Africa Day Two: Mongoose

South Africa is home to many species of mongoose, a small rodent famous for its tenacity in hunting prey far larger (and more dangerous) than itself.
Day two of our Africa trip saw us up at 6am at Honeyguide camp (just outside of Kruger National Park) for our first morning game drive. The first creature we spotted was a cute slender mongoose sitting in the sun in the middle of the dirt road. It was quite distinguishable with its lightish red-brown fur and black tipped tail (that was Anton, the guide's description, not mine...)..

Common dwarf mongoose out in the open, Honeyguide bush camp, RSA.

Dwarf mongeese like to live in small groups and are not as timid as the slender mongoose.

Rare sighting of the timid slender mongoose (yawning).

A brief glimpse of the slender mongoose in early morning light, Honeyguide bush camp

Now, most mongeese you encounter will vanish into the undergrowth in a flash - unless you are literally pointing your lens in the right direction when you first spot a mongoose, you won't get the shot. This one, on the other hand, sat for in full view 10 or 15 minutes sunning itself, occasionally shifting position in the road and verges, seemingly unperturbed by our presence.

Finally, after several minutes posing for our cameras this slender mongoose moved off into the undergrowth