Another beautiful day in the Kruger Park. Our drives took us along the Timbavati River in the morning, and along the Gudzani and Nwanetsi streams in the afternoon, and we were rewarded with more amazing encounters with beasts both great and small, creatures dainty and robust, scaled, feathered and furred.

Kurrichane Buttonquail

Wattled Starling male

Ground Hornbill

White-headed Vulture

Goliath Heron

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting

Spotted Flycatcher

Dusky Lark

Sabota Lark

Black-backed Jackal

Verreaux’s Eagle Owl chick in a nest built in a windpump

Leopard along the Timbavati

African Migrant (Butterfly)

Honey Badger

Elephant bull

Yellow-throated Plated Lizard

Tawny-flanked Prinia

Baboon

Laughing Elephant calf

Baby Serrated Hinged Terrapin

Crinum Lily

Zebra foal

Patrician Blue butterfly

Baby Vervet Monkey

Green-winged Pytilia (female)

Impala ewe

African Wild Cat

Baboon Spider

Solifuge a.k.a. Sun Spider

Foam Nest Frog

Another lovely day out exploring the Satara area of the Kruger National Park – overcast start to the morning with the clouds dissipating during the course of the day; as I am typing this we’re viewing the almost-full moon rising beautifully over the savanna.

Red-crested Korhaan calling

Waterbuck bull

Elephant bull blocking our way

Kori Bustard

European Honey Buzzard

Herd of elephants

Sabota Lark

Woodland Kingfishers

Rock Monitor

Very lazy Impala

Young Steenbok

Elephant Bulls

Black-backed Jackal

Newly-born Blue Wildebeest stretching his legs

The first week of our summer at Satara in the Kruger National Park concluded with the sun finally putting in an appearance again after four days. All kinds of insectivorous birds and animals feasted on emerging termite and ant alates, while many different kinds of frogs were jumping at the opportunity to mate in newly formed pools of water and we de Wets took the opportunity to take part in a guided night drive.

Scimitarbill

Baby baboon

Common Duiker

Bushbuck ewe

White-backed vulture trying to dry off

African Green Pigeon

Adult African Green Pigeon

Elephant

Impala skirmish

Tawny-flanked Prinia

Lesser Masked Weavers

African Mourning Doves courting

Flying ant Kings and Queens emerging

Adult Bateleur

Immature Bateleur

Ground Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill

Senegal Lapwing

Tree Agama males displaying

Tree Agama male with beetle prey

Tree Agama female

African Bull Frogs

Bull Frogs

Eastern Olive Toad

Banded Rubber frog

Foam Nest Frog

Bushveld Rain Frog

Frog eggs drifting in a temporary puddle

African Wild Cat seen on a night drive from Satara

Large-spotted Genet seen on a night drive from Satara

It’s the third day of unrelenting rainfall at Satara in the Kruger National Park, and it’s still pouring down cats and dogs. Well, cats anyway. Big cats! And lions to be precise.

Double-banded Sandgrouse

Lion

Lion brothers

A lonely and scared little Lion cub

Lion cubs and one of the pride females

Big old tusker

The inclement weather persisted today, and brought with it unseasonably cold weather – sending the Kruger’s reptiles, birds and mammals into hiding. Still, it is wonderful to be here in this weather; you can almost hear the grass and leaves growing!

Arrow-marked Babbler

Giant African Land Snail

Impala Lamb

Yellow-bellied House Bat

Zebras in the rain…

Red-crested Korhaan

Woodland Kingfisher

Yellow-billed Kite

Out Satara’s gates at 04:30 this morning, we didn’t have to wait too long before finding a mating pair of lions right in the road. Our afternoon drive didn’t yield the same results, mostly due to a very welcome drizzle setting in. We were however welcomed back to camp by Satara’s habituated African Wild Cat.

Lion

Lioness

Lioness close-up

Jameson’s Firefinch

Temmink’s Courser

Waterbuck ewes on the S100

African Wild Cat in Satara

Early this morning, to be precise as soon as the gates opened at 04:30, we departed from Tamboti and headed for Satara, the second biggest of the Rest Camps in the Kruger National Park. It took us about 2-and-a-half hours to drive the 50km distance, making frequent stops for such amazing sightings as a lazy leopard, playful painted wolves and a bloodthirsty Burchell’s starling killing a hapless Alpine Swift, and much, much more.

Lazy leopard

Beautiful kudu bull

Painted Wolves, or African Wild Dogs

Painted Wolves, or African Wild Dogs

Spotted Hyena on the run

Elephant Bull

Dwarf Mongooses

Burchell’s Starling killing an Alpine Swift

We took our time setting up camp – this will be “home” for the next month!

When exploring the bush we have a few of our own traditions, and one of those is that whenever we are at Satara the first road we take on our first afternoon drive is always the S100 to Nwanedzi.

Violet-backed Starling (male)

Baby Nile Crocodile going for a stroll!

Immature Bateleur

Water Thick-knees warding off a Nile Monitor

Golden-tailed Woodpecker at Nwanedzi

Black-bellied Bustard (female)

Great Spotted Cuckoo with a hairy caterpillar it caught

Sunset near Satara

This evening, Marilize and Joubert’s special birthday treat for me was a scrumptious dinner at Satara’s restaurant. While there, we spied a couple of Thick-tailed Bushbabies looking for dinner of their own in the branches of a Fever Tree.

Thick-tailed Bushbaby high in a Fever Tree