iSimangaliso Wetland Park!

On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning I went for three drives to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (on both sides of the Lake St.Lucia estuary, called the Eastern Shores and the Western Shores).

Thanda Safari offers guests a midday excursion for a Hippo and Croc cruise on the Lake and I often take guests for a multi-day-stay to this incredibly diverse National Park. But this time I went all by myself for a bit of time off and some relaxing birding and photography. And I had quite a lot of of very good mammal sightings as well.

This is a short slide show with 24 pictures which I took during the three drives. Enjoy the pictures from this great place!

In case you are interested:

Accommodation: 

I overnighted again at Serene Estate Boutique Guest House (my favourite place in St.Lucia). This is where I usually stay with my guests. And on occasion I also use another of my portfolio places called Makakatana Bay Lodge (The only – and very beautiful – 5 star lodge inside the wetland park).

Sightings:

These were the pictures/sighting/species in the slide show  (in order of appearance):

• Hippopotamus and African Jacana
• Yellow-throated Longclaw
• Waterbuck
• Black-headed Heron
• Hippopotamus
• Reed Cormorant
• Waterbuck and Cattle Egret
• African Cuckoo-Hawk
• Cape  Buffalo
• Collared Pratincole
• Spotted Hyena
• Lesser Masked Weaver
• Spotted Hyena
• Reed Cormorant
• Bushbuck
• Brown-hooded Kingfisher
• South Africa Giraffe
• African Pygmy Kingfisher
• Burchell‘s Zebra
• Little Egret
• Rufous-bellied Heron
• Malachite Kingfisher
• White-backed Duck
• Purple Heron

I also saw (observed, but no good quality images): Saddle-billed Stork, Egyptian Goose, Spur-winged Goose,  Yellow-billed Duck, Great Egret, Squacco Heron, Red-capped Robin-chat, Red-billed Oxpeckers, Trumpeter Hornbill, African Wood Owl, Red-breasted Swallow, African Stonechat, Southern Fiscal, Fork-tailed Drongo, White-faced Whistling Duck, Crested Gunieafowl, Crested Francolin, Burchell’s Coucal, Ring-necked Dove,  Common Moorhen, Black Crake, Little Grebe, Wattled Lapwing, African Darter, White-breasted Cormorant, Hadeda Ibis, Hammerkop, Speckled Mousebird, African Hoopoe, Dark-capped Bulbul, Southern Boubou, Pied Crow, Rattling Cisticola, Kurrichane Thrush, …

Technical data:

All pictures were taken with one of the following three camera/lens combinations: Canon R6/Canon EF70-200 L f/2.8 – Canon R6/Canon EF500 L f/4.0 – Canon R6/Canon RF800 f/11

My drives:

1 – Eastern shores – main road, grassland loop (afternoon 11:30-17:30)

2 – Eastern shores – main road, vlei loop, grassland loop (morning 6:00-10:30) 

3 – Western Shores – main road, western loop (13:00-15:30)

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography 

If you want to read more of my stories and see more of my pictures, you should visit my blog at https://sperka.info/blog/