Two Geckos on a Road Trip – Day 12 – Mountain Zebra Park

27 March 2021

The rain has gone! But it is still a tad chilly in the mornings here in the mountains of the Eastern Cape. We started our day with an “Early” breakfast, did a few household chores and then set off separately for a drive. We met halfway going in opposite directions and then headed back to camp for a cuppa. We then did another drive in the afternoon. Most of the game can be seen on the wide open plains but a few hang out in the mountains too. Birding is good. The views are magnificent. Below are the highlights from both drives.

Burchell’s Sandgrouse, I thought Now I think Shelley’s Frsncolon? Nope it a grey-winged as Anne suggests in the comments

Cape Bunting

View across the valley

Black Wildebeest / White-tailed Gnu

Our national animal – Springbok

View of the terrain – black wildebeest in foreground

Mountain Zebra giving us the look

Baby looking shy

Karoo Chat

Having a delightful sandbath

And a lovely shake afterwards

Contemplaing a swim

Come on in, the water’s lovely

I know it’s early darling, but come on out – the sun is up

Hello, Who are you? Do you have a snack for us?

Leave the tourists, love – they’re not going to give you anything. Just look out for jackals

Hang on – something’s in my tail

All good – let’s forage

I’ve got something

Me too

Pale-chanting Goshawk

Looking for ground squirrels?

Even the little lizards are interesting

And this tiny frog is so cute

Come into my parlour

Red-headed finch

Female not as colourful

Scaly-feathered finch looking cross

Male Ostrich

Red-billed firefinch trying to hide

Kudu

Springbok by The Earl

Zebra by The Earl

Female Kudu by The Earl

Familiar Chat?

An evening view across the valley

Such amazing colours

Mountain Zebra Campsite

As the sun sets

Wonderful way to end the day

Bonding at the Braai

Just a final word about the facilities at Mountain Zebra – There are two types of campsite. C indicates a caravan site and T a tent site and the sites are numbered. We are on C32 and 34 with T33 between us. It was not busy when we arrived on Thursday but today (Friday) the weekenders arrived and it is now quite full.

The ablutions are clean and neat but there has been trouble with the water – no water for a few hours on this afternoon (Friday) and the shower in the morning was luke-warm. The Earl is also horrified by the state of the electrics in the camp. He is an electrician! Sadly maintenance is always an issue in South Africa but the beauty that surrounds us makes up for it all. I would still recommend MZNP as a destination.