21 May 2011

Save the Rhino


Black rhino

We were extremely privileged to see and photograph this black rhino near Lower Sabie. They are rare and endangered and when seen normally run off before you are able to take a photo.
On average every 20 min a Rhino is being slaughtered for its horn in Southern Africa in the most gruesome way. Look at some of the photos on this web site
Two very committed gentlemen are walking from Musina to Cape Town to raise awareness of the wholesale slaughter of our Rhino
Please support them by logging onto the web site, leave a message of support or better still make a donation, I have.
White Rhino

Your help is needed, we can make a difference, we must make sure that our grandchildren and future generations will be able to see wild Rhino roaming free in Africa.
Paul Jennings and Sboniso Phakathi are doing there bit, do yours.
On Saturday 2nd of April 2011 Dr Player hosted Sboniso Phakathi and Paul Jennings ahead of their walk from Musina to Cape Town to highlight the plight of our Rhino populations in S.A. Dr Players message was :” We all share this earth and evolved together. We all have an equal right to a place under the Sun and that all wild creatures are mans brothers and sisters.” Dr Player went on to wish Paul and Sboniso well on their trip and said “It is imperative that the plight of these animals is brought into the spotlight, and the Rights for Rhinos walk will achieve this.”
http://www.rightsforrhinos.co.za/

19 May 2011

The Masterpiece

It has taken me nearly 3 weeks to complete


Zebra Feeding
Oil on Canvas 500x400

Original photo from which was painted
 You can bid by comment any criticism will be welcome

18 May 2011

Natasha

This blog post is for Natasha (our granddaughter) who has asked (via the comments) that we post more photos of ourselves and not to many animals.....We cant wait until you are old enough to come with us so that we can nurture a love for all creatures and the environment.
Stella (9 months) will be joining us for her first visit to Kruger with Kim in June. Quintin and Kim were 6 months old when we brought them to Kruger for the first time.
We hope to get the boys here as well. Victoria came when she was 6 years old.
LOVE YOU ALL.


Pa & Oumie


Saw this lion early this morning at a pan on the S21, while we had our coffee & rusks, they came out roaring and marking their territory, Awesome experience!



Roaring.....


roaring and marking a bush...


17 May 2011

Rhino day


Sunrise Lower Sabie Bridge 17 May 2011
  Found this wonderful pan on the S28 about 12km from Lower Sabie. We heard that there were Lions there and left early to see if we could spot them, no luck. We decided to return in the afternoon and spend the whole afternoon there. Great Spot we sat in the car watching 4 rhino come along, warthog, impala another rhino with calf and elephant. We could hear lion feeding and stayed there until the last minute hoping they would come to drink. We will make this a regular spot for sun downers.

Rhino with Red Billed Ox Pecker

Confrontation Elephant with Rhino and calf

Rhino wins

Rhino Charges with calf behind

Victorious

His my brother




Juvenile Bateleur

Elephant trying to read the Tree no and type, can you?


Have a look at the new "Spot The Animal"

15 May 2011

Friday 13 May....

Decided to go and buy another table as the one we have is too small for the 2 of us to paint on.
Drove to Nelspruit at 7am, did all the shopping we needed to do...had a nice breakfast at the new mall in Nelspruit.
Took a slow drive back entering Croc Bridge.
Saw plenty Impala, Wildebeest and White Rhino on our way to camp.
Outside camp the Baboons were around as usual ambling towards their tree where they will rest for the night..
This Baboon looked like he was giving us a halfharted smile....

Is this pose ok?
At Sunset dam this Monitor Lizard just stared  towards the water....did not move till we drove away

Saturday 14 May...

We stayed in camp to do a few chores and to do some painting. Painted most of the day...was really relaxing.
These cute little birds came visiting our bird bath...shame the one Mousebird did not have a tail he battled to get to the water and balance himself.


This Starling we named "hoppie" he runs sideways...the one leg was a bit bigger than the other one and he looked like he is off balance when he come towards us...

The Black Collared Barbets also visited our bird bath, they are such pretty birds.

The Bullbulls just love the sugar water in the feeder...


We invited Corrie and Nonnie for supper...cooked a leg of lamb with roast potatoes and veggies. I made an instant pudding and opened a can of fruit. While I prepared the pudding Andrew decided to go for a quick drive just before the gates close. Well needless to say he saw a Leopard! The photo is not great as it was getting dark and it was sleeping near the riverbed, but at least he can show that he saw it




We had a super supper...needless to say we had too much wine :)

15 May....

We woke up early with sound of Lions roaring. Decided to go and look for them, quickly boiled water for the flask and drove towards Sunset dam just outside camp. As we drove past the dam towards where all the cars were I saw on my left something big out of the water looking like a moving log....we reversed and saw a huge crocodile had just cought an Impala and was dragging it into the water to drown it. Could not take a photo because by the time we got our camera's the croc was long gone into the water. We carried on towards the cars where we saw 3 big male lions....they were coming from the river side over the road towards the dam. I managed to get a photo of one because it was chaos with the cars all trying to get a photo.  They dissappered into the thick bush and we lost sight of them.


Got back to camp to collect our picnic basket and food as we all decided to go for our last breakfast to Mholondozi as the picnic site is going to be closed from monday for upgrading.
After breakfast it was now getting hot, so we decided to head back to camp. On our way back we saw a Cheetah, but it was to quick for us to take a photo, just started to walk into the thick bush.
Lazed around camp. At 4pm we went to Sunset dam to try and see if the lions were there, but again it was chaos as everybody wanted to take a photo of the big crocodile, he swallowed the impala but only the Impalas head and horns were sticking out of its mouth...the other crocs were also trying to get a piece but he just twirled around lashing out with his tail for them to get away...in the photo  you can see the Impala's head sticking out. We drove on towards the place where Andrew saw the Leopard but it was no where to be seen. We turned around back to camp passed the dam and all was calm after the croc swallowed its meal and got back into the water.
Just after the camp's gate closed the Lions decided to come out and roar in the road!
They are still roaring...walking up the road towards the bridge.
Hope we will see them again tomorrow.