04/05/2026 Part 4 of our holiday in South Africa.

Back home in the Charente, the weather is dismal. The maximum temperature in the Charente today is 18⁰C, minimum 12⁰C. 23 km/h North/West winds. 90% chance of rain. It has been raining on and off most of the day, and the stone house feels very cold.

I am still trying to catch up in the garden, but the rain is now not helping as it is too wet to work outside, and the grass is growing too fast again. The mower has been in for repairs for over two weeks now, and we have not heard anything.  The strimmer is hard work over a big area.

I thought you might be interested to see some of the countryside we drove through when driving between Umkumbe Safari Lodge and Kruger National Park.

The local barbershop.  This one looks quite upmarket!

And yet another one, they must be busy!

You need to keep a careful watch of the road ahead, as cattle and goats are a big hazard.

Khula Supermarket- well fenced!

Mashona Supermarket.

Mtimba Primary School off to the left of the photo. Not the metal stalls selling goods!

Numbi Cross Supermarket....

And this appears to be the Numbi family supermarket!

and yet another supermarket, also a bit more upmarket.  Interesting countryside!

Returning to Kruger Park....

Common Dwarf Mongoose (Helogale parvula).

Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius capensis).  During the day, they are mostly submerged in the water as the sun burns them easily. They only come out of the water to graze at night, so this was a rare shot in the middle of the day.

Young elephants. African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta Africana).

Vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus).  They are also Primates as we are!

Tree Squirrel or Smith's Bush Squirrel (Paraxerus cepapi).

African Hoopoe (Upupa epops africana).

Giraffe (Giraffa Camelopardalis)...

As above. You can tell if a giraffe is male or female by looking at the horns. Both male and female giraffes have horns, but the tops of the horns on males are almost always bald, while females' horns are completely covered with hair.  My guess is that these are both females.

Southern red-billed hornbill (Tockus rufirostris) with its lunch, which might be a locust.

Elephants see above, youngsters having fun in the river...

As above.

More photos yet to go, but also I am still very busy trying to catch up here with both garden and house, besides the normal household chores and cooking.

11/04/2026 Part three of my holiday photos, still so many photos to go through!

Back home this week to a very overgrown garden, so time will be very limited on the computer.  We got back safely on Tuesday after the TGV (train) broke down before it had even left Bordeaux station. We had to change the taxi collection time at Angouleme but that went OK. It was a 30 hour continuous trip, so was more gruelling than usual but the timings of the public transport meant we had little alternative. The garden is a jungle after 300mm rain in two months, so much hacking and strimming will have to be done before the lawnmower can cope!  Never seen the like in our 20 plus years here.   We had a fabulous time though.  My wish was to see leopard and wild dogs, we saw both and much more. 

The maximum temperature in the Charente today is 16⁰C, minimum 8⁰C. 20 - 41 km/h South/West winds.  90% chance of rain.

Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta).

White-backed vulture (Gyps africanus).

White rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum).   The rhinos are dehorned every 18 months to try to prevent them from being killed by poachers!!

Burchell's zebra (Equusquagga burchellii).

African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), also known as the Cape buffalo.

African elephants (Loxodonta africana). This young "teenager" was giving us a bit of cheek, Nigel in the vehicle far right.

Black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas).

African lion (Panthera leo leo). Taking a stroll down the road, totally ignoring us. 

As above.

There are 8 different kinds of mongoose in the Kruger Park - Banded Mongoose, Dwarf Mongoose, Large Grey Mongoose, Meller’s Mongoose, Selous’s Mongoose, Slender Mongoose, Water Mongoose, White-tailed Mongoose.  This one was named as a Water Mongoose (Atilax paludinosusis). I am happy for any other ideas though!!  Possibly a dwarf mongoose.

Tree Squirrel or Smith's Bush Squirrel (Paraxerus cepapi).

Go-away Bird (Corythaixoides concolor).

Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea).

Swainson's Spurfowl (Pternistis swainsonii).

Spotted Hyena pups.  We saw their parents leave the den to go hunting just as it got dark.  These two young pups popped their heads out to see what was going on.  The photo is by torchlight, so not great.

Guineafowl butterfly (Hamanumida Daedalus).

Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros).  Only the male has horns.

Black-collared Barbet (Lybius torquatus).

Red-billed Spurfowl (Pternistis adspersus).

Butterfly (Acraea egina)...

As above.

16/03/2026 Part two of our holiday in South Africa, still more to follow.

 

Not very clear, but this Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) was on a sand bank in the Sand River, flowing in front of our accommodation at Umkumbe.  We were there for 4 nights, and we were lucky enough to see the Big 5.  This fellow caused some excitement as they had not seen crocs here for several years.  

Nyala, (Tragelaphus angasii), female in the front and male behind.

I

Impala, (Aepyceros melampus), the youngsters were all having fun running and jumping around and around.

African bush or savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana). A 'teenager' being a bit cheeky!!

and a mother with what we were told was probably a two-year-old youngster. Elephants have one temporal gland on each side of the head between the eye and the ear. The temporal gland is a large gland, much like a sweat gland, that sometimes produces a secretion that trickles down the side of the face. In female elephants, these glands may become active when the animal gets very excited or stressed. In male elephants, the temporal glands are active when the male is in “musth”, which is a condition very much like “rut” in a deer.

Burchell's zebra (Equus quagga burchellii) and 2 Blue wildebeest [brindled gnu] (Connochaetes taurinus.)

Wahlberg's eagle (Hieraaetus wahlbergi).

 

An African sunset.

African lion (Panthera leo), there were two here who were known to be brothers. This one was in hiding, while the other one decided to take a stroll.

Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus). I make no excuse for so many leopard photos. It is my favourite animal with the Wild Dog, and this sighting was incredible. She was very relaxed and ignored us watching her for at least 15 minutes. She was spotted in the evening, after our sight of the lions in the morning.  A good day out.

and finally, she decided to scratch an itch :-))

Red-billed oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorynchus) on a kudu female. The red-bill devotes its day to plucking insects and ticks from its hosts.

Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis).

Still more to follow when I have time.