Visit to good old friends

Spent yesterday afternoon and this morning with my good old friends at GVI. Went on a drive with them yesterday afternoon and saw a couple of awesome things. 

1st awesome thing we saw was this Tawny Eagle sitting on a tree. Another 1 of my favourite birds.

Thereafter we went looking for the elephant. We got extremely lucky and got to watch them from across the river and even got to see 1 crossing the river.

The sun was in a great spot 2 get a great photo.

While watching the elephants my 1 mate looking down at his feet and right there in front of him and me was a Leopard Tortoise.

Was a decent size. 

In all it was a great afternoon and morning!

Till next time

Ndumo Game Reserve, 19 - 21 March 2012

Went to Ndumo Game Reserve from Monday till Wednesday.

Had a great starting drive by going to a hide which was littered with water birds, crocodiles and a water monitor. Spent a while there which was really really awesome.

This is the view from the hide onto the pan. There were Saddle-Billed Storks, Yellow-Billed Storks, Pink-Backed Pelicans nesting, Hamerkops, Cormorants and African Openbills which has to be one of my favourite birds now. We saw it eating a muscle and using its bill to crack open the shell and pull out the insides and eat it. It was amazing! Definitely 1 of my highlights.
We then had a visitor in the hide which was this Wire-Tailed Swallow right above my head. It had a nest in the hide.

After this little bird we had a Water Monitor walk right in front of the hind.

It was about 1,5m long. Awesome reptile.

Tuesday morning started with this great view of the sun shining against the trees. Was amazed!

I have been getting into my butterflies lately and found this butterfly, a fairly common one but still an amazing one.

A Citrus Swallowtail.

We went to a braai area right on the Mozambican border and it was a sight to see. There was a river in between us and Mozambique. Amazing place!

 On the way back from this magnificent place we bumped into 2 White Rhinos. A mother with a calf

This is the mother. These were the only two Rhinos we saw on our trip.

On Wednesday morning we went up to a viewing tower, which over looks the whole reserve, for the sunrise. This was an amazing view point. We could see the two pans on the reserve and the amazing sunrise. This is the pan with mist all around it.

What a great view.

When leaving the tower we drove along the fence line and came across this awesome bird, and i caught it in flight.

A Brown Snake Eagle. It is the biggest of the Snake Eagles and hence the name the main diet is snakes. They have been known to catch and eat a 3m long Black Mamba. Awesome bird.

We didn't see a wide variety of game but did come across a lot of Nyala, Impala and Giraffe. The Giraffe were in quite big herds. One we counted had thirteen Giraffe. Was awesome to see.

Giraffe are very inquisitive animals and you can see this one looking at us under the canopy of the Acacia.

We passed through a forest, but not just any old forest, this was a Sycamore Fig Forest.

 It's amazing to see something like this. The bird life in these forests are incredible. Would love to walk through one instead of drive to see what birds we missed.

Was a great three days in total with some great people.

Till next time

Cricket, 18 March 2012

Had a great day on Sunday playing cricket with all the boys. Just some photos from the day.

  

Hopefully gonna play again soon.

Till next time

Long-Crested Eagle

On the way back from 1 practical we came across this awesome bird!!!

 A Long-Crested Eagle

Check out the big crest on its head. Its a really awesome bird!

Till next time

Mpempe Pan, 16 March 2012

Went to Mpempe Pan this morning for some birding.

Was a quite morning, didn't see as many birds as expected but there was 2 great highlights of the morning.
The first is seeing the Rosy-Throated Longclaw.
The second was seeing all three Longclaws in one morning which is very special because this is 1 of the few places in the world where this can happen. Was a great morning in the end.

Just some photos from the morning. Didn't get any of the Longclaws unfortunately.

Til next time

Hluluwe - Imfolozi Park, 14 March 2012

Went to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park yesterday.

Started off slowly but had an awesome starting sighting.

We saw this Burchell's Coucal soon after going through the gate right next to the road, great sighting!

Thereafter we saw this African Harrier-Hawk flying straight towards us and landing in a tree next to us.

You can really see the yellow around the eye which is a key id feature of this bird. Was really awesome!

We stopped at a tree because there were jumping around in the tree and our instructor said something is wrong cause the birds were going mad, later we found out it was called mobbing, and then we spotted a African Rock Python in the tree which is what the birds were going mad for. Didn't get a picture unfortunately. 

Just before getting to the one river we came across a elephant which was awesome. It was a lone bull just eating checking us out. Was awesome!

Great sighting of the elephant, one of my favourite animals. You will find out which are also when I bring them up when I see them.

Saw some great game like impala, zebra, nyala, wildebees and giraffe.

Saw this White Rhino marking his territory by scratching his dung in his midden, obviously the dominant make in the area.

You can see his midden under his back feet. They will have a couple of these in their territory. You can see the square-lip of the White Rhino clearly in this photo.

On the way back, heading toward the gate to leave we were driving and some guys saw guineafowl running across the road but no one saw the hyena walking behind the guineafowl. So there there was a Spotted Hyena walking away from us. Was amazing!

Looking back at us in the road. 

After this photo the hyena went to the grass next to the road and did something called anal pasting which is how they mark their territory. Had never seen that before so was amazed! 

We thought the day was done but then someone we passed told us about some lions nearby so we decided to check it out.

And there were 3 sub-adult Lions( 1 male and 2 females)chilling in the grass sleeping.

This was 1 of the 2 females lying down eyeing us out.

This was the other female eyeing us out too. There was a male bu the was hidden behind a bush so couldn't get a photo. These lions were the last part of the day but the made a great ending to a great day.

All in all it was a amazing day ending extremely well with the Spotted Hyena and the 3 Lions. Great day in the bush with great people.

Till next time

Went frogging two nights ago and came across this Painted Reed Frog. Awesome colorations and a great pose. Sorry bout it being a little bit out of focus.

  Also saw these two Painted Reed Frogs mating on a reed. They were there for about half an hour while we were there and for much longer before and after I can imagine.

We saw Eastern Olive Toads and a Delicate Leaf Folding Frog also, was awesome! couldn't get a photo unfortunately.

Till next time.

The Beginning

Hey

This blog is a blog on my day to day life in my training and life in the bush. I'll share awesome photos of sightings and training. Follow if interested. Going to be an awesome ride to hopefully a great career. Will upload 1st pictures and posts soon.

Jean