Travelling in the Time of Covid – Kruger National Park -Highlights of Day 24 to 26.

Apologies for neglecting this travel tale for the past few days. I received the final PDF manuscript of “A Judge Decided” and had to read through and make sure that all was fine for printing and publishing. This is now done and dusted.

On 24 November we left Letaba and drove the tar road to Shingwedzi. We wanted to spend four nights there but when we changed our bookings last week we were told the campsite was full. To our surprise we found this not to be so. The website certainly shows that there are no campsites available but in reality the camp was not even at 10 per cent capacity. Who knows what is going on!

It was very hot on Tuesday and after setting up we went to have breakfast at the restaurant. We were the only guests at Tindlovu. I asked for scrambled eggs and no toast but got fried eggs and toast. The Earl ordered a wrap and all was well. How they managed to get my order wrong when there was nobody else to confuse me with is a complete mystery. I decided not to send it back and enjoyed it anyway.

We went on a brief drive but there was not much going on in the extreme heat. The next day was cooler and we had some lovely sightings. Today we saw very little as we travelled from Shingwedzi to Punda Maria. It was a lot cooler and there was even some rain. There are lots of puddles in the veld so the animals were not at the waterholes. It was lovely to pack up and set up in the cooler weather. Some of the sites at Punda were still flooded from the storm they had three days ago. We found a suitable spot and have a view of the waterhole.

I am just posting some highlight photographs of the past three days.

Tuesday’s Drive – Shingwedzi

This grey-headed bush-shrike was in the tree above our caravan at Shingwedzi

Shingwedzi

The pool at Shingwedzi

Wednesday’s Drive Shingwedzi

African Pied Wagtail

Spoonbill – Shingwedzi

Shingwedzi – Marabou, Grey Heron and Spoonbill

The Earl’s photo – Spoonbill and Yellow-billed Stork

Jacobin Cuckoo by Earl

Finally a Woodland’s Kingfisher

Fork-tailed Drongo

Tree Squirrel

Cardinal Woodpecker – female

One of the three male lions we saw on the S56 (Shingwedzi)

Today’s Drive – Punda Maria

Lilac-breasted Roller

Broad-billed Roller

Purple Roller

Common Buzzard

Emerald-spotted wood-dove

African Hoopoe

Meves’s Starling

Grysbok

Steenbok

Leopard Tortoise

Violet-backed Starling

Female Violet-backed Starling

As I write, I can hear lions roaring. Hopefully we will find them on tomorrow’s drive.