19 Sept 09 - Morning Game Drive

Mashatu Morning Game Drive

Another beautiful african morning at Mashatu. Up early, coffee up at the common area and off to the truck!

Photography at dawn (and dusk) is difficult, but I didn't let that slow me down much: I took pictures anyway although few of them came out well. I did get some good shots though, and the first one on the 19th was a skyline.



I was very lucky with this shot of some birds- one of my favorite avian shots, I think.



Some kudu.




Steenbok are tiny little things, on the other hand- more the size of a medium-large dog.



Hornbills were all over the place and often hung around near the road, so became one of my favorite camera targets. I took many pictures of them and I think some came out extremely well.



We had seen jackals at least once before, but this one was the first one that stayed around long enough to really LOOK at.



We saw quite a few hyenas on the 19th, and at least one was involved in tracking some cheetah, most likely in the hope of catching them after they made a kill.
First some pictures of hyenas-



Then some of cheetahs-

And then a series of shots following a hyena tracking some cheetahs are grouped together:

Hyena Cheetah

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No kill when we saw them, but the cheetahs weren't thrilled by the "visitor!".

A shot of vultures flying around looking for a meal.

Giraffes were around again, this time in a slightly larger group. They still seemed to like posing for pictures though.

A few bird shots:
Hornbill



Red breasted shrike:



Colorful Bird

The ever present impala

I took some pictures of Mashatu Main Camp on the way back in; you can see how unobtrusive it is in these shots.




The main gate to camp:

We returned from each game drive and saw that sign and every time I was sorry to be back from the drive, but glad to be back at the camp because it was so comfortable and welcoming.

Anyone considering a safari trip to Africa should at least consider Mashatu.

As for me, I will be going back to both Africa and Mashatu Main Camp.

Special credit for my wonderful memories of Mashatu goes to Elvis and Aaron (our guides) and Bobson, the manager of Main Camp, but the rest of the staff all were wonderful too- I just had more contact with those three guys than with anyone else.

Morning Game Drive

111 images

Hyena Cheetah

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