November 20 to 30, 2013

The last ten days have been crazy busy and I did not have time to post photos. 

I trust that the selection posted today will make up for it. The photos are mostly from my last two visits to the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park

I start with my favourite photo:

On 17 May 2013, I posted a photo of my previous car reflected in the eye of a Zebra.

Yesterday I managed to do the same with my Hyundai i10

Part of the Zebra's body is also seen reflected in the outer corner of the eye

(I guess I don't call it my "iCar" for nothing - or should that be "eyeCar"?!!)

A beautiful little wild flower. 

The Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park is a picture of colour at the moment.

Jacana toes - I have never been able to get a nice shot of those amazing long Jacana toes! This Jacana happened to be directly below the bridge where I was parked and unaware of my presence. 

Jacanas normally wander around on lily pads looking for insects and are fast movers.

A little Baboon seemed fascinated by its own shadow!

Leading the way...

Elephants on the move, kicking up dust as they rush to cross the river. No time to play...
Soon after this photo was taken and hearing the amazing sound of the water being stirred up by these animals, I decided to capture it on video.
I have posted the video to YouTube. This is the link: Elephant Crossing

The bush sounds and bird calls make excellent 'background music'

The call of the Diederik Cuckoo -- dee-dee-deederik -- is a sweet sound which indicates the arrival of spring in our part of the world. It is also a warning to birds such as weavers, sparrows and wagtails, that they could end up with a cuckoo egg in their nest!

This Crocodile has featured many times on this blog. I always stop at this spot to look for it when I visit the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park.  I took this photo two weeks ago. Yesterday he was not there. 

As I wondered out aloud about his whereabouts, my friend pointed him out to me a short way across the other side of the stream. He 'belly ran' in our direction, jumped into the water and swam towards us! 

Needless to say, my camera was not ready for action and when I finally managed to get ready, it was too late - reeds blocked the view.  I post the photo anyway to show the wake the crocodile left behind. The photo is so bad that  I marked the position of the crocodile with an arrow

I managed to zoom in through the reeds as it reached the pool in front of us. The crocodile made a swooping turn and stopped to look at us (see the movement of the water)  

I need to point out that the road is quite high above the river bank and I doubt that it thought we were something to eat :)   I prefer to think that he rushed over to say hello ;)

(Or has it perhaps been fed by someone, and now it expects food when a car approaches?)

No ..... I STILL prefer to think that he rushed over to say hello ....!

This shot was taken while leaning over from the driver's seat to 'aim' through the passenger window

Angry Bird!

Madame Burchell's Coucal was not amused by our cameras clicking away before 

the preening process was complete.  She could certainly do with some eyedrops.

And finally:

The view @maggieztree

Recent rains have painted the countryside in many beautiful shades of green -

So green in places that it looks 'unnatural'

November 19, 2013

I found this strange fungus growing in the crack in a log.

After a Google search I decided that it has to be 'Panus fasciatus' or a distant cousin ;)

November 18, 2013

Please Mr Hamerkop, show us your crest?

 Like this??

 Ha-ha-ha!!

Wikepedia Info: 

The Hamerkop, also known as Hammerkop, Hammerkopf, Hammerhead, Hammerhead Stork, Umbrette, Umber Bird, Tufted Umber, or Anvilhead, is a medium-sized wading bird.

November 17, 2013

This gorgeous normally shy bird surprised me by sitting quite willingly as I zoomed in for this photo. Normally they dart around from branch to branch. Perhaps it thought is was obscured from view :)

Previously known as Purple Crested Louries here in South Africa, the name has been changed to  

"Purple Crested Turaco"

November 16, 2013

While pottering around in courtyard I came across this Scorpion that had fallen into a bucket. 

Photo opportunity! is the first thing that came to mind

After the first shot it started reversing and I tried to lean in a bit further for a closer shot

It raised those pincers in a threatening pose... my last photo, thank you!

It is said that venomous Scorpions do not have large pincers.

I don't like the look of it though, be it non-venomous or not :)

November 15, 2013

L♥ve is in the air...

Mister "Missing-upper-lip" and his lady lizard relaxing on the roof next door

Blue headed Tree Agama breeding colours are beautiful and rich.

November 14, 2013

 WHEN are you going to feed me??

November 13, 2013

Swinging in the wind while taking a rest.

This guy has made quite sure that the nest is well anchored.

November 12, 2013

A group of Crested Guinea-fowl disappeared into the grass as my car approached.

I stopped and switched off the engine and waited... The birds would not come out again, but this one would pop its head up from time to time to look at me suspiciously - I zoomed in and waited... ;)

November 11, 2013

Beautiful little mushrooms growing in a midden of Rhino dung. 

This colour is quite unusual - the white type is quite common though.

November 10, 2013

To hide her baby, Mother Baboon turned her back on us as we approached.

Baby, however was too inquisitive and was soon out and staring at the car

Have you ever given any thought or wondered how baby Elephants suckle?

Elephant cows do not have udders, but two 'breasts' rather similar to those of a human, these are situated between the front legs. The baby Elephant has to roll its trunk back to reach the mammary gland. The trunk fits neatly under mother's 'arm'

November 9, 2013

We had a fantastic day in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.

The hi-lite of the day certainly was seeing Lions!

The male Lion did not really want to be seen and concentrated on staring at his paws. 

Anything as long as he could avoid the camera.

We saw this lady by chance!

She emerged from the thickets and stood looking into the distance ...

 ... she turned to look at us briefly then turned and walked away into the bush.

November 8, 2013

"Dancing in the Sun"

This tiny Caterpillar fell from the tree above and kept reaching up as if it was hoping to get back up! 

November 7, 2013

Blue Dragonflies.

These photos were taken from within my parked car. 

November 6, 2013

Keeping a stiff upper lip ;)

November 5, 2013

Bright and beautiful. 

Colours of the Russian flag with a touch of orange!

I have not seen one of these before and searched the internet to try and identify it. 

A similar picture described it as a Painted Reed Frog. 

November 4, 2013

 The beautiful and unusual flower of the Sicklebush, aka the Bell mimosa, Chinese Lantern tree or Kalahari Christmas tree.  (Love the last name!) 

I don't know if it blooms here until Christmas, but I will check on it next month :)

November 3, 2013

As I opened the garden gate this morning this Blue Headed Tree Agama gave me quite fright as it jumped off the gate and on to the pole fence - missing me by inches. Can you imagine the hysterics if it had landed on me with those long nails digging into my skin? I would probably have slapped myself silly to try and get it off me! (and dropped my camera in the process!)

The look in that eye tells me it is probably thinking "I tried but I missed - WHY didn't I land on her?? "

This has to be the same one I photographed in February. It had a rather bad injury on the upper mouth where the white patch can be seen. It seems to have healed up nicely and although the upper 'lip' still seems raw, it might just be because there are no scales to cover it. Judging by the increase in size it has to be eating well. The February photo can be seen by clicking on the link directly below the photo. 

November 2, 2013

A 'quick' trip to the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park often turns out to be much longer than planned!

The Elephants were on the move - and I was one of the lucky visitors to witness some of them passing through to cross the river at Maphumulo and disappear into the bush on the other side.

Although it was clear that the Elephants were going to cross the road the driver of this vehicle did not attempt to move back -  he did not even have the car engine running at the time...

Each group would stop off to eat, drink, swim or wallow in the mud en route to the river. No hurry.  Please note the tiny little baby second from the left

Big Daddy lingered long after the rest of the clan had moved on. Love those eyelashes!

 The youngsters were very reluctant to leave the water after crossing the river.

Part of this group can be seen moving off through the opening in the trees.

This is how far the Elephants were crossing from the Jetty that I was standing on.

During the few hours that I spent in this area the groups of Elephants kept coming.

As I was leaving, I came across another group that seemed to be the last.

All long the way back the road was strewn with branches and plant material

Were the Ellies attending a party to celebrate the rain or perhaps a business conference?

Considering the upcoming elections it might even have been a political rally ;)

November 1, 2013

  As you can see I am back and I hope to be posting photos on a more regular basis! 

The drought left me quite despondent because I would walk around with my camera for ages and all I would see was the effect of the drought!  Depressed might be a better description and as photo opportunities became less I  no longer enjoyed what I was doing.  I felt that I needed a break and so, after three and a half years of regular postings I bailed out for a while! 

I apologise for the long absence - September and October also happened to be a very busy and trying time for our family. My mother and niece were both very ill, but we are thankful that they have recovered and are back home after a lengthy stay in hospital.

To top it off, we had twenty puppy paws pattering around the house - gorgeous little creatures, but a lot of hard work was involved!  Fortunately the puppies have found good homes and all tails are wagging!

We have had our first Summer rains and thunder storms.  Not to mention power outages :)

Coming back after a visit to my mother late this afternoon, I was surprised to find this Long-Crested Eagle perched on a fence pole still in the same area where I spotted it earlier when I could not stop because there was a vehicle close behind me. 

 The bird was clearly keeping a beady eye on anything that moved on the ground!

Hopefully it found itself a tasty snack for dinner.