Revisit an old friend for some soul food

Food for the body is not enough, there must be food for the soul and Mokala is the perfect short bush escape, being relatively close to home with good roads to and fro (something that's become hard to find outside of highways and is increasingly appreciated).

We arrive in the midday heat of 34 degrees. Anything that moves has found cover and life slows down except for two bush starved travellers, the excitement and thrill of being 'free' is as intoxicating as the heat

This Redcrested Korhaan (male) is panting in the heat but what a beauty he is

Even the Giraffe are taking shelter from the heat

Qwagga's became extinct in the late 1880's. DNA taken from Qwagga skins and tested were shown to be identical to plains zebra and a project was undertaken in the late 1980's to start a breeding program. Light-rumped individuals were taken from Etosha and the first foal was born in 1988. Sanparks translocated some Zebra into the Karoo, Addo and Mountain Zebra national parks and later after the opening of Mokala, here too

This foal looks somewhat undressed. What an amazing achievement, well done to all involved in the Qwagga project

An absolute icon of the african bush, another endangered species comes strolling through the heat to smell, scent mark and drink while we sit spellbound

What a privilege to be in the company of this spectacular rhino

All creatures great and small, finding a little heat relief

A lesser spotted eagle? I'm not sure

Red Hartebeest cows protecting a young one

All of this on our drive to reception, the streams and dams are full, the grass is tall and lush, what abundance

And to finish off a perfect day, a perfect family of Roan antelope arrive at the lodge waterhole. They are quite comical looking with their clown-like makeup and long ears, the calf's ears are bigger than it's head!

Oops, caught in the act. May I have some privacy please?

The park specializes in endangered and rare species and we've seen a handfull in a couple hours driving, from disease-free buffalo, qwaggas, white rhino to these magestic roan, our 2nd largest antelopes who have an odd calving intervals so give birth all year round

This Chat is trying to get familiar as it comes over to see if we have anything of value to eat

A pair of greater stripped swallows taking a break and sweetly chat to each other

A Whitebrowed Robin looking for dinner (there are tons of ants about)

We spent the first night at Mosu camp and although the cottage was clean and comfortable, maintenance has been lacking with regard to aircons, toilets, showers etc. The pool was empty, disappointing but understandable. Sanparks needs to take account and rectify these problems if they want continued support in their parks

We head out before breakfast after enjoying a sleep-in

Springboks are desert survivors who can go years without drinking as they find most of their water from the grasses and succulent plants they eat. They can run at a speed of 88km/h but luckily for them here at Mokala, there are no major predators and they are so relaxed, its wonderful to watch them going about their business without them being spooked

The mountainous area of Mokala looking so good after the rains

A first time sighting, quite a beauty, the lesser grey shrike

Stofdam empty? Quite surprising but then we notice the wall has been breached on the far side. It's usually a birders haven but we still see some activity, especially an adult Hadeda feeding a chick. Who has ever seen a chick, definitely not us and that makes it special

A fiscal flycatcher poses nicely in the sun with thorns and background colours making an interesting composition

The empty dam makes for a great mud wallow. Tsessebe's are related to the East African Topi. They are social antelope with females forming herds of up to 10 individuals with their young and the males leave to form bachelor herds when they are a year old. Both male and females grow horns

The red Hartebeest can be confused with the endangered Tsessebe but its face is longer and the horns comes together in a heart shape manner. Herds consist of females, their young and a dominant territorial bull that does all the mating

Red kalahari sand adds a big splash of colour to the veld

I mean, how tiny is this calf? We have yet to see giraffe standing up

Typlcal behaviour, a southern pale chanting goshawk perches up high, scouting for a meal

This is my kind of roadblock to be stuck in and 'll be happy to wait as long as it takes

Our next two nights are accommodated in a bush tree house, far from civilization. Mmm thats a most climbable tree

The only critisizm I'd have of the treehouse is there are no mossie gauze on the windows and the water pump is somewhat noisy when the tap is turned on

A fireplace and a waterhole, no need to move for the rest of today, its a blistering 34deg. We'll wait for the wildlife to come to us

and it doesn't take long for the thirsty beasts to arrive

How gorgeous is the Violeteared waxbill?

It was so hot, this teeny tiny butterfly, no bigger than my thumb nail, used my leg for moisture

Cape hares are solitary animals and not easily spotted but our friend here patiently waited to be photographed before loping down the road

Lehmann's love grass is most common here. It's susceptible to drought but re-appears in vast quantities through seeding

Enjoying the cooler morning, these Red Hartebeest burn off some boisterous energy along the roadside

Stripped markings of the Blue Wildebeest are really attractive and one can see closeup why they are named "blue"

Delicious succulent roots. Ground squirrels are incredibly fun to watch when you have the time

Old one horn looks so lonely

What a fantastic looking bird! So much easier to identify too (Shaft-tailed Whydah) tick

The Tsessebe Loop is a particularly lovely drive and we find out why we've only seen Kudu females on previous drives

All the males are here

We spot a few baby ostrich's but the parents literally take off when we stop. Mom looks like she's shouting instructions to her brood

Our peaceful tree-house nestled amongst the camelthorns

Whats up young man? Oh you're puzzled, what is in your tree?

A comfy spot for an afternoon nap

but the peace doesn't last long...

Moms and calves arrive first

A wildebeest comes ambling in and I notice how long his body is compared to a buffalo

A clashing of horns

And then BIG Daddy brings up the rear, and everyone moves off to allow him to drink

We sit ever so still and yet he knows we are here. What a privilege to watch a buffalo herd, out in the open, taking in the smells, noises, behavior, interactions. Wow!

Big sky country emphasizes huge rain clouds

I freak out as we drive past a tree! I'd spotted a bird flying into it and we back up. To my absolute delight the littlest of the raptors, a pigmy falcon sits quietly while I snap away

Those eyes are really large for the size of bird

We drive a 4x4 route and run into a buffalo herd napping under a thicket. This youngster is inquisitive and approaches us

Another detour takes us through a bee eating colony, an absolute favourite species to watch hunt. We take a break at the Lilydale lodge on the eastern side of the park and enjoy a refreshing swim before heading back to look for the buffalo herd who have moved off to drink at the nearly waterhole

Not often spotted when the grass is long, we're lucky to find a small family of meerkats near the road

The patterns and colours of the Redcrested Korhaan are stunning. The male's display flight is spectacular as he can fly up to 30m high before droping earthwards spreading his wings at the last moment to rise again

The heat dissipates with a setting sun which does not want to leave us (believe me, we don't want to go either)

A full moon peeps through the camel thorn branches

Our last morning in the bush and we take our time to enjoy Natures wonders before dragging our heels home

A serrated tortoise walks across our path. Also known as the Kalahari tent tortoise, it is distinguished from other tortoises by the strongly serrated shell along its margins. It eats certain succulents and Kalahari plants. The species is declining so its fantastic to find a youngster in the park

Glad to see you're up and about to say goodbye Mr Giraffe, and farewell to you too, Lesser Grey Shrike

I go to Nature to be soothed and healed and to have my senses put in tune once more