October 9 Dullstroom - Lydenburg - Crystal Springs Mountain Resort
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Due to long distance moving, my wife looks tired. So, only three of us went out for morning birdwatching. Rocky hill reminds me scenery of New England in Australia. Mr U said, "It looks like Scotland!" A long-tailed metallic green bird is a male Malachite Sunbird. It was chasing a drub female. Buff-streaked Chat and Mountain Wheatear were staying on the rock. The mountain habitat is also good for mammals. Grey Rhebuck, Oribi, Steenbok and Blesbok are seen time to time. A small Suricate showed the face in a few second before it hid behind rocks.
Although we expected to see three species of cranes and Southern Bald Ibis, we did not have nice view of them.
Crystal Springs Mountain Resort is located just edge of escarpment. Landscape here is so magnificent and dynamic. Red-winged Starling is very common here. They stay on the roof and sing with strange call.
October 10 Lydenburg - Mt. Sheba - Satara Camp (Kruger National Park)
We woke up at 5:00 a.m. We feel tired to
get up early now as we wake up so early every
day. From the verandah, we found three small
antelopes, which are sandy brown colour with
white and black legs. They are Klipspringers.
In the early morning, the resort is a paradise for baboons. They sit on the tennis coat while some of them are looking for something in the public telephone corner. As they sit along the roadside without doing anything, they look like gardeners, who are employed by the resort!
I have been looking forward the day while we search for Narina Trogon and Knysna Turaco today. Mist was cleared just before we arrived. Mt. Sheba is a small patch of forest, which lies in the valley of glassy mountains. After arrived at the forest, firstly, we encountered White-starred Robin and Cape Batis. Good start! Nysna Turaco was found within a few minutes. The turaco is entirely light green. The crest is long and like an opened fan. Loud "goh, goh, goh goh..." is very unlike bird's call. Finding a Narina Trogon was a bit more challenging. Likely trogons in Southeast Asia, they sit quietly and do not cause any noise when they move. While now is a beginning of the breeding season, several male and female are chasing each other behind trees. After some frustrating time, we finally had a full view of the gorgeous male. The shining emerald green upper parts and fiery red breast and bellow looks closer to American trogons rather than Asian trogons.
On the way to go back to the resort for having breakfast, we were lucky to see nice views of Yellow Bishop and Denham's Bustard.
After the breakfast, we headed toward east.
Panorama view on the way was dynamic. Around
lunch time, we reached at the entrance of
the Kruger National Park. As Etienne said,
our driving was becoming slower after we
passed through the gate. There are wide a
variety of animals in the park while the
maximum speed is limited to 50km/h. Etienne
said that we could drive by 60km/h. However,
the driver is fined if he/she drives over
60km/h. I would like to see where they hide
in the bush since many wildlife are in the
park. 
We noticed many White-rumped Vultures were soaring in the sky. After a few minutes driving, we found a lion was in the lunch time. Vultures assemble when they smell something. Tourists follow the direction where vultures go. Well, how similar they are! Although we passed through the gate around 12 o'clock, we spent about 2 hours to reach to the Satara Camp.
On the way to the camp, we saw giraffe, zebra, African Buffalo, elephant, bushbuck, impala and Blue Wildbeest. A Kori Bustard was standing along the roadside. A large Marabou Stork was flying. When my wife heard the height was about 1.5 metre, she said "it is like an aunt!" Well, it should be very ugly aunt….
Satara camp is like a small village. There is a camping space as well as cottages. Restaurants and information centre is located near the entrance together with a curio shop. I always feel that why government agencies on park management or wildlife management in Malaysia do not show interests on souvenir business, which is profitable not only park/wildlife management but also among local communities.
Climate here is so harsh. Outside temperature is about 40 degree in the day time. Birds in the camp are very tame. Once I tried to approach to African Mourning Dove, it did not fly away before I approached to it within 50cm.
After 4:00 pm, we walked around the camp. It was still hot with strong sun shine. Near the bush, Etienne played the call of Pearl-spotted Owlet. The effect was obvious. Many birds including White-browed Scrub-Robin, Long-billed Cronbec, Yellow-breasted Apalis and Marico Sunbird, appeared from the bush after a few minutes.
Although it is already 4th day for our birding trip, we still do not see any bee-eater. Do we have a chance to see any bee-eater!? I am nearly fed up with drub and plain colour birds, though we saw already about 200 species.
October 11 Satara Camp - Orpen Camp - Letaba Camp - Ngala
As normally, we left the camp at 6:00 a.m..
Since we have been spending most of our time
for bird and animal watching from sunrise
to sunset, we feel sleepy and tired. It must
be more exhausted for Etienne since he has
been guiding and driving for us over 4 days
now.
One of the frustrating things in the Kruger National Park is that we cannot get out from the car. It makes difficult to plan to move from one camp to the other as we need to estimate time for meal and toilet!
It is again an extremely hot day. Although we found Secretarybird and Black-striped Tchagra on the way to Orpen Camp, there is no bee-eater or korhaan. Game animals are more commonly seen than birds. White Rhinoceros, African Elephant and Blue Wildbeest were seen time to time. The highlight among the mammals is a strange flat looking Honey Budger (or Ratel). Ratel belongs to weasel's family. It looks that a small black animal wears a white blanket!
On the Elephant River's bridge, we saw a tame Giant Kingfisher. The kingfisher is about 40cm. It is even bigger than ordinary pigeons.
At the Orphen's Look Point, Etienne called Greater Honeyguide. The honeyguide appeared immediately after he called. It's so good job! Honeyguide is a relative of woodpecker. However, its appearance is more similar to bulbul or flycatcher.
We arrived at Ngala around 12:30, then said good-bye to Etienne and my friend, who traveled northward in the Kruger by October 14. The lodge looks not luxurious but sophisticated. After filling up a form to check-in, we were taken our room. In the garden, both Southern Yellow-billed and Red-billed Hornbills are feeding on the ground while Red-headed Weavers and Southern Masked-Weavers are on the big trees.
After having a big lunch, we took a rest. Outside temperature is now over 40 degree. Dry and hot wind blows. Due to the dry winds, inside our nose is dry and dusty. At the entrance of the room, Two Velvet Monkeys are lying. It might be cooler under the shade and on the stone. They look so comfortable.
From 3:30 p.m., afternoon Safari is started. Before going to Safari, we drank a cup of tea. Well, it is very much like western style…. We arranged a private drive in the 2nd day but joined with other tourists today. On the land rover, there are totally 8 of us including two guides. Simon seems a cheerful and knowledgeable guy while John looks bit shy and quiet. Two couples are in the same vehicle. One of the couples is from Denmark while the other is Irish. As they wore short sleeve shirts, they would be surprised with strong ultra violet rays after the drive.
After started driving, Simon soon stopped and showed us a piece of bone of shin. Accordingly him, the bone is giraffe's one. He also mentioned that lion rarely hunts giraffe due to the strong leg's bone. Since he returned the bone in the same place, does he use the bone for other guests later? First game species after we started driving was African Buffalo. Simon said that African Buffalo's body is getting darker and darker when it becomes older and older. Our land rover goes closer and closer and finally approached to about 2 or 3 metre from the buffalos. After the buffalo, we headed to see two female lions. They were just lying down on the ground and did not move. Red-crested Korhaan's distinctive call is heard from the bush. It seems the korhaan is quite common here.
After the sunset, the temperature has gradually been cooler. In the every game drive, tea time is included. Any drink is available even you want to drink wine or whisky. A young boy from Ireland drank two cans of beer. I wondered that his red face is due to beer or sun burnt. In the dusk, a flock of Double-banded Sandgrouses flew into the bush.
In the spot lighting, we saw a few Lesser Bushbabies. Their eyes are so big as usual for nocturnal mammals. They jump from a branch to the other branch. So acrobatic!
Tonight's dinner is in boma. However, we are too tired to join with other tourists. So, we decided to have in the room. Arrangement in Ngala is so flexible and comfortable. The dinner was too large quantity for us. Although we are not vegetarian, we cannot eat meat like every day!