SA Diversity Tour (5/02/2014) Day 21

Badplaas Mineral Baths

Badplaas belongs to Forever Resorts and is situated on the R38 near Carolina in the Mpumalanga region.

 Our stopover there for one night en route from Kruger to St. Lucia was not enough to fully enjoy all the resort has to offer as this is a place the whole family can enjoy at least a two week vacation. There are many types of accommodation available to suit everyone’s needs from chalets, guest houses and log cabins......

a hotel .....

and a camping site with 300 stands where we stayed overlooking the surrounding hills.

The main attraction for us was the Hydro Spa in which we spent a few hours soaking our weary bones but as there was so much else to fit in, we could not tarry too long there.

Outside, there are various pools of different temperatures to suite all tastes including some shallow ones for the children.

I think that the waterslides and tubes are the most used and SO much fun!!

Gaelyn enjoyed them immensely! :D

The gardens are beautiful and a must to walk around in.

Being a warm water spring, there is a beautiful arch with some of the water flowing which come directly out of the ground.

The resort offers a complex where there is a small shop, bottlestore, beauty parlour, ATM’s, a restaurant, doctors, laundry, fuel station. etc. 

For those looking to find the ideal place for a conference, there are three available.

Activities range from game drives, paintball, go-carts, horse riding, putt-putt and many more to keep the children from being bored.

SA Diversity Tour (31/1-4/02/2014) Day 16 to 20

Lower Sabie

Both Lower Sabie and Crocodile Bridge Rest Camps are very small and popular so it is advisable to make bookings if you want to stay there, especially when camping. I have stayed at each of these many times and the game viewing in these areas is brilliant and wonderful for photography.

On our first morning at Lower Sabie we came across a Tawny Eagle which had caught a snake which looked to be about 5’ (1.5m) in length. When we first saw him, he had obviously skinned it and was eating the meat surrounding the bones. 

I did not take many pictures while there as I wanted Gaelyn to get as many as she could because she was on holiday and I would always get another chance at them. On the main road to Skakuza one morning, I did however come across this beautiful Carman Bee-eater which I could not resist. There is one bank in the river where I know they make holes to nest in and stopped by to watch their activity.

Crocodail Bridge

Around Crocodile Bridge you can see almost every species of animal found in the park so one morning we decided to head for the Hippo Pool to see what we could find. During our stay in KNP, we saw at least one pride of lions every day but our mission was still to find a leopard. The water in the river  was very high with only one hippo seen in the distance.

In a shallow cave above the water, there is a sample of rock art but over the years, this has eroded and pieces have broken off the cliff leaving only this image for us to see.

However, the rock formations are worth looking at as there are some stunning places where higher water levels have wash away the soft sandstone. We had EXTREMELY good luck on leaving the pools as we found a leopard just busy climbing out of a tree!! No time for any pictures but Gaelyn managed to get three which were unfortunately lost a few days later when her computer was stolen.

Due to the extremely hot midday temperatures sometimes felt at this time of year, we always took a break during the hottest hours and this gave us time to catch up with processing pictures to post.

Crocodile Bridge is situated near the small town of Komatiepoort and was an ideal opportunity to do some shopping and stop for a good breakfast at the Wimpy there.

A fantastic sighting for me was to find this Long-crested Eagle sitting on a telephone pole. They are not often seen and almost never so close that I could capture an image with my miserable 300mm lens so I was pleased to get half decent shots.

Then, after two glorious and exciting weeks in the Park, it was time to head on down the road.......

List of animals seen – too many to mention all but a few are: Lion, Leopard, Kudu, Crocodile, Hippo, Elephant, Black and White Rhino, Buffalo, Hyaena, Rock and Water Monitor, Wilddog, Hyrax (Dassie), 4 species of mongoose, etc. plus at least 100 species of birds.

SA Diversity Tour (27-30/01/2014) Day 12 to 15 – Part 2

Satara Rest Camp

In a small pool of water left by the rains, there was a small herd of buffalo wallowing in the mud.

It seems that two of them had been injured as one was bleeding from the nose and the other from the ears and I wondered if this was caused by them fighting or if it was maybe Bovine TB which first reared its ugly head in the Park during 1990. BTB is considered an alien organism as it is picked up along the southern borders of the Park from domestic cattle. It not only affects the buffalo but also the carnivorous species which feed on them such as lions, leopard, cheetah, hyaena and baboon. For more info on the testing done in the Park, please go to this link: http://www.krugerpark.co.za/krugerpark-times-4-6-bovine-survey-24294.html  

A Giraffe had a strange-looking disease on his skin along his neck.

I do not know what it is nor can I find out anything about it.

The following three photo’s really made me chuckle. LOL!! This elephant decided to take a nap against a tree but his trunk kept getting in the way.

He shifted around a bit and finally got the pesky thing out of his way by putting it up. LOL!!

Even in sleep, the ears still flap to cool him down or was it to get rid of the flies? J

Monitor Lizards are the largest of the species found in South Africa and can reach lengths of up to 2m (6’). They mainly eat small prey such as birds and their eggs, snakes etc. and can often be seen in trees raiding nests during the breeding season.

No two giraffe have the same pattern and colour.

What luck!! I had been trying to find a leopard and going back to camp late one afternoon, here was a youngish one sitting on a bridge in full view!! Oh my!! What a BEAUTIFUL sight!!

He did not even stir for about 10 minutes which allowed us to take some great shots. It is incredible to see these beautiful animals in their natural habitat.

The young Zebra foal had a very black face which looked like the hairs had been rubbed off the skin. A birth defect? No telling what might have caused it.

This is what a normal Zebra face looks like.

After a thrilling stay at Satara, it was time to move on......

SA Diversity Tour (27-30/01/2014) Day 12 to 15 – Part 1

Nature’s mistakes

Satara Rest Camp has always been my favourite as it is ideal for photography due to the fact that there are more open plains around. Large, mixed herds of animals can be seen along the roads as far as Orpen Camp in the west, Tsokwane Picnic spot in the south, Nwanetse Picnic spot in the east and Olifants Camp in the north. Getting a chalet there for 4 nights was a bonus as it gave me the chance to dry out my things – the mattress took 3 of them – besides, it was a wonderful change from camping. J

Setting out early on the first morning there, we came across a lioness with four cubs of about 2 years of age which she was teaching to hunt. On this trip sofar, we had managed to find at least one lot of lions every day.

The S100 has to be the most popular road in this part of the Park. The road winds along a small watercourse and is a delight in that almost every species of animal found in the Park is seen there. We were headed for my favourite dam at the end of it, about 20km’s away, which was my regular coffee and rusks stop when I am in the area. There has been a lot of rain, so the dam was very full.

All animals have their distinctive markings with which they can be identified such as these on an Impala’s rump and the back of the ears.

I came upon this poor giraffe and noticed the huge and abnormal swellings on the front legs.

Wanting to know what caused them, I sent off an e-mail to  find out and this was the reply: 

“The swellings are obviously associated with the carpus on both limbs, but I was not sure what could have caused this. 

I asked Johan Steyl at Onderstepoort. 

He says, “if it was only one the DD's list could longer (neoplasia, absessation) but because this clearly involves the joints or structure running over them consider the following: 

1. Seroma formation (sinovial or tendon sheath) due to chronic brucellosis can present with painless swellings like these - culture is indicated of fluid if the swellings are fluctuent .  

2. Seroma formation due to past trauma - hyperextension of the joints; physical injury to tendon sheaths running over carpi eg. poorly designed crate during transport

3. If the swellings are solid - possibly carpal ligament injury resulting in joint instability and massive epiphysial exostosis.   
4. Absessation, fracture callus and neoplasia is low on the list with bilateral presentation.” 

I hope this helps.”

Vervet Monkeys are found all over South Africa and in places where people feed them, they have become very aggressive unfortunately. This mother and baby were sitting on a log catching the first rays of sunlight after a cloudy and cool start to the day.

So many times I come across wonderful creatures which have been ridden over and killed by people not paying attention to what is on the road in front of them!! All they are looking for is lions for some reason when there is so much else to see!! It makes me sick to think of the amount of species being unnecessarily decimated!! This lovely python which was only about 40cm in length was one of them.

Injuries in a game reserve like this is fairly common to see and this Zebra was lucky to get away with his life. The marks on the belly and rump tell me it was a lion attack which he narrowly escaped from.

Dens for Hyaena cubs is usually made in the water culverts along the roads. Both mother and cubs lay there in order to absorb the warmth from the tarmac. The flies at this time of year can be horrendous and the mother was trying to keep them off her face. She seemed to be peeking out at us to make sure we were not a threat. J