Wild Dogs at Nkorho

As I mentioned yesterday, there is no way of knowing when or if a critter or critters will arrive near one of Africam’s waterholes for us to watch.  After a very quiet night at all 3 cams, a pack of Wild Dogs suddenly appeared at Nkorho.

They were pretty much at the edge of the viewing area – but they were nicely in view for a few minutes as they prepared to hunt a herd of Impalas.

According to Karin at the lodge, they made a kill and unfortunately did not come back to the waterhole, but headed another direction.  What a great way to end my day at the start of an African day. 

Wild Dogs at Nkorho Dec 9/11

Wild Dogs at Nkorho Dec 9/11

Wild Dogs at Nkorho Dec 9/11

Wild Dogs at Nkorho Dec 9/11

Wild Dogs at Nkorho Dec 9/11

Wild Dogs at Nkorho Dec 9/11

Wild Dogs at Nkorho Dec 9/11

Wild Dogs are a rare sighting and always cause a lot of excitement when they do come and go.  They normally do not stay long and are constantly on the move.

I was in awe watching them and just kept snapping pictures without trying to count how many were there.  A few people tried to count and came up with numbers ranging from 13 to 15, but we don’t know if they were all shown on the camera or not.  So far I haven’t seen an official count from the lodge.

So far, besides the Wild Dogs today, we have seen African Spoonbill, Warthog, Elephant, Waterbuck, Wildebeest, Nyala, Impala, Hadeda Ibis, Blacksmith Lapwing, and Striped Skink.  Click here to see the rest of today’s pictures.

I always wish I was there, but as the temperature drops here I wish it even more.  Right now as Chester and I are heading out for our walk this morning it is -20C with a windchill that feels like -28C. 

Corner Gassed 2

Last night was Celebrations night and Corner Gassed 2 was playing.

My friend and I go to all the Celebrations Dinner Theatre shows and of course we had seen the first Corner Gassed and were looking forward to number 2.  We were not disappointed.

The show was great!  The food was great!  The service was ok.  My friend asked for another basket of buns and that never did arrive – but we had already had 2 each, so I wasn’t looking for any more anyway.  For some reason our server only asked 2 people at our table if they wanted coffee and since they didn’t, she didn’t bother asking us, but turned and raced away before we could ask for tea.  We did get tea when the dessert came, but it would have been nice to have had it earlier.

The show and the food made up for the so-so service though and other than those 2 instances, the service was also fine.  The place was quite crowded, which always increases the breaks in between the acts, since there are so many people to get the food and drinks out to – but that is normal.  We sit in the middle of the audience, so get our food in the middle.  They start serving at the back and work their way forward.

We are still waiting for the results from Chester’s blood tests and will hopefully hear on Tuesday if he will continue on the same meds or make a switch to adjustment.  He is anxiously waiting beside me for his morning walk now.  I’ve started feeding him when we get up and then waiting for an hour to walk him, but he thinks we should walk right away.  For one thing, he shouldn’t exert himself too much right after eating and for another, it will be light out soon.

On Africam today, we have seen Zebras, Cape Buffalo, Warthogs, Elephants, Impalas, Bushbuck, Nyala, Duiker, Wildebeest, Jackals, Reedbuck, Cape Turtle Dove, Woolly Necked Storks, Barn Owl, Egyptian Geese with babies.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

When you go to the main Africam page – or any Africam page for that matter, there is a bar across the top with all the links.  If you want to see the cams for a particular waterhole (Nkorho for example), hold your mouse pointer over Live Safari Cams, scroll down to Nkorho and click or it.  You can also choose a pop up cam by scrolling down further to Pop Players and then choose Nkorho from there.  This way you will still have the Africam  home page to choose another cam.  If you want to watch them all, the best choice is to click on MULTIVIEW – then you will have a page with the 4 active cams and you just click play on each one.

Africam's Multiview

This is what the multiview cams look like – although obviously smaller than what you would see.  It was taken just now and something is active on each cam. 

Cloud 9

I didn’t realize that there wasn’t as much air way up here on cloud 9 as there is with 2 feet firmly planted on the ground.  As of now, I’m still way up in the clouds though.    I’ll catch my breath before too long, I’m sure.

Nkorho has also been confirmed so my whole vacation next year is a complete go!!! I still have to book my flights and my car – but those will come later.

I can’t believe that I actually finally decided to just book it and worry about how it will be paid for later – much later. My goal was always to save the money first, but something always came up and I had to spend what I had saved on something else.  Yes, it was good that I had the money there to use, but my vacation fund kept disappearing on me.

I knew this trip would be more than just in my dreams, but I don’t think anyone else really believed it.

Chester is doing fine    He is such a happy dog and is playing with his toys right now – stopping every once in awhile to bring one over to me and then try to keep me from getting it.  He loves the squeaky toys!

Our walks are in the dark – well, light enough to see, but not to take pictures.  The days are getting noticeably shorter now as we head into fall.

I’ve noticed a lot of Robins lately.  I guess they are starting to get the flocks together to head down to Florida for the winter.

On Africam today, we have seen Elephants, warthogs, impalas, bushbuck, wildebeest, waterbuck, jackals, nyala, zebras, baboons, duiker and lost of birds too – saddle billed stork, starlings, guinea fowl, doves, cattle egret, wood sandpiper, pied crow and a crested barbet.   Click here to see today’s pictures.

Chester

I talked to Chester’s vet before I left for work yesterday.  She said the meds may not stop seizures completely and we will still do blood tests next week to see if they need adjusting.  She is still concerned that there is more going on in the brain (such as a tumor) that the meds will have no control over and asked me to watch for changes in personality or behaviour.  That of course, is something that has been at the back of my mind, but I am trying to avoid thinking about.  So far there has been no change and he is happy and playful as always.

The planning for my trip to Africa is still going at high speed.  Most of my time will be in Kruger going from one camp to the next camp until I have covered almost the whole park.

This is still subject to change and so far nothing is booked but here is what I have so far

After landing and spending a couple of nights with friends, I will be heading  to:

Satara

Letaba

Shingwadzi

Olifants

Orpen

Nkorho

Satara

Skukuza

Lower Sabi or Crocodile Bridge

I may move it around so that Nkorho is at the end of the trip and head to the airport from there.

Here is a map of Kruger   if you are interested in having some idea where these places are.

I’m having trouble believing that this is actually going to happen, but once everything is booked I will be able to just sit back and wait for it.    Well, I guess I will still have to figure out how I’m going to pay for it.

On Africam today, we have seen Elephants, Cape Buffalo, Waterbuck, Zebra, Kudu, Warthog, Baboon, Nyala, Wildebeest, Impala, Hyaena, Jackal and more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

Highs and Lows

And I’m not talking about the temperature (although that pretty much describes it right now).

Yesterday, just before work, I received word that I WILL be able to go to Nkorho when I visit South Africa.  I was floating on cloud 9 for the entire day.  Then, when I got home from work, I saw that Chester had had a seizure while I was away.

He has been on the meds for almost 3 weeks and everything had been looking so good until then.  Now, I will have to get him back to the vet and probably have the meds adjusted and then start all over again.   The vet won’t be in the office until I’m heading out the door for work, but I will talk to the staff there who can pass the word along.  Hopefully, I will be able to talk to her sometime today and maybe get him in for another blood test on Friday when I’m off work.

The thoughts of being at Nkorho and being on the game drives is keeping me 1/2 way into the clouds though, so I’ve settled somewhere in between the highs and lows today.

Back to the temperature above – a few days ago, it was in the 30′sC and now we’re dipping down to 2C tonight.  It was 8C when Chester and I walked along the Red River with a predicted high today of 11C.   Talk about highs and lows, but it is September now and pretty much anything goes.

I got a couple of moon pictures this morning.  There were clouds hanging around it, so it looked pretty interesting.

Moon Sept 16

Moon Sept 16

On Africam today, we have seen Elephants, Zebra, Impala, Wildebeest, Vervet Monkeys, Duiker, Nyala, Waterbuck, Cape Buffalo, Leopard, Porcupines, Jackals and more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

More on Africa Plans

You are all going to be really tired hearing about my trip plans over the next year.

Although it was the tour that I saw advertised that got me moving on this, it is now looking like the tour part of it may be dropped in favour of more time in Kruger and Sabi Sands.

It has been a dream for so many years to stay at Nkorho, that I have to do something to make this happen. Traveling along is certainly more expensive than traveling with others, as the price of the room does not double with 2 people and does not triple with 3 – the cost per person goes down as the 2nd or 3rd person is added.

But I will be traveling alone and I will figure out a way to have at least a couple of nights at Nkorho.

I have picked out several places to stay for a couple of nights each in Kruger.  I was planning Kruger for 2 weeks and by taking out the tour part, I can stay another week and arrange some time at Nkorho.

I have a dear friend Penny and her husband Jurek who are helping me plan things and since they know the area well, they are providing me with excellent advice.  They will be in the area at the same time as I am planning my trip there also    so I will get to meet them.

As usual, I am spending so much time planning during my morning that I’m running out of time to watch the cams and write my blog before I have to leave for work.

I did turn on the Elephant Plains cam when I received a tweet about a giraffe this morning and got a couple of pictures of him.

Giraffe and Warthogs at EP

This just in – I will be able to stay at Nkorho.

Chester is fine    another good day and night for him.

Trip Planning

Wow – I’m overwhelmed.  A trip to South Africa has to be planned well in advance and by starting to think about this with less than a year to plan, I hope I haven’t taken on too much.  I know I will be flying to Johannesburg since that is closest to Kruger and I know I will be flying home from Cape Town, since that is where the tour ends.

For two weeks, I will be looked after by the tour.  But I plan on leaving home earlier andthat is up in the air and where I have to make arrangements.

I am looking at so many places that it is mind boggling right now.  It will feel so good when everything is all booked though and then I can just dream of my trip until it happens.

Satara and Orpen are two of the places where Africam was originally set up and I really must visit them.  Nkorho is where I have watched for the last 5 years and I really must visit there, since I consider it home.    The lure of Elephant Plains is there too – but I will just stay in one of them.

Chester is still doing fine and is happy 

Africam is where I spend most of my time when not at work (as you all know).  For today’s pictures – click here.

Here is a sample picture of an elephant that I just took now.

Elephant at Nkorho

Lions

This morning it was 18C with 100% humidity when Chester and I walked along the Red River.   Whew!  I haven’t had the air conditioner on for days, but this morning I turned it on.  That much humidity is just a bit too high for my liking.

Chester had another good day and night. 

I didn’t hear about the job yesterday.  I have no idea what is happening, but assume that means someone else was chosen.

Africam had an amazing visit by lions last night (this morning in Africa) at Nkorho.  There were 2 adult females and 3 young ones.  They had obviously had a good feed and were very thirsty.  After a long drink, they lay down and posed for us.    The same lions had been there the night before, but that time they just had a drink and moved on.  Of course there were a lot more sightings between the 3 cameras, so by checking out today’s pictures, you will also see Reedbuck, Rhinos, Elephants, Nyalas, Waterbuck, Vervet Monkeys, African Crowned Eagles, Black Backed Jackal, Helmeted Guinea Fowl, Waterbuck, Southern Ground Hornbills, Brown Hooded Kingfisher, Bushbuck and more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

I’ll show you a couple of the lion pictures.

Lions at Nkorho Aug 31

Just look at those full bellies!  These girls and the young are the KNP Pride.

Lions at Nkorho Aug 31

Registration Day

Today was the first day for registration for next fall’s classes at the Y in Winnipeg – - -  and I survived!!!!!  Everyone who came in at 6 am to register got the spots they were looking for.  By early afternoon, some time slots were filled and people had to take 2nd choice.  By tonight it will be getting difficult to get what you want and in a few more days, there will just be waiting list spots to claim.

We had 3 staff to take the morning rush and people were gathering outside the door before any of us arrived.  Phone calls started before we opened the doors also – but even if we had answered the phone, we could not have done registration, since the course codes did not become active until 6am.

The sound of the phones is still ringing in my ears though.  There are several lines and they were all ringing at once and we also had the line up that circled the entire front lobby and came back to the doors.  We each looked after one person at a time whether it was on the phone or in person.  By the time I left, there was no one in line, although the phone was still ringing.

Tomorrow, I start work at my usual time instead of 5:45 am (that’s not morning – its still night).

I haven’t seen anything on the walks along the Red River with Chester the last couple of days, other than the 2 male Mallards I’ve seen together a few times.  I didn’t get any good pictures of them – so I took a new picture of the Iris growing in my yard 

Iris June 6

Nkorho on Africam had a lot of excitement and sadness last night and this morning.  Two male lions (unknown at this time who they are), were following a large buffalo herd when an unfortunate hyaena got in their way and was killed.  Karin at Nkorho got some amazing shots that you can see on Nkorho’s facebook page.  Then this morning an unknown lioness was found in very bad shape.  I was watching her struggle before leaving for work and by the time I got home from work she had passed away.   You can find pictures from the last 2 days at Africam here.

Wild Dogs at Nkorho

Early this morning a pack of Wild Dogs raced around Nkorho with our zoomie and the landies full of guests in hot pursuit.   These dogs are rare and a sighting is always big news.  According to the rangers at Nkorho, there were 20 dogs and while there they caught 3 Impalas for their meals.

I was not able to get many pictures since they did not slow down enough for photo opportunities, but here are a couple of pics.

Wild Dog at NKorho

This one actually stood still long enough for a photo 

Wild Dogs and Wildebeest at NKorho

This Wildebeest ran right into the middle of the pack just before this.  That is what caught everyone’s attention as the dogs were just specks on the camera at that time.  They were not interested in him though – just the Impalas.

We often call the early morning, ‘the morning parade’ as there are often many critters arriving for a drink or just to wander by – but this was one of the more exciting morning parades and a great way to end my day. 

When I got up this morning, I saw fresh snow on my sunroom window – which means it got warmer, since it had been too cold to snow lately.  It is currently -15C with a wind chill of -23C for Chester and I to have our walk along the Red River.  By the looks of things that is about what we will be getting for the rest of the week.  I sure hope that -30C to -40C stuff is gone now.