A little "quiet" time at Biyamiti Weir

Making my leisurely way out of Kruger 3 weeks ago, I paused a little while at the Biyamiti Weir.

At first glance there didn't seem to be much going on, but after a longer, slower look I found myself snapping away for at least a half hour.....

The road crosses the spruit immediately below the weir wall, so if anything is happening in the pond upstream one has an amazing eye-level view of it.



Both the water lilies and dragon-flies were almost glowing against the bright green water vegetation - a stark contrast to the dry, bare earth just a few metres away from the river banks.

Three-banded plover

A little further across the weir and there were a couple of waders reflecting prettily in the still rock pools. With very little other traffic to disturb me I tried my best to get some good pics at close range.

Wood sandpiper

A little spurt of excitement rippled through the still hot air, as a water monitor lizard clawed and scraped across the granite boulders on the left, inspecting the rock pools for little fish, frogs and other tasty tidbits...

Sadly my "quiet" time was coming to an end as other travelers through the park were catching up with me and I couldn't remain blocking the road so completely!

So with a last photo of another little wader on the weir beside me and an indifferent farewell from the Vervets in the river bank trees, I moved on southwards..........

Common sandpiper

Vervet monkey

Kruger in High Summer

On the open plains north of Satara

I've said this before and I've got to say it again - all of you who avoid the bush, especially Kruger National Park, in high summer, whether due to the heat, humidity, malaria, long grass, thick bush or all of the above, don't know what you are missing.

Yes, it can rain but this cools things down a bit;

Sabie River at Skukuza

and yes the rivers can flood,

Saddle-billed Stork

White-faced Duck

but there are also all new and temporary waterholes scattered everywhere, hosting waterbirds in places you've never seen them before,


















and large hot mammals desperately looking for a little cooling......

Only in high summer can you see so many flowers, 

River Lily

Flame Lily

flowering grasses,

 

Giant plated Lizard

reptiles and dung beetles..........





























It is also marula season, when every self-respecting fruit connoisseur in the bush is scrounging for the juicy, tart marulas under tall, shady tree canopies.

And to just add a little more "cuteness" to the whole experience, there are a whole lot more babies around in high summer too!

Blue Wildebeest

I've run out of space, time and probably your patience to also go on about the amazing birds found only in summer, so I will wrap up this posting by urging you to go and see for yourself what a summer safari in Kruger can produce!

Road tripping Western Australia (1)

Over two weeks on the road, heading north from Perth up the West Coast of Australia and including a side trip into the Pilbara region to visit Karijini National Park - meant many, many hours behind the wheel(s) of my rented camper(s).
(This is my third posting on Australia - you can read the previous two posts at An African Guide in Australia and Aaaahhh... the birds)

I've done a lot of solo road trips and through sheer necessity have acquired the not-quite-so-safe "skill" of taking photographs whilst driving....... If I had to stop every time for a photo I would never get anywhere! So, yes, I do take some care - the road has to be relatively empty and sort of straight before I risk picking the camera up. I have it set on the highest shutter speed possible, and it's quite amazing how good  a few of the photos turn out to be. More important, I have a visual record of my journeys.

Some of that road journey through the magnificent Western Australian landscape I would like to share with you now......

It didn't take many days for me to realise that there were 3 main types of road user, with a small variation in types of vehicle used.....

The largest and most intimidating were the Road Trains. These thundered up and down the highways at a steady 110+ kph, and as a result I got overtook by many.......

Then there were the "Grey Nomads" - retired Australians spending the winter (or more) on the road, in their caravans, sometimes with boats.

my campervan for week 1

my "camper" for week 2

And of course there were the "Travellers", people like myself, mostly foreign, and in an assortment of rental campervans (although I saw so many Apollo Campervans I thought I was being haunted by them!)

Over the two weeks I came across 3 or 4 sets of amazingly brave cyclists.....

Thorny Devil - amazing camouflage!

As I mentioned in a previous post, once I got further north I saw very little animal life, but apart from the birds I had these two amazing lizard sightings and I got quite close to cattle a few times although they tended to be very skittish if you stopped.

The Thorny Devil doesn't move much, and this particular one I was able to stop and move him off the road.

A large Goanna crossing

On the way up the coast I stayed in a string of caravan parks, but on my trip into the Pilbara I also camped a night in a roadside rest area and another at Bullara Station.

24hr roadside Rest Area

next to the beach

on the Station

A road trip is all about the journey.... I visited some amazing destinations which I will post about separately, but this particular road trip was about seeing Australian landscapes.......  read my very next posting to see some of my favourite photos...here
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A Safari Photo Update (2)

A Klipspringer silhouette

As promised last week here are some more of my favourite photos from the last few months.

It was a time of transition:-

 late winter through into spring;

hot windy days in August to cold drizzly days in September;

snakes and lizards shaking off the torpor of winter;

birds busy building nests;

bare branches against smoky skies;

bright flowers splash against naked earth;

Nile Crocodile

Black Crake

 Busy birds at Lake Panic

  

Grey herons nesting

A very rare sighting of the African Rock Python, and a Rock Monitor Lizard standing proud....

A pattern of impala, and the exquisite Impala Lily.

 And we had some wonderful sightings of the larger predators:-

a mating pair of lion;
a pride of lion basking in the late afternoon sun;
two hyena cubs enjoying a cool damp morning; and

a lively, young cheetah family;

I probably won't be on safari again until late October, so I may entertain you with older stories and photos over the next couple of weeks......

Sunset through the Marula trees