LA DOLCE FAR NIENTE

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La dolce far niente.  The sweetness of doing nothing! (Thanks Gerard)

An Italian saying and way of life that pretty much sums up the magic of living here in the Kudu Private Nature Reserve. 

This week started out on a really good note when a walk up to the view site overlooking the gorge and waterfall caused me to disturb this magnificent Verreauxs' Eagle perched on the cliffside just below me. Fortunately he  decided to hike up on the thermals and do a pass before disappearing out of view, giving me a chance to grab a couple of shots.

Each day begins with a huge troop of Chachma Baboons that trundle down to the terrace at sunup (and again at sundown) ... huge males and loads of mamas with youngsters that spend all of their time either feeding at their mother's breasts or playing together like naughty children in the low-hung branches of the trees - pushing, shoving, jumping and running everywhere.

Today we had to make a trip into town, and on our return took a turn through the Boomplaats area of the Reserve, and were rewarded with a whole host of amazing sightings. Fist of all two pairs of Giraffe held us up for quite some time as they did their mating dances in the middle of the road before finally wandering off.

Thereafter we saw three separate groups of Blue Wildebeest, one accompanied by a few Zebra. There were a number of groups of Impala (the Macdonalds of the bush, with the 'M' on the behinds - and you find one on virtually every corner), as also quite a few Nyala and Kudu, along with one very skittish Eland that only stopped for a second so that I could get in a shot.

A large tortoise crossed our path, as did a number of birds (the list is growing fast), and we arrived home to the daily family visit by a large group of Warthog.

La dolce far niente.  The sweetness of doing nothing indeed! 

Enjoy the pictures.

VERREAUXS' EAGLE DOING A FLYPAST

CHECKING ME OUT

A FAMILY OF WARTHOG THAT VISIT OUR TERRACE DAILY

A BABOON YOUNGSTER SUCKLING (DOZENS VISIT DAILY - MORNING AND EVENING)

A GROUP OF KUDU COWS

A COUPLE OF LARGE MALE GIRAFFES THAT HELD US UP FOR QUITE SOME TIME ON THE ROAD DOING A MATING DANCE OF SORTS

DOING THEIR DANCE (APPARENTLY QUITE NORMAL FOR MALES DURING MATING SEASON)

TWO REALLY GOOD LOOKING GUYS

ANOTHER LARGE MALE DOING THE DANCE WITH A SMALLER FEMALE (I THINK HE WAS A PAEDOPHILE)

HIM AND HER CHECKING US OUT

YOU CAN SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT HIM!

THIS LITTLE GUY CROSSED OUR PATH

A MAGNIFICENT SABLE BULL THAT POSED FOR ME IN THE ROAD

THIS MALE IMPALA SPENT QUITE A BIT OF TIME DOING HIS TERRITORIAL ROAR ON THE TERRACE YESTERDAY

ONE OF THE NYALA BULLS THAT VISIT DAILY

MAMA WARTHOG CHECKING ME OUT

A VERY SKITTISH ELAND THAT STOPPED BRIEFLY FOR ME TO GET A SHOT

ONE OF THREE GROUPS OF BLUE WILDEBEEST THAT WE PASSED THIS AFTERNOON