For interesting information on flowers, trees and plants please click on this link: http://natureswow2.blogspot.com/

For the identification of insects and other fauna and flora of South Africa: please click on the following links:
Insects and related species: Antlions - Ants - Bees - Beetles - Bugs - Butterflies, Moths and Caterpillars - Centipedes and Millipedes - Cockroaches - Crickets - Dragonflies and Damselflies - Grasshoppers and Katydids - Mantis - Stick Insects - Ticks and Mites - Wasps - Woodlice
Plants, Trees, Flowers: (Note: Unless plants fall into a specific species such as Cacti, they have been classified by their flower colour to make them easier to find) Bonsai - Cacti, Succulents, Aloes, Euplorbia - Ferns and Cycads - Flowers - Fungi, Lichen and Moss - Grass - Trees
Animals, Birds, Reptiles etc.: Animals, Birds, Fish and Crabs - Frogs - Lizards - Scorpions - Snails and Slugs - Snakes - Spiders - Tortoise, Turtles and Terrapins - Whipscorpions
Other photography: Aeroplanes - Cars and Bikes - Travel - Sunrise - Water drops/falls - Sudwala and Sterkfontein Caves etc.
Videos: YouTube

Sunday, April 13, 2014

SA Diversity Tour (15-16/02/2014) Day 31-32

Satara Camp, Kruger National Park
It was a couple of days of lions, lions and more lions!! How fantastic! A little affection goes a long way.
 First we came across two adult females with four cubs of about 2 years old which the adults were teaching to hunt.
When in that area, the S100 is a gravel road one has to take. To me this is the best road in the Park. We came across this elephant and stopped ahead of him as I could see he wanted to get across. Instead, he decided that he wanted to follow us. The more I moved ahead, the more he came behind us. No in any aggressive way though, just a slow amble down the road. J I took the picture in the side mirror of the car and you can see how close he was. Please NEVER allow elephants to come so close to you unless you know them as well as I do.
A little way down the road, these two majestic Kudu were standing like statues. Of all our buck species, this is my second favourite with the Sable antelope being top of the list even if one hardly ever sees them.
The RainbowSkink male is one of our most beautiful lizards when fully mature. It reaches a length of about 30cm (12”). This is a juvenile which is changing to adult colours and almost as lovely.
There were thousands of White Storks feeding in the grasslands.
Although I try, I cannot capture birds in flight as my camera is never set for faster speeds. I will keep on trying though. LOL!!
Next we came across a pair of lions, probably a mating pair and I could not believe our luck at seeing a second lot of these beautiful carnivores all in one day.
A very unusual millipede – usually they have stripes running around the body and this was diagonally. A real beauty too.
A breeding herd of elephants were in a small river bed digging for water. Please see video by clicking on this link. One baby of about 4 years old was trying to stand up from where he was and I had to capture the sequence.
An even smaller elephant of about 2 years old decided to go and dig his own hole for water and all you could see was this small butt sticking up. LOL!!
In birds, it is normally the male (left hand side picture) which is more beautiful and has a coloured eye. Saddlebilled Storks are different in that the female has a yellow eye and the male a brown one. The male also has two yellow wattles below his chin to distinguish him from the female.
I cannot help but stop when I find a Chameleon. They are just so cute! I have eventually got Gaelyn as far as to hold one like this baby. Many Chameleons get killed on the roads as people do not see them so I take them and out them in a bush and out of harms way.
The stunning Bateleur hunts for insects.
A Klipspring on a rock in the typical environment and stance you see them in. They are one of our smaller species of buck standing less than 1m (3’) in height.
On the way back to camp, another lot of lions!! My goodness what a day this has been for seeing these magnificent animals!! This time it is a female with four cubs of about 2 years old which she is also teaching to hunt. The rain is starting to fall and it is getting to the time we need to be heading back to camp so we cannot wait around and see if the female captures anything. I hate it when I see something interesting like this and cannot stay around longer.
I had so many excellent pictures to show for these couple of days at Satara that I made many collages in order to show many of them else the post would have been too long. Never a day goes by that visiting Kruger National Park disappoints me. There is always SO much to see and photograph. Many sighting are just a glimpse of something disappearing into the bush/grass and I have to be satisfied with just seeing the animal and not being able to take photographs.

1 comment:

Gaelyn said...

This really was an amazing days for lions. And that elephant definitely followed close.