Tag Archives: nature

Satara Summer 2021 – 22 December

Today we spent exploring the Tshokwane area to the south of Satara, in the Kruger National Park. Tshokwane itself is a busy picnic spot with a small shop and restaurant where people love to stretch their legs while travelling through the Park and birdlife become accustomed to have camera-toting tourists following them around, while any and all the roads and drives around Tshokwane is sure to deliver something wonderful to see.

Young kudu crossing the road

Enormous tusker

Lions on the S37 near Tshokwane (photo by Joubert)

Spiteful elephant!

Elephant tussle (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyenas bathing at Vutomi

African Mourning Dove (photo by Joubert)

Male Knob-billed Duck strutting his stuff

Satara Summer 2021 – 21 December

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The Kruger National Park really delivers on every scale imaginable! These are some of our shots taken today in and around Satara Rest Camp.

House Sparrow (photo by Joubert)

Spectacled Weaver

Interesting fly that appears to be mimicking a bee (photo by Joubert)

Crab Spider

Male Tree Agama in breeding colours in Satara Rest Camp

Egyptian Goose

Hippos in a hurry at Sweni Hide

Lionesses on the S41 near Nwanetsi

Cheeky Giraffe (photo by Joubert)

Green-backed Heron (photo by Joubert)

Bushbuck ewe

Satara Summer 2021 – 20 December

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We’re still having a wonderful time at Satara in the Kruger National Park. The toughest part of every day is deciding which route to take; even after a week here there are still roads around camp we haven’t travelled on! Today we set off in the direction of Olifants for our morning drive, and focused on the loop along the Sweni River in the afternoon.

Black-backed Jackal finding grubs in elephant dung

Sunrise over the plains north of Satara

Spotted Hyena walking along the road near Balule

Exercise session at the Impala creche (photo by Joubert)

Flying Impala lamb (photo by Joubert)

Greater Painted Snipe female (photo by Joubert)

Advancing Buffalo herd

Chin-spot Batis on its nest

Young Kudu bull (photo by Joubert)

European Roller (photo by Joubert)

Satara Summer 2021 – 19 December

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Not to brag, but it seems our days here at Satara in the Kruger National Park are just getting better and better and better… We did a circular route today – Satara to N’wanedzi, onwards to Tshokwane, and then back to Satara via Nhlanguleni and Muzandzeni. The encounters we had were magic.

Buffalo bull (photo by Joubert)

Cheetahs hunting near Nwanetsi

Elephant owning the road (photo by Joubert)

(photo by Joubert)

Big male lion

Wet Baboon piggy-back (photo by Joubert)

Young male kudu (photo by Joubert)

Green-winged Pytilia (photo by Joubert)

Standoff between Vervet Monkeys and Water Dikkoppe (Water Thick-knees) at Mazithi Dam

Leopardess relaxing in a Marula tree (photo by Joubert)

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake (photo by Joubert)

Yellow-billed Hornbill (photo by Joubert)

Satara’s famous white lion (photo by Joubert)

Satara Summer 2021 – 18 December

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We’re still having a wonderful time in the Kruger National Park, and we’re going to have so many stories to tell you when we get back home!

Black-backed Jackal having a staring contest with a lion

Mighty lion

Dwarf Mongoose

Bateleur feast

Green-backed Heron

African Cuckoo

Waterbuck herd

Satara Summer 2021 – 17 December

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Today’s weather was a complete opposite to what we experienced on previous days of this visit to the Kruger National Park. It was drizzly and windy, with temperatures dropping by more than half from the low to mid-40ºC’s of the previous days to a maximum of 21ºC today. Still, we had some amazing sightings, especially in the early morning. These predator photographs were all taken by Joubert today.

Big male lion (photo by Joubert)

Big male lion, smiling for the camera (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena (photo by Joubert)

Baby Black-backed Jackal (photo by Joubert)

Big Nile Crocodile (photo by Joubert)

Satara Summer 2021 – 16 December

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Another day of exceptional and wildly diverse encounters with the wildlife and scenery of the Kruger National Park.

Spotted Hyena (photo by Joubert)

Central Kruger Scenery

Arrow-marked Babbler

Blue Waxbills

Amur Falcons at sunset

Storm passing over the plains of Satara, 16 December 2021

Central Kruger Scenery

Storm passing over the plains of Satara, 16 December 2021

Waterbuck in a lush central Kruger Park, December 2021

Vervet Monkey (photo by Joubert)

European Roller (photo by Joubert)

Satara Summer 2021 – 15 December

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Tonight just a quick collection of photographs taken today in the Kruger National Park.

Baboon gymnast

Hungry Hyena cub

Dwarf Bittern

Hangry Hippo!

Woolly-necked Stork

Enormous tusker

Baby elephant cuteness

Thank you also for all the comments received on posts in the previous days – I will still get around to answering them all!

Satara Summer 2021 – 14 December

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It’s the summer holidays in South Africa and we find ourselves back at Satara, in the Kruger National Park. We encountered these Painted Wolves, or African Wild Dogs, on the road heading into the Park from Orpen Gate today. These are all Joubert’s photographs.

Painted Wolves, or African Wild Dogs, on the road between Orpen and Satara

Koppie Foam Grasshopper

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Dictyophorus spumans

The Koppie Foam Grasshopper is a large (up to 8cm long) insect whose brilliant red-and-black colouration advertises to any would-be predator that it is poisonous enough to kill a dog. This poison is accumulated in the body tissues of the Koppie Foam Grasshopper when it feeds on poisonous plants from the milkweed family and is exuded in the form of a bloody foam when the insect is attacked. Their wings are far too short to permit flying. Koppie Foam Grasshoppers occur over most of South Africa, being absent only from Kwazulu-Natal and the eastern Free State. They live in open, sparsely vegetated and often rocky areas and are regularly encountered on hills (koppies in Afrikaans) and mountain tops.