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The next morning we visited Lake Panic to do some bird watching. It was quite busy at the hide, but we managed to squeeze in and get a spot.
Me fooling around trying to capture a dragonfly
After that we drove around for a bit and saw a Bateleur, elephants, piggies, more piggies and a Widow bird. Back at Skukuza we met some old friends for lunch and were treated on a lovely sighting just in front of us: A baby hippo.
It even came out of the water later that afternoon and ran up and down the river bank That evening we had drinks on the deck overlooking the river and watched a herd of buffalo peacefully munching away on the other side. Can’t think of a better way to spend a last evening in the park. Goodbye Kruger National Park. See you soon!
After we had settled in, we received visitors at our riverside bungalow.
They stayed for a long time, peacefully foraging for food. I really enjoyed this sighting. As did this guy After a wonderful New Year’s breakfast and lunch we left for Pretoriuskop.
On the way down we passed a Tawny Eagle
I’m sure we saw lots more, but I stopped keeping my KNP Holiday Diary (the cute one you can buy in the shops) on the 1st. We arrived at beautiful old Pretoriuskop. The last time I stayed here was 40 something years ago.
We stayed in one of the little BG2 bungalows that don’t have a kitchen, so we rented a cutlery and plates hamper at Reception, which became an instant hit in our two-person household. The bungalows on the other side of the lawn (with outdoor kitchens)were especially popular with this kind of tourist:
Perhaps designing the food storage and waste area within easy reach of monkeys and baboons had something to do with that.
Anyway, we enjoyed the vervets antics. The next morning we treated ourselves to breakfast at the Pretoriuskop restaurant. Yum. And went off for a short drive. We came across a HUGE mail lion, lying just beside the road.
The traffic was hectic though, one lady almost drove into the lion. After taking a few quick pix, we left the scene. Not our cup of tea. We went back to check out and set off to Afsaal Picnic Spot, where we were meeting a whole bunch of people. We decided to take the Voortrekkers Road to Afsaal.
I soon regretted that choice. The wash board effect was quite rough, which meant a slow and bumpy ride. I needed to go to the toilet. There are no toilets along the Voortrekkers road. When we finally reached Afsaal I sprinted to the WC and thanked all Water Spirits that there wasn’t a queue. It was nice to see the Scops owl again. Even though he (she) was hiding away.
After our meet and greet lunch we were off to Skukuza where we would spend our last two nights in the park.
We spotted a Knob-billed duck ✓ at a waterhole. First time to see them in the wild. It was too far away for a photo though. Pity. This beauty peeked out of the bush at us
The next morning, the very last day of 2010, we got up before the crack of dawn. We were driving all the way to Skukuza to stay with friends. We were waved off by a family of Ground Hornbills.
We stopped at Letaba for some breakfast and saw more Ground Hornbills in a tree
We didn’t stop often, but couldn’t resist these piggies
Or this vulture picnic near Satara
Marabou Stork joining the party
Around siesta time we spotted a couple of rhinos and a baby rhino resting in the shade
We stopped for a delicious cappuccino at Satara and had a bite to eat too. Further south we admired this emerging tusker, who turned his back to us.
We stopped to watch this Saddle-billed Stork for a while
We were happily driving further south when we suddenly bumped into a major traffic jam. Whoa: Lioness with cubs coming our way. Fast! We quickly turned the car and managed to follow her for a minute, before she disappeared into high grass.
Wow. What a sighting. We entangled ourselves from the other cars are headed back towards Skukuza. We spotted a couple of eagles in a tree. I think they could be Brown Snake-eagles. Cause they’re eagles. And brown. (Big foto)
We finally arrived at Skukuza
where we flopped down in our host’s lovely garden and watched the piggies eat it
Of course, after the long drive, we never managed to stay up until 12. The next morning we woke up early to the call of our first bird of the year …  |
        
    
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