Author Archives: DeWetsWild

About DeWetsWild

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

Surrounded by splendour at Golden Gate

Few places can compete with the Golden Gate Highlands National Park when it comes to sheer scenic splendour. Visiting the Park is always a pleasure, and our November 2014 visit was no exception. The Park is looking beautiful following the first good spring rains, and walking or driving around, there’s just so much to take in!

This way for great scenery!

Peace and tranquility at Golden Gate

Crystal clear mountain streams

Mushroom Rocks

The view from Glen Reenen

Double rainbow over Golden Gate

Rainbow over Glen Reenen

Misty sunrise

Valleys cloaked in mist

Glen Reenen

The road to Clarens

Fresh water in abundance

Thunder and lightning over Glen Reenen

Lighting up the skies over Glen Reenen

Craggy heights silhouetted at sunrise

Summer is the best time for bird-watching, when the migrants from cooler climes arrive and many male birds are adorned in their breeding plumage. In addition, Golden Gate is home to several rare and endangered species, and we were lucky to encounter some of them.

We had daily sightings of the rare bald ibis on the Oribi Loop at Golden Gate

Endangered bearded vulture in flight

Bearded vulture at the feeding station

Red-winged starling looking after our car

Cape Longclaw

Of course, a National Park wouldn’t be complete without large mammals, and Golden Gate has its fair share of animals adapted to the climatic extremes of a mountain environment.

Black wildebeest seem to like running around…

Black wildebeest, at rest for a change, on a plateau

Black-backed jackal setting out to forage at dusk

Grey rhebuck

Baboons

Baboon jockey

Zebra in the mist

At speed

Dwarfed by the spectacular scenery

It is always rewarding to bend the knees and appreciate the smaller, less obvious, of Golden Gate’s inhabitants.

Natural beauty

Seems not only human females require flowers for the romance to blossom – these beetles are mating on a Hypoxis stem

Stink bugs

As disgusting as they may be, flies are an important component of the ecosystem

Industrious ant

Fungus cropping up all over after the rains

Aardvark hole

Termite mound damaged by an aardvark

After seeing Golden Gate looking so lovely, we can hardly wait for our next visit at the end of December!

The stork is making deliveries in Kruger!

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I’ve just arrived back from a quick two-day working visit to a very overcast Skukuza in the Kruger National Park. It’s amazing to see how quickly the Park is turning green after the first sprinkling of summer rains, and now some brand-new additions to Kruger’s animal population are making their debut. The stork will be kept very busy in the next couple of weeks!

Vervet sisters with their babies

Baby bushbuck

Impala bundle of joy

Piglets will be pigs, after all

More photos to follow in an upcoming edition of de Wets Wild!

Spring in Kruger: September 2014

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Well, according to the calendar it should have been spring. But judging by the temperatures we experienced, it seemed the Lowveld had skipped that season all together. It was only late September, but daytime temperatures rose to the upper thirties. The land was parched and animals were congregating in numbers at the last remaining water sources. It made for thrilling game viewing and just reminded us again that every season holds its own special appeal in the Kruger National Park.

Over the last couple of weeks, we already shared with you some of our most memorable sightings of the trip. Finding five cheetahs moving along the Shingwedzi River was exciting in the extreme, we were enthralled watching the interactions of different species of game at marvelous Mooiplaas waterhole, we laughed for joy at the playful antics of baby baboons, our encounters with the elephants of northern Kruger kept us on our toes and we empathised with thirsty, tired buffaloes along the Mphongolo. Time to wrap up now, and what better way than with a gallery of images taken during our four night stay – one night in the Shipandani Hide (near Mopani), and three nights at special Shingwedzi Rest Camp.

Ready to get underway; sunrise at Phalaborwa Gate

No visit to Northern Kruger would be complete without visiting the Elephant Hall at Letaba

Impala lily and aloe thorns

Lifeblood

Tsessebe

Ostrich near Tinhongonyeni, Kruger Park

Shipandani Hide

The neighbours at Shipandani

Just before sunrise, from Shipandani Hide

The cleaners can be a nuisance

Kori bustard close-up

Playful at Bowkerskop

A pool in the Shingwedzi

Verreaux’s eagle-owl near Shingwedzi

Taking it slow at Shingwedzi

Sharpe’s Grysbok

Baby baboon missing out on attention

Sunrise along the Shingwedzi

Egyptian goose

Alert impala

Grey duiker

Vervet monkeys

Oh, you are so beautiful…

… I could kiss you!

Waterbuck

Epauletted Fruit Bats roosting in a palm near our accommodation at Shingwedzi

Feathered friends visiting our cottage at Shingwedzi: blue waxbills and a green-winged Pytilia

Feathered friends visiting our cottage at Shingwedzi: Blue waxbills

Feathered friends visiting our cottage at Shingwedzi: Mourning Dove

Feathered friends visiting our cottage at Shingwedzi: Crested Francolin

Feathered friends visiting our cottage at Shingwedzi: Arrow-marked babbler

The dry Shingwedzi

Striped Skink hiding in a hollow tree trunk

Nyala and buddies

One of several large buffalo herds we encountered

Giraffe

Hi!

Tiny sandgrouse chick trying to hide on a gravel road

Steenbok

Peaceful scene next to the Shingwedzi

Heading for camp in the late afternoon

Achievement

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Few achievements in South Africa’s conservation history can rival that of Colonel James Stevenson-Hamilton, whose career of 45 years at the helm cemented the Kruger National Park as one of the world’s premier conservation areas. If you’d like to learn more about Stevenson-Hamilton and the Kruger’s formative years, have a look at our special post on Skukuza.

Achievement (2)

Achievement (1)

“Achievement” is this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge theme.

Lightning over Glen Reenen

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Time to pack up and head back to Pretoria this morning, but not before sharing one last photograph from the Golden Gate Highlands National Park; last night we were treated to a display of thunder and lighting over the mountains around Glen Reenen as a storm cell passed quickly through the area.

Golden Gate 8 Nov 2014(b)

Minimalist

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Baboon in deep thought…

Minimalist

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

Golden sunrise at Golden Gate

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We woke up this morning to find the valleys of the Golden Gate Highlands National Park cloaked in a thick fog, drove to one of the mountain tops, found a spot above the low lying clouds, and were rewarded with the most beautiful sunrise.

Golden Gate 8 Nov 2014

Some de Wets have all the luck…

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While I was working today, Marilize and Joubert spent some time at the Golden Gate Highlands National Park’s Vulture Hide. And they were rewarded with a fantastic sighting of another rare South African bird, the Bearded Vulture! Am I jealous? Yes. Yes I am.

Golden Gate 7 Nov 2014

A birding highlight at Golden Gate

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This afternoon we were very fortunate to enjoy a quality sighting of one of South Africa’s rarest bird species here at the Golden Gate Highlands National Park: the Southern Bald Ibis.

Golden Gate 6 Nov 2014

All work and no play…

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Not for us, thank you very much!

We’re visiting Golden Gate Highlands National Park again, for business and, come the weekend, pleasure. And of course we’ve already enjoyed an afternoon drive through the Park, taking in the magnificent scenery and plentiful wildlife.

Golden Gate 5 Nov 2014

I was inspired to try some “slow shutter panning shots” of these galloping black wildebeest by Susan Portnoy, The Insatiable Traveler. I’ll have to keep trying to get anywhere close to the awesome results she gets with the technique though. Thanks for the tips Susan!