Day 31

Today was our first full day on safari. We had breakfast in camp and then left at about 7.15. 

Alladini had decided we would drive south for the day. Our first sighting was of a jackel followed by a group of ostriches and then a group of giraffes. 

Later we saw a herd of buffalo complete with yellow billed oxpeckers and cattle egret on their backs.

We also saw plenty of birds during the day and spent quite a bit of time with the bird books trying to correctly identify them.

At one point we were treated to a visit from a hyena who ran down the road and straight past us.

Montague’s Harrier

It was just after 9 when we saw our first kill of the trip!!......a black heron with a mouse that he eventually swallowed whole!!

At around this time Alladini commented that with so few tourists “the environment is recovering” - he was referring to the road tracks that in some places are now quite difficult to see.

Continuing on we spotted 2 lions asleep on some rocks. One was striking some great poses so we got some good photos, the other just slept under a bush.

We stopped to stretch our legs under a tree and then decided to have lunch there. We each had a lunch box with a freshly prepared meal inside - a great improvement on the old style of lunch boxes.

This afternoon delivered warthogs, gazelles, eagles, vultures, kestrels and buzzards as well as several sightings of hartebeest. 

Pigmy Falcon

Coke’s Hartebeest

Two Banded Courser

Tawny Eagle

Lappet Faced Vultures

Lesser Kestrel 

Mid afternoon we saw our second group of lions asleep on some rocks - again we got some good photos.

There were more birds including a kori bustard showing us his mating pose and a secretary bird sat on a nest. We also saw some cute bat eared fox cubs but didn’t get any decent photos.

We got back to camp about 6, showered and had dinner. The food was good again. We had had a great day.