Berg-en-Dal Rest camp

 Friday 10/12/21

We're taking a rest day today and haven't been out for a drive, opting to spend some time in camp.  We've been driving every day for the past 11 days and have clocked up close on 3,000km so felt our bodies could do with a change of posture for the day.

Piet-my-vrou or Red-chested Cuckoo
Some animals are easy to photograph, some, like the one above take ages to spot
in spite of their clear calls.

Hooded vulture
We've been struggling to snap birds against the diffuse cloudy light as it washes
all the colour out leaving us with silhouettes of birds.

White-headed vulture

We saw a lot of hyena yesterday, including this little tyke.

Crested Barbet
Another difficult bird to capture, they are always on the move; we have
spotted quite a few but managed only one halfway decent photo

Blue Waxbill

African Hoepoe

Not sure of identification - we think it may be Cisticola

Golden-backed Bee-eater

How can one resist these Rollers when they pose so beautifully?

Berg-en-Dal is another of our favourite camps and has lots to do and see so we're enjoying the downtime.  We walked the Rhino-trail along the perimeter fence yesterday and were amazed at the amount of wildlife so close to camp.  We saw a large hippo at close quarters - it is rather intimidating to be so close to such a large animal!

Coming nostril-to-nostril with a Hippo can be scary when on foot, 
luckily we had the camp fence between us.

The scene from the camp deck - who needs to go on a game drive?

Red-billed Woodhoepoe

Today we have already done the full camp walk again, had a swim in the camp pool and done a bit of grocery shopping (mainly meat for our last braai); very chilled in spite of the warm temperatures.

Bonus videos:

When we arrived at the camp deck, after walking along the perimeter fence trail, this elephant arrived.  He must have been walking just behind us but we never heard a thing.  Elephants really have snuck up on us a few times on this trip.

We suspect he may have toothache based on his actions with his tusks, something was definitely bothering him.