job. Goodness knows how the damage was done. We just noticed it one day, but don't remember hitting anything. It must have happened while we were parked somewhere & the culprit drove off!

Purple Roller

We decided to go home through Kruger National Park & we entered through Phabeni Gate. We drove slowly, without seeing much of interest, apart from two Dark Chanting Goshawks,  but the light was poor for photography & so no shots were obtained. We also saw Purple Roller which is mainly a winter visitor here. There is a small resident population which breed, but this population is greatly increased by an influx in the winter months.

Leopard

This individual was very relaxed in our prescence.

This animal was at the junction of the S4 &

Diospane Road about 9 kms from our house.

It was dark & overcast, so the photos

 are not top quality.

I spent quite some time with this individual.

Just at the junction of the S4 & Diospane Road I spotted a Leopard in a nearby tree. It performed wonderfully well & I watched it for over an hour. What a way to be welcomed home!

It rained for the next three days &

 the Sabie River was high.

We have a new arrival in

 Sabie Park!

The next few days were spent around the house. We did some birding but nothing of note seen. On the afternoon of 24th April we visited the picnic site & scored with a female African Finfoot!

Finally the sun came out!

Nothing of note seen until 28th April, when a female Narina Trogon was seen in our garden! I ran to get my camera, but it had gone! This species is a rare, but regular winter visitor, to the strip of riparian forest in front of the house.

I went into KNP on my own on 29th April. Delana stayed home, as she had work to do. I went to the Skukuza Nursery & Lake Panic & then a couple of the local roads. Nothing out of the ordinary was seen, but it was good to be out & about. The best sighting was a flock of 14 Dusky Indigobirds in Skukuza Camp, including two males.

The park is looking very lush & green at the moment,

with all the recent rains.

The last day of the month saw us driving through the park to do a big shop in Hazyview. We are getting ready for our trip away in our caravan. We will be gone for around a month. 

1st May! This year is flashing by! I did some local birding around the house finding African Dusky Flycatcher & Red-billed Firefinch. Then I met Delana at the picnic site, but it was quiet. In the evening we had an African Wood Owl calling around the house, but we failed to obtaain photographs.