“Hail the jewel at the heart of the lotus.” We saw a lot of amazing bird behaviors today. Dancing Mourning Doves. This African Jacana bowing to this water lily while its mate looked for twigs as presents. And rollers bobbing and squawking at each other. None of the pics I took of this extraordinary behavior were any good though. Naturally.
A damp vulture. You probably can’t see on instagram, but the heat finally broke this morning and the rain came down. From 30C at dawn it’s now a comfy 23C with the delicious sizzle of rain with occasional thunder.
We got up at 4 this morning to go look for these lions in the hopes that they’d be doing something in la crepescule du matin. Well, at least they weren’t hiding under a bush.
The car thermometer peaked at 48C this afternoon. So the lions we saw were asleep under a bush. But at Lake Panic, this killer was undeterred. We probably have little furry ancestors that hung from the jaws of this Squaco Heron’s dinosaur ancestors like this doomed frog.
It’s hot in the Kruger Park. Yesterday was 42 degrees. Today is predicted for 44 (as usual, I have no idea what that is in loony units - join civilization and go metric). Everything we saw on our drive from Malalane to Skukuza was moving slow in the boil. Birds were panting in the trees. If anyone can say what this dark brown eagle is, I’d appreciate it. Brown eagles are my Waterloo. ...
About to sign in to the best place on Earth.
Xmas looking out over the Melville koppie. Loads of fancy bushveld birds abound.
Scenes from ghostly Jozi streets.
We have made it to lovely Jozi with thunder, great friends, gin, collies, and pink flamingos.
This place has some amazing biltong, droëwors, and pies. Plus we’re getting lamb chops. You don’t find butcheries like this in Cape Town.