Sable dam & Satara, 2014

Trip Gallery

Having run out of ideas for birthday gifts for Johan, I decided to give him a trip to the bush. I spent hours on google, searching for private lodges that offer the bush-feel that I knew he would want (including at least some of the big 5) and yet fall inside the realms of affordability. There were none. So I went back to our national parks, and gave Johan a choice – Pilanesberg, Marakele, Mapongupwe, or Kruger. He picked Kruger, and specifically – Satara. In an attept to make the trip extra-special (it was his birthday gift, after all) we decided to start by spending the first night in the sleep-over hide at Sable Dam.

What an experience! Any trip that starts with a sunset as spectacular as the one from Sable Dam hide, can only be good!

I will start with the lists of species that we spotted:

Birds

1. Common Ostrich
2. Crested Francolin
3. Red-necked Spurfowl
4. Swainson’s Spurfowl
5. Helmeted Guineafowl
6. Egyptian Goose
7. Golden-tailed Woodpecker**
8. Southern Red-billed Hornbill
9. Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
10. African Grey Hornbill
11. Southern Ground-Hornbill
12. African Hoopoe
13. Green Wood-hoopoe
14. Lilac-breasted Roller
15. Purple Roller
16. Giant Kingfisher
17. Pied Kingfisher
18. Burchell’s Coucal
19. Grey Go-away-bird
20. Cape Turtle Dove
21. Emerald-spotted Wood Dove
22. Kori Bustard
23. Northern Black Korhaan
24. Black Crake
25. Double-banded Sandgrouse
26. African Jacana
27. Water Thick-knee
28. Black-winged Stilt**
29. Three-banded Plover
30. Blacksmith Lapwing
31. White-crowned Lapwing
32. Senegal Lapwing*
33. Crowned Lapwing
34. African Fish Eagle
35. Hooded Vulture
36. White-backed Vulture
37. Lappet-faced Vulture
38. Bateleur
39. Tawny Eagle
40. Martial Eagle
41. Secretarybird
42. Reed Cormorant
43. Grey Heron
44. Goliath Heron
45. Great Egret
46. Western Cattle Egret
47. Hamerkop
48. African Spoonbill
49. Yellow-billed Stork
50. African Openbill
51. Woolly-necked Stork
52. Saddle-billed Stork
53. Magpie Shrike
54. Southern White-crowned Shrike*
55. Fork-tailed Drongo
56. Brubru*
57. Black-backed Puffback
58. Black-crowned Tchagra
59. Orange-breasted Bushshrike
60. Grey-headed Bushshrike*
61. White-crested Helmet-Shrike
62. Chinspot Batis
63. African Stonechat**
64. Mocking Cliff Chat*
65. Cape Glossy Starling
66. Greater Blue-eared Starling
67. Burchell’s Starling
68. Red-billed Oxpecker
69. Rufous-winged Cisticola
70. Long-billed Crombec
71. Arrow-marked Babbler
72. Sabota Lark
73. Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark
74. Red-billed Buffalo Weaver
75. Blue Waxbill

Mammals

1. Impala
2. Bushbuck
3. Kudu
4. Waterbuck
5. Steenbok
6. Grey Duiker
7. Blue Wildebeest
8. African Buffalo
9. Plains Zebra
10. Common Warthog
11. Giraffe
12. African Elephant
13. White Rhinoceros
14. Hippopotamus<
15. Lion
16. Leopard
17. African Wild Cat
18. Spotted Hyaena
19. African Wild Dog
20. Black-backed Jackal
21. Slender Mongoose
22. Dwarf Mongoose
23. Tree Squirrel
24. Vervet Monkey
25. Baboon

* New species
** New species for Kruger National Park

More posts with photos to come…

Operation Flamingo

The graceful flamingo has always been a source of fascination for both of us, and the lack of good photos in our portfolio, a source of frustration. So when we found out that there were flamingos as Glen Austin Pan, not far from where we live, we wasted no time in going to check it out. Our first reconnaissance trip showed a lot of promise – we could get fairly close to the pan on the Western side and with nothing obscuring the sunset, a late afternoon shoot could yield good results.

Two weeks later, we went back, armed with our long lenses. Glen Austin Pan and it’s flamingos did not disappoint!

Crocodile Bridge, August 2013 – part 2

KrugerParkMist_IMG_6452The third morning brought with it thick mist that restricted the view to 10 meters or so, and infused the bush that the magical quiet so unique to misty mornings in the African bush.

As the sun started to burn through the mist, we made our way to the Hippo pools, where we met Daniel, the ranger in charge of looking after tourists in this spot for the last 18 years! Incredibly, he has been cycling the 10km through the bush from Crocodile bridge to Hippo pools every morning, and back again at night, every day for 18 years, and even though he has had some rather nerve-wracking experiences, he has never had to use his gun. He escorted us into the river bed, where we spent a few minutes drinking in the beauty and photographing the hippos. We will definitely go back to hippo pools whenever we stay in the region!

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After hippo pools, we idled slowly up the H4-2 towards Lower Sabie. Shortly after re-joining the tar road, we found a little pearl-spotted owlet. After giving us the run-around for a few minutes, it finally settled on a dry Acacia-tree and allowed us to take a few shots.

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The bridge at Lower Sabie was as fabulous as ever, but unfortunately the light was no longer conducive to good photography. That failed to make the experience of simply being in this very beautiful are in the Kruger Park any less enjoyable.

After hanging around Lower Sabie and the Sunset dam for a while, we made our way back to the Ntandanyathi hide, where we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the silence and photograph any visiting birds, while the resident Crested Barbet tried his utmost best to get us to share our mini-cheddars with him!

On our way back to the camp, we had one last sighting – two beautiful Kudu bulls.

Having made the decision not to rush the packing of the car, we got out of camp on our way to Malelane gate rather late on our last morning. This turned out to be the best thing that we could possibly have done, since we had hardly tuned off the tar road and onto the S25, than we met a stunning specimen of a Black Rhino, walking (uncharacteristically) in the open, right next to the road. There could be no better end to our brief trip that the opportunity to photograph one of these magnificent, and badly threatened animals, up close, in the open, and in sweet light.

We found out a few weeks after the trip that the sores on its sides were not, as we had guessed, battle scars, but rather skin lesions caused by the filaria parasite. This parasite is passed on from one Rhino the next when visiting communal dung heaps, and as a result almost every black rhino will sport these large, inflamed and often septic sores on their sides. (More information)

Crocodile Bridge, August 2013

Trip Gallery

So, after two years spent exploring the north of the park, we found ourselves longing to see the South again. So, with our eyes filled with visions of the awesome big-5 sightings that the southern regions are famous for, and with considerible trepidation that we will spend too much time stuck in some of the infamous Kruger traffic jams, we booked 4 nights in Crocodile bridge.

Having pre-arranged for late entry, we arrived at the gate after 7pm, having lost over an hour to roadworks on the N4. We drove across the low bridge over the crocodile river in pitch dark – an experience that was over much too soon – and were met at the gate with a friendly smile. A few minutes later we were escorted to our bungalow, where we were finally able to relax and have dinner on the balcony with the sound of the water rushing over the weir in the background.

Having the check in the following morning, we missed the best light, but still had a lot of fun, driving down a surprisingly quiet dirt road, checking off all the usual Kruger suspects. Impala, Giraffe, Zerba, Warthog, Elephant, Hornbills – both red and yellow-billed, Lilac Breasted Rollers, Fork-tailed Drongos, Magpie Shrikes, etc, etc, and best of all – wonder of wonders! – several different groups of White Rhino! Seeing these magnificent creatures have become even more special in recent years, because one cannot get the nagging thought out of your head that some day soon there may not be any Rhinos left…

We spent some time relaxing in the …. hide, and as we left, we were rewarded with our first great photo opportunity – a herd of Zerba with red-billed oxpeckers everywhere! The little birds with the bright red bills and yellow eye-rings are photogenic in general, but when contrasted with the graphic black and white of the Zebra, the scene was simple irresistible.

With the basic portraits done, I decided to get playful and experiment a little with different levels and depth-of-field.

Unfortunately, the Ntandanyathi hide is just too far from Crocodile bridge for us to completely relax, and all too soon we had to leave. We did, however, have time to pause and take some shots of a flock of Helmeted Guinea fowl settling down for the night.

The second day dawned with think clouds blocking the sun, but we decided to head out anyway, and make what we could of the rather poor light. Our first goal was Biyamiti Weir. Although the weir itself didn’t offer any great rewards, we did come across a family of dwarf mongoose on our way there.

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From there, we went on to Afsaal, where we had a delicious breakfast of Kudu word, pap and gravy. Highly recommended! With our tummies full, we made our way down to Renoster Pan on the H3, we – surprise! – we were met by three beautiful White Rhinos, and a handful of buffalo.

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Oriole_IMG_5095

With the persistent cloud cover continuing to thicken, we pressed on to Mpondo dam, where we were rewarded with, well, not much really – only a few small waders pecking around in the shallows out of reach of even our long lenses, and an African Jacana. At least we were rewarded with a nice sighting of a black-headed Oriole on the way.

Our final sighting for the day, was well worth waiting for – an African Civet, jogging along the H4-2, a few meters from into the grass. Sadly, the light was too low to get any pictures worth keeping.

Cape Town, January 2013

Trip Gallery

When my company informed me that I have to go to Cape Town for a workshop, on a Friday, it was quite obvious that Johan would join me, and we would make a weekend out of it. With one of our plane tickets paid for by my company, and free accommodation in Summerset West (Thanks Dad!) it would just be wrong if we didn’t do it. So we packed out bags and boarded two separate planes to Cape Town International Airport on Thursday, January 24.

On Friday, while I was in the workshop, Johan hit the road up the West Coast. He spent a leisurely day photographing windsurfers and kite-surfers and getting horribly sun-burnt.

We ended the day on Gordon’s Bay Harbour at sunset.

We started Saturday morning by photographing the penguins at Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town. Forming part of Table Mountain National Park, Boulders Beach is a sanctuary for one of the last remaining colonies of the endangered African Penguin.  When we first photographed these penguins back in December 2008, I noticed that they were fairly habituated to humans, and that if I was careful and patient enough, they would allow me quite close – close enough to shoot them with a wide-angle lens. Unfortunately Cape Town is too far from our hometown to make traveling there trivial, so I had to wait 4 years to test my theory.

It worked! Moving slowly, pausing for a long time after every small movement, I managed to get these penguins to relax enough to allow me withing a meter of them. The photos were everything I had wished for.

After having breakfast at a little restaurant overlooking the beach, went to see the exhibition for the Veola Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year, which, at the time, was at the Iziko South African Museum as part of it’s annual world tour. The exhibition was absolutely spectacular, and if weren’t lucky enough to be able to see it, I would strongly recommend that you get your hands on the printed portfolio.

We spent most of Sunday driving around, looking for photographs, but everywhere we went the strong North Westerly wind made almost any kind of outdoor photography near impossible. We finally managed to get some photographs of a beautiful, modern high-rise apartment building on the beach-front in Strand.

On Monday morning, unfortunately, we had to clean up the flat and get ourselves back to the airport, and home.