On countless times, while driving around in the Kruger, a specific rock, tree or feature has brought back special previous encounters with the citizens of the bush, providing much fun recounting these experiences to one another.
One afternoon on our way back to camp at Biyamiti on the Crocodile River Road, just before arriving at the bridge over the Biyamiti River, Silvia and I raved about the beautiful close-up images we had taken of a White-fronted Bee-eater sitting on the branch of a dead Leadwood stump not 5 meters from the edge of the bridge two days previously.
As we slowly approached the bridge we automatically looked out for the dead tree and were very surprised to see that the exact same branch was again occupied by a beautiful bird, this time a Brown-headed Kingfisher.
It was magical déjà vu. The kingfisher was totally relaxed, just as the bee-eater had been, allowing us to slowly approach until we were directly opposite him.
Our cameras were put to good use until we had enough good photographic material. Thereafter we had some quiet time, just sitting and watching the bird.
However, time never stands still, and neither does the traffic in the Kruger. The line of cars waiting on both approaches to the single-lane bridge had become so long that we soon realized we just had to move on.
Two basically identical experiences at the same time of day, with just one very minor variation in the “details”.
Wonderful.