As we had seen the pride of 20 lions at Kanniedood Dam, we thought this AM we should head back there and see if we could see them again and maybe they had killed overnight. So at 5:30am that is the way we headed with the plan to drive the 6 kms quickly, check if we could see them and then head back to our favourite road for the balance of the morning drive. I was driving relatively quickly on a dirt road (but below the speed limit in case you’re wondering!) when I saw a leopard just lying there right on the side of the road. Slammed on anchors and that caused said leopard to get up and wander off into the bush. We got a great sighting though still and could watch it for a few minutes as it walked parallel with the road and then deeper into the bush. So much for driving the road to see the lions – which by the way we never did see.
We then took our favourite road north along the river and we saw tons of game this morning. No more predators but animals and birds aplenty. At the end of today we were over 100 birds and our likely best 2 days of birding are yet to come as we are heading further north tomorrow. Our biggest issue this morning was congestion Kruger style – giraffe on the road! It was overcast this morning and so much cooler for much longer. In fact by the time we got back (which was at around 10am) the temperature had only risen to 26 degrees C. Normally overcast conditions don’t make for good birding but this morning was the exception.
I needed to do some work this AM/early PM (bonus and salary time for my paying job and so that can’t get neglected) and Helen did some reading and then catching up on some sleep. We headed out again at 4:30pm – the temperature had risen to 33 degrees C by that point. While we saw the standard on the evening game drive (buffalo, zebra, giraffe, elephant, impala, waterbuck etc), we saw no predators. I reckon it was just to hot again – in fact in places the temperature was up to 37 degrees C.
Braai again for dinner – lamb ribs & chicken wings with stir fried veg, gem squash and a potato for me. In case you’re wondering why I give what I eat each night – it is especially for one of our readers who complains if I don’t tell her!
Until tomorrow …
P & H
Enjoying TT very much. You seem to be having a spectacularly good trip this year. Keeping me entertained as I lie recovering from my Macular hole surgery, so sorry if there are typos, can onlt see blurred stuff due to gas bubble in my right eye.
And thanks for your continued dietary inventory! Much aporecited and all part of the survival in the wold!