Day 13, August 6: Mana Pools National Park

Early morning departure to see some of the Mana Pools. The pools are caused by flooding of the Zambesi during the wet season. However, because of the drought in 2024, many of the pools were dry. Our morning drive featured several of them.

Goliath heron

Blacksmith lapwing

Great egret. Yes, it's the same species as ours.

And its cousin the cattle egret, who likes to hang out on hippos.

A glossy ibis, again, same species as ours

African spoonbill

Egyptian goose

Black-winged stilt

Black-headed oriole

Common eland

Blue waxbill

Natal spurfowl

Three-banded plover

Common scimitarbill

White-fronted bee-eater

Lilac-breasted roller

Southern grey-headed sparrows

...and the beauteous warthog.

Black-headed heron

And a pair of Lilian's lovebirds

In the sky overhead, an African hawk eagle

I think this is a common greenshank

..and this is a wood sandpiper

but I ain't betting on either. These, however, are three banded plovers

In the afternoon, we did a trip up the Zambesi.

A ring-necked dove

And, not up in a tree, a serrated hinged terrapin

A black-headed heron again

And a blacksmith lapwing

and a female variable sunbird

Day 26, August 19: Cape Town

 A much better day. Sue at the Grovesvenor hotel cooked us a delicious breakfast, and then we walked across the Simon's Town cemetery to the Boulders Beach penguin reserve. And penguins there were a plenty. One was waddling around the entrance booth. Others were walking around the reserve, making huge amounts of noise, and posing photogenically. 

They were completely comfortable with humans, and even with my 75 -300 mm lens I could take really close shots.

They showed very convincingly why they were once called jackass penguins.

Some were actually in the water, fishing.

Delightful little birds. Other lifers: Kelp Gulls...

...a Karoo Prinia...

and, not new, but a nice shot of a Helmeted Guineafowl, in the front garden of a house adjacent to the cemetery. .