South Africa - Day 14, The End...

We rose early and saw a few new birds while sharing morning coffee. We will be going over to Sukuza Golf Club breakfast and Lake Panic Bird Hide for one last bird. It was a lovely morning but you could tell it was going to get hot... and we hadn't had any really not weather on the trip (Lucky me) During morning coffee this Warthog came trotting in to give us a look.

This was our route for the day -- very little in Kruger.

We did a little birding in the camp before headed out to breakfast

Spotted Flycatcher

Groundscaper Thrush

Golden-tailed Woodpecker

Black-collared Barbet

White-browed Robin Chat

Saw a few animals on the way

Impala

Common Zebra

Then off to the Wildest Course in the world. The Club House & Parking lot are fences, but the course is not -- play at your own risk...

We were greeted by this Vervet Monkey (and baby) trying to open a chip bag.

Will another one looked on

After a lovely breakfast overlooking Lake Panic we departed for the Lake Panic Bird Hide. My first look at one of my new favorite birds -

Squacco Heron - very close & cooperative

The hide provides a wonderful way to observe the Lake without disturbing the life. I tried to capture it in video. I wish we had some accessible bird hides in Rhode Island.

At one point there were SIX Pied Kingfishers about.

Pied Kingfisher

Add in some more black & white with some Pied Wagtails

Striated Heron

Water Thick-knee family

Red-faced Cisticola

African Darter

My best view of this beautiful odd creature

African Jacana

(Black Crake in back)

Black Crake

Brown Snake Eagle

Malachite Kingfisher

Add in a few creatures

Crocodile (that Andrew summoned)

Not entirely sure what kind of tortoise this is...

The final and very strong element in this Lake Panic tableau is the Weavers -- Lesser-masked & Village. They are fun to watch and in great numbers.

Village Weavers

Village Weaver nests

That was a lovely way to end the visit to Kruger -- but not quite. We said goodbye to Andrew at the Paul Kruger Gate and just beyond was a river and one more treat in the reeds.

Goliath Heron -- about 1.33 as big as a Gray (Great Blue) Heron. It is huge, but you can't appreciate that from the photos.

Vince stopped as he spotted a Forest Buzzard on the way to our lunch spot after lunch it was head's down to the airport. A wonderful two weeks of birding and such. It took a long time to get home, but it was time to reflect on the wonderful work of Vince Ward (Birding Africa) and Andrew Wagner (Safaria) which really was the highlight of the trip. Couldn't have asked more from them. There is a recap already on the Blog. I'm going to take a break for a bit and travel to New Mexico. Happy Birding