Small things, babies (and some dogs) - 5 nights at Kambaku River Sands (Timbavati, South Africa) in the summer

[Towlersonsafari]

To get close to elephants on foot and watch without disturbing them is one of the most exciting and wonderful things we have ever done @pomkiwi

[Marks]

Those are some nice tender moments with the hyenas.

 

5 hours ago, xelas said:

Hyenas are cute ... until they grew up!

 

And then they're cuter! 

[pomkiwi]

The less cute side of hyenas

 

The morning was dry but the sky threatening.

 

 

We met a very stately looking waterbuck who posed beautifully.

 

 

 

 

A little further on two younger males were sparring.

 

 

 

 

A giraffes companions were either greeting the dawn or (more likley) squabbling.

 

 

We spent a good deal of the morning looking for the group of dogs that we had seen the previous evening. JJ was sure he caught a glimpse of one down by a river bed but by the time we arrived we were looking at a print as the only evidence.

 

 

 

Just as we were giving up we heard a lound commotion of snarling and barking from fairly close. We guessed that the dogs had made a kill but much of the noise came from hyenas.

 

We were at the scene within three minutes but all we found was a group of hyenas who had already largely finished off what we assumed was an impala kill.

 

 

We watched the larger animals take what they wanted

 

 

Warning the smaller members of the clan every time they came near.

 

 

One animal ended up with a large portion of skin and paraded around with it for quite a while.

 

 

Within 10 minutes or so there was nothing left of the impala and the hyenas dispersed. We did likewise and headed for breakfast.

 

 

Edited March 9, 2018 by pomkiwi

[Kitsafari]

that tortoise is precious! and so were the dogs and hyenas. 

[pomkiwi]

Termites and Birds

 

On the way back from the hyenas we stopped for coffee. We noticed a large number of termites flying and then found that they were emerging from the ground, unfurling wings and taking off.  This provided the opportunity for lots of feeding.

Ants surrounded the openings from which the temites emerged and would attack them before they could open their wings and then drag them away.

There was a red velvet mite also enjoying the feed

 

Some hatchings were well attended by birds on the ground:

 

 

Even when airborne the termites were not safe, a grey hornbill was circling around

 

 

 

 

 

I managed to catch one sequence where what I think is a drongo (but may be a southern black flycatcher - thanks @Peter Connan) caught a termite in flight, hanging on to the body as wings fell away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2018 by pomkiwi

[xelas]

Wow, wow, wow!!!

[Peter Connan]

Fabulous sequence!

[pomkiwi]

Thanks @xelas and @Peter Connan I was very impressed by the ability of the D500 to acquire and retain the focus.

[Peter Connan]

Jip, it changes the game for this type of shot.

Looking at this series again, I am almost convinced this was a juvenile Drongo. Sorry for causing confusion.

[pomkiwi]

Water monitor vs blacksmith lapwing

 

It was still overcast as we went out for the afternoon drive. We stopped at a dam and watched a water monitor entering the murky water.

 

 

It made steady progress but attracted the attention of a blacksmith lapwing

 

 

The bird went round several times swooping at the lizard

 

 

I think the spash is the result of the monitor ducking under the water ather than the bird striking the surface

 

 

 

Eventually the monitor reached the other bank but was being watched carefully, a crowned lapwing joining in.

 

 

A fallen log offered a safe refuge

 

Edited March 11, 2018 by pomkiwi

[Towlersonsafari]

wonderful photo's @pomkiwi and lapwings everywhere seem to have this aggressive tendency!

[Game Warden]

On 10/03/2018 at 3:29 PM, pomkiwi said:

 

 

Great timing on this series of images.

 

Matt

[pomkiwi]

@Game Warden and @Towlersonsafari thank-you for your kind comments. As mentioned above the D500 proved a revelation when it came to the ability to capture birds in action. It was just a shame the light wasn't better on occasions but the weather can't be changed!

[pomkiwi]

Restless elephants

 

The afternoon drive continued with an elephant encounter. This felt very different from the first afternoon when we had sat peacefully with a small family group.

 

This group was bigger - around 20 individuals. They were moving quickly through the bush and never really stopped to feed.

 

 

 

 

 

We got some nice views of the youngsters trying to keep up with the adults.

 

 

 

 

The last group included a young adult who did not seem impressed to see us in the path

 

 

We watched as they marched onwards

 

 

[pomkiwi]

More (mainly) small  things

 

We went on another bush walk but other than the sound of something large quite close (we thought) it was an unremarkable 40 minutes of exercise.

 

Some impala posed nicely in the evening light (I always vow to take more photos of impala).

 

 

 

The wet weather brought out a large number of dung beetles and we spent some time watching this male moving his construction and female passenger.

 

 

 

 

Close by JJ spotted a spider wasp (pompolid) that had captured a spider and was dragging it off to a burrow. The wasp paralyses the spider and then buries it having deposited its egg on the abdomen. The larvae then uses the spider as a food source - nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to the baby theme with a nice mother and child giraffe pose.

 

 

 

Sundowners by a dam finished off a pleasant and quiet afternoon and was pretty much as close as we got to a sunset all week.

 

 

(To view the photos in higher resolution (useful for the wasp) double click on the image and enlarge it)

Edited March 12, 2018 by pomkiwi

[Marks]

7 hours ago, pomkiwi said:

(To view the photos in higher resolution (useful for the wasp) double click on the image and enlarge it)

 

Wasps being my particular phobia, I'll respectfully decline in this instance. 

 

Great batch of photos though! The elephants really stand out in monochrome.

[pomkiwi]

@Marks  Thank-you. I like anoccasional conversion to black and white and feel that it works well for groups of elephants. Just for comparison I attach the original (after cropping) and the conversion.

 

 

[xelas]

Sometimes the b&w photo works much stronger; this is one such case. Very good, @pomkiwi!

[pomkiwi]

A morning with dogs

 

It had been wet again overnight and we set off with the intention of trying to avoid going off road if possible. We got to the main tarmac road through the reserve at exactly the same time as a wild dog - the sort of co-incidence that keeps us all coming on safari.

The rest of the pack caught up and it was clear that this was a different group than our first, this one comprised of 5 males.

They were keeping a staeady pace along the road and occasionally stopping when it appeared that they might have heard or smelt something.

 

At one point they all stopped and spread out at equal intervals along the road either side of the vehicle. It was easy to imagine how easy it might be for prey to stumble upon one of these sentries.

 

 

 

Too big, too far and just too much effort:

 

 

Then they got moving again

 

Jumping dog?

 

They did observe the speed limit

 

As they approached the top of the rise it became increasingly challenging to cope with the generally low light, dark dogs, glare from the wet road and brightening sky when composing a shot (a long way from the golden light I'd had in Kenya)

 

So I gave up and did a quick conversion to black and white!

 

[pomkiwi]

Upsetting a neighbour

 

The dogs stopped and all switched attention to the same direction.

The lead dog headed into the bush and the others followed fanning out as they went.

We found a firm looking route and headed off road to find that the source of interest was a solo adult wildebeest.  A couple of the dogs decided to chance an approach

 

 

The others decided not to join in and the widebeest turned the tables

 

 

 

There was then a short stand off

 

 

 

Before the dogs wandered back to the road. 

 

Here a couple started rolling in the gravel and JJ told us that they were rolling on a large millipede that contained a number of chemicals toxic to ticks and parasites in the dogs fur.

 

A few minutes later they all headed off into the bush and we let them be.

 

All in all we spent about 40 minutes with the pack and were the only people there - a real privilege.

[Peter Connan]

Great sighting!

[Ritsgaai]

I enjoyed this sequences and narrative very much. Well done.

[xelas]

13 hours ago, pomkiwi said:

JJ told us that they were rolling on a large millipede that contained a number of chemicals toxic to ticks and parasites in the dogs fur.

 

In Costa Rica we were told that monkeys are using the millipede for the same purpose!

Edited March 17, 2018 by xelas

[pomkiwi]

More restless elephants

 

Shortly after leaving the dogs to their hunting a group of elephants passed close to us but moving quickly. We got a brief glimpse through the bush.

 

We headed to a nearby waterhole and a large group of elephants approached.

 

 

We hoped that they would come down and relax for a while as we had morning coffee and enjoyed the company from the other side. Most of them kept on going but a few did come down quickly albeit only for a couple of minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

A few minutes later a third group came past but they were almost running and paid the water no regard at all.

 

Finally half an hour later we came across a smaller goup who were again moving and not feeding. One member of this goup was slightly irritated by our presence but after staring at us briefly moved off.

 

 

 

What was puzzling was that all of these groups were going in the same direction and moving quickly. JJ was at a loss to explain this but could only guess that they were moving due to changes in the weather.  Overall I guess we saw in excess of 60 elephants but few of them for more than 30 seconds.

 

[pomkiwi]

Quieter moments

One of the things I love about being on safari are the quieter moments. We had a few of these after leaving the elephants.

 

A kudu with impressive horns gazed out from the bushes

 

 

The mountains finally revealed themselves

 

On returning to camp we discovered the monkeys had been exploring

 

 

 

Around lunchtime a single elephant came to the waterhole and enjoyed making his own shower:

 

 

In the afternoon we started slowly with a spurfowl not running away

 

aleopard tortoise at the opposite end of the size spectrum from the one we saw earlier

 

This view emphasizes the odd shape of the shell

Finally a younger kudu posed nicely

Before seeming to share some deep secret with us

Edited March 21, 2018 by pomkiwi