Link to videos

I couldn't upload to the blog: http://s33.photobucket.com/user/L4dyM4cb3th/library/Africa?sort=2&page=1

Better edited videos also at: https://vimeo.com/home/myvideos

 More videos to come once edited and I've not put up any pix so far.

Now planning my next visit

My final day in the bush

Most of tomorrow will be spent in transit, one way or another.

I have to report a vervet raid on the kitchen this morning. Clever monkey liberated an apple before I noticed. I also have some decent pix of crested guinea fowl and some fairly rubbish ones of the local baboons.

And now we are 3.

The couple left this morning without so much as a wave, and our monitor and his new girlfriend left about an hour ago. I am all alone (sympathy, please) as Sina is asleep having got up at 3:30 to go on a fruitless quest for wild dog puppies and the relief monitor, Philip, is hiding somewhere.

Here is a vervet planning a raid:

I probably shouldn't mention the nocturnal hyena visit:

Those tracks are about 10 feet from my bedroom door. The red reflector is where the hyena tried to get the nyala skull down from the post you can just see. (Someone put them in as eyes.)

Here is the only extant picture of me:

and a fever tree.

Here is the baboon which regularly tries to raid the bin:

No - actually that is a different and smaller baboon.

And here is an idiot bird or several:

When I get home I'll get my videos edited and post a photobucket link. There is some awesome dog and cheetah stuff as well as an elephant charging our truck (not very seriously).

Excellent birds

Purple crested turaco

 

 

 

 

 

Hamerkop

Thursday August 28th

Spent the afternoon in a hide by a waterhole, looking for an injured (snared) zebra. It was reported by a tourist and everyone has been looking for it for about 3 days. I think the lions look suspiciously full. A zebra with a badly injured leg can't run too fast.

I did get some nice pics, though: mainly birds. Here is a selection:

Nowhere but Africa!

Nyala (m)

Black headed bulbul

Wholly intact zebra

Vervet on a mission

Slender mongoose

Thirsty impala

Wednesday August 27th

Sorry for being away, but the lions left me speechless.

Have a sunrise:

Tuesday 26th - 6am-ish

and a tortoise:

One of the little five

And a sunset:

 The burning bush

We actually were home from the evening drive by 18:30 as the smoke was so bad it was making me ill and it was decided that no-one wanted more smoke. 

Yesterday was a really early start. Left at 04:30 to see the dogs. It's just over an hour's drive on appalling tracks for the most part. I have taken to describing it as an African massage. The wind on the back of the truck is very lazy and Sina and I most closely resembled a couple of small icebergs by 05:40 when we arrived. Hot tea was about to happen when the dog pack appeared on the path. I do have video, but it needs some serious editing before I can display it to a wider public. No stills: too busy actually watching the dogs, who tried and failed to hunt down a wildebeest. They left and killed elsewhere before coming back about an hour later.

One of the dogs came right up to the back of the truck - I swear he would have jumped on had the tailgate been down - to check us out on each occasion. No aggression, simple curiosity. We followed them for a bit as they were keeping close to the track and one peeled off to chase an impala. One of the older dogs followed him(?) and took him back to the pack. Dogs are not lone hunters. 

We went off and did some bird watching, well, I did, before fleeing from a hippo. This turned out to be completely unnecessary as the hippo had no intention of coming out of the water, but provided valuable points for last night's drinking game. As referee and chief rule maker I did not participate in said game, but everyone is rather hung over today.

Lion

Sunday August 24th - 20:53

There is an elephant in my garden. I can't see him, but he's busily eating a tree or two.

Today we delivered a car to St Lucia, which is a lovely seaside resort to the east of here. We had lunch outside in the sun, then came home to do the evening drive.

Now, I don't actually have a picture of the lions (look, it was dark, OK?) .... but you need to believe that we were driving with a tourist safari bus in front of us when two lions were just - well, there. In the road.

We were looking for them, but it's not often that an animal just presents itself to you. Normally they hide behind a bush and laugh at you. You know they are there. I'm sure they know we are there, but a lion which doesn't want to be seen will not be seen.