Topic: Wildlife and Natural Places

[liverbloke]

Back from safari in South Africa a few weeks ago, got very fortunate with this sighting of a leopard:

well spotted

[Elmo!]

Back from safari in South Africa a few weeks ago, got very fortunate with this sighting of a leopard:

Nice! I was gutted we never got to see a leopard when I was there.

[Crosby Nick]

Nice! I was gutted we never got to see a leopard when I was there.

We had one climb down a true and walk under our truck and out the other side. Very cool. Had a video of it on an old digital camera that has long since been lost sadly.

Brilliant photo by the way. My favourite of the big cats I think. So beautiful.

[Chakan]

Just a couple of pics of South Africa and my trip. Definitely not all of them, but the highlights really.

Hilton Heads -  Kynsna





Cape of Good Hope



Boulders Beach





Kruger Park

Animals


Baboons and Monkeys








Buffalo






Boabab Tree



Bushbuck





Crocodile



Elephants




Fever Tree



Giraffe



Ground Squirrel



Hippo



Honey Badger (best picture I could get, we saw 2, and they are fast little buggers)



Hyenas






Impala




Klipspringer



Kudu



Lions










Rainbow Skinks



Rhinos





Western Yellow-bellied Sand Snake



Steenbok



Tortoise



Warthog



Waterbuck



Gnu/Wildebeest



Zebra

[duvva 💅]

Is that a dead giraffe the Lions have got there?

Edit: see you answered in the other thread, do you know if they killed it?

[Chakan]

Is that a dead giraffe the Lions have got there?

Edit: see you answered in the other thread, do you know if they killed it?

Yeah dead Giraffe, I don't think they killed it per say, there were only 2 juvenile male lions there, I have a feeling they might have attacked it and it stumbled and broke it's neck. If you zoom in on the pic you can see right below it's head the bone is sticking out it's neck. So I assume it was self inflected. I don't know the whole story though as we got there about 2 days after the giraffe had died.

[Crosby Nick]

Awesome pics mate. I went there in 2006 so have barely any decent pictures, a few half decent ones made an album but nothing saved digitally now sadly. We saw most things you got, plus a couple of leopards. Didn’t see any hyenas though. An amazing place to visit, once in a lifetime stuff for me (probably!).

[Red-Soldier]

Just a couple of pics of South Africa and my trip. Definitely not all of them, but the highlights really.

Hilton Heads -  Kynsna

Superb pics mate!  Thanks for sharing 

[Chakan]

Awesome pics mate. I went there in 2006 so have barely any decent pictures, a few half decent ones made an album but nothing saved digitally now sadly. We saw most things you got, plus a couple of leopards. Didn’t see any hyenas though. An amazing place to visit, once in a lifetime stuff for me (probably!).

We missed the Leopard and cheetah by minutes apparently, but then again you only going off what other people say. I really wanted to see wild dogs again though, but sadly not on this trip.

I'll definitely go back sometime in the future. We stayed at Skukuza only this time, next time i'd love to spend 2/3 days in a couple of different camps.

Superb pics mate!  Thanks for sharing 

Thanks mate, had an absolute blast going back. SA has changed quite a bit in the 10 years since i've lived there.

[duvva 💅]

Yeah dead Giraffe, I don't think they killed it per say, there were only 2 juvenile male lions there, I have a feeling they might have attacked it and it stumbled and broke it's neck. If you zoom in on the pic you can see right below it's head the bone is sticking out it's neck. So I assume it was self inflected. I don't know the whole story though as we got there about 2 days after the giraffe had died.

So was the Safari element of your trip an organised guided tour type thing, how did you go about organising it all. Definitely something me and the missus would love to do at some point

[jillcwhomever]

Some beautiful phots Chakan I hope you had a good time there.

[Chakan]

So was the Safari element of your trip an organised guided tour type thing, how did you go about organising it all. Definitely something me and the missus would love to do at some point

The Kruger park element was self organized. I've been there a few times before with my dad and my grandfather so we knew the territory mostly and where we wanted to stay and what we wanted to visit. So basically called SanParks did a preliminary booking for Skukuza Safari Lodge, and then we just paid when we got there.

We also hired a car and drove ourselves around the park.

I will say though there was a ton of Safari vehicles from different companies there that tour around the park everyday. I'm not a huge fan of the guided tour vehicles to be honest, you're with like 10-15 different people, the guides usually have places they want to get to so they just go, they are open air (with a roof) so if it's cold sorry for you plus if it rains you're getting wet. Just not my cup of tea.

Some beautiful phots Chakan I hope you had a good time there.

Thanks! Had a great time!

I'll go back again one day, maybe not to Joburg as there is nothing for me there now, but definitely back to the Kruger.

[Komic]

They're awesome photos Chakan. How many days did you have in Kruger?

Also cheers for the kind words for the leopard photos folks. Feel inspired to put a few more up:

Cheetahs:





Rhinos





Hippos





Hyena pup




Wild dog


Lion


Dwarf mongoose


Honeybadger


From Cape point




Unsure on the type of whale but think its a Minke whale from the white belly


Orange breasted sunbird

Red tipped starling

[Chakan]

They're awesome photos Chakan. How many days did you have in Kruger?

Thanks mate. We had 5 days running around Skukuza and surrounding areas.

Your pics are amazing mate! Very nice.

Where did you guys go?

[Red-Soldier]

Thanks for posting these.

Nobody replied to them, so just want to say they are appreciated 

[Buggy Eyes Alfredo]

What is the name of that bird?

[Crosby Nick]

Oxpecker I think.

[Komic]

Thanks mate. We had 5 days running around Skukuza and surrounding areas.

Your pics are amazing mate! Very nice.

Where did you guys go?

Cheers, we had one day in Kruger and a few in a private reserve called Karongwe Portfolio.


@Buggy, yeah Nick is right, its an oxpecker

[Chakan]

Cheers, we had one day in Kruger and a few in a private reserve called Karongwe Portfolio.


@Buggy, yeah Nick is right, its an oxpecker

Nice, never heard of it, but then again never stayed with the private companies before, except for Pilansburg. Glad you had a good time!

[reddebs]

Watching grown men, scientists, environmentalists, astronauts and those behind the camera so distraught and even crying at the wilful destruction of the world, it's habitats and the creatures dying because of it.

Politicians and lobbyists have a lot to answer for 😡

[Chakan]

Was out walking on the Greenway yesterday and encountered a random beaver. I didn't even know we got beavers where I live.

Btw he's not dead! He's just resting.



Also encountered this little guy sunning himself on a log.

[Chakan]

Also just a random squirrel that I thought was cute on the same walk

[Lawnmowerman]

watched this on youtube earlier. filmed over a few years.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/ONg9D6Yn3-U" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/ONg9D6Yn3-U</a>

[reddebs]

Red squirrels back in the garden 🥰

[kavah]

watched this on youtube earlier. filmed over a few years.

Great this - going to be watching this all day 

[Chakan]

Great this - going to be watching this all day 

If you like those, I highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/@SerpaDesign his builds are fantastic

[kavah]

If you like those, I highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/@SerpaDesign his builds are fantastic

Ha, that's a rabbit hole - what a collection he has, I've watched a couple already - great way to avoid the football and the news   

[Chakan]

Ha, that's a rabbit hole - what a collection he has, I've watched a couple already - great way to avoid the football and the news   

Glad you enjoy them! I think he releases a video every weekend! I’ve watched hours and hours them, knowing full well I’d never be able to come close to what he does. Incredible stuff

[reddebs]

I spotted some sort of flies feeding on angelica buds in the garden this morning that I can't identify so hoping that we have some expert entomologists on RAWK.

They were quite long, similar to a wasp or honey bee but much slimmer, though not skinny.  Kind of a greenish/brown in colour with faint beige/yellow stripes down the wings/body with greenish/brown rump.

I got some pics but no idea how I post them and Google lens isn't picking them up instead of the plant.

Any ideas folks?

[Chakan]

I spotted some sort of flies feeding on angelica buds in the garden this morning that I can't identify so hoping that we have some expert entomologists on RAWK.

They were quite long, similar to a wasp or honey bee but much slimmer, though not skinny.  Kind of a greenish/brown in colour with faint beige/yellow stripes down the wings/body with greenish/brown rump.

I got some pics but no idea how I post them and Google lens isn't picking them up instead of the plant.

Any ideas folks?

Syrphid fly ?


or a yellow fly?

[reddebs]

Whilst I'm at it could all you lovely UK based people sign this petition please. 

You don't need to be in Wales but we absolutely must do everything we can to help protect our native red squirrels!

 https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/245357?fbclid=IwAR3B_JUpqQbt6BmYaqrf72Zbul8smmzoCFT8x_sLR9oNChpWY1oThzPkEwM

[reddebs]

Syrphid fly ?


or a yellow fly?

Size wise the 2nd one is closest but the colouring isn't right.  The stripes are much thinner and fainter and there's no greeny/brown bum.

[Chakan]

maybe use postimage.com to post the image

[reddebs]

maybe use postimage.com to post the image

How do I do that please? 

I've signed up and saved a pic but how do I then add it onto here?

[Chakan]

How do I do that please? 

I've signed up and saved a pic but how do I then add it onto here?

once it's uploaded it'll give you a direct link to the image...

something like

https://i.postimg.cc/9MWPwMjD/DSC04857-3.jpg

just put that between to tags like this, remove the <removethis> part

[img <removethis>]https://i.postimg.cc/9MWPwMjD/DSC04857-3.jpg[ <removethis> /img] 

[reddebs]

once it's uploaded it'll give you a direct link to the image...

something like

https://i.postimg.cc/9MWPwMjD/DSC04857-3.jpg

just put that between to tags like this, remove the <removethis> part

[img <removethis>]https://i.postimg.cc/9MWPwMjD/DSC04857-3.jpg[ <removethis> /img]

I've got this PXL_20230223_111935454 but none of the other stuff so do I need to add all the other bits manually?

[Chakan]

I've got this PXL_20230223_111935454 but none of the other stuff so do I need to add all the other bits manually?

when you upload the image it should give you this screen...



Copy the direct image part.

[reddebs]

when you upload the image it should give you this screen...



Copy the direct image part.

No I don't get anything like that and I can't find it on any of the drop down menus either 😔

I'm just rubbish at trying to get pics on here as nothing anyone suggests works 🤦

[Chakan]

No I don't get anything like that and I can't find it on any of the drop down menus either 😔

I'm just rubbish at trying to get pics on here as nothing anyone suggests works 🤦

Very odd. Postimage.org?

Ummm maybe try fill in the rest the way I posted it and see what happens.

[reddebs]