Drinking problems at Berg-en-Dal

 Saturday 11/12/21

It started out like any other Friday afternoon, everyone retiring to the drinking hole after a long week.  It wasn't too long before scuffles broke out, fairly typical whenever drink is concerned..

Luckily there were no injuries beyond the pride of the losers.

As usual, it's the little guys who start the fights..

but it wasn't too long before it was a free-for-all.

Although the fights were reasonably good-natured, we were amazed that they were able to clatter away at each other without causing more injuries - it really was quite a spectacle.

We had a lovely early-morning drive today and spent some time at a nearby water-hole watching buffalo wallowing and the comings and goings of various other animals.

Black-headed Oriole

Purple or Rufous-crowned Roller
A new Roller for us

I know we've included this before but they are really a fantastic sight
Woodland Kingfisher

Cape Glossy Starling

A bunch of old men spending time at the pool

The real reason Buffalo have horns - to keep their heads out of the water

Nature provides the colour palette

White-fronted Bee-eater

Later, back at the camp we were preparing lunch and heard an awful screeching from the kitchen window, a frosted glass window above head-height.  We could see a large, dark shape and claws scratching, so went out to see what it was.  It turn out that we have a large monitor lizard living in our thatch roof and it calmly climbs up the brick walls on it's way up.  We're hoping it stays on the outside...

Africa's not for sissies...

Bonus video:

Synchronised tail-swinging should be an Olympic even; it is strangely mesmerising.

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.

Biyamiti drive

 Wednesday 08/12/21

Although there wasn't an abundance of animals on the drive this morning, they made up for it with the quality of sightings.  We were out for about 5 hours including a stop at Afsaal picnic spot for brunch, and are now spending some time enjoying the camp (and Toni's practising her roosterkoek recipe).

Common Duiker

Sometimes you need to wait while there are zebra crossing...

and sometimes you just need to slow to the speed of giraffe walking.

Long-tailed Paradise Whydah

Really sad to see a Rhino with it's horn removed but hopefully it will save it's life.

Baby rhino, probably weighs as much as our car.

Three Klipspringer perched on a rock

There is so much life going on in the camp and we can basically do our game watching from the comfort of our porch.  

Yet again, we have a Monitor Lizard in our grass.

To get an idea of the scale; the Monitor lizard is on the ground behind the Bushbuck which is about
the size of a Labrador.

We even have some bats keeping an eye on us from above.

Biyamiti Bushveld camp

 Tuesday 07/12/21

Another early start this morning - it turned out to be first and last we saw of the sun today.

We had a fairly long drive (by Kruger standards) today to get to our new camp, a firm favourite of ours.  It's much smaller than the main camps and does not have a shop, pool, petrol station or many of the usual amenities but you really feel connected with nature here.  It's been stormy all day but has thankfully cooled down a bit.

We were lucky enough to see three Ground Hornbills, one proudly showing off it's frog.
One of the others tried, unsuccessfully, to crack open a small tortoise.

Burchell's Coucal

A stunning Waterbuck ram

A Kruger favourite - Lilac-breasted Roller

'Make sure you get my good side' said the Maribou...

Elephant playtime, until a Park board vehicle chased them away - very annoyed!

Water thick-knee

This chameleon really does have eyes at the back of it's head...

Wild dog

These vultures had us chuckling when so many landed on a branch that it collapsed

Bonus pic: Pygmie Mongoose cuddle-time

Satara

 Monday 06/12/21

Just another day in Africa

The weather finally started to break yesterday with a bit of drizzle in the afternoon.  It was still very hot but we enjoyed a swim in the rain (it's an African thing).

This roller was finishing off a huge Baboon spider

Even the squirrels are cuter in Kruger

At 3am this morning the thunderstorm started with flashes, bangs and quite a bit of rain, always welcome in this part of the world.  We delayed setting off as it was still fairly dark at 4:30 and still raining, but we still managed to get on the road before 5am.  

We headed to N'wanetsi campsite to make some breakfast and then travelled the dirt road winding along the river back to camp.  It has been much cooler this morning which is a blessing.

Stormy skies this morning

We found two, very muddy, lions asleep in the grass. 
Judging by this one's stomach they were feasting last night.

A face only a mother could love

Lovely views from N'wanetsi

Monday morning chores - frying sweetcorn fritters - Yum!

Giant Plated Lizard

The stunning plumage of the Korhaan. We were also treated to it's call - a series of clicks and shrieks

What looks like a rock to the right of the heron was in fact a partially eaten Waterbuck carcass.
We think it was probably caught by a crocodile (there was a large one nearby)

Dwarf Bitten

Red-backed Shrike

Waterbuck (so fluffy!)

It is lovely to see Kruger so green with so much water about.

And the prize for comical eyes goes to... The Red-billed Oxpecker

Martial Eagle with prey

In Kruger the dung and the dung beetles come in different shapes and sizes

We are heading to Biyamiti tomorrow for a couple of nights which means no air-conditioning so the cooler weather will be most welcome.  

We're loving the Kruger life - you can sit on your 'stoep' and still see so much. We've just been surprised by a Monitor Lizard about two feet long in the lawn a few metre away.  The bird life s are absolutely amazing as well, definitely the highlight!