Africa.Jungle and veldt by Caravan and Sedan chair.

[drron]

That is sure a hike.I wonder whether the Ugandan Government will put up their fees.If not there will be an increase in tourists to Uganda.They pretty well sell out in high season but not that many tourist there when we went-April,May are low season.

 

[drron]

We stayed a fair while with the rhinos so it was pretty dark when we stopped for sundowners.So missed the sunset but as we were drinking a very large male rhino came out of the bushes less than 100 metres from us and walked across the road in front of us.Fortunately they have very poor eyesight.On the way back to the lodge we saw several owls.
Close to the river we came across a large family group of elephants.They got a bit upset with us so we had no choice but to make a quick offroad getaway as they were standing in the road.Once again rain overnight but fine in the morning for our last full day at Makanyane.Off in time to see the sunrise-

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On our way and it is obvious we are heading to the river.So what special thing is in store for us.Things on the way-

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The clouds afforded a nice sun shot-

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Then we get to where Darren wanted to go and see this-

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An obviously recently demised large kudu bull quite possibly the one we saw 2 nights ago.But what killed it.

 

[drron]

The hunters were not far away-

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This fellow has an injury but it was present 2 days ago.

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So how do dogs bring down as large an animal as that.Because they are intelligent.this kill is right next to the northern fence of the Game Reserve.The dogs attack from 3 sides,the kudu breaks for the opening so hitting the fence which is electrified.The kudu temporarily stunned falls to the ground and is quickly dispatched.
There were 3 wild dog packs here initially.one succumbed to rabies a few years agne of the surviving packs based itself on the Makanyane property but about 2 years ago another bout of rabies.There were just over 30 in the 2 packs and only 5 survived.There are now 15.But inbreeding will be a problem.

So to the other animals spotted on the morning drive-

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[drron]

The young zebra was cute but lucky to be there.

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Note the stripes on her hip and hind leg.They aren't continuous.She obviously survived an attack by a predator.
Mrsdrron's favourite.

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She just loves those trees.Another tower of giraffes-

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[drron]

Next a little fellow that you usually don't get to photograph because they jump away quickly.But this hare was concentrating on going down 2 burrows close together and didn't worry about us-

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And some birds as we headed for home-

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And a jackal and our water monitor friends-

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[drron]

After breakfast I went to the lounge to have some internet time.These 2 red billed hornbills sat outside.They took turns flying into the glass door,getting groggy and doing it again-

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After lunch I walked down to the river.there are hippos in this stretch of the river but we didn't see any during our stay.

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But one of the bushbucks came back and wasn't as jittery-

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I thought she might have been coming to say hello-

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But there was a great noise as a troop of monkeys came running by.She turned tail and ran-

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Two youngsters.Just look at the length of the tail-

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[drron]

Our last evening game drive.As usual begins with impalas but a great number-

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Then the world's heaviest flying bird,the kori bustard-

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Then we came across the cape buffalo again-

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[drron]

Then came one of our best African experiences.Only 2 animals but they kept us entertained for over an hour and no one wanted to leave-

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So a large male elephant first getting his fill of water then giving himself a mud bath.

 

[drron]

First he covers himself in mud-

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[drron]

Then he sits down and wiggles his bottom-

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[drron]

This gave him great pleasure-

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He then posed for us giving a classic African sunset picture-

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[drron]

He now walks off to find a tree-

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And then proceeds to rub up against it.

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Every little bit.

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Then you turn around and do the other side.

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At this point another,probably larger,male appears-

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[drron]

We were all hoping for a repeat performance.

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I did take a movie in case of a repeat show-
[video=youtube_share;4IirIO_7ynI]https://youtu.be/4IirIO_7ynI[/video]


But then he came around the lagoon-

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He heads straight for us showing his displeasure-

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We made a hasty retreat.

 

[drron]

We missed the best of the sunset and there was a paucity of wildlife-

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the moon was up-

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And we were nearly back at the lodge when Darren's face lit up as he kept the spotlight in one spot.At first we wondered what all the fuss was about-

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The we looked to the right of the spotlight-

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An aardwolf.The smallest member of the hyena family.It was only the fifth time Darren had seen one.He was stoked and a perfect end to a great day.

 

[drron]

So our last day in Africa but what a day.We were flying out at 1910 that evening on QF64.but here we were up at 0530 and off on a game drive at 0610.The sunrises were all spectacular-

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Once again we headed over to the Madikwe reserve.However we were held up by a breeding herd of elephants who took some time to cross the road in front of us.

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[drron]

They came one by one-

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Is this an elephant kiss?

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The male seemed to think so-

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[docjames]

Enjoying the TR and bringing back some great memories from Zim, especially all the sunset shots. Etched in my memory is a tower of giraffes backlit by the blazing sunset behind them.....

 

[drron]

Mum arrived and gave the young male a couple of nudges-

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She walked off but big brother arrived-

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And the little one had some fun-

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[drron]

Big brother persuades the young fellow it's time to leave-

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So now we proceeded to the north.The radio traffic suggested something worthwhile was happening.I didn't recognise the word they were using but knew it wasn't leopard.We had to wait a while to get in so set out to find other animals.first another zebra who had had a brush with a predator-

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Then another white rhino-

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[drron]

Just thought I would throw in a warthog-

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Then a jackal who really wasn't fussed by our presence-

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Then an elephant trying to knock over a tree-

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We were now called in for our last experience at Makanyane.