Today was one of the best days I have had in South Africa. In summary I saw a range of new animals, had a guided tour of the Mapungubwe Iron Age hill settlement, met some nice people who have asked me out with a group of friends in Polokwane on Fri night and drove one of the most spectacular 4WD tracks I have seen. Amongst the new animals I saw an albino Impala buck, Bushbuck, Steenbok and some Gemsboks. Unfortunately it was twilight so the photos of the Gemsboks didn’t work out. At one stage I was totally surrounded by massive herd of elephants, all females with calves. There was nothing I could do but switch off the car and sit there for about half an hour.
I will do a separate post about both the Mapungubwe heritage site and the elephants once I have sorted the photos out. I took 148 photos today so here is a sample less elephants and the Mapungubwe heritage site). I couldn’t in all faith thin them out any more.
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| This is part of the old border fence between South Africa and Botswana. It actually dates from the Apartheid bush war days and is not patrolled now that there is peace. However the elephants don't recognise international borders, and this is what they do to a triple concentina razor wire fence, with chain link on either side. |
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| The extremely rare albino impala. You may need to zoom in on this photo, but there is a normal 'tan' coloured one just behind it. |
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| A colourful bird! |
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| Zebras drinking at a nearby water hole (before the rain came and created puddles everywhere). |
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| A Bushbuck doe (I haven't posted one of these before).. |
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| A helmeted Guinea Fowl. These are everywhere that I have been in South Africa but a bit hard to get a picture of with my little instamatic. |
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| One of the very common lizards sunning itself. The South African lizards seem to be much more colourful than Australian ones. |
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| An 'ation' shot of Kudu running in front of the bakkie. |
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| A sculpture in the middle of the bush, in a National Park called 'Faces of Africa'. I have no idea what it is all about? |
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| Some of the sandstone hills in the western side of the Park. This Park very much reminds me of the VRD and Kimberley in Australia (except an elephant or giraffe will walk out of the bush). |
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| An extremely light coloured Giraffe. It is actually a bit hard to see the colour in this photo. |
Some great photo's! The giraffe was particularly unusual with it's pale colouring. It must have been exciting being surrounded by the herd of elephants...hope to see some shots soon.
ReplyDeleteStay safe....Lots of love