Monday, May 23, 2011

Antelope at Kruger


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Impalla In the Afternoon

Steenbok

Waterbuck at waterhole

Kudu Female

Kudu Male

One of the most exciting and heart stopping scenes unfolded was we watched a herd of Impalla in the bush above the Timbavati River one morning. At first they started acting twitchy then they took off running and shorting right across our path. We thought they were fleeing something and we were on high alert ourselves to see what might come out of the bush. But the danger was from within the herd; it was a challenge between males. One male was making quite a racket as he ran chasing another male. We watched them fight, locking horns and moving through the bush until they were behind us.






Click here to see more Impallas and other antelope in Hluhluwe Game Reserve

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Hippopotamus at Kruger


On our first day in Kruger Judy & I went out late in the day to a nearby waterhole and we saw our first Hippopotamus.

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Hippo Pool

Hippo Eyes Us

Mouth Sequence







Rivalry

Big Hippo in Small River

And a Baby!

By the road

Only a Mother would love this face

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Buffalo, Giraffe, Zebra-At Kruger


There was a very large herd of Cape Buffalo migrating; the column was half a mile long. My view of the column was blocked but I got some close ups.

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Cape Buffalo migrate






Giraffe



At the waterhole

Waterhole in fading light

We watched the waterholes for hours waiting for Lions to appear. Turns out the Lions were elsewhere.

The Zebras and Giraffes were safe.

Zebra makes a comment

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Cheetahs in Kruger


We searched the back roads for days but these Cheetah's were on the main road.

When we came around the bend and saw four cars stopped we knew it was something big.

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Cheetahs on the road





They moved off into the tall grass and looked around for a while.





When they spotted something they acted quickly.

Hunting



Whatever they were after it was a ways off in the savanna. We lost them as they bounded along, jumping up to see their prey then disappearing in the distance.

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Jackel & Hyenas


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Jackel (rare)
Spotted Hyena

Hyena Pup

There were two of these pups hiding in the tall grass at the side of the road. Every few minutes one of them would look out to see (presumably) if mama was coming back yet. We waited and snapped this shot.

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Warthog, Baboons, Monkeys Rhinos, Elephants-Kruger


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Warthogs

Baboons



Vervet Monkey

Rhinoceros



Wrinkle Nose



Another Bull Emerging from the Dark Forest

And Onto The Road (again)


We are backing up right NOW!
Tusker coming



This guy confronted us then followed us down the road. Judy, driving, was backing up like crazy. We were worried he'd back us up all the way to the last batch of cars, still watching the lions. Then there came a turn-around spot off the side of the road with a tree in the middle. She drove into the turnaround. The elephant followed. I told her, "keep on going around and keep the tree between you and the elephant. When we are again headed down the road where we want to go, take off." It worked.

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Lions in Kruger



Lionesses Hunting

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Three Lions on the other side of the river

We were told that there were three lions on the river bank down a small trail off the main road. We went down and there we spotted the three lionesses on the river bank across from us. When they moved out and we lost them in the ravine below we guessed that they might reappear further down the river at a nearby culvert.

We drove there and waited and then spotted them crossing to the near side.

Then we moved to the knoll where we expected them next and were rewarded when they crossed the road a few feet from our stopped car.

They were stalking some baboons and paid us little attention.

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Lioness goes hunting

Two Lions



Lions On Patrol





Leader waits for the Baboons to make a move

Mating Pair

We could have missed these two (the lioness is lying to the right of the male); they were hard to spot in the forest, but another car was stopped so we did too and we were rewarded with these views. The shooting was marginal due to the heavy shade and the early hour (it was 07:00) and we waited to see if anything would change. The pair hardly budged (except the lion layed down, see last shot) and the light didn't change in an hour so we moved on.

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