Friday January 23rd ~ Kruger National Park (part 3)

Sunset in Kruger National Park

Besides all of the big and small mammals, Kruger is full of creepy crawlies. Thankfully I did not come across any of the lethal snakes, but others did see both a Puff Adder and a Black Mamba. And no, I am not referring to Kobe Bryant for you Laker fans. Both of those snakes are classified as highly venomous!

What we saw was considerably more tame. 

Things that creep and crawl:

Chameleon

Termite mound – It is like an iceberg, with 2/3 of it below ground

African Hinge-back Tortoise

The golden silk orb-weavers (genus Nephila) are also known as banana spiders.

“Nephila spiders are the oldest surviving genus of spiders, with a fossilized specimen known from 165 million years ago.” ~ Wikipedia

The Golden Orb refers to the color of the web, not the color of the spider. The body is 1.5 inches but the legs extend several inches. I held my hand up, fingers spread and the spider looked to be larger. It is poisonous, but not lethal.

Golden Silk Orb-Weaver Spider

Birds

What a variety of feathers! We did see several birds of prey, including hawks, owls, eagles and vultures. But the smaller birds were the most colorful.

I think this is a Lilac-breastd Roller

Pied Kingfisher

Vulture

Two other birds that I was pleased to see were the African Fish Eagle and the Southern Ground Hornbill. Sorry, but our pictures of these two were quite blurry.

Sunset was just as I had envisioned for an African setting.

Sunset

Our evening game run continued until 8:00. When it got dark, the driver handed out a very bright spot light to one of the members in our group. As luck would have it, Mario is a zookeeper and was brilliant at spotting the reflection when the light hit the animals eyes. Even when they shined the light right on the animal, I often could not see it.

What it looks like on a night-time game drive

And there you have it, our 14.5 hours spent in Kruger National Park. Definitely a high point for our trip.

Gratitude Moment: Today I am grateful for the wonderful pictures that Tim has been able to capture with his Nikon camera and long lens. As much as I love my pocket-size Sony RX100 camera for daytime “normal” photography, it pales in comparison for shooting animals at a distance.