iSimangaliso’s animals – great and small

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As befits a conservation area of its stature, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park is extremely rich in fauna of all description. In this final post about our recent tour of the reserve I’ll be sharing some more of the wonderful animal sightings we had.

The tropical environment of northern Kwazulu-Natal is home to some very interesting invertebrate creatures – the Flatface Longhorn Beetle I showed you a few days ago being a fantastic example.

An enormous jellyfish that drifted out of a rough sea on the beach at St. Lucia
Common Bush Brown butterfly
Spotted Buff butterfly
Blue Pansy butterfly
African Piedspot Dragonfly
Mating Common Blue butterflies
Natal Rock Crab
Flatface Longhorn Beetle (Lasiopezus longimanus), identified with the kind assistance of the “Insects only – Southern Africa” facebook page.
Slug close-up
Millipede
Unidentified Moth with wonderful camouflage
Unidentified caterpillar
False Dotted Border butterfly
Sooty Blue
Superb False Tiger Moth
Dung Beetle
Broad-bordered Grass Yellow
African Peach Moth
Giant African Land Snail
Slug and its slimy trail
Brown-veined White Butterfly

Fish and frogs must be finding the wet conditions prevailing now after suffering through a terrible drought not so long ago very much to their liking!

Platanna
Foam Nest Frogs mating
The toes of a Foam Nest Frog
Banded Tilapia. The newly formed ponds have quickly been populated by fish and tadpoles.

Even though most of them are shy and seldomly seen, iSimangaliso is home to an amazing array of reptiles as well – many of them rather dangerous!

Huge Nile Crocodile slipping into the Mfabeni swamp
Marsh Terrapins
Tropical House Gecko
Striped Skink
Serrated Hinged Terrapin
Mozambique Spitting Cobra after swallowing something (likely a frog)
Southern African Rock Python
Southern African Rock Python

We dedicated an entire post to the amazing diversity of birds that we found in iSimangaliso during our most recent trip.

Purple Heron
Yellow-throated Longclaw
African Swamphen
Little Bee-eaters
Swift Tern
Secretary Bird
Squacco Heron
Narina Trogon
Collared Pratincole
Immature Kelp Gull
African Pygmy Geese among Blue Water Lilies
Crested Guineafowl
Yellow Weaver

Mammals are well represented at iSimangaliso, and zebras, giraffes, warthogs, various kinds of antelope and primates are regularly encountered along the routes traversing the Park.

Bushbuck ram
Chacma Baboon
Natal Red Duiker
Common Duiker
Large-spotted Genet
Impala
Kudus
Kudu bull
Fighting Kudu bulls
Giraffe cow and calf
Nyala bull
Nyala ewe
This leucistic Samango Monkey is a familiar inhabitant of Cape Vidal
Samango Monkey
Vervet Monkey
Red Bush Squirrel
Common Reedbuck
Common Reedbuck
Common Reedbuck
Suni
Warthog
Waterbuck
Waterbuck
Waterbuck
Waterbuck
Blue Wildebeest
Blue Wildebeest
Blue Wildebeest
Plains Zebra

Sitting outside watching our fire one evening at Mantuma Camp in the uMkhuze Game Reserve we were joined by a large herd of impalas and nyalas.

These Kudu bulls decided to have it out right in the middle of the road between St. Lucia and Cape Vidal.

While traveling along the grassland loop through the Eastern Shores section of the Park we came across a group of hyenas finishing off the remains of a buffalo.

Spotted Hyena
Spotted Hyena
Spotted Hyena
Spotted Hyena
Spotted Hyena

At the other end of the scale are Africa’s grey behemoths, all of which are found at iSimangaliso. Without forgetting to mention the Humpback Whales and dolphins so often seen just offshore, I’ve also already given closer attention to elephants and buffaloes. Hippos were one of the main reasons for the establishment of the St. Lucia Game Reserve 128 years ago, and they are still very much in evidence. We also encountered White and Black Rhinos, but I won’t be sharing photo’s of them as they were in some easily recognisable spots.

Humpbacked Whale tail-slamming off St. Lucia
African Buffalo
African Buffalo
Elephant bull on a walk about
Elephant bull at uMkhuze
Hippopotamus
A pod of Hippos on the shores of Lake St. Lucia at Catalina Bay
Hippopotamus
Pair of Hippopotamus
Pod of Hippopotamus in Nsumo Pan

Remember that DeWetsWild will gladly assist you with reservations and guided tours of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park if you’d like to visit this wonderful place as well.

15 thoughts on “iSimangaliso’s animals – great and small”

  3. wetanddustyroads

    Sjoe, hoe mooi is daardie heldergeel skoenlapper. Ek het snaaks gekry vir die skilpad wat so met sy kop in sy dop stap (dit het my laat dink aan die tieners wat deesdae met die kappies so laag oor hulle oë rond stap 😉). En die kudoes het omtrent ‘n magsvertoning gelewer, ne? Jy het die mooiste foto’s en video’s van diere groot en klein – wat ‘n voorreg!

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    1. DeWetsWild Post author

      Thanks for visiting, Lakshmi.
      Unfortunately the jellyfishes washed up dead on the beach, having been battered by a stormy sea. Of course this is just part of the ecosystem’s functioning, as the jellyfish in turn became welcome food for seabirds and crabs.

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  5. Anne

    Among all these wonderful photographs my favourite are the close-up of the slug (I have not seen its eye before!) and the warthog – a lovely view of one. This post – as if the others weren’t (!) is a fantastic advertisement for that part of our country. I hope you get a lot of visitors clamouring for your assistance to get there!

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  7. neihtn2012

    iSimangaliso is indeed a place rich with fauna of all kinds, as seen from your amazing photos. Sounds like you had a good and lengthy experience with all the creatures you captured with your camera. I am … envious!

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