Just to prove that a visit to a game reserve isn’t all about the “hairies and scaries”, one of the most memorable sightings of the trip we took to Marakele National Park last weekend wasn’t of one of the “Big Five” or another large mammal, bird or reptile. Instead, we watched in awe as a wasp carried (sometimes through the air, but mostly along the ground) a large, paralysed caterpillar to a specially prepared tunnel. In there, the wasp’s young can grow to adulthood by feeding on the hapless immature insect.
Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele
Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele
Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele
Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele
Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele
Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele
Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele
Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele
Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele
Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele
Thread-waisted Wasp closing up the nesting tunnel after depositing the caterpillar and laying the egg (at Marakele NP)
DeWetsWild 
Awesome, these little guys work so hard!
And what a thrill to watch! How they manage to find the hole they dug from a vast distance away, carrying such a heave load!
Fascinating. Once watched a spider hunting wasp drag a baboon spider to the nest. The was epic!
What a sighting that must have been!
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Spesiaal soos altyd
Baie dankie, Tina!
Hi Guys. It’s true, wildlife in miniature is often more active and interesting to watch than the big beasts. Fascinating photos of this busy wasp’s activities.
Thanks, Kim! And best of all, you could stumble across something like this in your back garden!
I often do, my garden is my own game reserve in miniature!
What a nice photo series of the wasp brings his victim to his lair. 🙂 Jut insects are something we often forget, most of them make great use, at least those who are out in nature. We have one in the photo club that almost only photograph solitary bees. There are 250 species in Sweden and he can most of them. Then he has been doing it for 20 years …
What an interesting character he must be! I would love to take an excursion into a nature reserve with him, I’m sure he could teach me a lot!
He lives in the middle of nature, and has transformed his garden in many years to enjoy different kinds of bees.
Yikes!
Not a wasp-lover, Teresa?
No I am not a Wasp lover!, we have tons of yellow jackets and they chase my Hummingbirds all around the yard and keep them away from their feeder. Mean little buggers!
Mean but determined!
Great spotting! It reminds me of seeing an ant carrying something many times larger than itself. Amazing stuff.
janet
Amazing is certainly a correct description, Janet! There’s a whole different world passing us by around our feet and we’ll miss it entirely if we don’t look down!
Amazing big that wasp is in relation to that unfortunate caterpillar
And yet I think the caterpillar weighs more than the wasp does – amazing to see it pick up that heavy load and fly with it for short distances!
They sure know how to work properly and have their work be worth it!
Humans can learn a thing or two from them!
It is awesome to see them at work. Nature is wonderful, Wasp knows exactly what to do.
Absolutely amazing to see that the wasp knew exactly where to find its tunnel again, after dragging the caterpillar over such a distance!