Animals, Birds, plants and trees - Kruger Park Oct.2013.

[tod2]

Thank you so much!

One animal you will definitely see many times over are the giraffes. They have the most gorgeous eyes and an almost haughty attitude.
These are a few we came across.






Mum stops just long enough to give her baby a quick pint of milk.


The young calf nibbles at new spring leaves.


Two young giraffes in a playful mood.

[mich64]

Fabulous photos and videos Tod! It reminds me of how special this board really is. At any time we can open up threads and see the beauty of our world. I particularly enjoyed the elephant footprints and the snuggling giraffes.

[bjd]

Thanks again, Tod. I really like giraffes too. I always wondered how they communicate since they don't make any sound and don't spend their time looking at each other.

[htmb]

Tod, your giraffe photographs are absolutely stunning!!!! Incredible.

[tod2]

I am grateful for your nice comments everyone - we were so lucky to see something like that between two young giraffes. I have seen a more aggressive move like bumping necks and heads once before between two older giraffes and they meant business.

From Pretoriuskop camp we drove a long way north to one of the largest restcamps in the park, namely Letaba. The lush surroundings of this camp give it a tropical feel and one forgets the dry dusty roads and miles of burned grass.





These Lala Palms produce a round hard fruit.




During the day one finds the camp deserted but in the late afternoon the resident bushbuck have started to congregate in the hopes of a titbit of leftover food. I poured a little mound of sugar for them to lick but if the monkeys were around they got it first. I noticed the buck like licking the iron grid of the BBQ from the night before.








Just a little sparing...


The restaurant - mostly deserted until evening. It overlooks the wide sweeping bend on the Olifants River.


One can walk quite a long way next to the fence - this shot shows the bend in Letaba River as it sweeps past the restcamp.


As night falls the buck go to lie down in sandy hollows and the camp takes on a festive mood as fires are lit and smoke rises in the air. Laughter and the clink of glasses is heard but never loud or invasive.

[questa]

Giraffes have such gentle faces. Adelaide Zoo couldn't understand why the phone lines kept dropping out. Turned out that the big male giraffe was leaning out of his exhibit near the office and licking the cables. He would get a small electric shock, but it seemed that was sort of hooked on the "pleasure tingle"

[mossie]

Wonderful Tod. The giraffes and bushbucks just sit up and pose for you and you take beautiful shots of them, thanks for showing us such an idyllic setting.

[tod2]

Questa - Aren't animals funny! I can see that being adictive!

Mossie - The Letaba camp is one of my favourites but their house-keeping leaves a lot to be desired. I don't take a moldy shower very well. There is no excuse as the huts are vacated very early by most and the maids have ample time to do some scrubbing.
Luckily we have a report to fill in at the end of each tour in the park and all complaints and criticisms can be aired.

[tod2]

Time for the final sighting of the Big Cats.

Bead Cheetah & cubs


And here is the real thing walking right next to our vehicle. The cheetah appears to be pre-occupied with a smell in the air and stops often to sniff and listen.








The next fellow was far more relaxed and took no notice at the amount of vehicles that had arrived to look at him or her, in all their magnificence.





During our drive one early morning we encountered a lot of footprints in the damp soil. The rain the day before had added a bonus to our scouting for animals as these spoor would not be visible in dry dusty conditions.
From the amount of hoof spoor and what must have been one of the big cats, we could clearly see a tremendous scuffle had taken place. Unfortunately no kill anywhere near.










Maybe it was an attack on this fellow?








And he ended up like this....

[Deleted]

Nobody can accuse that cheetah of being overweight!

[questa]

The picture straight after the bead work is magnificent, both as a pic and the perfection of the animal. As K2 noted...built for speed, not a gram of excess fat and long powerful legs. Even the small, sloping head is like a cyclist's racing helmet, and that tail is a long counterbalance to help the cheetah corner at speed.

The second and third pics of the gnus...I had a very kind primary school teacher who looked like this animal...can't you see a middle aged lady with hair parted and big gentle eyes?

[bjd]

Those aren't gnus, are they? I think they are buffalo (the African kind).

[tod2]

Quite right bjd! Those are Cape Buffalo and are as mean as hell.

This is a Wildebeest or Gnu

[bjd]

I remember seeing them in Kenya and being told they were among the most dangerous animals. Even though the little birds sit on them to eat bugs.

[tod2]

Letaba camp is straight ahead when entering the park through Phalaborwa gate. Shortly after one enters here you will come across the Sable Hide over looking Sable Dam. This hide is an 'overnight' hide and you can make a reservation to spend the night or several nights.

The Sable Hide


Inside the beds are stacked against the wall, at the same time displaying hand painted images of the birds in Kruger.






This visit to the hide was special. This time we were not on the lookout for birds but for a message! My report on Kruger in 2011 had inspired two New Yorker's to visit Africa and Kruger Park was one of their destinations. As I visit twice a year I asked them to leave a note with "Killroy Was Here!" - hiding it somewhere in Sable Hide.
And after a long search I finally found it - Thank you so much for doing that Nycgirl!

This is the door - and hiding spot. Unless you had a clue where to look, you would not find it.








Also nearby is the 19thC Iron Age Site of Masorini. Worth a visit to break the animal sightings.
We did not visit this time.
www.sanparks.co.za/parks/kruger/people/heritage/masorini.php

Heading farther north we drive up to Punda Maria just for one night. This was all that was available and we wanted to experience the luxury tented camp at Punda.
All very impressive but something roosting or scrambling around woke me several times during the night and so it wasn't a good experience for me.
The entrance walkway.


Well hidden in amongst the bush.




Kitchens outside but well sheltered.


The BBQ was on top of a long pole - don't drop the meat!






At night it was well lit to guide you home..


Far northern Kruger where we are now, lies on a fault-line known as the Limpopo Mobile Belt, which is the joint between the Kaapvaal Craton - the crust of the earth supporting South Africa - and the Central African Craton to the north. The hot springs in the Pafuri area are evidence of water being heated through cracks from deep below the earths surface.
This area is the birding mecca of South Africa because it has so many Afrotropical species not seen further north.
We saw people that had come to spend 3 months at Punda Maria so they could do some serious bird watching.
There are private camps nearer Pafuri (an hours drive away) but Punda Maria is the furtherest Kruger Park camp.

It was at Pafuri Picnic site that we encountered those 'sliding' elephants - a short drive and you come to the end of the road at Crooks Corner.




Before leaving Punda Maria camp we did the circle road called the Mahonie Loop. This is a fabulous drive with dozens of bird sightings....if only they would stay long enough to photograph! Beside birds there are lovely flowers to look at.

Ipomoea sinensis - Morning Glory Family


Scientific Name Tephrosia capensis


Pancratium tenuifolium or Dwaalboom




This plant is from the Myrtle Species COMBRETUM MASSAMBICENSE or in English...Knobbly Climbling Bushwillow or Knobbly Creeper.






GLOSSY BOTTLEBRUSH - Greyia sutherlandii


Some attractive 'mossie' shapes






Sebaea spathulata - (Spoon shaped)




Jasminum multipartitum - Common or Starry Wild Jasmine

[Deleted]

I was going back over the whole report to admire the pictures and discovered to my horror that I had completely missed the reptile and bird sequence at #21. I think that some of my absolutely favourite pictures are there -- such as the green beaked Black Crake, the Blacksmith chick, and those very fine trousers that the Longlegged Buzzard is wearing!

Do you know what kind of wood was used to build the camp in Punda? It almost looks like mahogany, but that is not an African tree.

Crooks Corner looks like a flash flood waiting to happen to me.

[fumobici]

Love the flower photos. Had to watch the sliding elephants again too.

[tod2]

Thanks Kerouac & Fumobici. I have never seen elephants do that, but now that I know exactly where to see it again I will always spend a day there!

Kerouac, I have a few photos I wasn't going to include but they show the devastation that happened in January when the Luvuvhu and Limpopo rivers converged and simply swept the whole area under water.

[bjd]

Those flowers look rather delicate -- like spring flowers, although it's autumn for you, isn't it? Or are they a result of the heavy rains you mention?

I am a fan of the elephants and giraffes.

[tod2]

bjd - Yes, those were the first flowers of spring in September/October.
We are in Autumn now but you wouldn't think it with 31C yesterday!

[nycgirl]

Yay, you found my note! Glad it was still there safe and sound. I hope I can return one day and get a note from you.

It looks like you had an amazing trip filled with beautiful big cats. I would have loved to see cheetahs, they are so graceful. So cool you saw an adorable baby rhino, too. I only saw one from a distance and didn't get to see its little face.

Elephants are still my personal favorite and you captured some great moments of them, from the one drinking rainwater on the road to the one who clambered onto a wall of rocks. The video of the elephants sliding in the mud was delightful. I'll definitely swing by that spot if I ever go back.

Nice job capturing the frolicking giraffes. As common as they are, I never get tired of seeing them. There are a lot of behaviors I'd like to see them do, like awkwardly splaying their legs to get a drink, or swaying their neck like a pendulum to get up from lying down. They sure are strange and special.

Last but not least, lovely photos of the birds and flora. I'm loving this whole report!

[tod2]

Great to see you nycgirl! I was hoping you would find my report sometime - nearly at the end. Looks like we may not get to Kruger this year, but always live in hopes hey!? I certainly hope you will be back one day. You always see something different on every trip.

[Kimby]

Love these reports and loved our 2002 trip to Kruger.

Question: why do you think the muddy footprints indicated a cat attack? I was told that the claws of felines, except cheetahs, are retracted and don't usually show in their footprints. Could this be evidence of hyenas, jackals or African dogs?

imageshack.com/i/mu0w6kj

[tod2]

Kimby I have tried to look up the answer as to which cat or clawed creature was involved but to me the prints look very similar and only an expert ranger could probably tell right away!
I have always thought that it was a lion that could not retract it's claws?! Will check.

Here in the far north of Kruger, one might stand at Crooks Corner and use your binoculars to survey the banks of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. At Pafuri there are other ancient sites, namely Thulamela dating from the 13th to 17th century and referred to as the Thulamela culture with a pre-colonial trading network, but further up the Limpopo valley at the Mapungubwe site, it shows active trading with the coast began around 900AD.
Arab, Indian and possibly even Chinese ships docked on the Mozambican coastline to trade in commodities from the Southern African interior - Animal skins, ivory products, gold and copper were channeled down the Limpopo river to the Indian ocean.
At Thulamela, Indian glass and Chinese porcelain have been found among the locally manufactured copper, gold and iron artifacts.

As we were right there having spent the night at Punda Maria we decided to and see it before our picnic lunch at Pafuri.
There was nothing preventing us entering the site but going to investigate the actual stone ruins would have been madness without the required armed guide. So we stuck to the area around the entrance.










Flood damage as the Limpopo and Luvuvhu rivers converged and covered the forest in red sand and uprooted trees.


Some trees have help to stay rooted to the spot.


Pafuri Picnic site where a herd of elephants come to swim.




Looking at Zimbabwe


The north of Kruger is also baobab country - that is not to say there are none further south. Yes there are but appear much younger.
These were some we saw in various stages of being eaten by elephants because the wood is so fibrous and probably delicious.

The Baobab (Adansonia digitata).
This is Africa's most distinctive tree with it's stout fleshy trunk and widely spreading crown. They grow around 25m tall and has outstanding longevity - some trees in Kruger are believed to be well over 4,000 years old. An extraordinary feature of the tree is that it collapses when it dies.
Older baobabs often have hollowed-out trunks big enough for several humans to fit inside . Such trees have been used through the ages as hiding places, jails and places to store food and water. The trees are spectacular when in bloom with their large saucer-like white flowers.























At our next camp - Mopani, there is an ancient baobab which one can sit under and read a book or just listen to the bush.










And amongst the oldies a young vibrant baobab sporting it's new spring leaves when all around has yet to recover from winter.


Next: The birds of Mopani Camp...

[mossie]

Yet another super nature study lesson. While I had heard of the baobab tree and seen a picture, I had no idea of its lifestyle. Eager to see the birds.

[tod2]

This is our accommodation at Mopani Restcamp - not exciting as other camps but beautifully clean and right among the birdlife.




Natal Francolin


Quite rare in the sightings list - the Grey Hornbill . This is a male.


Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill - Enjoying a dust bath.






Grey Lourie or Go-away-Bird -




Red-crested Korhaan
With crest down..


With crest raised ( very difficult to ever see like this)


Crested Barbet




Arrowmarked Babler


Tries out my impromptu bird bath




Masked Weaver




A Grassveld Pipit calling. Quite a merry tune!




A few more unusual sights and sounds to come and that's it!

[Kimby]

The mammals are great, but thanks for including so many pictures of birds for us bird-watchers.

[questa]

I am overwhelmed by the whole presentation! I am reading sections many times and wishing I could take pics like you can.
The old baobab has been used as a jail in Broome, Western Oz and other outposts.

[htmb]

Wonderful, and I'm also happy to see the birds. They're so different from what we see here. Great pictures!

[Deleted]

What's there not to love about a baobab? I was reading that there are 8 different species of them, which explains why your South African baobabs look so different from the ones I saw in Senegal.

Another wonderful series of bird photos!