Crooks Corner at last

After our stay at magical Tzendze the next stop was Shingwedzi, a favourite from last year.  Once again we had an excellent site on the fence, and were rewarded by this civet cat which came each night looking for the small birds that fall foul of the electric fence each day.  The civet is a strange looking cat, weighing about 10 kg and seeming to have been assembled from parts left over from other animals.  The drives around Shingwedzi are especially good 

with beautiful riverine forest and spectacular trees, and abundant game and birds.  The S56 from Babalala Picnic site back to Shingwedzi was one of the best  with a sighting of a Verreaux's (giant) Eagle Owl the icing on that day's cake.

 We left Shingwedzi a day early and travelled up to our last camp at Punda Maria.  Once again we landed a great site on the fence, 30m from the bird hide and with a great view of the waterhole.   

There has been a constant procession of wonderful birds and animals to keep us enthralled.  One of the best visits was on the first night when between 30 to 40 elephant which came to drink.  There are no 'streetlights' in this camp, but it was one night away from full moon, and the sight of the grey giants ghosting along in the moonlight was one which we will remember always.

 The drive up to Punda Maria took us past a huge herd of buffalo, who were all very skittish.  When we finally got past them, we saw the reason why, these two gorgeous lionesses were stalking them

with intent!  Another memorable sighting was the female Bateleur Eagle which landed in the muddy waterhole in front of us and spent about half an hour there.  This was the first time we have seen one on the ground for any length of time.  They are a common sight in the air, but much harder to see on the ground.  They are a lot bigger than they seem in the pic, being about 70cm long and about 3kg in weight.  On Wednesday 15th we watched the lunar eclipse, then on Friday 17th it was off to Crooks Corner.  Another lovely drive with lots of spectacular baobab trees along the way.  Photos dont do these giants justice, as one cant get out of ones vehicle to stand next to one to give a sense of scale.   We had a breakfast picnic at the Pafuri picnic site then drove to Crooks Corner to be photographed with the mighty Limpopo behind us, Zimbabwe in the left background and Mocambique to the right (across the river that is!)

Tomorrow we start the long haul home, and the final entry with some last thoughts will come from Port Elizabeth.