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On photographic safari with Cindy Wheeler |
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Day 3 - First sign of the Fish Eagles! Delightful!
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Time was going by too fast. Cindy and I decided that the shooting was good at the hide and we set off yet again for another day of photographic experiences. We arrived at the hide a bit earlier this time around - I had to do some more practicing with the bow and we decided that we would do two sessions, with Muzi coming to collect us at around lunch-time.
 We settled in and started to relax. The same Red Hartebeest from the previous day wearily entered the clearing around the watering hole and to my surprise started feeding from the lucerne bin. Amazing…..Chris said they do not feed? Cindy was going nuts again with the camera. We noted that this Hartebeest had one eye missing - most probably from a fight but from we sat we could not see if it was infected or not. Cindy did her magic with her camera and we zoomed in on the eye to note that it does not look infected. It was a cow and she was in a very good condition so most likely the eye was just lost in one fight or the other.
 No sooner a Kudu cow and two siblings arrived - if memory serves me correct there was one Matriarch and then two younger cows with the siblings. Ox-peckers were having a feast and next to me, Cindy was also having a feast. Every now and then we would go "Wow, look at this" and then she clicked away again. We were just having such a ball.
I decided to make good use of the time and study some more about the animals, reading up on it. Impala and Aardvark were on my list. I learned that Impala never go further away than 8 km from water. In times of drought, however as long as there is sufficient grass, they could live for quite a long time without water. No wonder Mother Nature made them the food factory for predators. It does however make it difficult to hunt Impala with a bow as they do not drink daily like the other animals and the only way to hunt them should be walking and stalking.
We went back to the lodge for lunch and Muzi took us on a little drive - nearing the dam close by the house, the two Fish Eagles flew off and I was quite excited to see that they arrived for the breeding season.
After lunch Cindy downloaded her pictures and I went off practicing with the bow. We decided to return for an afternoon session at the hide and ended up there until late afternoon. Maybe we were just giggling too much with all the girl talk (whispers rather as you are not allowed to talk in the hides) but not much came by - late afternoon, light dwindling, some Double Banded Sandgrouse came to drink water - they were really pretty.
Chris and Ann picked us up and we set off to the lodge. We decided to go for another sundowner at the river. En route our "Tree of the day" was a Shepherd's Tree Boscia Albetrunca. If you learn one thing at a time, soon you will be able to identify them all.
The drive down the dry riverbed was quite a bit of fun and quite a test of Chris' 4x4 skills. We parked some camping chairs on the bank of the river and like the hunters from old, we enjoyed a Gin and tonic at sunset. Double Banded Sandgrouse flocked at a spot of water in the riverbed and we were relishing the sound they make - a typical Bushveld sunset sound. What a day and how good can life be…..
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