Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 11

Tags

African fish-eagle, Baobab, Blue waxbill, Broad-billed roller, Burchell's glossy starling, Carmine bee-eater, Chacma baboon, Darter, dung beetle, grey hornbill, Jacobin cuckoo, Kalahari tented tortoise, kudu, Long-tailed starling, Mahango National Park, Mahangu Safari Lodge, Namibia, Nile crocodile, pearl-spotted owlet, purple-banded sunbird, Red lechwe, Red-billed spurfowl, roan antelope, Southern reedbuck, vervet monkey, warthog, Wattled crane

Saturday 2nd March. There was no wifi in our rooms at the Mahangu Lodge, only in the bar/dining area. And breakfast was not until 7 a.m. But I discovered that they served coffee from shortly after 6 a.m. there.

This morning, we went for a game drive in the Mahango Game Park. It was reasonably cool to begin with.

As I’ve said, there is elephant dung everywhere. Here are dung beetles making the most of the fact that a vehicle has already processed some.

Warthogs, youngster kneeling to feed.

Roan antelope

Warthog family

Seeing this just makes me long to be back there.

Kudu

Purple-banded sunbirds

Kalahari tented tortoise

Jacobin cuckoo

Pearl-spotted owlet

Grey hornbill

Our starling is beautiful when you really look at it. Africa’s starlings don’t need any study to show the same quality. Long-tailed starling.

Red-billed spurfowl

Burchell’s glossy starling

Broad-billed roller

Blue waxbill

Wattled cranes (‘uncommon resident’) – very far off

It was getting hot now. Paddling with these Southern reedbuck would have been very welcome!

Frustrating not to be able to capture the image of this vervet monkey more precisely, but…

… there were some of his companions across the way

African fish-eagle

Darters

Nile crocodile

Southern reedbuck

Red lechwe

Baobab tree

Chacma baboons

Carmine bee-eater

We had been out for four hours, and were ready for our lunch.

Tanzania 7

Tags

Baobab, elephant, grey-headed kingfisher, Helmeted guinea fowl, leopard tortoise, lilac-breasted roller, Masai giraffe, Pygmy falcon, Superb starling, Tanzania, Tarangire National Park, Tarangire Safari Lodge, Tawny eagle, vervet monkey, Von der Decken's hornbill, White-headed buffalo weaver, yellow-collared lovebird

Tarangire National Park.  How’s this for a view from your accommodation?

Next morning was Wednesday 17th February.  Actually, I think I’ll just let these pictures, taken during our morning outing, speak for themselves.  Suffice to say that if I had been sad not to have seen many elephants before this, these two days in Tarangire National Park more than made up for it – though you can never have too many elephants.

These are baobab trees. They store enormous amounts of water in their ‘trunks’, and can be centuries old.

Tawny eagles

Helmeted guinea fowl

White-headed buffalo weaver

Lilac-breasted roller

Yellow-collared lovebirds

Von der Decken’s hornbill

Superb starling

Pygmy falcons

Vervet monkey at breakfast stop, one of many such to ‘greet’ us

Wistful? Melancholy? No, pondering what mischief he can next get up to!

Leopard tortoise

Focus on foreground!

Sand bath

Grey-headed kingfisher