Travelling in the Time of Covid – Kruger National Park – Punda Maria to Pafuri Picnic Site and Crook’s Corner

It dawned bright and beautiful after the cool weather of yesterday. We packed a picnic breakfast, had a quick cup of coffee and were on the road to Pafuri by 5:30 am. We are now in the Northern sandveld area of the park. The sandveld has sandy, well-drained soils supporting a range of vegetation with no particular dominant species. Characteristic trees of the sandveld include pod mahogany, nyala, southern lala-palm , fever tree. mopane and, of course, the baobab. It is a wonderful area for birding.

First to greet us this morning

We have not seen many kori bustards

Mrs Red-backed Shrike always surprises us

Southern Masked Weaver were busy making nests

Mrs Weaver is looking for her mate – I need more softness to line the nest, she tells her husband.

Mrs Nyala checks us out

Mr Nyala is not interested

Lots of vee-eaters greeted us = this is a white-fronted

Pafuri Picnic Site

We spotted a white-crowned lapwing at Pafuri

A Fish Eagle watched over us

Pafuri Picnic Site

This Baobab is home to nesting mosque swallows, red-billed buffalo weavers, red-headed weavers, purple rollers and

red-billed buffalo weaver nest

Red-headed weaver

Purple Roller

Red-billed buffalo weaver

Baobab Tree Flower

Row of Baobab trees

We saw elephants today but they were hiding among the trees.

Our cousins made us laugh

Lappet-faced vultures were hanging in the trees

We saw a few tawny eagles

The Woodland’s Kingfishers called constantly – At last they are here for the summer

The weather today started out sunny with clear skies and the temperature reached 33 degrees C. However, later in the afternoon storm clods built up and wind started to blow. We thought we might have a storm but it blew over. It was cool this evening. I cooked chicken curry in my electric Ramosca pot. No creatures came to the waterhole. We shall see what the morrow brings.