The Rookery

 On our last full day in Botswana we visited a rookery that was one of the most active I have ever seen in both the variety and the number of birds. It was truly one of the most spectacular outings of our trip, especially since I was able to move to the front of the boat and shoot right into the nests.

Most of the birds were yellow-billed storks. I have always had a fondness in my heart for storks of all types and these particular birds were certainly more colorful and attractive than the wood storks I am used to. The pink on the wings of the adults is present during the breeding period.

There were hundreds of birds in the nesting area. You can get an idea of the number of young when you look at the nests in the first photo above. They seemed to have one babysitter watching over them from the top edge.

Also present were numerous herons, egrets, cormorants, anhingas and others. To the right is a baby great egret.

Our guide was excited to see the great white pelican in the mix, above, even though it didn't hang around for long.

Another treat was seeing the sacred ibis. They were most impressive when they spread their wings and exposed the red trim underneath.  In the second shot, below, an African Darter sits behind the ibis.

The last shots are all of yellow-billed storks. They were amazing to watch as they interacted with other adults and babies.

I took at least a half dozen shots of this particular stork, above. It seemed determined to pose for me in a number of different ways, sometimes seeming to do yoga, other times dancing the electric slide!

Botswana Traffic Jam

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I had another elephant story to tell from our trip to Botswana. Unlike in South Africa, where we traveled via jeep most of the time, our daily excursions in the Okavango Delta were by boat and on foot. Our small motor boat navigated narrow channels that wound through the papyrus reeds and pampas grass, making it difficult to see ahead. 

On our third day at Xugana we left camp for an hour's journey with a destination of the hippo pond. About twenty minutes into our ride we came around a sharp bend and saw this bruiser standing sideways in the channel, completely blocking it from side to side. Our guide brought the boat to an abrupt halt as he tried to decide what to do. He informed us that there was only one way to the hippo pond and he was determined we would get there, just as soon as we could figure out how to get around the elephant. 

 The elephant, on the other hand, was certainly not oblivious to our presence. Not only did he turn to face us, he began to walk toward us, at which point the guide tried desperately to put the boat in reverse, stalling it as he did so.

 When the elephant realized we were not moving back he began to express his displeasure in no uncertain terms by shaking his head, flapping his ears and splashing water everywhere.

 At that point our guide decided the better course of action was simply to wait out the giant so we stopped trying to maneuver around him and sat quietly as he munched his way through the papyrus. It was then that I was able to zoom in to about 300mm to show just how close we were to the animal.

 Eventually the elephant seemed to tire of having an audience so he backed into the papyrus and our guide revved up the boat so we could sprint by as quickly as possible.

Warthogs

 I was surprised to discover that, despite the fact that there are four species of wild pigs in Africa, there is only one type of warthog. Surprised because the animals we saw in Sabi Sands looked and acted somewhat differently from those we saw in Botswana. The warthogs we encountered in South Africa seemed quite a bit warier of our presence; perhaps because there were large numbers of predators in the area. The photo, above right, is one of the few I have from the first part of our trip. This boar had some pretty significant tusks and appeared monotone in his coloring.

 In contrast, the warthogs we came across in the Okavango Delta seemed curious about the hikers in their midst. At least up to a point. Then they would turn tail (literally!) and run off before circling back for another look. Our guide suggested they are not the most intelligent animals, perhaps forgetting after 50' or so just what it was they were running from.

 They were also quite attractive creatures with their long red manes and whiskers. The tails were always up in the air when they ran with the bright tufts at the end flowing like a steamer on the end of a car antenna.

Botswana Baboons

 We were warned repeatedly in South Africa that baboons were animals that should not be fooled with. In Sabi Sands we were told to keep our doors locked against them as possible intruders at all times. They had apparently figured out the standard door lock so an elaborate system consisting of multiple steps had been devised to keep them out.

I brought home one of the laundry slips from our room as it talks about not leaving your dirty clothes outside the cabin to be picked up as the baboons had been known to pilfer people's underwear.

There were numerous signs in Table Mountain National Park warning not to approach baboons as they could be violent. Apparently they had been fed one too many times and now expected humans to be a source of food. Leaving your car doors unlocked could mean returning to find a whole family of baboons inside destroying everything in sight.

 In Botswana we were also told to keep our doors locked against the possible intruders but the baboons there were obviously much less accustomed to people and showed some fear of us. Several times I heard them clamoring about on our roof but as soon as I opened the door they were gone in a flash.

The fellow in these photos was a bit of an exception. The mangosteen trees were full of ripe fruit and he was so involved in getting his snack that he was willing to put up with me watching.

 In the end he shoved the whole fruit, peel and all, into his mouth before taking off to find another treat.

 This black-headed oriole had a nest in a tree near our cabin.

The collared sunbird, right, was feasting on the flower of the fig trees.

It's hip to be a Hippo

 For me, one of the toughest African animals to photograph was the hippopotamus. These large (1-2 tons) creatures spend most of their day in the water, coming out at night to feed. Two items of interest conveyed by our guide: 1) Hippos are easily sunburned and 2) they are closely related to whales. Neither of those facts seem terribly surprising to me after having watched them for several days.

We saw hippopotami in both South Africa and Botswana. In the Okavango Delta we were surrounded by water and did all our traveling by boat and foot. There we saw large groups of hippos, all exhibiting their characteristic warnings that look to us like great big yawns.

I suspect the warnings were directed primarily at each other - a way of saying stay out of my space - rather than at us as we tried to stay far enough away from the animals to avoid stressing them.

 There were quite a few baby hippos at the Hippo Pool we visited near our lodge in Botswana. In the shot above three youngsters stick close to a large adult.

Even the babies got in the act. The bottom teeth look very sharp and dangerous. It is amazing that these guys are vegetarians.

 One afternoon Ken and I took a hike at Londalozi during siesta time. We just happened to look toward the river in time to see this lone hippo, below, moving from one pool to another. I only had my small lens with me but I was happy to have at least one shot of a hippopotamus out of the water!

In this final shot you can see a dozen hippos in the water while a fish eagle watches from a nearby tree.

Table Mountain

 On our second full day in Cape Town we were scheduled to join a tour that included riding the cable car to the top of Table Mountain. In discussing our trip ahead of time with a friend in Cody (thanks, Ann!) she suggested we hike up the mountain instead. Our guide in Sabi Sands was a Cape Town native and he agreed that climbing the landmark was certainly doable for those in good shape.

So that morning we decided to forego the tour bus in favor of a taxi that would take us to the Platteklip trailhead at the base of the mountain. On one hand we were lucky that we were planning to climb the peak on our second day as the cable cars had actually been shut down the previous day due to strong winds (not a rare occurrence). On the other hand, on the day we did go up it was abnormally hot, humid and still - not the best weather for a very steep, 3000' hike up a mountain.

Despite the excessive heat I was really glad we decided to walk and would certainly recommend that option for anyone traveling in the area. The views were breathtaking and we were once again overwhelmed with the variety and color of the plant life.

 The trail was unusual in that it was composed primarily of large boulders. Each and every step was an attempt to lift your legs high up to the next level. It was very much like setting a stair-stepper machine on maximum effort and pushing on for 2 1/2 hours.

As we got higher on the mountain the trail became narrower and the walls of the canyon we were in closed in tighter. We are nearing the top of the hike in the photo above.

 We saw a small variety of wildlife on our trek, including this unusual creature, left. The local name for this fellow is a "dassie". Officially it is a rock hyrax. It may resemble a rodent or an earless rabbit but its closest relative in the animal kingdom is, surprisingly, the elephant!

 We saw several colorful lizards such as the beautiful fellow sunning himself on a rock, above.

Yet another variety of starling - the red winged starling - came along to see if we had anything tasty to eat.

The final shot is from the top and looking south.

Once we rested up from our hike up the mountain we were able to buy a one-way ticket down on the cable car; a trip that took us less than a tenth of our time getting to the top…and a whole lot less effort!

Penguin Party

 From the bush in Sabi Sands near Kruger National Park we traveled to Cape Town where we spent the next three days being spoiled with some great tours and food. On our first full day there we boarded a bus for the Cape Tour which took us south along the coast around the Cape of Good Hope and up the side of False Bay to the African Penguin colony at Boulders before heading back to our hotel at Table Bay.

The coast is ruggedly beautiful. We felt right at home as the wind blew steadily while we were there. I wanted to change my lens at the penguin colony but didn't dare because of flying sand.

Our stops included the light house at the Cape of Good Hope and a shore lunch on the beach at the end of the continent.

The area of the lighthouse is inside Table Mountain National Park. One of many surprises about the landscape is that it is part of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, the smallest but richest of the six floral kingdoms in the world. There are thousands of various types of plants here, many of which are indigenous and a number of which are endemic, occurring nowhere else in the world!

 The African Penguin is listed as an endangered species. Just a few thousand remain of the 1.5 million estimated population of the early 1900's. The colony we visited at Boulders is one of the few still thriving, due in large part to the reduction in commercial trawling in False Bay; an activity that previously decimated the fish life that made up the penguins' diet.

 These guys are not very big and they have a braying call; a trait that once earned them the name of Jackass Penguin before it was changed to the current African Penguin.

 Their coloring is subtle but fun with pink accents on the face and feet.

 The birds we saw were stretched out over a length of coastline consisting of scrubby bushes and large rock. Some of the animals seemed just as anxious to avoid the wind as we were.

 This bird, above, seemed to have more mottled markings than most.

The bird in the center, below, has started molting. The height of the molt is in December but we saw a few penguins that were already well along. They need to fatten up before it starts because they have to go on a forced diet - a fast of about 21 days that they can't enter the water while their new feathers grow out.