Bombarded by beetles, mobbed by monkeys and the case of the secret squirrels- just another jolly time in the kruger November 2022

[Towlersonsafari]

in fact we were big fans of the bridge

[Towlersonsafari]

Whilst at leteba we also explored the Englehard dam area- lots of nooks and crannies- speaking to someone at dinner later we did establsih we had missed lions by about 5 minutes here, although the reason we were speakin was to admire a lion seen from the restaurant that evening!.Here are a couple of shots from that area, including fever trees

[Towlersonsafari]

We started to see  a lot more ground Hornbills -the juvenile above was one of 5.

Ou next sttop was the Bataleur wilderness camp- a very nice place to stay, very roomy and once we had asked the squirrel to leave the living room ,the kitchen and rooms were very animal free.We were greeted quite soon however by a Rock monitor who joined us on the porch, before finding a tree more salubrious

[Towlersonsafari]

The S52 was another riverine road with the chance of leopard-sadly not realised for us-around every corner, and elephants, buffalos and waterbuck predominant Also the only half decent photo of a Hoopoo

[Towlersonsafari]

We also watched 2 ground Hornbills grooming, and a White Fronted moth eater gave nice views

[Kitsafari]

that's a mighty shot of the always stunning batelur!

 

 

[Towlersonsafari]

Thank you @KitsafariI was suprised it was in focus!

The camp had a waterhole, and we watched 4 nightjar- could not tell which species-hawk for insects in the gloom, and an old buffalo come down to drink, to end the day

[Towlersonsafari]

after 2 nights at Bataleur , we headed for another wilderness camp, Sirheni- not too far away so we decided to head up to Punda maria rest camp first.Sirheni was our favourite camp. lovely grounds, 2 waterholes although none with water when we were there, and spacious accomadation with an indoor kitchen! We will certainly be back.it also has a resident leopard, with cub, but sadly  did not see them despite desperate  looking! The roaad to the camp was another riverine road looking across the sandy river valleyAlso nearby was the Babalela picnic site well worth a stop with violet backed starlings, crested barbet arrow marked babblers and a host of other birds. to try to illustarte the difference in scenery between the riverine road and the eneral mopane scrub, here are 2 elephant shots

[Towlersonsafari]

we wee joined for lunch at punda maria by a creamstriped Owl (Cyligramma latona) and back at the cottage this splendily named-and coloured Heady Maiden moth (Amata cerbera0

[Towlersonsafari]

and even though the waterholes at the camp seemed dry, the view from our verandah was not bad at all

[Towlersonsafari]

we did notice this yellow billed stork, in the heat of the day, and we think it was cooling down with its own faeces. we also met a very friendly arrow marked babbler at the picnic site

[Towlersonsafari]

findin wildlife is , when driving oneself around, often a matter of luck.and whilst we did not see the resident leopard, we did come across something much rarer on our travels not far from the camp, but in the mopane scrub.we saw 5-6 elephants by an artificial waterhole, quite late in the morning, and decided to watch them.there was one other car and we both were delighted to see this female Roan antelope- to our inexperienced eye it looks either pregnant or with young.as to left the other car driver grinned and gave a thumbs up. i think there are about 70-90 in the park, a victim of the artificial waterhole programme now reversed. here is a link to an article on the subject https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320798001207

 

[Towlersonsafari]

in fact following the roan sighting another traveller told us where to find some more sleepy lions- only about 3 miles from camp-not a reat view but lions none the less

[Towlersonsafari]

An early start found a hippo on its way back to frankly foul looking goop

[Towlersonsafari]

So our time in the kruger was coming to an end.. there was one road that we visited on both the last full day and on our way out-the S99 that does a loop round punda maria rest camp- it is a hilly oasis of tress and lush rass in a sea of dry mopani and we saw a host of wildlife on both occasions. compare the buffalo in the dry river bed near Sirheni with the one wallowing in the waterhole on the S99

[Towlersonsafari]

we saw some more youngsters-

[Towlersonsafari]

and some piglets- about 7- running around madly

[Towlersonsafari]

and witnessed a "How many elephants can we get in the mud hole competition,?" until one decided it did not like us

[Towlersonsafari]

we saw what we think were ayres hawk Eagles, and on our way out, 2 more sleeping lions.we were speaking to a local family who knew a lot about this coalition-part of 6 apparently- and who seemed to spend most weekends trying to find them. we had a speldid time in the kruger, bu who could not, and were now off to the soutpansberg mountains

[Kitsafari]

you had great sighings in Kruger. makes me miss Africa even more. 

[Atravelynn]

Love the racing piglets.

[Towlersonsafari]

Thank you @Kitsafariand @Atravelynn, the pilets were great fun, suddenly dashing of for no reason, stopping and running back to their mums! we did have a lot of fun and it was great to be back. but now for something a bit different. it was about a 4 hour jorney to our next destination leshiba mountain wilderness, in the soutspanberg mountains. not the easiest of  tips-lots of traffic, lots of potholes, and the route from the main road to the place itself was interesting- about 45 minutes of very rough steep tracks, but it was one of the friendliest places we have ever stayed at.we were in the venda art villiage- here is a link to their website

https://leshiba.co.za/

some places just work, and this was one of them.the staff were very good, very friendly and on top of their game, the food excellent and the area beautiful.they ofer guided walks and selg guided walks, a game drive, and we were very well looked after by Lukas,Josephine, mohalado and the guides Peter and jack- indeed we got hugs from Josepehine when we left!

sadly i did too much walking uphill the first day and my 30 +year old artificial knee protested so we did not walk as far as we wanted.jane is convinced this was because we were in an automatic and my left leg had atrophied through lack of use!they have rhino, giraffe and plains ame, but no predators save the occasional leopard- we did ssee fresh tracks, and we saw cape Vultures- a first for us, and a host of other birds.adly not the crowned eagles or narina trogons they have there. we will be back

[Towlersonsafari]

we were met by  christmas the cat- who was keen to see us whenever food was served

[Towlersonsafari]

And enjoyed fine views from our chalet

[Towlersonsafari]

we saw some rock painins and aslo this mask- not sure of origin -but it does look a bit mysterious