Advertisement
Published: June 17th 2017
01 In the Dead Tree
A couple of Sacred Ibis sitting in the dead tree.Geo: -25.2174, 27.0071
Today was our last day of leave and we were spending it at Pilanesberg National Park. We left Johannesburg quite early and arrived at the park gate at about 8am. We entered through Bakubung gate and drove towards the centre of the park. Along the way we saw a few varieties of birds at Kubu Dam as well as a pair of ugly Marabou Storks. Soon after, a white rhino with a very short, stumpy horn was spotted walking among little shrubs with its head down. Camouflaged under a tree to look like two rocks, we saw a pair of white rhinos resting.
There was also a dazzle of zebra grazing on the hill. With another dazzle of zebras there were some warthogs and blue wildebeest. As well as young zebras staying very close to their mothers. We spotted a couple of baboons in trees and walking around.
We had now arrived at Mankwe Dam which is in the middle of the park and a great place to spend time watching the wildlife. Here there is a large hide to sit in. Less than a metre from the hide there were some male weavers adding the final touches to
02 Ugly Birds
Ugly Marabou Storks by the water's edge. their nests for the females to approve. A trio of hippos had emerged from the water, just a few metres from us. On the other side of the dam, there was a female hippo and two of her calves grazing as they walked along.
On the dead tree in the dam, birds had their wings outstretched to try to dry them. We enjoyed close up sightings of many birds. The African Fish Eagle sat on the top branch as it looked out onto the dam. During our visit to the hide, more hippos emerged from the water. My attention was attracted to a Pied Kingfisher that landed on a branch and had a fish in its mouth. The fish, I thought, would be too big for the bird to eat, but the kingfisher persisted. Firstly, it hit the fish a few times against the branch to kill it and then it was swallowed in one big gulp!
In the water, just below the hide, we also spotted terrapins swimming about with their heads out of the water looking at us. On the other side of the dam, a small herd of breeding elephants appeared over the hill and walked towards
03 Short Horn
A white rhino with a short little horn. the water. In front of the elephants, in the tall grass we also spotted a small dazzle of zebras. Impalas also appeared out of the bush. The sun was slowly coming out from behind the clouds, so now the birds had a chance for their wings to dry!
The elephant herd were slowly getting closer to the water's edge. They then started to drink. The hippos were now starting to make some noise and wanted our attention. One of them opened its mouth very wide and then slowly shut it. The dam water was very still and this created a nice reflection on the water of the surrounding hills. We also spotted some terrapins basking in the sun on the bank of the dam.
A female warthogs and her young, little ones were busy looking for food near the dam. In between animal sightings I also appreciated seeing the small things, such as the colourful dragonflies that were holding onto the reeds.
Once again the hippos were seeking attention and many of them emerged from the water. Some of their bodies had weeds stuck to them. We had spent just over an hour at the hide and had so many
04 Resting
An adult and young rhino resting under a tree. great sightings. Back in the car and on the road we stopped to watch an impala resting under a tree and muddy warthogs. We drove to the Manyane rest camp. Here we had lunch at the restaurant and a swim in the pool.
Just after 1pm we were back in the car and continuing our game drive. In a dam we saw a few floating hippos, then a while later a small breeding herd of elephants and wildebeest. Near Mankwe Dam, we saw hippos out of the water and grazing, a muddy warthog and there were also zebras grazing.
At Mankwe Dam we had a quick visit to the hide. The scenery was quite similar to this morning, there were still birds sitting on the dead tree. Although we were lucky to see more rhinos, on the other side of the dam there were a pair of rhinos. We then drove towards the gate that we entered through this morning.
On the last part of the drive we saw wildebeest, elephants and lots of Marabou Storks. We drove out of the park at about half past three, after a day of special sightings. After a quick supermarket shop that would have to
05 Dazzle
A dazzle of zebra grazing. last us about a month, we hit the road and drove back to Madikwe Game Reserve refreshed and ready for the busy Christmas holiday period.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.04s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0194s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
