Isimangaliso Wetlands Park

Yesterday I promised I'd post about the nature reserve Rina and I visited while on holiday in Zululand. Only fifteen minutes from our accommodation in Monzi, we drove off Friday to view game. I wanted to see birds, of course. And I did - more about them tomorrow!

As we drove along the dirt road, we spotted movement in the long grass: 

Waterbuck 

A few meters ahead, we stopped to watch a small herd of zebra crossing the road

A herd of wildebeest

Wildebeest are also known as gnus.  Click on the link to read interesting facts about this ubiquitous antelope of Africa.

A few zebra and a wildebeest forging ahead into the nearby scrub

A few kilometers further, we stopped to photograph a small herd of waterbuck

In the same patch of veld, were more zebras grazing. As we watched them, I noticed a smallish raptor in the foreground. 

I focused my camera and zoomed...

...in on a juvenile African Fish-Eagle

Once it looked up from its meal and I managed a decent photo

Driving along with the open plains on either side, we stopped to watch a giraffe...

..and two youngsters lying on the ground behind it

Close-up of one young giraffe. Isn't it sweet?

At a junction, we took a right turn and entered a bushier area.  Peering through the branches, we spotted several antelope. 

A small herd of Nyala females 

A solitary Nyala female

A few hundred meters further along the bush became even more overgrown. I drove the car over s slight rise, when Rina shouted that there was an animal in our path. It loped across the road, onto the verge where it stopped and looked back at us. 

A Nyala male 

Hereafter we turned the car around and drove the 20 km back to the gate. We spotted animals again (sometimes the same ones as we'd seen on the way in) and voted our trip to the Isimangaliso Wetland Park a great success. 

I'm linking my post today to Our World Tuesday here