randombirder

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 ...

27th November A long journey south finally arriving into the tiny airport at Hoedspruit a full 26-hours later, into a stifling 40C wall of heat. Tired from the long journey, we left the airport and within five minutes encountered a giraffe along the roadside.  The Hippomoon Lodge was a 45 minute drive with most of the journey spent bouncing over unmade roads in our tiny rental car. The lodge was located north of Kruger within a reserve run by the eccentric and wildly sociable Xavier along with Patricia who couldn't do enough for us. It was an interesting experience and a novel way to spend a landmark birthday for which I was truly grateful.  The lodge is part of a large landholding that supported a number of free-roaming animals. Despite this, it did at times feel like a captive assemblage of regional species some of which were being supplementary fed on-site. These nyala were seen close to the lodge  A short afternoon drive bouncing over the tracks provided a nice intro...

3rd October Familiar streets, familiar faces, so great to be back on the magic Isles. Expectations heightened as to what might transpire this week.  The journey from home took nine hours of unexpected efficiency - three trains, a flight, and a taxi - all of which were on-time. Shame that this level of punctuality feels like a rare win. Not wasting any time, and with bags dropped into the apartment, I scampered up to Penninis where the short-toed lark rather rudely marked my arrival by vanishing from site. Taking this personally, a visit to the Standing Stones field did however yield a red-backed shrike , wryneck , and a vocal yellow-browed warbler. 4th October Felt a bit ropey today but was up at a decent hour and was out for another go at the short-toed lark which was nowhere to be seen. Walking round Penninis was of course an absolute joy but there was very little around. A wryneck sat up on a stone wall viewed from the western side saved the morning. The plan was a trip across ...