Crested Francolin shout at the breaking day and their raucous duets replace the ever present, prolonged churring sound of Square tailed nightjars and the distant hoots of African Wood Owls that kept us company throughout the night. Smoke blows in from Zimbabwe to the north and filters the suns first rays.
Night time holds numerous dangers. Glad to survive the darkness an Eland calf keeps a low profile in its unusually open hideaway where its mother had left it for the night.
Pafuri is elephant country where numerous breeding herds and mature old bulls make their home. In the woodland adjacent to the Limpopo floodplain we find this majestic bull as he fed in the last rays of light.
Even though this is early spring, midday temperatures soar into the mid-thirties. All but the baboon troop at the waterhole take refuge in the shade until the sun sets to a more tolerable angle.
As the sun sets again the night is reclaimed by the predators. A Spotted Hyena voices its claim to darkness from the nearby den as a full moon rise behind the familiar shape of a Lala Palm.
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