… teaches us things that you won’t find in any textbook! And so it is that kind of quality time spent in the bush that I personally cherish the most when on a tour. This blog entry will thus be about some personal observations rather than about the tour itself.

Phumi and I (Steff) are both qualified guides and we have had our share of amazing sightings that make you speechless but I am sure he would agree with me, we never stop learning and that makes our job so satisfying.

On our SAa17 Rainbow Route we encountered some extraordinary moments of nature and I will remember them forever.

The eagle and the mongoose
Upon entering the Kruger National Park, less than one hour of driving in the bush, we came across a majestic martial eagle, one of the biggest eagle species in South Africa, that was sitting on top of a tree stump. It was clear to us that there was something he was interested in, so Phumi slowed down and we approached the eagle with care. When we came closer, the eagle swooped down on a fallen tree and a family of banded mongoose scattered in panic all over the ground, trying to hide and run towards safety. We stopped right next to where the eagle was sitting and I couldn’t spot any of the mongooses anymore so I was sure they managed to escape. But Phumi was watching intently and didn’t say a word. After a few minutes of total silence, he just asked me “do you see him?” I knew he wasn’t talking about the eagle and I did not see anything other than him. “He is right there hiding under this small shrub”. I was scanning the ground and it took Phumi a few times pointing out for me to finally spot the mongoose that was trying to stay invisible from the eagles eyes. He didn’t move, I doubt he dared to breathe. The next moment the eagle threw himself to the ground next to the shrub, his leg outstretched and the talons grabbing the mongoose in a very swift move. We couldn’t believe our eyes. The eagle seemed in a very uncomfortable position, barely able to hold himself upright as the branches of the shrub were in his way and he only stood on one leg but he held on firmly to the screaming mongoose. Now the rest of the banded mongoose family came running out of their hole, attacking the eagle quite viciously but the eagle wouldn’t let go. He did at one point move and it looked as if the mongoose was able to escape but it was just the eagle getting in a better position and again, his talons were firmly wrapped around the mongoose’s body. The rest of the family seemed to understand that there is nothing they could do and disappeared again. The martial eagle then took the mongoose onto the fallen tree log and it was clear that he was waiting for the little carnivore to die by suffocating him. The amount of noise coming from the mongoose up to the end was incredible. I wouldn’t have been able to identify the noise if I hadn’t seen whom it belonged to. It took a little less than 10 minutes until the mongoose finally took its last breath and for the eagle to start plucking away the fur and then starting to feed on it. We then moved on to leave the eagle to his meal, all of us stunned into silence of what we just saw. I am sure this was a once in a lifetime sighting for me.

Martial eagles are known to catch quite large prey compared to their size and weight (around 3.3 – 4.7kg with the female being the bigger one). They will grab baby impalas, baby warthogs and steenbok if given the opportunity and are capable of spotting their prey from up to 6km away. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation in Nature) lists the martial eagle as vulnerable to extinction. Local farmers and game wardens seek to eliminate this majestic bird due to their habit of killing livestock and valuable game. It is in fact not common to see this beautiful bird these days. It is estimated that there live around 250 individuals in the Kruger Park but as they can fly, this number fluctuates. He does belong to the “Big 6 Birds” of the Kruger National Park together with the Kori Bustard, Southern Ground Hornbill, Pel’s Fishing Owl, Lappet-faced Vulture and Saddle-billed Stork.