Summer Snapshots from Kruger: Family Life in a Baboon Troop

DeWetsWild conducted a two-week tour of the Kruger National Park with altogether nine people to see out 2025 and ring in 2026 and every day for the month of February I’ll be sharing just a few of the many memories our group collected.

Baboons are always a treat to watch, and thankfully they’re quite commonly encountered in the Kruger National Park. From the playful antics of the youngsters to the long-suffering expressions on the faces of the adults it is impossible to watch them without a smile (or recognizing at least one of your own family members!). This troop entertained us royally one morning on the main road between Satara and Tshokwane.

Baby Baboon

Mom catches a baby just in time before he jumps on his meditating sibling…

“Does your nappy need changing?”

Wrestling match interrupted

Little one being a bully

Dad just doesn’t have the nerve to watch…

Playful baboon youngsters

Wondering when mom’s lecture will end…

Family bonds

If you’d like to join me on a guided tour of South Africa’s wild places, of even if you’d just like a bit of help putting your reservations together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Summer Snapshots from Kruger: Buffalo on the alert

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We didn’t get to see many buffalo during the trip, despite them being among the mammals with the highest population in the Park. This was probably as a result of the good rainfall the Park was receiving, leading to a flush of green grass and easily accessible water in areas well away from the tourist roads. It was actually during a downpour that we found a small herd just south of Satara. One of the cows in the group was noticeably nervous and on high alert, and while we never could figure out why she was so highly strung it was clear she wasn’t to be messed with!

Very alert buffalo cow near Satara

If you’d like to join me on a guided tour of South Africa’s wild places, of even if you’d just like a bit of help putting your reservations together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Summer Snapshots from Kruger: Thunderstorm Loading

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December heralded one of the wettest summer seasons on record in the Kruger National Park and surrounding Lowveld (and it isn’t over yet!), which culminated in extensive flooding and severe damage to infrastructure and even loss of human life in the towns around the Park by the middle of January. This image is of a particularly terrifying thunderstorm we witnessed developing and then unleashing its fury on the plains east of Satara.

Thunderstorm heading for Satara

If you’d like to join me on a guided tour of South Africa’s wild places, of even if you’d just like a bit of help putting your reservations together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Summer Snapshots from Kruger: The thrill of finding lions on the road!

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The central reaches of the Kruger National Park is lion country. On our first morning of the trip, taking an easy drive from Tamboti to Satara, we had no less than 4 lion sightings – two of them right on the road. The first of these was of two magnificent males lazily patrolling their territory along the Timbavati River, while the second was of a mating threesome – two males and a female – at the Nsemani Dam.

Lions on the road between Tamboti and Satara

If you’d like to join me on a guided tour of South Africa’s wild places, of even if you’d just like a bit of help putting your reservations together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Summer Snapshots from Kruger: An assassin caught in the act

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One of the things I love to do with my guests in the evenings is to take a walk through our camp looking for nocturnal wildlife. On one occasion we were strolling through Tamboti Tented Camp when we came across an Assassin Bug attacking a rather large Millipede. Now matter how much the millipede squirmed, trying to wriggle and writhe the assassin bug off its body, this was a fight it was not going to win… We watched as the assassin stabbed its prey with its proboscis (modified mouth parts), injecting its victim with saliva that is a concoction of toxins and digestive enzymes which eventually kills the millipede and liquifies its insides, allowing the assassin bug to suck its fill.

Assassin Bug attacking a millipede

If you’d like to join me on a guided tour of South Africa’s wild places, of even if you’d just like a bit of help putting your reservations together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Summer Snapshots from Kruger: The Sound of Summer

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Now, if there’s one bird who’s song can be considered to be the summer anthem of the Lowveld, it has to be the Woodland Kingfisher, loudly and proudly proclaiming its presence from early morning right through to the evening. I love their song so much that it is the ringtone on my phone. No matter where I am when I hear this sound my mind immediately wanders to one of our beautiful wild places and the cares of the world vanish for a while.

Have a listen here.

Woodland Kingfisher

If you’d like to join me on a guided tour of South Africa’s wild places, of even if you’d just like a bit of help putting your reservations together, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Our 2025 in Pictures

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Join us as we reminisce about some of the places DeWetsWild visited while exploring Southern Africa’s wild places in 2025!

May 2026 be a year to remember for all the best reasons. Happy New Year, everyone!

Camping at Addo Elephant National Park, January 2025

Elephant herd in a rush to water

Camping at Mountain Zebra National Park, January 2025

Cape Mountain Zebra

Sunrise at Rietvlei

Marievale’s entrance

Marievale is covered by wetlands

One of Buffelshoek’s five very comfortable furnished safari-style tents in which guests are accommodated

Lion male at Manyeleti

Pilanesberg National Park, July 2025

Skukuza Bungalow 95, Kruger National Park, August 2025

Satara Bungalows 46 & 47, Kruger National Park, August 2025

Leopard stalking a steenbok in the Kruger National Park

Camping at Ngata in Dinokeng Game Reserve, September 2025

Pienaars River in Dinokeng

Island View at Rietvlei in the early morning

Skukuza safari tent 315, November 2025

Transport Dam, Kruger National Park

Tamboti Tented Camp, Kruger National Park, December 2025

Camping in Satara, Kruger National Park, December 2025

Nwanetsi Viewpoint, Kruger National Park, December 2025

I am a fully accredited and legally registered tour guide (with all the necessary insurance, professional drivers license and first aid certification) – don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like me to arrange a guided tour of beautiful South Africa and all her natural wonders for you as well, or even just to assist with your holiday reservations for our national parks and nature reserves throughout the country.

Common Arum Lily

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Zantedeschia aethiopica

The Common Arum Lily, also known as the Calla Lily, is a plant grown for over three centuries in many gardens the world over that originally comes from South Africa, where it is indigenous to moist areas from the Western Cape’s mountains to the montane forests on the escarpment of Mpumalanga and Limpopo. They’re well adapted to growing in constantly wet areas as they are capable of getting rid of excess water through their leaves.

Arum Lily plants grow between 60cm and 1m tall. Insects like bees and beetles are responsible for pollinating the flowers, which are mainly borne in spring and early summer, while birds are the major agents of seed distribution as they’re especially fond of the berries that remain after the flowers have died back. The rootstock is occasionally eaten by wild pigs and porcupines.

Common Arum Lily

Woodville Forest – Common Arum Lily

Common Arum Lily (photo by Joubert)

Grey Climbing Mouse

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Dendromus melanotis

As its name would suggest the Grey Climbing Mouse is wonderfully adept at climbing up grass stalks, being well adapted for the job by having semi-prehensile tails and toes capable of a firm grip. Grass seeds and insects make up most of their diet. They inhabit thickets of bush and grass and are nocturnal. The Grey Climbing Mouse is found over most of sub-Saharan Africa and in South Africa is found in all the provinces, being absent only from the very dry interior and western coastline.

Grey Climbing Mice are small and fully grown adults weighs only about 7g. They may build their own ball-shaped nests using fine grasses or adapt another creature’s burrow for the purpose. Females give birth to about four babies in a litter during the summer months and probably has more than one brood to raise in a season. It is unlikely that they live longer than 18 months in the wild.

Grey Climbing Mouse

Little Stint

Calidris minuta

The Little Stint is a migrating shorebird that visits our country in the summer months, arriving from about August and departing back to their breeding grounds in Scandinavia and Siberia by March. While here they’re found at both inland and coastal wetlands with muddy shorelines all across the country, and are highly nomadic, moving around in response to the explosion of populations of invertebrates that follow localised rainfall filling seasonal water bodies.

The IUCN estimates that there’s at least a million Little Stints in the world today and lists the species as being of least concern.