Author Archives: DeWetsWild

About DeWetsWild

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

Gaudy Commodore

Precis octavia

The strikingly beautiful Gaudy Commodore inhabits rocky grasslands, savannas and gardens and in South Africa can be found from the Eastern Cape northwards to the Lowveld and Limpopo Valley. North of our borders they occur in similar habitats throughout sub-Saharan Africa. They are restless and fast fliers, often hiding in the shade along stream banks and earthen walls in winter though commonly encountered in the open on hilltops during warmer weather. Eggs are laid singly and the larvae is sustained by a wide range of food plants. Adult Gaudy Commodores have a wingspan of 5 – 6.5cm and can be seen throughout the year.

Gaudy Commodore (dry season form)

Gaudy Commodore butterfly (dry season form)

Gaudy Commodore (dry season form)

Mountain folk

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There’s so much more animal life occurring in the mountainous habitats of the Royal Natal National Park than the butterflies we’ve already shown you, many of them wonderfully adapted to the harsh environmental extremes at these altitudes.

African Firefinch

African Hoopoe

Female Baboon in oestrus

Marbled Fruit Chafer

Bushbuck lamb

Bushbuck ewe

Cape Robin Chat

Cape Wagtail

Common River Frog

Familiar Chat

Fiscal Flycatcher

Freshwater Crab

Golden Orb-web Spider female with prey

Golden Orb-web Spider – male top left, female bottom right

Groundscraper Thrush

Guttural Toad

Bushbuck ewe

Guineafowl chick (photo by Joubert)

Helmeted Guineafowl (photo by Joubert)

Guineafowl chick (photo by Joubert)

Lazy Cisticola

Mountain Malachite Damselfly

Olive Pigeon

Olive Thrush

Olive Woodpecker

Red-winged Starlings

Swamp Bluet

Mating Swamp Bluets

Variable Skink

This African Wood Owl woke Marilize and me up for some bird-watching at 3am!

Feeling small in the Drakensberg

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“This mountain, the arched back of the earth risen before us, it made me feel humble, like a beggar, just lucky to be here at all, even briefly.” (Bridget Asher)

Do the mountains have the same profound impact on you as it does for us?

“These mountains, which have seen untold sunrises, long to thunder praise but stand reverent, silent so that man’s weak praise should be given God’s attention.” (Donald Miller)

The trout dam at Mahai, with Dooley Mountain and the Drakensberg’s Amphitheatre forming the backdrop

At the Queen’s Causeway on the trail to the Cascades

At sunrise, looking back from the Cascades on the Mahai River

The Cascades on the Mahai River

The Mahai Stream from the Visitor Centre, with Dooley Mountain and Tiger Falls in the background

A tranquil stretch on the Mahai stream

The view from Thendele towards the Amphitheatre and Tugela River on an overcast morning

Dooley Mountain, with Tiger Falls barely visible in the kloof

Looking up at Dooley Mountain rising above Mahai

Above the Mahai Valley, looking past Dooley Mountain towards the Amphitheatre

A bouquet from the ‘Berg

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The mountainous grasslands and forested riverbanks around Mahai in the Royal Natal National Park are adorned by the most beautiful, though hardy, plants – a treat to even the most amateurish of botanists like me; so if you can help with identifying most of these beauties I’d be forever in your debt (I know at least that mushrooms aren’t plants, strictly speaking…)

Everlasting (Helichrysum-species)

Helichrysum-species

Everlasting (Helichrysum-species)

Highveld Cabbage Tree in flower

Mushroom at the Cascades

River Lily

Wild Flowers of Royal Natal

Female cones of the Real Yellowwood (Podocarpus latifolius)

Real Yellowwood (Podocarpus latifolius)

The hills are alive… with butterflies!

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I know this is a post that will be very pleasing to several of our regular followers!

With bright sunshine and warm autumn weather in the Drakensberg the butterflies come out to play in their numbers, and we go chasing them with camera in hand. These little beauties were all fluttering around Mahai in the Royal Natal National Park on Monday.

African Monarch

Common Blue (Leptotes sp)

Forest Beauty

Gaudy Commodore (dry season form)

Green-banded Swallowtail

Marsh Commodore

Rainforest Brown

Yellow Pansy

Picturesque Camping at Mahai

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Mahai is the larger of the two camping areas at Royal Natal National Park, and there aren’t very many camping sites that can compete with it for scenic beauty!

Camping at Mahai in the Royal Natal National Park

Camping at Mahai in the Royal Natal National Park, March 2020

Isolation, the way we like it…

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With South Africa preparing for a nationwide “lock-down” of a minimum three week duration in the face of the global pandemic, we’ve returned from the Drakensberg grateful for having had a chance to recharge our batteries in beautiful natural surroundings. We’ll be sharing many more photos from our latest trip in days to come and hope that they’ll bring you as much joy as the memories will for us in these trying times.

God bless you and keep you.

Fresh air and fresh water at Royal Natal

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With a massive storm looming over the Drakensberg this evening we can look back on another fun-filled day in the great outdoors at Royal Natal.

Reflections at Mahai

The Cascades in the Mahai stream

We fled to the Mountains

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Well, not really – our bookings were made long before the current health crisis and we opted not to cancel, figuring that it is nice to know that for a while at least we can breathe the fresh mountain air of the Royal Natal National Park again. So here we are.

Rainbow Skink

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Trachylepis margaritifera

The Rainbow Skink, or Five-lined Skink, is an active lizard occurring in rocky terrain in savanna habitats from Kwazulu-Natal, through the Lowveld and Limpopo Valley to as far north as Kenya. They feed primarily on insects and other invertebrates. Males are territorial. Females lay one, perhaps two, clutches of 6-10 eggs in summer, with the baby skinks emerging around two months later. Females, adolescents and immature males exhibit the distinct lines and brilliant blue tails associated with this species, while the adult males have an olive base-colouration speckled with tiny white spots. Adults may grow to 20cm in length, including the tail. The IUCN lists the Rainbow Skink as being of least concern.