Monday 21 Oct 2013

S: Amazing. I am sitting this evening at our camp table surrounded by about twenty birds fighting over the pieces of bread I am throwing them. What a racket. There are Cape Robin Chats and Southern Masked Weavers, male and female. We later had Dark-capped Bulbuls, a (transitional) Red Bishop, Pied Starlings, to mention a few. But I digress. Let me start at the beginning of the day.


It rained all night. It was still raining this morning when we got up. Lesley was up first, off to the bird hide. I went and had a shower, lovely and hot this time, before finding the camp kitchen to fill our Thermos with boiling water. I was not going to stand over the gas stove in the rain. Then, like a good husband, I went to find my wife - bearing coffee and rusks.


When I managed to drag “Tweety” away from the bird hide we set off through the Addo ____ Park. The reason for the _____ is that we are sure that there are no elephants in the park. We drove around for about seven hours and did not see one. That is not to say we did not have an enjoyable day. There was so much else to discover and Tweety had a fun day photographing all the birds.


Aside from the rhino, buffalo and hyena we saw last night, there were zebra, red hartebees, ostrich, black-backed jackal, warthog, kudu bull and ewes, eland and a myriad of bird life which I am sure Lesley will fill you in on.


We stopped for lunch at a place called Jack's Picnic Place which is the only other place in the north of the park that has ablutions. The place is protected by a game fence and electric gate so is quite safe. There are apparently some lion in the park as well and it was comforting to know that the place was relatively safe. But cats climb things don't they …........


L: Yes Steve, I did have an amazing day, thank you. We saw several birds and also a few birds of prey, even one with a catch!! We also saw a Black-backed Heron and a Blue Crane.


We were treated to a spectacular display by 2 zebra, chasing each other around and making as if they were going to bite the other. Not sure if it was a mating dance or a game as they stopped after a while and grazed peacefully together.


We also saw a male and female Red Hartebees with their two young offspring.


S: There are so many warthog in the park and some have whiskers which makes them look ridiculous!


And......we are still looking for the elephants........


We hope to see a few on the way out tomorrow. (The bush is so dense that we are very fortunate to have spotted so much game).


L: The sun is setting and we are enjoying a braai and the many birds, in the hide and around our campsite. Cheers!!


L: I was in bed already when I heard Steve coming down the path from the bathroom and that unmistakeable sound of his shoes braking hard!! Then he dropped his keys so I knew he had got a big fright........It took him a few minutes before he called out to me to come and look. It was a huge porcupine shuffling up the hill. I had a good laugh at his expense!!!