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Published: June 17th 2017
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01 Dead Tree
A dead tree in Mankwe Dam. Geo: -25.2174, 27.0071
This morning we were up early and got ready to enter the park when the gates open at 5:30am. At first the drive was pretty quiet, we saw a dazzle of zebras and a herd of wildebeest. We stopped at Mankwe Dam to stretch our legs.
Here we got out of the car and sat in the hide. There is a great view of the huge dam and surrounding hills. In the water we saw many terrapins, various bird species, a couple of zebras that came to drink, a crocodile basking on the rock in the sun and large water monitors. This was a great place to view a variety of wildlife. We spent about an hour here and then continued on.
Just by the road we spotted an elephant that looked like it had just been swimming. Both of its tusks had been snapped off. Further along the road a giraffe was spotted bent over the bushes that it was eating from. In between animal sightings we enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the park.
We stopped at the hide at Makorwane Dam. On the other side of the dam there were many zebras coming to drink and hippos in the
02 View
A view of Mankwe Dam from the hide. water near the hide. The plan for the afternoon was to spend time at Suncity and to pick up a friend Kath who was joining us at Pilanesberg. It was a short drive from the national park and a touristy place to visit. There are five star hotels, water park, cinemas, golf course, restaurants, aviary, resorts, casinos etc. We met Kath and then started exploring Suncity.
Our first stop was a quick lunch; as we were on a budget we went straight to the food court and walked past all the nice restaurants. After lunch we wandered about. Paul wanted to take us to the Valley of the Waves, a water park. Unfortunately it had been booked for a conference or something and was closed to the public. We came across a large aviary, with no entrance fee and spent some time here admiring the diverse bird species on show. One of the hotel's pools seemed to be open to the public, so in we got! It was perfect, nice and refreshing.
We continued walking around and came across a troop of Banded Mongoose that were running all over the place. There was another animal area, this one had various birds,
03 Pied Kingfisher
A Pied Kingfisher on a dead branch. nyalas, goats, various species of monkeys, rabbits and guinea pigs. We enjoyed walking around here, even more as it was also free.
It was then time to leave Suncity. We arrived back in Pilanesberg at about 4pm and had about two hours to drive around before we had to leave the park.
On this afternoon's game drive we saw; a Black Backed Jackal running away, herd of wildebeest, herd of impalas, dazzle of zebras, a tower of giraffe and a waterbuck.
That evening we enjoyed a barbecue as we listened to the evening sounds of the African bush.
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