Author Archives: DeWetsWild

About DeWetsWild

Nature and wildlife enthusiast and tour guide, based in Pretoria, South Africa.

Sharpe’s Grysbok

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Raphicerus sharpei

Sharpe’s Grysbok Ram

Sharpe’s Grysbok ewe

Sharpe’s Grysbok

The little known Sharpe’s Grysbok is another of South Africa’s smaller antelope, at an average weight of 8kg and about 50cm high at the shoulder.

These grizzled antelope occur in riverine thickets and dense bushveld, often in association with rocky outcrops, and always near water. They require daily access to drinking water and are mixed feeders, browsing and grazing on leaves, young grass, shoots, roots, fruits, berries and seedpods.

Sharpe’s Grysbok

Sharpe Grysbok near Mopani

Sharpe’s Grysbok are normally seen alone, occurring in pairs only when mating or when a ewe is accompanied by her latest lamb.They’re mostly nocturnal in their habits, hiding during the day in long grass, under shrubs, between rocks and even in holes dug by other animals, especially aardvarks. They have very small home ranges, and seldom flees far before hiding in a thicket. Rams mark their areas, which overlap with the ranges of up to 4 ewes, with glandular secretions and dungpiles. Lambs are born at any time of the year, and are hidden by the ewe for up to 3 months. Sharpe’s Grysbok are preyed upon by all Africa’s large predators, from jackals, pythons and eagles to lions, and have a short life expectancy of only 6 to 10 years in the wild.

Sharpe’s Grysbok

The conservation status of Sharpe’s Grysbok is considered “least concern” by the IUCN, who describes it as being widespread and common with a generally stable population estimated at about 95,000, of which roughly a third occurs in formally protected areas. In South Africa, where they occur in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces, your best bet to find them are in the northern Kruger National Park, especially around Shingwedzi and Punda Maria camps.

South African Hornbills

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Last week’s photo post “Treat“, featuring a family of hornbills raiding a picnic table, raised so much interest in the species that we decided to dedicate another special post to our country’s hornbills.

We’ve already introduced you to the biggest and most conspicuous of the family, the Southern Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri). These fascinating birds are an endangered species. Have a look at our special post about the Southern Ground Hornbill to learn more.

Southern Ground Hornbill

South Africa is also home to five other species of hornbills, all much smaller than the ground hornbill and all diurnal in their habits. They share a most intriguing method of nesting and raising their chicks. Just before laying, normally in the summer rainy season, the mostly monogamous pair selects a hole in a tree (rarely in cliffs) to serve as a nest, often using the same hole for this purpose year after year. Both sexes then proceed to seal the female inside the hole, plastering up the entrance with mud, food remains and droppings, leaving only a small slit through which the male can pass food to the female and chicks. While inside the hole, the female moults and regrows her tail and flight feathers. She lies a clutch of two to seven eggs and incubates them for between 24 and 30 days (varies between the species). When the chicks are around 40 to 50 days old, the female breaks out and then helps to reseal the hole. The chicks then stay inside and are fed by both parents for another two weeks or so before breaking out and taking their first flight. The chicks stay with their parents for around eight weeks after leaving the nest and are fully grown by one year of age.

African Grey Hornbill

Lophoceros nasutus

Length: 45 – 51cm

These hornbills can be found in acacia savannas (thornveld), mopaneveld, dry broadleaved woodlands and riverine woodlands, ranging from extreme northern Kwazulu-Natal through Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and North West Province to the Northern Cape. They include a wide variety of food in their diet, taking insects, beetles, spiders, frogs, chameleons, small rodents, chicks and eggs and some fruits, searching for food mainly in the branches of trees.

Grey Hornbills normally move around in pairs or small flocks, but may gather in larger flocks of over 100 birds in the dry winter, when they become more nomadic.

The African Grey Hornbill has a wide distribution across Africa and its population appears to be stable, with the IUCN classifying their conservation status as “Least Concern”.

African Grey Hornbill

African Grey Hornbills

African Grey Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill in flight (photo by Joubert)

Crowned Hornbill

Lophoceros alboterminatus

Length: 50 – 54cm

The Crowned Hornbill is widespread in the Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal and the lowveld of Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces, where it inhabits inland, coastal, mountain and riverine forests. They feed on insects, small rodents and reptiles, seeds and fruit and are mainly arboreal.

They can usually be found in pairs or in small flocks of up to seven birds.

Though the IUCN considers the Crowned Hornbill’s conservation status as “Least Concern”, it is thought that their numbers are dwindling due to loss of habitat.

Crowned Hornbill

Crowned Hornbill (photo by Joubert)

Crowned Hornbill

Southern Red-Billed Hornbill

Tockus erythrorhynchus rufirostris

Length: 40 – 47cm

Red-billed Hornbills occupy open bushveld, thornveld, mopaneveld, thickets along streambeds and semi-arid woodland, where they prefer to search for food on the ground in open, heavily grazed areas. They have a varied diet that includes dung beetle larvae which they find in the dung of elephants and other large mammals, other insects, scorpions, the eggs and chicks of small birds, small reptiles and seeds and berries.

They move around in groups of up to twelve birds and love taking dustbaths.

The Red-billed Hornbill’s population appears to be stable, and the IUCN considers their conservation status “Least Concern”.

Southern Red-billed Hornbill

Red-billed Hornbill

Satara’s birds were invited to the birthday party. This is a Red-billed Hornbill (photo by Joubert)

Red-billed Hornbill (photo by Joubert)

Red-billed Hornbill

Red-billed Hornbills

Red-billed Hornbill

Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill

Tockus leucomelas

Males are generally larger than females, with a bigger beak. Length: 48 – 60cm, weight: 132 – 242g.

The Yellow-billed Hornbill is found in a wide range of habitats, from semi-arid savannas, dry broadleaved woodland and thornveld to riverine woodland, ranging from Kwazulu-Natal through Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and North West Province to the arid Northern Cape. They have an omnivorous diet that includes insects, scorpions, snakes, rodents, eggs and chicks of small birds, berries, fruits, nuts and seeds. They feed mainly on the ground and will use its bill to turn over debris like small rocks and logs and dig in elephant dung in search of food.

Despite being widespread and common, the loss of suitable large nesting trees is causing their numbers to decline outside conservation areas. The IUCN considers the conservation status of the Yellow-billed Hornbill as “Least Concern”.

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

Yellow-billed Hornbill

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

Yellow-billed Hornbill

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

Yellow-billed Hornbill

Yellowbilled Hornbill

Yellow-billed Hornbill with a stinkbug

Close-up Yellow-billed Hornbill (Photo by Joubert)

Yellow-billed Hornbill

Yellow-billed Hornbill (photo by Joubert)

Yellow-billed Hornbill

Trumpeter Hornbill

Bycanistes bucinator

Length: 58 – 65cm, Weight: 450g – 1kg

Trumpeter Hornbills inhabit evergreen lowland, coastal and riverine forests in the Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal and the lowveld of Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces, and subsists on a diet of fruit, particularly from the sycomore fig (Ficus sycomorus) and bushwillows, and large insects.

These birds are normally seen in small groups of about five, sometimes aggregating in flocks of up to 50, some records even mentioning 200! Their call sounds very much like a baby’s crying.

Due to an apparently stable population, wide distribution and no substantial threats to their numbers, the IUCN classifies the Trumpeter Hornbill as “Least Concern”.

Trumpeter Hornbill

Trumpeter Hornbills

Trumpeter Hornbill

Trumpeter Hornbill (photo by Joubert)

Getting to Pafuri

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Last week, we were so excited to tell you about our time at Kruger National Park’s newest accommodation offering, the Pafuri Border Camp, that we skipped over the part of our visit leading up to our time in the extreme Far North of the Park.

We’ll take this opportunity to rectify that now.

We arrived at Phalaborwa Gate on the Friday, early enough to allow a slow drive along the H14-road up to Mopani Rest Camp, where we were booked for a one-night stopover on the way to Pafuri Border Camp.

Tired old elephant bull crossing the road

Zebra at Ngwenyeni

Crocodile along the Ngwenyeni stream

Big herd of elephant crossing the Letaba

Black crake at Shipandani Hide

A quick afternoon sojourn past Mooiplaas, the Nshawu Vlei and Tinhongonyeni delivered no less than 6 tsessebe sightings, lots of energetic zebras, good numbers of other animals and birds, and a very dramatic storm brewing over the plains…

Tsessebe just near Mopani

Zebra cantering at Mooiplaas

At full stretch

Getting started

Again with the running!

Secretary bird

Reedbuck female

Tsessebe at Nshawu Marsh in Kruger National Park

Another energetic zebra

Blue wildebeest marching away from Tinhongonyeni

Storm brewing over Tinhongonyeni

Wind-blown jackal

That evening we enjoyed a lovely meal at Mopani’s restaurant, the howling wind putting an end to any ideas we might have had of braaiing (the traditional South African barbeque) at our bungalow. Afterwards we searched for nocturnal animals among Mopani’s natural vegetation, and were not disappointed.

Mopani bungalow no3

Scrub hare in Mopani

Free-tailed Bat leaving the roost

Leaving Mopani as soon as the gate opened Saturday morning, under heavy skies accompanied by a constant soft drizzle, we anticipated at least one good predator sighting. Sure enough, near Olifantsbadpan, we had a terrific encounter with two big female spotted hyenas and three of the cutest, most playful cubs you could imagine. Only afterwards did I realise that they were so close to our vehicle that I didn’t manage even one full body photo of them!

Spotted hyena

Spotted hyena cub

Spotted hyena

We expected to have good sightings of elephants around Shingwedzi, and our favourite rest camp delivered the goods just as we had hoped. It was still raining softly as we set of from Shingwedzi after breakfast, heading northward past Babalala Picnic Spot. The north of the Kruger Park is also well known for its exceptional birdlife and all these special sightings made the long road seem much shorter.

Waterbuck

Tree squirrel

Greater Blue-eared Starling

Great white egret

Saddle-billed stork

Elephant bull

Elephant crossing

Woolly-necked Stork

Kudu female

After a quick turn in Punda Maria for lunch, fuel and to stock up on some last minute goodies, we could tackle the last stretch of road to the magical paradise that is Pafuri.

Treat

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It doesn’t matter whether you wear clothes or feathers, no one can resist a picnic!

Treat2

Marilize and Joubert had a family of yellow-billed hornbills join them for a picnic at Afsaal, in the Kruger National Park.

Treat3 Treat1

“Treat” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge.

Careful

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Careful now, that’s quite close enough!

Buffalo

This buffalo, seen at Pafuri in Kruger National Park, made it abundantly clear that we shouldn’t venture any closer…

“Careful” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge

A new treasure unveiled in Kruger; the Pafuri Border Camp

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An omnipresent sense of history permeates the grounds and buildings of Pafuri Border Camp, with the call of a wild frontier on your doorstep clarion clear and impossible to refuse.

Here at Pafuri in the Far North of the Kruger National Park, Harold and Tiny Mockford built their lives, raised a family, grew old. From 1938 to 1985, Mockford was the recruiting agent and administrative officer at the labour recruitment station established at Pafuri by the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WNLA, colloquially simply “Wenela”, later TEBA – The Employment Bureau of Africa) to provide migrant workers for the mushrooming gold mines at Johannesburg.

Comprising the beautifully restored and period-furnished residences inhabited by the Mockfords and other WNLA / TEBA staff, the Pafuri Border Camp will offer overnight accommodation in three very spacious self-catering units: the one-bedroom (4-sleeper) Mockford Cottage, the three-bedroom (6-sleeper) Doctor’s House, and the four-bedroom (8-sleeper) Mockford House. Relaxing on the wide verandas that wrap around the houses, enclosed by mosquito gauze just as they were when their original inhabitants lived there, it is hard not to imagine what daily life entailed for those who lived and worked here all those years ago. The camp’s deep swimming pool will be a delight on hot summer days, as it was no doubt for the family Mockford. A small room next to the tiny reception office will be dedicated as a museum in which Pafuri’s fascinating history can be regaled. More “modern” amenities, such as a fuel station, shop and restaurant, is available at Punda Maria Rest Camp, approximately 65km to the South-West.

Arriving at Pafuri Border Camp

The reception building

Mockford Cottage, Pafuri Border Camp

Doctor’s House

Mockford House

Southern Foam Nest Frog in Pafuri Border Camp

Pafuri Border Camp nightlife

One of the biggest highlights of the new Pafuri Border Camp is its proximity to Crooks Corner, the Luvuvhu River and Pafuri Picnic Site. Being first to arrive at the river viewpoints in the morning and the last to have to leave those serenely beautiful scenes in the evening is a privilege not to be underestimated. Crooks Corner, so named because the borders of South Africa, Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia) and Mozambique (then Portuguese East Africa) meet here and allowed scoundrels of all description to escape the long arm of the law, has a very special allure in the golden light of sunrise and dusk. Spending time along the Luvuvhu as the riverine forest slowly awakes in the morning delivers a serenity to the human spirit that must be experienced to be truly appreciated.

Buffalo river crossing at sunset

Pafuri’s fever tree forest

Pafuri serenity

Pafuri Picnic Site

Baobab flower

Baobabs in spring

Pafuri’s fever tree forest

Pafuri sunset

Sunrise over Crooks Corner

You can bet that the birdwatching fraternity will be ecstatic at the news of Pafuri Border Camp’s opening. Pafuri is South Africa’s bird-watching mecca; the diversity of its feathered inhabitants simply astounding.

African Hawk-Eagle

White-backed Vulture

Southern Ground hornbill

Common Ostrich in northern Kruger

Lilac-breasted Roller

White-fronted Bee-eater

Meves’s Starling

African Jacana

Martial Eagle

Immature Crowned Eagle

White-crowned Lapwing

White-fronted Bee-eater

Black-chested Snake-Eagle

Broad-billed Roller

White-crested Helmet-Shrike

Kurrichane Thrush

African Fish Eagle

Wire-tailed Swallow

Red-crested Korhaan

Mammalian wildlife abounds in the Luvuvhu’s riverine bush, with nyala, impala, warthog, baboon and vervet monkey occurring in exceptional numbers. Several other species, including elephant, buffalo, hippo, waterbuck, kudu, blue wildebeest, zebra, and seldomly-seen predators, add to the show. An astonishing number of Nile crocodiles, some in excess of 5 meters in length and probably weighing more than a ton, rule the murky waters of the Luvuvhu.

Vervet monkey

Nile crocodile

Plains zebra

Blue wildebeest

Baboons

Buffalo

Young nyala ram

Nyala female

Buffalo

Nile crocodile

Warthog

Buffalo bull

Nyala bull

Water monitor

Hippos

Plains zebra

Where there’s this much life, death is never far away

Come 1 November 2015, this new destination, hard not to describe in superlatives and quite literally a stone’s throw away from the border post into Mozambique, will open to its first official guests. We recently had the immense pleasure and privilege to spend two nights at Pafuri Border Camp while the finishing touches were being made to the accommodation. It is sure to prove very popular with nature lovers and history buffs from all over the world. Bookings for Pafuri Border Camp is through South African National Parks. Via the N1 highway and Kruger’s most northern entrance, Pafuri Gate, the camp is located approximately 620km from Pretoria.

(Google maps)

Marievale’s for the birds (and birdwatchers)!

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This past Sunday, my brother introduced Joubert and me to the Marievale Bird Sanctuary, a popular destination for birdwatchers and photographers in Gauteng’s Far East Rand.

Marievale protects 1012 hectares of the much larger Blesbokspruit RAMSAR wetland, surrounded by mine dumps and other development. Facilities include two 4-bed chalets overlooking the wetland for overnight visitors, a conference centre, picnic sites, walking trails and several photographic hides. The roads in the reserve are rough gravel, for the most part easily traversed in a normal sedan.

The reserve’s vegetation comprises extensive stands of reedbeds (about 70% of its surface area) and flooded grasslands, interspersed with areas of open water and, during drier periods, mud flats frequented by impressive concentrations of wading birds. The area can hardly be described as pristine however, as the wetland itself owes its existence to the altered flow of the river caused by mining, railways and roadworks, inundating what would otherwise have been grasslands. Pollution from the mines and industries surrounding it, and upstream, is now threatening Marievale’s man-made wetlands.

Nevertheless, the list of bird species recorded at Marievale has around 280 entries; during the extremely enjoyable six hours we spent in the reserve on Sunday we managed to tick 70 of those. Many of the birds are quite accustomed to the steady flow of human visitors and offer excellent photographic opportunities from the hides or while walking and driving around.

Yellow mongoose on burnt veld

Whiskered Tern

Ruff

African Sacred Ibis

Blue-billed Teals

Red-knobbed Coot

Grey Heron

Crab crossing a road

Little Egret

Glossy Ibis

Pied Avocet

African Spoonbill

Great Crested Grebe

Little Grebe / Dabchick

White-throated Swallow

Goliath Heron

Reed Cormorant

Swainson’s Spurfowl

African Snipe

Long-tailed Widowbird

African Stonechat (Female)

African Stonechat (Male)

Egyptian Geese

Cape Shovelers

Cape Grassbird

Squacco Heron

African Purple Swamphen

Southern Masked Weaver

Cape wagtail

Marievale Bird Sanctuary is controlled by the Gauteng Province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and is easily accessed from the R42 to Delmas, just 4km outside the town of Nigel (map drawn with Google Maps).

Klipspringer

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Oreotragus oreotragus

The Klipspringer is another of South Africa’s smaller, and cuter, antelope, between 49 and 65cm high at the shoulder and weighing between 9 and 19kg. Adult ewes are slightly heavier than the horn-carrying rams.

Klipspringer ram

Klipspringer ewe

Klipspringer

Klipspringer pair

Klipspringer ewe

Klipspringer

Uniquely among antelope, the Klipspringer walks on the tips of its hooves, allowing it to balance like a ballerina on exceptionally small areas. This is a handy adaptation to the rugged and rocky mountains, hills and outcrops they inhabit. Their very apt Afrikaans name literally means “Rockjumper”. More than 90% of their diet consists of browse; leaves, twigs, flowers, fruit and seeds, preferring young growth. They are independent of drinking water.

Klipspringer in typical habitat

Standing seninel on a rocky outcrop

Klipspringer in typical habitat

Klipspringer ewe enjoying the drizzle

Klipspringer ram on Nkumbe

Klipspringer peeking

Klipspringers are plentiful up at Lenong

Klipspringer ewe on Nkumbe Mountain

Klipspringer pair

Klipspringers

Klipspringer pair on Klipspringer Pass

Klipspringer

Klipspringer on the ledge! (photo by Joubert)

Klipspringer (photo by Joubert)

Klipspringer

Klipspringer pairs mark and defend small territories, in which they stay together for long periods, often for life. Small groups normally comprise the territorial pair accompanied by one or more of their lambs. Klipspringers are well camouflaged, and usually only observed when they stand sentinel on a conspicuous vantage point. They move around their rocky abodes with amazing agility, and are most active in the early mornings and late afternoons. Single lambs are born at any time of the year and have a life expectancy of between 7 and 15 years.

Klipspringer ram

Klipspringer unusually caught moving between more rocky areas

Klipspringer ewe

Klipspringer pair

Curious Klipspringer ewe

Klipspringer ewe

Klipspringer

The IUCN considers the Klipspringer’s conservation status as “least concern”, with a stable population of at least 42,000 on the African continent. Good places to search for Klipspringer in South Africa is the Karoo, Kruger, Mapungubwe, Marakele and Pilanesberg National Parks. Some authorities believe that three different species of Klipspringer occur in South Africa; the Angolan or Tyler’s Klipspringer (O. tyleri) in the extreme north-west corner of the Northern Cape Province, the Cape Klipspringer (O. oreotragus) in the south-west of the country and the Transvaal Klipspringer (O. transvaalensis) in the north-east, though these may well only be different subspecies based on slight variances in colouration, horn length and body size.