We had a wonderful time, taking a huge number of photographs in the Park with two very busy Nikons
and, with the bush being quite dense as a result, we thought that we wouldn't see a huge variety
We'd hoped to see the "Big Five" and were very happy that we saw and photographed four of them
as well as a great number of other animals and birds
The actual Kruger Gate into the Park is about 500m from the hotel
The Sabie Game Reserve was proclaimed by President Kruger in 1898 and developed into the Kruger National Park
The Kruger Memorial was erected in 1976 and is the work of South African sculptor Coert Steynberg (1905-1982)
A Blue-Tailed (Five-lined) or Rainbow Skink (Mabuya quinquetaeniata), one of the first animals seen after our arrival at the hotel
and we found these two bushbuck ewes grazing next to the stoep at our room
We thought that we had missed seeing a leopard that we had been told was in a tree just after the Kruger Gate
and Lynne saw in one of her photographs, after we arrived home, that she had caught the same one
You can just see the tail hanging down at the fork in the tree
It was quite a long distance away. This was photographed with a 300mm lens
and the picture enlarged. Hurray!
Male impala (Aepyceros melampus) - the first of hundreds
We saw lots of impressive Elephant families
and many Giraffes feeding on the lush undergrowth after the heavy summer rains
Many of the side (dirt) roads are still closed while they repair the damage caused by the floods
so most of ourr time was spent on the tar roads
Very stately, very grand
They get the youngest growth on the tops of the trees and bushes
A small herd
We went to have a look at the Skukuza nursery
This attractive walkway leads round between the Skukuza golf course and the nursery
A dense mass of reeds and grasses seen from the walkway
and a grey vervet monkey peered down at the photographer through the overhanging foliage
There were many Striped Skinks (Mabuya striata) on the walkway
A yellow-billed oxpecker grooming the ear of a young male impala
Grooming time for the Vervet monkeys when we stopped at Skukuza for lunch
Cheeky chappy looking to see what it could steal
Calculating the distances and opportunities
Our packed lunch was in view
Wham! it snatched the yoghurt pot off our table so fast we didn't see it coming
Full face into the pot!
Hippo faces on the river
Bloukop Koggelmander - aka Southern rock agama and Blue-headed Agama Lizard (Agama atra)
The monarch of the glen. A magnificent kudu bull
Another young impala ram
Young spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta), the largest member of the hyena family, in their den near the road
They apparently appear here frequently
Must scratch that itch. They almost look quite cuddly - don't try it!
Maybe NOT so playful. "Make my day" look
Two waterbuck ewes near the Kruger Gate
River grazing in the green season
A bushbuck ram at the hotel entrance
Almost an optical effect, a Burchell's zebra in its prime
I'm off to look for greener pastures
Two Greater kudu cows (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) browsing in a bush
Almost a trompe de l'oeil - the head belongs to the kudu at the back. The near one is browsing in the tree
A very pretty Kudu cow
Watching me, watching you -
A female nyala (Tragelaphus angasii)
I'm looking down on you
A depressed looking lone spotted hyena walking along the road
We drove up a rather destroyed road, a challenge for our little VW Polo,
to see what would be visible from the highish vantage point
We made it up to the top of the rock; many turned back as the road was in a parlous condition with huge dongas
The view was worth the drive up and down
A young Honey Locust tree (Gleditsia triacanthos) growing in a crack in the huge rock
A herd of elephants grazing on the lush grass in a river bed
and a lone bull near the road
Impala and wildebeest
And then, suddenly we were in the middle of a pride of lions crossing the road
This was taken by Lynne, who loves cats
A juvenile lion, trying to look cute
A baboon family
picking berries in a tree
Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) - one of the most poisonous snakes
A giraffe coming out of the dense bush
Warthogs grazing at our doorstep at the Kruger Gate hotel
with their adolescent son
We found ourselves in the middle of a herd of Cape Buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) on the road
led by a huge bull
and then another herd in the afternoon, so close to the car's open window that we could smell them
Domestic cows smell a lot better
Mother elephant leading her family
A group of four giraffes foraging in the trees near Sunset Dam
The Orpen dam to the east of Tshokwane
home to a herd of hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius), grazing on the bank
and swimming in the dam
a warthog family
Massive horns
A female spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) resting in her den, near Skukuza,
Misty hills on the horizon on the way back to the Kruger Gate
On our way out of the Park, driving via Malelane gate to avoid the misery of Hazyview
two Burchell's zebras near the Kruger gate
a baby elephant
and a lone elephant cow, a few kilometres further along the road
and a real live Investec bank logo -a Burchell's zebra stallion
A muddy warthog to bid us farewell at Malelane Gate
and then crossing the Crocodile River at Malelane and onto the N4, back to Johannesburg
with smoke rising from a sugar mill further along the river
The photographers, each caught unposed by the other
All the stories we have produced since 2012
can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right of this page
