Nikond600

Common as they are, I never get bored of the elegance that is the Little Egret. One day I’ll get a good pic of one. My old man and I were out birdwatching at Green Point Park which is a really pleasant place to spend an afternoon.

The Lowveld in summer mist. This kind of landscape is generally called ‘savannah woodland’ as far as I know. It’s not the open savannah grassland you find in much of East Africa. Beautiful bushveld trees are everywhere - making up in perfection of form what they lack in height and girth. I see the potential to reverse the annihilation of natural spaces like this, done in the 19th and 20th centuries, as the population peaks this century and agriculture becomes denser and more efficient - allowing more and more land to be released back into a natural state. This is the flip side to the ecological doom that looms ahead. At this point we could go either way. If the people with the money decide, we know it will only go one way.

A new zebra. They’re fluffy and their stripes are rather brown at this age.

Our cancellation-surfing approach to staying in Kruger worked less well than in other years we’ve done it. We ended up pinballing between camps a fair bit. Who can say why? Are more people doing it now? Are there companies grabbing cancellations and reselling? Or is it just the ‘post’-pandemic situation? Hard to say. It makes it a less appealing prospect for future trips, for sure.

But when these doggos aren’t ripping impala lambs apart without bothering to kill them first, they’re very sweet and sociable. These painted wolves made a cuddle puddle under a bush to wait out the rain with the reassurance of family all around. Though they’re obviously vulnerable to lions, they’re not easily taken unawares with many ears and noses at work for their common defence.

A tough old wolf. The Painted Wolf is among the very most effective hunters of large animals in the mammallian world - catching prey far more often than lions, leopards, etc.. This is because dogs are damn smart. And their hunting is cooperative and coordinated to a level only matched and exceeded by apes like us and chimpanzees.

Monkeys. Genuinely fun. Especially when they come in different sizes.

Our host, Jean, was a character out of a story-book from the 1950s. A Belgian who took to the sea at fourteen to work as a ship’s cook and saw many things - including over-eager young Poles cutting their fingers off and the preparation of seagull in secret to offset a meat shortage. He was a restauranteur for a spell and then a cooking teacher. He just so happened to teach me how to make an easy chicken stock. ...

The lads from our working-on-songs weekend a month or so ago. @kanesnaps, @jason66c, and @sad_ivan. It was a strange location.

I can’t remember if I posted one of these pics from Punda Maria restcamp in Kruger in Jan 2018. It’s far in the tropical North of the park. The waterhole you can watch from inside the camp is full of amazing visitors. Without having to be worried about gate-closing times, you can also catch them in the best evening light.