22 December 2020
Our last morning in Wilderness and one final chance to take a walk through the camp – even if it was drizzling slightly it’s amazing to still find so much new to see!
Bushbuck Ram heading to the reeds to hide
Cape Lappet Moth Caterpillar, kindly identified by Carol from Nature Back In
Wild Plum
Cape Chestnut
Knysna Turaco
Red-eyed Dove
Egyptian Goose
Unidentified blooms in Wilderness
Black-bellied Starling
Pompon Tree
Bush-tick Berry or Bietou
The Serpentine river snaking past Ebb-and-Flow Rest Camp
Intricately patterned geranium leaves
African Darter
Common Starling
Common Dwarf Gecko
As we start our drive to our next destination, the sun finally puts in an appearance, inviting us to pull to the side of the road and enjoy the view over Swartvlei, the largest of the lakes in the Wilderness section of the Garden Route National Park.
A view over Swartvlei from a lay-by along the N2-highway
If you’d like to read more about the Wilderness section of the Garden Route National Park, please have a look at this special feature about it that we published a while ago.
DeWetsWild 
Your lovely pictures show what one tends to miss if only viewing nature from a car! The hairy caterpillar is likely one of the lappet moth caterpillars. Possibly the Cape lappet moth (Eutricha capensis), which seems to have several colour forms. (I was recently trying to identify a similar caterpillar that I photographed in our garden, which I think is another species of lappet moth caterpillars.)
Glad to hear you took the trouble to rescue the gecko and save it going on a long car journey – it is not easy to find and remove them though!
I’m so grateful for all your help in identifying some of those species that had me stumped, Carol, and thanks for taking so much time to work through all our latest posts too!
It is a real pleasure to read your posts about the interesting places you visited and to appreciate your photographs and sightings.
As kind and generous with your comments as always. Thanks very much, Carol.
The cape chestnut flowers are so pretty! An explosion in pink.
They’re truly eye-catching, Siobhan.
I have been intrigued to find a Dwarf Gecko that seems to have adopted my car as its territory over the past few weeks: I see it in the groove when I open the boot to place the grocery bags inside and yesterday, as I walked past the car, it skittered into the crack of the door. All this detail because I was interested to see the gecko on what is probably your vehicle.
That was exactly the situation with this little one, Anne, and he delayed our departure by quite a bit as I struggled to get him off the car and back into the bush next to our alloted parking space!
🙂
The end of another glorious visit. Thanks so much for that. I just finished reading a book you might enjoy: “One Man’s Wilderness: an Alaskan Odyssey” by Richard Louis Proenneke and Sam Keith. In 1968, Richard went to Alaska and by himself built a cabin and explored the area around his cabin. There’s a lot of information about how and what he built but also a lot about the animals he saw. I greatly enjoyed it, so if you might be able to get it at your local library, I think you’d like it. There was also a movie called “Alone in the Wilderness” about his adventure.
janet
That sounds marvelous, thanks Janet! I’m definitely going to look for it at the library and we have a few second-hand bookshops around as well.
Very nice place! Thanks, D. 🙂
That’s true, H.J. I’d go back at the drop of a hat.
I like that little dwarf gecko! And the black bellied starling is very striking I have not seen one of those before.
I know you agree that it pays to pay attention to the small stuff, thanks Anne!
Great pics especially that of the wild plum!
Thank you kindly, Shikha.