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We certainly did! 😁

But it wasn’t long before we found another Jaguar. This one is Tingana- the female cub of Ti,  Littermate of Kyyaverá  from 2023.  She is named in honor of a famous leopard in South Africa. Her name means “shy” in Shangaan language.   P9193674  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193676  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193692_01  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193710  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193736  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   But she was anything but shy when we saw her and was actively hunting for quite some time which enabled us, along with an entourage of other boats to follow her for quite some time. She was adept at moving both along the top of the banks, navigating thick vegetation and making impressive jumps up and down the steep face of the riverbanks. We followed her for the rest of the morning, but despite a couple of near misses she was unsuccessful in her hunting on this occasion.   P9193740  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193757  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193780  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193808_01  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193841  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193851  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193864_01  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193869  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193874  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193888  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193908  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193910  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193932_01  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193953  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193956  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193958  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193962  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193964  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193970  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193976  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193981  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193994_01  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9194007  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9194012  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9194016_01  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9194022  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9194029_01  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9194041   Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9194046_01  Jaguar Tingana-female cub of Ti 2023 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

You had great luck with Jaguars and birds @kittykat23uk!

Ouch! (To that last photo).   Great report, really enjoying it. I have actually been thinking about doing a South or Central American country for early 2026. Mainly to satisfy my birding craze to be honest. Hm, 606 species in Belize, and 335 would be lifers, not bad. Adding in some gorgeous landscape and culture might be enough to convince birding-craze-worried Andreas. Good value you say. Hm, hm, tempting.   Looking forward to more!

Day 5 19th September 2024   We started with a few birds this morning, a Black-crowned Night Heron, and then a lovely American Pygmy Kingfisher.  We spent some time checking out a local tributary that’s popular with jaguars and our eagle-eyed boatman spotted Bagua, a resident male, who’s very shy and doesn’t like too many boats. He was sitting on top of a bank some distance back from the river. Bagua was the mate of Ibaca in 2021. He was  seen with Bororo 2021, was in a coalition with Xingu in  2022 and 2023, was the mate of Overa in 2023, and also the mate of Saseka in 2023. Bagua was named by the children of the Panthera Porto Jofre School. He was first seen between São Pedrinho and Caxiri. His name means a wild steer and is also a word used to describe a wild animal. He didn’t look likely to move and after a while we carried on.    P9192939 Sunrise by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9192853 Black-crowned Night Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9192873 Black-crowned Night Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9192923  Yacare Caiman by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9192932  Yacare Caiman & Cocoi Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9192947 American pygmy kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea) by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9192970  American pygmy kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea) by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9192977  American pygmy kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea) by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193005 Capybara by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193016 Greater Ani by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193040 Jaguar Bagua-resident male used to have a coalition with Xingu 2021-2023. showed up in 2021 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   Jaguar Bagua-resident male used to have a coalition with Xingu 2021-2023. showed up in 2021 by Jo Dale, on Flickr   We passed more birds and capybaras. A black-collared Hawk appeared to be feeding on some kind of vegetation, which we thought was a bit odd. We encountered a pair of Buff-necked Ibis on a sandbar.  More birds followed with nice views of Boat-billed Herons, Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures and a Pied Plover.   P9193106 Wattled Jacana by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193125 Black-capped Donacobious by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193143  Capybara by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193152 Black-collared Hawk by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193175 Buff-necked Ibis by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193192 Green Iguana by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193224  Black-collared Hawk by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193233 Amazon Kingfisher by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193235  Amazon Kingfisher by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193240 Boat-billed Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193249 Boat-billed Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193291  Striated Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193303  Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193334 Pied Plover by Jo Dale, on Flickr   We encountered another Jaguar resting in the shade of some trees on the river bank. We didn’t get a good enough shot to ID this one though. Soon after, we came across another Jaguar. This is a female called Lua, she is the Cub of Axa and Litterermate of Tupã. Her missing left eye makes her easier to identify.    P9193349  Jaguar - unable to ID. by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193383   Jaguar Lua- Cub of Axa- missing left eye by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193389   Jaguar Lua- Cub of Axa- missing left eye by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193448    Jaguar Lua- Cub of Axa- missing left eye by Jo Dale, on Flickr   She wasn’t inclined to move, like the previous two cats, so we carried on. A pair of Giant Otters were investigating a Black Howler Monkey that had come down to the river to drink. They were entertaining to watch for a while.    P9193514  Black Howler Monkey by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193514_01  Black Howler Monkey by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193515_01 Black Howler Monkey by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193539  Giant river otter by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193570   Giant river otter by Jo Dale, on Flickr   P9193614 Giant river otter by Jo Dale, on Flickr

Ah, De Hoop, really liked it there. Great photos Tony, particularly the Rhebok (very close apparently) and the Rockjumper. Funny with the Rockjumper tour. 😁

Look @TonyQhow can i do any work if you keep bringing back so many good memories! we had a trip with the Fynbos guy and visited the sewage works- we wanted to see flamingos, and agree is is a very interesting and entertaining guide1 and we also saw a Rockjumper but not as close- enjoying the report

@Caracal if you look at the landscape its obviously forests, and large areas of Quebec will have that type of terrain, with a climate that has a lot of snow -  well suited for owls.

I am planning on visiting Indonesia, does anybody any recommendations on place I can visit also? I read about Mount Batur and Island Java from this article  https://gowithguide.com/blog/indonesia-tourism-statistics-2023-all-you-need-to-know-5383 is it worth it?  Your recommendations will really a big help! 

Horse fly bite at La Milpa ! We had to do some minor surgery! Thankfully she managed to avoid the Chiggers/ mites at La Milpa ! We've travelled to many exotic destinations but this was the worst! I'll make sure she is covered with Deet 50 when we go to Panama. 

Hyraxes were very relaxed   As were the Ostriches   General scene Birding was very enjoyable Bokmakierie Grey-winged Francolin Fiscal Flycatcher Bar-throated Apalis Tropical Boubou Although we only stayed for two nights, we had a very enjoyable time.

One of the good things about DeHoop is that you can walk and drive where you want. It is good for birding, and there are interesting mammals to see Rhebok   Bontebok Mountain Zebra   Yellow Mongoose Tortoise crossing the road     We went on a boat trip on the Vlei, but it was very windy which made looking for birds difficult – so a bit disappointing. (We went on the boat on our previous visit and it was very good)

We stopped at Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens, a short distance from Betty’s Bay. Yellow Bishop We did not stay very long as it was beginning to rain quite heavily! So we headed to Hermanus for a good lunch at the Burgundy Restaurant. Learning Note: The battery on my phone is not great. We use it for navigating. I usually plug it into the car by USB. However, this car (unlike ours) had USBC sockets. So I managed to find a small phone shop in Hermanus, a short walk from the restaurant, that could see me the correct lead for my phone. So, in future I must take both types of connecting leads! After lunch we headed to Woolworths to do shopping for the self-catering part of the trip. The Cape Area has very good supermarkets.   Next it was on our way towards DeHoop, our base for 2 nights. The road from the highway to DeHoop was gravel, but it was fine Blue Crane Namaqua Sandgrouse   We had booked a Vlei Cottage (it may have been the same cottage we had on our previous trip.   https://www.dehoopcollection.com/    

@offshorebirderthank you - it was a good travel year!   For the next part of the trip we had hired a car, a VW SUV (for the higher clearance). We used Zest Car Hire from the UK (and they used Europcar – the same as our 2 previous visits to South Africa). The roads on this trip were generally very good and not too busy. Petrol is cheap compared to the UK.   We set off early to beat the traffic. First stop was Roo-Els, a small settlement where our particular target bird is regularly seen. It is usually a mountain bird, but here the bird comes much lower.   We parked and then walked along a track. We spotted a birding group already looking at the rocks. They had a scope set up, and their guide generously offered us a look. That helped us to see the bird and we were delighted to see it come down until it was very close.   Cape Rockjumper (female)   Cape Rockjumper (male)   It was a superb view, and the light was very good. The birding group were from Rockjumper - we met them later (at New Holme and they appeared to have a good trip)     We also saw Cape Bunting   We moved on to Betty’s Bay see some more African Penguins And many cormorants. The weather was becoming very cloudy, and rain appeared to be on the way.

Lovely bird and butterfly photos. The insect bites look nasty!