South Africa - Kruger Days 3 and 4

Relentless wildlife watching, there was no time to rest. Dawn breaks early but we were on the reserve at just after 7am. The sun was already bearing down over the arid landscape.

Self driving again, seeing what we see. A couple of African buffalo kicked off the search for the big-five'.

What a treat these were. Four southern ground hornbill by the side of the road between Crocodile Bridge Gate and Lower Sabie. Bizarre curious looking birds with bags of personality.

More random encounters en route. This monstrous Verraux's eagle was sat preening in one of the few large trees.

A tawny eagle was seen nearby.

My favourite bird so far, the Bataleur, an amazing looking bird. Thankfully they are quite frequently seen within the park.

More elephant feeding by the side of the road.

Incredible landscapes watching elephant, giraffe and impala in the same view.

By the end of the day, we'd seen over ten hippos around the reserve.

Blue wilderbeest weren't seen in great numbers but were regularly observed feeding in the scrubby areas.

Of course there were plenty of birds around, and an abundance of birdsong. Trying to track them down and then identify them was more of a challenge. Some were more showy than others like this fork-tailed drongo.

A European roller was a more familiar sight but not on their wintering grounds.

We chanced upon this steppe eagle basking in the sun before it flew into a nearby tree.

One of the many large raptors in the area was this impressive African hawk eagle. There were four in total but this one chose to settle close by.

Waterbirds are regularly seen along the watercourses and pans with grey heron, saddle-billed stork, yellow-billed stork, black crake, and this African openbill.

Night-drive

With a night-drive booked for the evening, we headed back out to Crocodile Bridge Gate in pitch darkness and waited to be picked up by the rangers with the other guests for a drive around the park. With clear skies (observing Musk's starlink fly past overhead) and a cool breeze, the ranger drove us out along familiar paths on-board one of the reserve trucks with six other guests. It was quite quiet out there, seeing some familiar animals feeding in the darkness such as giraffe, elephant, and zebra, as well as crocodile and hippo along the river. 

Other oddities included, civet and scrub hare. 

Then this happened. One male lion and three lionesses were resting by the side of the road. An amazing experience to see them at such close range. The male looked absolutely spent, with the suggestion that he may have been involved in a scrap. Accompanied by three lionesses, they were lounging around all unperturbed by the presence of our vehicle.