Escaping to Kruger (3) - And back south again

 

Levaillant's cuckoo

For Parts 1 & 2 of this trip to Kruger please click on these links...

 The Journey North 

Birding in the Parfuri

On our last morning at the Eco-training  camp, and for much of the rest of the day journeying back south to Shingwedzi - it rained, rained and rained.

The animals were all drenched and often looking "miserable, but life in the bush goes on.

 

 

Fortunately for me, the rain was not so hard that I had to always keep my car windows closed.

I got damp, but, hey, it's summer in the north-eastern lowveld, so I didn't get too cold.

 What struck me, was how another week into summer, with a bit of rain and more sunshine, the bush had generally got another 100% greener. I hope my pics can show you how much.

 

 

At Dzundwini Hill (near Punda Maria) I spent over half an hour enjoying the giraffe, impala and elephant feeding all around me.

 

These young waterbuck were a little far to get really great pics of, but I really loved the lush vegetation backdrop.

 

 

Being early December, there were impala lambs everywhere and not always sheltering away under the bushes.

 

 

 

Another 1/2 hour stop was with this troop of baboons and a small herd of nyala (females and youngsters) sheltering under some of the tall riverine trees along the Mphongolo River road.

They all looked so wet and cold!

 

 

 

On the second day of the journey south, I was based in Shingwedzi Camp, and I only took one, relatively short, mid-day game drive along the river. The weather had cooled down even further so there weren't a lot of large animals out and about, but I got some great birding.

 

These are just the birds that decided to perch in the bushes quite close to me,

Woodland kingfisher

White-fronted bee-eater

African hoopoe

Day 3, found me traveling south to Letaba Rest Camp, and although it remained overcast, the rain had stopped.

 In the morning I saw not much at all, except for this stunning Water monitor lizard at the bird hide.

 

By early afternoon I had hit Nshawu vlei which is a beautiful open area stretching over 20km north to south draining the water run off from the Lebombo range on the eastern border (of Kruger and South Africa). At this time of the year it has sweet, short, green grass, water and lots of animals!

 

 It was a long day on the road. and I was very thankful to have my favourite hut and view of the Letaba River to relax with a glass of wine. A big bonus was the sun breaking through and lighting up the river!

There are impala, waterbuck & birds in view!

As often happens, the weather was clear and sunny on my last morning drive out of Kruger. Of course the temperatures and humidity were exponentially higher.

This old buffalo interrupted his feasting for a brief moment to eyeball me...

It was an amazing trip to Kruger, the first since the pandemic really hit us, and until I can return to working (on safari with clients) in the Kruger I will try to do trips like this more often.

Escaping to Kruger (2) - Birding in the Parfuri

 

The Parfuri region in Kruger National Park

 

For the post on the first part of my  trip, click on this link  Escaping Kruger (1) - The Journey North

Baobabs are common

 

 I had booked on a Birding Course with Eco-training, but my main motivation was to "just be"in the Parfuri, enjoying the walks and game drives in areas and ecozones unique to this particular region of Kruger.

One consequence of this was that photography took a back seat, for a change. I always had my compact camera with me, but the Penatx and big lens stayed packed away in my tent.

 So no bird photos and any pics of animals are a little distant, or lower quality.

However, I hope you enjoy my landscape pics!

The Fever tree forest

Only 4 of us on the course

Between camp and the Limpopo River there is a wonderful Fever tree forest.

We saw a lot of birds, heard even more and had a bit of an adrenalin rush when buffalo ran through the thick bush not far from us.

 

Elephant & calf, not far from camp

One afternoon, we made the long drive to Crooks Corner on the Limpopo River, where the boundaries of 3 countries (South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique) all meet. 

A healthy herd of Eland antelope

  And the excitement!!!!  My first sighting ever of Eland antelope in Kruger. There were quite a few youngsters and some beautiful mature bulls. This was when I was sorry I didn't have my bigger camera with me!

Buffalo and baobabs

 On another morning we went to the spectacular Lanner Gorge where the Luvuvhu River cuts through the sandstone ridges symbolic of this part of Kruger.

  Some of flowers coming up after the early rains

 On our last full day, the two trainee field guides on our course were required to do their exams, whilst the two of us who were there just for "fun"went on a long walk with the camp's Chief instructor/manager.

 

 

We started out at 4.30am every morning, being mid-summer, and on this day we had a welcome break from the cloud cover to have a stunning sunrise.

Dragon-fly

Some of the insects we found.

Dung beetles

On the Luvuvhu flood plain

And in the late afternoon, we went for a drive and sundowner stop at the Mutale River gorge.

Overall, I had a wonderful 6 days in the Parfuri. It was mostly overcast, which is not great for photography, but certainly kept the temperatures a little more tolerable.

Then, I headed south for 3 days back through Kruger (see the next post for more animal pics).

Going back south again

Escaping to Kruger (1) - The journey north

 

After another four months in urban, semi-isolation I was feeling a desperate need to get back to the bush. I'd been wanting to return to the Parfuri region of Kruger ever since the birding course I did with Eco-Training there in 2009. So with that target in mind I started planning.

The Parfuri is the northern-most section of Kruger, stretching along the Luvuvhu and Limpopo River floodplains and bounded by Zimbabwe and Mozambique. 

Most of it is inaccessible to the general public. You have to be a guest at one of the private lodges, or on course with Eco-training to get to see it's highlights.

It's a very long drive from Johannesburg, so I planned to enter Kruger further south at Phalaborwa and stay a night each at Letaba and Shingwedzi Rest Camps on my way north to start the birding course.

Juvenile Southern Ground Hornbill

 

Being near the beginning of the rainy season, the bush was a weird mix of browns and bright greens.

At the start of my trip, there was some fresh, new, green grass coming up, especially near the roads, and the mopani trees/shrubs were all shining with brilliant new leaf.

Skittish zebra at Mooiplaas waterhole

Zebra and wildebeest looking for that new grass

 The downside of this time of the year is the abundance of cloudy skies, so not ideal for photography.

A bull elephant getting clean water from source!

Goliath heron moving between pools

I came across several small herds of buffalo, also looking for roadside green grass. 

 

 

What was interesting about this group were the dozens of Wattled starlings keeping close to snap up any disturbed insects.

 

Then after 2 days of slowly making my way north, I coast down Baobab Hill, with it's stunning view over the river floodplains and distant hills of Zimbabwe, and know I'm close to my base for the next week.

Rather than making this a very long post, I've broken it up into 3 parts.

Click on this link to see the next post:-  Escaping to Kruger (2) - Birding in the Parfuri