Early one morning before Christmas I was driving down one of the secondary roads in the Satara area in the Kruger National Park (KNP, South Africa) when we witnessed some amazing interruption between 2 totally different species. There were great expectations of antelope, elephant, rhino and lion!! KNP almost always delivers and before long we had seen lion, impala, waterbuck and elephant - and this was by 07:00 in the morning. What more could the park offer??
Well it had another surprise for us. Up ahead were a couple of cars that were obviously watching something. When we arrived it was not that obvious a species. We started looking for elephant and our search image gradually got smaller and smaller. Finally there at the base of a tree fairly close to the road was a magnificent specimen of a Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus). But what was it doing on the ground? Closer observation revealed it has caught a meal - from the size and colour it appeared to be a steenbuck .... amazing luck to see such a kill, although most of the prey was not visible. The crop of the eagle was already fairly full.
The attention it had drawn with 3 cars parked reasonably close did cause it to pause for a while as it watch us - I am sure they are as curious about us as we are of them!
While watching the bird for 5 minutes we became aware of a family of warthogs crossing the road about 30 metres away from the eagle. Parents and their too "children" - although they were already in their early adulthood!! They walked past us all but then the curiosity of the juniors became too much for them - they turned right and headed towards the eagle!
A mere cursory look was not enough and closer and closer they ventured, until they appeared to be a matter of centimetres away from the eagle. Needless to say the Marshall Eagle was not too please with his visitors during breakfast!! He was NOT going to leave his meal so his fluffed himself up and spread his wings to emphasise his size. It made them hesitate but not stop.
After a few tense moments, the warthogs smelt the prey and then turned and left. Obviously nothing they could do, nor is it normal food for them.
Life returned to normal and it looked as if nothing had happened!! A chance encounter and one I am very pleased to have witnessed. It makes me want to get back there again ................
Well it had another surprise for us. Up ahead were a couple of cars that were obviously watching something. When we arrived it was not that obvious a species. We started looking for elephant and our search image gradually got smaller and smaller. Finally there at the base of a tree fairly close to the road was a magnificent specimen of a Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus). But what was it doing on the ground? Closer observation revealed it has caught a meal - from the size and colour it appeared to be a steenbuck .... amazing luck to see such a kill, although most of the prey was not visible. The crop of the eagle was already fairly full.The attention it had drawn with 3 cars parked reasonably close did cause it to pause for a while as it watch us - I am sure they are as curious about us as we are of them!
While watching the bird for 5 minutes we became aware of a family of warthogs crossing the road about 30 metres away from the eagle. Parents and their too "children" - although they were already in their early adulthood!! They walked past us all but then the curiosity of the juniors became too much for them - they turned right and headed towards the eagle!
A mere cursory look was not enough and closer and closer they ventured, until they appeared to be a matter of centimetres away from the eagle. Needless to say the Marshall Eagle was not too please with his visitors during breakfast!! He was NOT going to leave his meal so his fluffed himself up and spread his wings to emphasise his size. It made them hesitate but not stop.
After a few tense moments, the warthogs smelt the prey and then turned and left. Obviously nothing they could do, nor is it normal food for them.
Life returned to normal and it looked as if nothing had happened!! A chance encounter and one I am very pleased to have witnessed. It makes me want to get back there again ................
