We’re off to the immigration office in Nelspruit…More Kruger photos!…

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We don’t often have an opportunity to see baby wildebeests, so seeing this family with a calf was special.

In a short time, we’ll be heading out the door to make the drive to Nelspruit. We have all our papers ready for our 10:45 am appointment.  It’s a place where they do the equivalent of “musical chairs,” whereby we sit in rows of chairs, moving over each time a person(s) is called for their turn. Even with an appointment, the wait can be long and boring.

With my short attention span, just sitting and doing nothing is torture for me, whereby Tom is quite at ease with his thoughts. It’s funny how we get along so well and enjoy each other’s companionship when we are so different. The old adage about “opposites attract” may well be true after all.

We accidentally left out this photo from yesterday’s many lion photos. That woman is taking a big risk with her arms hanging out the window. One of those lions could grab her and pull her out of that vehicle in seconds.

We don’t plan to do anything else in Nelspruit. We have no interest in shopping and have enough groceries to last until the end of this week or the beginning of next when we’ll return to Komatipoort. People always suggest we shop at the massive Woolworth’s market, which the locals call “Woolies.” But, based on the fact that primarily we eat only meat, veg and small amounts of dairy, shopping at a fancier market with more variety isn’t important to us.

Once we return by around 2:00 pm, 1400 hrs, there will be plenty of time to prep for dinner, finish and proofread this post and upload it for our readers. We had a huge response yesterday after posting the lion photos. Thank you for all of your comments here, on Facebook, and by email.  It always means so much to us to hear from you, our readers, when you enjoy new and exciting photos.

We drove the loop of Verhami Dam and spotted quite a few species.

We certainly understand that you can become bored with our endless stream of photos of kudus, bushbucks, zebras, and mongooses. Oddly, we never tire of seeing them, but that’s a whole lot different than looking at a photo.

A vulture in a tree with what may be a bit of carrion for lunch.

Today, the work will be completed on our new inverter system after we experienced our last session of load shedding last night. This morning, we’re leaving a few minutes before the start of the 9:00 am session, and by the time we return, it will be done.

We just returned from Nelspruit, and the electricians are still here. The house is an upside-down mess with wires and equipment everywhere, but we are fine. Vusi will clean tomorrow when he comes, but we’re fine overnight. With the doors to all the rooms open during the electrical work, tonight Tom will spray thoroughly since the insects are many.

Many vultures were sitting in a tree, scouring the area for possible carrion.

Last night I got up during the night to use some calamine lotion, and there was a nasty-looking black insect on my hanging bath towel. I didn’t do anything about it; this morning, it was gone, where we don’t know. I’m sure it will pop up somewhere.

This may not look like a hippo, but upon closer inspection, we confirmed it was a hippo with an oxpecker sitting on its head.

We ran into some obstacles at immigration this morning, but all is resolved now. We left with peace of mind, knowing the process will continue. It will be weeks before we receive an answer. We’ll share more details in tomorrow’s post.

The first elephant sighting of the day. Many more followed, which .we’ll share shortly

When we returned, I busied myself with prep for tonight’s dinner of saucy (low carb), sliced grilled chicken strips, which Tom will have on his little white buns, and I’ll have on my homemade keto bread with a side of coleslaw for both of us, and white rice (for Tom). It’s not as hot today as it’s been lately, and we’re delighted to be able to enjoy a  cooler evening on the veranda with our animal friends.

Enjoy today’s photos from yesterday’s self-drive in Kruger, and have a lovely evening wherever you may be. More photos will follow.

Photo from one year ago today, January 31, 2023:

Yesterday, I made Tom’s favorite dinner, low-carb pizza with cheese and egg crust, sausage, onions, green olives, and mushrooms. It was delicious! For more photos, please click here.

An outstanding 24-hour period we’ll always remember…

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This morning, we made this video of 17 kudus in the garden. Astounding!
“Sighting of the Day in the Bush”
We spotted two rangers on the road with rifles. We wondered what that was about. Any comments?

Yesterday was quite a day! With many holidaymakers leaving on Sunday due to the end of the school holiday, the wildlife came out from hiding in the parklands.

This morning’s 17 kudus in the garden. See the above video for details.

Not only did we have visitors from early morning well into the evening, at dusk last night spotted three giraffes in the side yard after hearing the sounds of branches breaking as they made their way through the bush. When we saw the giraffes’ heads through the dense bush, we took off on foot to check it out.

The kudu standing at the edge of the veranda is the same female that constantly licks my foot when she approaches.  I can identify her with a bit of oval notch in her right ear.

We found what appeared to be a mom, dad, and one youngster, most likely around eight or nine months old. We followed them through the neighbor’s garden (no one was there) and out to the parklands, where we stopped to take photos while they were grazing.

Wildebeest Willie and friends stopped by again last night.

The parents didn’t look happy to see us, although we were back by at least 10 meters, so we backed off further, giving them even more space. It was getting late, and visibility was poor from such a distance as we stayed out of sight as much as possible, taking the few photos as shown here today.

Although not all shown in this photo, we had six bushbucks in the garden for the first time.

Soon, we were back on the veranda, ready for the evening’s activities, all of which couldn’t have been more pleasing. They came and came and came, one species after another, often sharing the space with several other species, seem to all be getting along.

Last night, we saw giraffes coming through the parklands next to us.  On foot, we rushed to see them up close to take photos.  But, dad wasn’t too happy with us with his young calf nearby.  We carefully backed away.

When pellets are offered, it’s not unusual to see some head-butting among the same species, let alone among two or more species. Overall, the most aggression we’ve seen is in warthogs amongst themselves. After all, they are “pigs,” right?

This may have been the young giraffe’s mom who hovered nearby.

Yesterday afternoon, we embarked on our usual drive in the park. Although not affected by the number of tourists in Marloth Park, we saw the most striking scenes to date on the Crocodile River, photos of which will follow over the next few days.

We knew better than to get too close.

Was all of this “safari luck” or simply a case of the fact that there were fewer people in the park, resulting in more and more wildlife coming out of hiding to wander from bush house to bush house? We can’t help but assume it was due to fewer cars and fewer people disturbing the peaceful flow of life in the bush.

It was nearly dark when they visited.

The quiet has resumed.  We don’t hear cars passing on the road very often. The tar road is quiet and unencumbered and, fewer animals will be killed by speeding motorists. How long this quiet lasts is unpredictable. More tourists will be arriving over this next month for the summer school holidays in Europe and other parts of the world.

The young giraffe was preoccupied munching on leaves in the bush.

But, for now, we’re reveling in the serenity precipitating the return of the wildlife to our garden. It couldn’t be more heavenly. Even the birds seem happier, singing their tunes and dining on seeds from our birdfeeder.

For today? We may stay put and catch up on some much-needed research to begin filling gaps in our itinerary over the next few years. There’s never a time to sit back, knowing everything we need to plan is in place.

A young zebra in the garden of a house on the river road.

Weather permitting, tomorrow, we’ll head to Kruger for the day. If so, we’ll post a notice as to when we expect to have the day’s post uploaded unless I get ambitious enough today to work on tomorrow’s post this afternoon.

This must have been the above baby’s mom resting nearby.

Of course, that’s subject to how many delightful distractions present themselves throughout the day. We’ll play it by ear, as they say.

Have a pleasant day filled with beautiful surprises.

Photo from one year ago today, July 17, 2017:

Surprisingly, there are some birds in the desert during the scorching summer months in Nevada78. For more photos, please click here.