After being forced to cancel our 2020 trip to Kruger National Park because of Covid, we finally got organized and travelled to the park for a North to South journey through its wilderness.

We entered via Punda Maria gate and our first impression was that the park was very dry and that it would be a challenge for the animals to survive. Soon we found many elephants and buffalo that made us forget the three-day journey from Harare.

We were distracted by one of the elephant groups when we made the mistake. We missed the turning to the Punda Maria Rest camp (1) where we were booked for the night. We drove on and passed yet another dry water course but Mabel spotted something black and red. We immediately stopped and reversed to have a second look.

There were Southern Ground Hornbills (Bucorvus leadbeateri), two adults and one youngster, at first sight, drinking from the mudhole. After unpacking the binoculars and the camera, Mabel realized that they were not behind a mud mound but a buffalo that had become buried in the mud and died. Later, a meat eating animal had opened the carcass and it appeared that the hornbills were feeding from the buffalo carcass.

We could not see if they were taken scraps of meat from the dead animal or feeding on its grassy gut contents or on the insects that were present.

So, we then got to a junction with the road to Pafuri towards the north and needed to turn around to get to Punda Maria. We drove back for about 20 kilometres. However, it was a lucky mistake.

A few days later we visited the place again and, to our surprise, the hornbills were still there. We also noted a pair of fish eagles that were diving at the hornbills and picking up something from the ground. There were lots of dying and dead catfish in the mud and both hornbills and fish eagles were feeding on them.

Nothing goes to waste in nature!

(1) The name was given in 1919 by the first ranger to be posted to the area, Captain JJ Coetser. He mistakenly named his post Punda Maria in the belief that this was the Swahili name for Zebra, the first big game he saw on arrival. The correct Swahili name is actually ‘punda milia’ (meaning Striped Donkey). When the error was pointed out to him, he chose to retain the name, in honour of his wife, Maria, who bore him 12 children. (Extracted from https://www.krugerpark.co.za/Kruger_National_Park_Lodging_&_Camping_Guide-travel/punda-maria-camp.html)