Day 38

 We were up fairly early this morning and set out on our game drive after breakfast at just gone 7. The first thing we see is a group of elephants and ostriches just outside the camp.

This morning we got some nice views across the park and didn’t see another vehicle until midday.

We see plenty of birds, a tree hyrax (on a rock), 2 reedbucks along with more elephants, impala, warthogs, buffalo etc.

Wahlberg’s Eagle 

Speckled Mousebird

Yellow Necked Spurfowl

Tree Hyrax

Long Tailed Fiscal Shrike

Barn Swallows

Von der Decken’s Hornbill

Reedbuck 

With so many birds around Pete and Alladini spent a lot of time like this.

Mid morning we stop at the Silale Swamp Picnic Area. At this time of the year there are no animals there but we took a few photos of the view.

After this we had a good sighting of a Martial Eagle and then a pair of Hammerkop building their nest.

This was followed by a Spur Winged Goose. We had never seen this large bird before. At the same time we also saw a Namaqua Dove.

Late morning we were really lucky to see a leopard up a tree. We were quite a distance away and as we watched, so he climbed further up the tree, eventually settling down to sleep with legs hanging over a branch.

Moving on we saw a Gabar Goshawk, warthogs, monkeys, and more elephants that looked red rather than grey, they had clearly had a mud bath earlier.

We also stopped at a place where we could get good views across the park.

Our last stop for the morning was at Matete Picnic Area where you can also get some really good views. 

After this we returned to camp for a lunch of meatballs followed by ice cream. The food at this camp turned out to be the best on safari.

This afternoon started out very hot so we had a dip in the pool but soon the clouds gathered, the wind picked up and it started to rain.

At 4.30 we met up with Alladini and decided it wasn’t worth going out for a game drive in the rain. Instead we stayed in the bar until about 7 and had a really good chat. 

We then had a quick shower before dinner. Tonight one other couple are staying but the camp have socially distanced us.....our dinner was served in the bar and they ate in the dining room. Again the food was excellent.