A thousand posts on de Wets Wild!

81 Replies

Today we celebrate a major milestone for us here at de Wets Wild – our 1,000th post!

A huge word of thanks must go to our all our friends and followers for their support and encouragement over the course of the past 6 years! Thank you for sharing our love and passion for South Africa’s wild places and the creatures that find a home there with us – we hope you’ll continue to do so for many years to come!

Seems fitting now to have a look at some of the most popular posts and other highlights we enjoyed on this journey. (Clicking on the links provided should open the posts in a new window without closing this post).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, our “About” page (home page) is by far the most visited.

de Wets at Golden Gate Highlands National Park, July 2013
de Wet family at Ithala Game Reserve, December 2014
Wild de Wets
Giant’s Castle

But how and why the post about South African Hornbills come in second place, I have no explanation!? That they’re fascinating birds we won’t argue about.

Yellow-billed hornbill
Crowned Hornbill
Red-billed Hornbill
Trumpeter Hornbill
African Grey Hornbill
Ground Hornbill

South Africa’s vultures are getting some well-deserved attention as well.

Hooded Vulture
White-headed Vulture
White-backed Vulture
Bearded Vulture
Lappet-faced Vulture
Cape Vulture
Palm-Nut Vulture, Umlalazi Nature Reserve, March 2016

Another post about a bird that got a lot of attention is that about the black heron and its fascinating hunting technique.

Black Heron “canopy feeding”

Early into our blogging “career” we took part in a few photo challenges – the image we posted of dew droplets caught in a spider’s web was the best received of those.

The post we did on the Kruger National Park’s Selati Line, with thanks to my sister for the use of her photos, has been a perennial favourite.

Steam engine at Skukuza "station"

Steam engine at Skukuza “station”

The features we did on Pafuri Border Camp (in Kruger) and Nyathi Rest Camp (in Addo) when they opened are still very popular – people are obviously very eager to explore new destinations and we’re glad that de Wets Wild could help so many of them plan their visits!

Addo’s new Nyathi Camp
Mockford Cottage, Pafuri Border Camp

But it is not only the new destinations that people are interested in, as the posts about familiar favourites like Skukuza in the Kruger Park, Loskop Dam and Golden Gate Highlands National Park prove.

Sabie Bridge at Skukuza
Loskop scenery
Brandwag Buttress in Golden Gate

Plains Zebras seem to be the most popular mammal featured here at de Wets Wild, as a few posts about these beautiful animals feature at the top of the charts!

Plains Zebra
Ithala fight for dominance
Plains Zebras
Pale-rumped Plains Zebra in Mokala National Park
Plains Zebra
Plains Zebra trying to trip an opponent
Plains zebra
Plains zebra

But the world’s cutest bouncing baby rhino will not be outdone!

You’ll never catch me!

Of course we cannot talk about highlights and forget how your support helped us feature in the honours at the SA Blog Awards – from finishing as runners up in both the Best Travel Blog and Best Environmental Blog Categories in 2014, 2015 and 2016 to finally winning in both in 2017!

 

 

 

81 thoughts on “A thousand posts on de Wets Wild!”

  2. Robert J Jr.'s avatarRobert

    Congratulations! Wonderful photography and I am happy that you stopped by my blog! Now I can travel to South Africa and never buy a plane ticket! Ha Ha. No I would love to visit a country that beautiful!

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  4. aj vosse's avataraj vosse

    Congratulations! You three and the blog deserve all the praise and accolades that come your way!
    Thanks for the most entertain and enlightening SA blog! Thanks for all the memories you stir in me… and the longing!
    May you retire one day with many thousand posts… and know then that Joubert and his family are keeping the good thing going!
    Net so by the way… ek dink ek weet hoekom die neushoring voëls hoog op die lys is! (En ek help ook…) WordPress se “Like” e-mails kom altyd in met drie opsies om op te klik… en, ek dink (judging by visits to my blog) dat WP die meeste besoeke as die opsies gee… ek hoop dit maak sin!

    Weereens geluk… en dankie! God Bless! 😉

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    1. DeWetsWild's avatarde Wets Wild Post author

      Baie, baie dankie vir die gawe en warm woorde, AJ – ons weet jy bedoel dit opreg en waardeer dit ongelooflik baie!
      Baie dankie ook dat jy die “misterie” oor die neushoringvoels vir ons opgelos het!

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  6. SoyBend's avatarSoyBend

    Congratulations! I always look forward to seeing your posts. I feel like we have something in common through reading them, even though we are many miles apart.

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  9. maamej's avatarmaamej

    Congrats on 1000 posts and all your achievements. I don’t have much time for the blogosphere at the moment but I always enjoy your posts when I visit. My brother must be boosting your stats from beyond the grave – when he visited Africa he was fascinated by both hornbills and vultures 😉

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  11. naturebackin's avatarnaturebackin

    A great achievement and congrats. I love that you showcase creatures great and small, and plants and trees too, as well as sharing your travel experiences. I am sure you have plenty of material for your next 1000 posts!

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    1. DeWetsWild's avatarde Wets Wild Post author

      Thank you very much, Carol! The blogging experience has allowed us to connect with many others who love nature as much as we do, including you, and for that we are grateful!

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  13. Tranature - quiet moments in nature's avatarTranature - quiet moments in nature

    Congratulations and thank you for sharing your amazing images and words with us here 🙂🦓

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  14. sustainabilitea's avatarsustainabilitea

    Congratulations and kudos to all of you!! I loved seeing some photos of you, even though I obviously enjoy all the posts about animals, too. I look forward to reading your next 1,000 posts.

    janet

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  17. Joanne Sisco's avatarJoanne Sisco

    Wow – 1000! That is a major achievement! … and an even greater achievement is that each of your posts is one of quality. Educational, gorgeous photos, and yes, it makes me want to visit South Africa!

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  20. John's avatarJohn

    Congratulations Dries with family!😊 You have an absolutely wonderful blog with animals and nature and beautiful pictures. Blog posts are amazing with information about the pictures and the surroundings.It’s not really “just” a blog you have, you provide important and accurate information about South Africa and its animals and nature to us the rest. I like almost just watching nature channels on television where it’s a lot about South Africa, have not seen as many different animals and plants as I’ve seen on your blog! I think, no, I know your blog helps to spread the information to the whole world! Both animals and nature are very important throughout the world, not least in the Africa where many animals are threatened, much thanks to man, we are taking the animals’ land, shooting the animals for money. I really appreciate people like you who spend both time and money spreading information and great blog posts that are very interesting!😊😊😊
    (Sorry for a long Comment)

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  21. Nature on the Edge's avatarNature on the Edge

    Well done de Wets! Your blog has a wealth of information and is a good resource from wildlife destinations to any number of birds, mammals and ecology, environment!!! That Hornbill post is remarkable for having so many of the species. Must say I’m green with envy at the list of so many of SA’s finest wildlife destinations 🤢. Keep up the good work – you rock!!!

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    1. DeWetsWild's avatarde Wets Wild Post author

      Wonderful to be sharing our love for SA’s natural heritage with likeminded nature buffs like you, Liz! Thanks for all the thoughtful contributions to our blog!

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  31. T Ibara Photo's avatarT Ibara Photo

    Congratulations!! Your site is wonderful, and I look forward to the next 1000+ posts 😉
    As a bird-lover, I’m happy the “bird” posts are quite popular 😉

    All the best to you and your beautiful family,
    Takami 🙂

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