October in Marloth Park
October just might be my favorite month in Marloth Park.
It’s hard to believe we visited Marloth Park for the first time a year ago. I fell in love with watching the dry season—trees bare of leaves and the grazing grasses mostly dormant and dried up—turn into the rainy summer season. Lush grazing grasses and branches full of leaves start hiding the bird nests and their baby birds calling for someone to bring them some snacks.
The rains seemed to arrive a bit earlier this time around than last year. With the rains, come babies! Some animals have babies any time of year, but some tend to time their births with the rains when there will be plenty of food for them. Specifically, the impalas wait until a few weeks into the rainy season to start dropping babies. Interestingly, impalas are one of the few animals that give birth around the same time every year. Almost all impalas are born within a three to four-week period and impalas can delay giving birth for up to a month to ensure that their babies are born after the rains start when grazing conditions are best.
What does that have to do with October being my favorite month in Marloth (so far)? I love seeing all the babies—itty bitty babies everywhere!
After my mom and Kel left to go back to the states, we got back into our usual routine of workers at the house fixing things (because that is what happens when you own a house again: there is always something that needs attention), morning walks, braais and social time with friends, baking treats, working out in the gym, and a trip to Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park.
Here is our month in pictures (with a separate post on Victoria Falls and Hwange coming soon!).
October 1: Stu, one of our favorite bush buck, likes to sleep in the backyard under a tree if we leave the gate open. Smart of him since it might keep a lion from eating him!
October 2: the purple crested turcos are always so shy when I get the camera out.
October 3: the African striped skinks are everywhere! This one clearly was posing for his glamour shot.
October 4: after rolling in some zebra poop and snacking on some eggs, this guy took a much needed nap on the cool cement.
October 5: the bee eaters are back! We didn't see a single one while mom was visiting.
October 6: this is how we know the rainy season has started! Bugs have started popping up leaving little bug tracks in the road.
October 7: mamma warthog in the backyard!
October 8: mongoose pile!
October 9: friends had some guests visiting and invited us on a Marloth sundowners safari. Our friend Cliff brought us around town in Mona, his Land Rover stopping at the river for sundowners. We got to watch a giraffe escape a lion chasing him.
October 10: Jim’s birthday!! Of course, I had to make a cake! We celebrated with a braai at home with friends.
October 11: Our first leopard turtle in the backyard!
October 12: An African Fish-Eagle on our morning walk along the river.
October 13: A cute little sun bird decided he needed a bath in the watering hole.
October 14: I have a lot of shots like this. The kudu come around often and many people hand feed them. I don’t recommend that since as comfortable as they are around humans, they are still wild animals-and those are some pretty big sharp horns!
October 15: the impala love hanging around the fresh water at the watering hole in the backyard.
October 16: a content croc at the river
October 17: a trumpeter hornbill found a tasty treat to pop in his mouth
October 18: first time seeing broad billed rollers along the fence.
October 19: One of our many bush baby visitors each night.
October 20: African Green Pigeon
October 21: An early Christmas present from Jim! An ice cream maker!
October 22: It’s rainy season!! The foam nest frog loves finding new spots to sleep in each day.
October 23: It’s rare to see an oxpecker hanging out on a bush buck. This young bush buck was happy to let this guy pick off his ticks.
October 24: Sunbird hanging out in the backyard!
October 25: Safari boat ride along the Zambezi River at sunset.
October 26: Victoria Falls from the Zambia side.
October 27: Devil’s Pool—stay tuned for my post about this trip!
October 28: On our way from Victoria Falls to Hwange Bush Camp!
October 29: An early morning walking safari to see what we could track.
October 30: Getting to track a real live wild black rhino.
October 31: Somalisa Camp in Hwange with a view of the watering hole.
We finished the month on safari in Hwange National Park after a few day visiting one of the seven natural wonders of the world: Victoria Falls. I'll leave that for my next post though. It's worthy of a travel journal entry all it's own.