Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you celebrated the special day in peace and harmony with those dearest to you.
Here at Satara in the Kruger National Park the thunderous roaring of lion heralded Christmas Day from just after midnight. By the time the gates opened at 04:30 there was no sign of the big cats, but when darkness fell this evening the roaring started up again, so they were well hidden somewhere close by all day. Here’s some of the presents Kruger gave us today:
Brown Snake Eagle
Steppe Eagle
Immature Bateleur
Waterbuck
Dwarf Mongoose
Kudu cows
Buffalo bull
Giraffes
CMR Blister Beetle
Hoopoe in flight
Cape Glossy Starling at its nest
Carpenter Bee
Cape Sparrow (a rare sight in Kruger)
Burchell’s Starling
White-backed Vulture
Green-backed Heron
Mauritian Tomb Bat
Nile Crocodile
Grey Heron baking dry
Black Stork
Black-winged Kite
Elephants
Satara’s not-so-wild African Wild Cat
Spider with babies on her back
Banded Rubber Frog
Tree Creeper Scorpion
DeWetsWild 
What lovely presents! Belated best Christmas wishes to all of you.
Thank you Carol!
Wonderlik om Kerfees so in dis natuur deur te bring.Alles wat mooi is vir julle in die feestyd en mag die de Wets ons nog lank saamneem na die mooie natuur!
Baie dankie vir die gawe wense, Dina!
Great post 🙂
Thank you!
Merry Christmas Dries, Marilize and Joubert.
Thank you, Tracy!
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas?
It hasn’t been good, Dries
I am so sorry to hear that, Tracy. Being in the bush our internet connection is atrocious and I haven’t been able to catch up with the blogs I am following. Are you OK?
Nothing that some good sleep, rain and clean air wouldn’t fix Dries. However I’m one of the lucky ones. Take care. I’m very much enjoying your beautiful photos. Don’t hurry back. The news is dismal.
Being in a “news black-out” here in the bush really does wonders for the soul!
What a happy place to be!
Most definitely, Anne!
Your list of animals must be very long! Thank you for sharing, my friend. 🙂
Our tally for this trip is at 42 mammal species, about 180 kinds of birds, and around a dozen amphibians and reptiles!
The bat is lovely. And the rocks’ colouring behind the beautiful black stork is intriguing – probably due to the level of the water I think?
I think you are spot-on about the water level, Petru, and hopefully by the end of this rainy season it’ll be back at that mark.