August | 2012 | DeWetsWild

A testament to the resilience of nature!

During August 2012, we had the pleasure of returning to one of our favourite nature destinations: Cape Vidal, situated in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park on the northern coastline of South Africa.

Cape Vidal is a popular beach resort, and not without reason. The unspoilt beach stretches as far as the eye can see and the warm blue waters of the Indian Ocean provide endless opportunity for swimming, snorkelling, fishing etc.

The beach at Cape Vidal

We frequently visit the area and it was an immense pleasure to see how quickly nature is claiming back its rightful place following the removal of the exotic and thirsty pine plantations which, not so long ago, covered huge tracts of land here on the eastern shores of Lake Saint Lucia. Large wetlands have re-appeared and now play host to big flocks of waterfowl, pods of hippopotamus and numerous crocodiles.

Whistling Ducks

We were also delighted to experience many of the new amenities that the Park authorities have built for visitor’s enjoyment. At Catalina Bay a viewing platform overlooking Lake Saint Lucia is the perfect spot for sundowners and one can easily spend hours at the new photographic hide overlooking the Mfazana Pan.

We had excellent leopard sightings during our three day visit, seeing no less than five different individuals. The best by far was of a beautiful male ambushing four warthogs in the early morning as they bolted from the hole in which they spent the night before, only to have the tables turned on him and being chased back into the forest by the bold hogs.

We were amazed to find a colony of fruit bats hanging above the parking spot at our chalet accommodation – normally the daytime roosts of these creatures are very difficult to spot.

A pair of bushpigs also paid us a visit one evening as we were enjoying dinner outside.

Bushbuck and samango monkeys are frequently seen both in the camp and while driving around, and reedbuck occur in large numbers in the swamps and reed beds that surround the lake and pans.

There are a number of large buffalo herds in the area and they are not always happy to have humans in vehicles interrupt their grazing.

A real surprise find was the female spotted hyena we encountered on a gravel loop road early one morning – we followed her for several kilometres and watched as she attacked, without success, a small group of reedbuck before disappearing from sight.

iSimangaliso means “miracle and wonder” and it is one of South Africa’s most diverse nature reserves. Cape Vidal is an excellent base from which to explore a most beautiful part of it and there’s no doubting that we’ll return as often as we possibly can.

A small reserve that punches way above it’s weight class!

Chelmsford is a small reserve, covering only 6,800 hectares, roughly half of which is inundated by the Ntshingwayo Dam. But don’t let its relatively diminutive size fool you: in the larger South African conservation picture, Chelmsford Nature Reserve is a very important piece of land.

Chelmsford’s flat grasslands protects the country’s largest population of the highly endangered oribi, a small antelope, and it also harbours breeding populations of other rare or endangered wildlife such as the blue crane (our national bird), crowned crane, bald ibis, Cape fox and black wildebeest, not to mention many of the more common species.

The reserve has been in existence since 1975 and is located in northern Kwazulu-Natal, about thirty kilometres south of the large industrial town of Newcastle. Managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, it boasts eight fully self-contained cottages (very reasonably priced!), sleeping up to 5 people each, as well as two beautiful electrified camping areas (Leokop and Sandford) with well-maintained ablution facilities. Neat picnic facilities, conveniently situated throughout the reserve, are also available at the water’s edge.

Though the reserve is never crowded, it is especially popular over weekends with local folk enjoying the outdoor recreational opportunities the dam and surrounds offers, such as boating, sailing, skiing, fishing, cycling, hiking, bird-watching and game viewing. The reserve and the dam that forms it’s focal point is named after a British Lord and Zulu General respectively who were on opposing sides at the Battle of Isandlwana, and is a convenient base from which to visit many of the Anglo-Boer and Anglo-Zulu War battlefield memorials in the vicinity.