The next morning we woke up to a slight drizzle. We jumped into our car and set off to Punda Maria where we had fish and chips – not as good as Shingwedzi’s – under the baobab tree.

On our way up to Punda, we spotted a Bronze-winged Courser (thanks for the ID, Mary)

This was the start of a very productive day – sighting wise.

Erm … ungrounded Ground Hornbill with snack

Steenbok

White-backed vultures.

After lunch we drove further north to Pafuri. Just after we turned right to the S63 we spotted ….

One-legged chicken!

Followed by feetless chicken (sorry)

And finally Crested Guineafowl and chick!

There were about 6 of them and we counted 3 or 4 chicks. There’re a bit difficult to see. The last time we saw these elusive birds was in 2005 on the Mahonie loop, near Punda Maria.

The Pafuri area was very beautiful and lush. We had a lovely drive and also spotted Black-crowned Chagra, Tsessebe, Helmeted Guineafowl, Yellow-billed Oxpeckers, Bateleur, Nyala, Baboons, Vervet monkeys, Lappet-faced vulture, elephants and a chameleon. Back at Sirheni we saw Giant Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Malachite Kingfisher and Bee-eaters.

What a day!

I started the day with a stroll through camp. I was on a mission to make as much photographs as I could for my 100 Pictures in 2010 project. (Which I didn’t finish. 100 Pictures in 2011 isn’t going too well either :-S)

Anyway, this lovely path is a shortcut to reception. (86: Color: Green)

I thought this tree would be a nice one for no 39. A letter from the Alphabet in Nature.

There were Mopane worms everywhere. Does anyone know why it’s called worm and not caterpillar? (34. Feet or 56. Colorful?)

After my little stroll, we drove to Shingwedzi for breakfast. We stopped to watch the baboons first.

Enjoying the view

Bird bath near the restaurant

After breakfast we slowly drove towards Red Rocks

We saw another Yellow-billed Oxpecker on our way back

Back at Shingwedzi, we had lunch (chicken salad – yum) and watched the resident Rock Monitor for a while. While we were sitting at the restaurant, we occasionally heard a car blow its horn on the low bridge. It’s quite unusual to hear people do that in a national park. Later we found out why. This Yellow-billed Stork was not letting anyone interfere with its lunch. It refused to step aside. 🙂

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Sirheni, watching our neighbour, Mr Croc.