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| Whoa! Dad has quite an adorable head, doesn’t he? Can you tell from this photo what type of bird this is? |
“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”
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| This is one of our frequent visitors, Ms. Bushbuck, who stops by several times a day, never failing to let us know a few pellets would be in order. |
With our interview scheduled for yesterday at 9:00 am, we awoke and were situated on the veranda a little earlier than usual to have the post uploaded before our guest arrived with Danie.
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| Mom and baby were staying close to one another. |
Both Louise and Danie had warned us that a 9:00 am scheduled meeting doesn’t necessarily mean a 9:00 am meeting in these parts of the world. In our usual easy-going manner, we weren’t concerned a bit when they hadn’t arrived by 10:30.
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| Mom and Baby, both with their mouths agape, a reaction that may indicate protectiveness. We were pretty far away, but they have good vision with the most enormous eyes of any land animal on the planet. |
Louise sent a text alerting us that it may be closer to 2:00 pm, which was fine. We had no specific plans for the day other than leaving for sunset views, river views, and dinner at Ngwenya around 5:00 pm.
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| Baby hiding behind mom’s fluffiness. |
With the post uploaded earlier and after the notification from Louise, by 10:30 am, we decided to take off in the little car to drive around Marloth Park and see what we could find. The temperature was in the 100F’s (38C) with excessive humidity.
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| Ostriches are the largest and tallest bird on the planet. Due to their size: females weigh up to 232 pounds (110 kg) and males up to 287 pounds (130 kg). They don’t fly due to their massive size. Females’ height may be up to 6’2″ (1.9 meters) while males can reach 6’9″ (2.7 meters). |
As mentioned in a prior post, the little car’s AC system is somewhat primitive based on the car’s small engine and operating system. But, that fact wasn’t about to keep us from heading out to see what we could find.
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| Mom and the baby tend to hide behind her feathers. |
Besides, while we’re “searching,” we often have the car’s windows wide open to avoid taking photos through the glass. We’re usually so preoccupied with the scenes before our eyes. We pay little attention to the heat and the insects that have managed to fly into the car. This car, not unlike others we’ve rented in many countries, doesn’t have power windows. (Nor does it have power locks)
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| Dad stood off to the side, guarding against any possible predators. |
With few expectations, as usual, we drove around for hours, ending up enthralled by the sights we discovered along the way. Who knew that on this hot and humid day, we’d stumble across the variety of wildlife we were fortunate enough to encounter?
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| The baby appears bowlegged at this point but won’t after the feathers fill in as they mature. |
We keep a map of Marloth Park in the glove box that we frequently refer to. Our goal is to scour as many roads as possible in the park to become as familiar with our surroundings as possible.
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| Dad kept a keen eye on the road. We were in a secluded area near the Crocodile River with few cars passing while parked in front of this house. |
This doesn’t provide any assurances we’ll spot wildlife, but it’s interesting to get to know this unique area inside and out. We’re continually surprised by what we find.
By 1:00 pm, we were back at the house, and by 2:15, Danie and our guest Jonas (pronounced Yan-us) arrived, with whom we spent a few valuable hours, hearing an unbelievable story we’ll be sharing (with photos) in two days. Please check back for that astounding story!
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| They moved a bit, enabling us to get a few photos of the three of them together. |
Today and tomorrow, we’ll be sharing all new photos of what we discovered on Thursday’s local road trip. Today, we’ll be preparing tomorrow’s post in advance since we’ll be gone all day tomorrow, experiencing an event we never expected we’d ever considered, way outside of our “comfort zone.” But, we’re on an “adventure” and “adventuresome” we will be! We’ll post that incredible (hopefully) story with photos in three days on Monday.
Shortly after our guests left, the power went out for the second evening in a row. We decided to change our plans once again and stay in when most likely, the power would be out at local restaurants. In a short time, the power outage was resolved, and we proceeded to prepare a great dinner, again dining outdoors on the veranda.
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| The final photo of the family of three as we drove away. |
Many visitors came to call during the early evening and after the short downpour. We even had an opportunity to see the tiniest bushbuck baby (with mom and dad) we’ve seen to date. Photos will follow soon.
May you have an incredible day!
Photo from one year ago today, March 9, 2017:
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| Freighter beyond a peninsula while docked in Lautoka, Fiji, one year ago today. For more details, please click here. |