For those of you unfamiliar with the term “lifer,” it’s a term particularly used by birders for seeing a specific bird for the first time in your life. I’m using it with other animals as well, and lately I’ve ended up with two new lifers. The first one was an Olive Bush Shrike. At the famous God’s Window lookout point, my attention was first drawn to the bird by its beautiful liquid call as two birds were contacting each other among the dense bush. After locating the source of the call, I was facing a most beautiful Olive Bush Shrike for the first time in my life. The next lifer was seen in the Kruger Park along the Sabie river. Although I’ve heard of reports of otters being seen in the park, sightings of them are extremely rare. While watching lions drinking water from the river, I noticed 4 creatures swimming in the river. On closer inspection I noticed they were Cape Clawless Otters. We followed them for a while as they scrambled in and out of the water before finally disappearing amongst the reeds. I was elated with this unusual sighting – a first for me. The following morning my elation returned as we found the same group of otters further downstream. We had even better views of them this time around as they were being very playful in the water. I could not believe my fortune. I haven’t seen otters in more than 30 years and then I find them on two consecutive days (although they were the same group). Life is always exciting out there in the bush, and the saying is true, “you just never know what you are going to get.”
Enjoy your life(r).
Simon Vegter
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