Summer Trek – De Hoop Nature Reserve, 20 December 2024

We spent today at one of the most beautiful and diverse conservation areas in our country, the wonderful De Hoop Nature Reserve! More about De Hoop here.

Southern Tchagra

Yellow Bishop

Cape Mountain Zebras

Cape Mountain Zebra

Bokmakierie

Bontebok

Three-banded Plover

Cape Spurfowl

Glossy Ibis

Bontebok

Yellow Mongoose

Grey Rhebuck

De Hoop Vlei

Waterbirds pack the De Hoop Vlei

White-breasted Cormorant

Black-necked Grebes

Cattle Egret (photo by Joubert)

Reed Cormorant

Sacred Ibis

Great Crested Grebe

Greater Flamingoes

Cape Wagtail

Eland

Cape Skink

Cape Girdled Lizard

Common Dotted Border butterfly

Black Oystercatchers

Kelp Gull

Red-winged Starling (female)

Caspian Tern

Kelp Gull

Shell at Koppie Alleen beach

Cape Bulbul

Namaqua Dove (photo by Joubert)

Ostrich (photo by Joubert)

Baboons

Rock Agama

Baboon troop

Summer Trek – Bontebok National Park, 19 December 2024

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We spent most of the morning exploring the Bontebok National Park, which is located just about half-an-hour away from where we’re staying at Aloe Canyons. Bontebok is a very special little reserve of which we are very fond and as always she delivered very nicely indeed!

Entrance to Bontebok National Park

Speckled Pigeon

Red Hartebeest

Pin-tailed Whydah

Fiscal Flycatcher

Bontebok National Park scenery

Fynbos blooms

Bontebok

Common Waxbill

Raggedy Common Meadow White butterfly (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Thick-knee

Neddicky

Fynbos bloom

African Stonechat

Black Harrier

Red Hartebeest

Fynbos blooms

Breede River in the Bontebok National Park

Bontebok

Southern Rock Agama

Summer Trek – Aloe Canyon, 18 December 2024

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Today we moved to Aloe Canyon, a private game farm near Swellendam in the Western Cape, which we’ll be using as a base for our explorations over the next few days.

Aloe Canyons

Aloe Canyon

Eland Bull

Cattle Egret

Summer Trek – Karoo National Park, 17 December 2024

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Today was our final day exploring the Karoo National Park; tomorrow we’re moving to another destination (stay tuned to find out which!)

Red Hartebeest Calf

Springbok youngsters

Fairy Flycatcher

Four-striped Grass Mouse

Karoo Prinia

Summer Trek – Karoo National Park, 16 December 2024

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The Karoo National Park is such a harsh environment, and yet there is so much beauty on every scale!

Klipspringer Pass

Klipspringer pair on Klipspringer Pass

Karoo Scenery

Pririt Batis

Summer Trek – Karoo National Park, 15 December 2024

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A hot summers day in the Karoo National Park today delivered some more wonderful wildlife encounters.

Steenbok

Springbok

Amegilla Bee and Swartstorm bloom

Red Hartebeest

Sunset glow over the Rest Camp at Karoo National Park

Summer Trek – Karoo National Park, 14 December 2024

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The summer holidays are upon us here in South Africa and we Wild De Wets are starting off our trek through the Western and Eastern Cape with a few nights in the amazing Karoo National Park.

Karoo Scenery

Gemsbok

Chocolate Bells

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Trichodesma physaloides

A conspicuous and beautiful plant when in bloom during the spring season on our Highveld grasslands, Chocolate Bells are found in parts of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Kwazulu-Natal. They’re well adapted to survive the worst elements of life on the Highveld – cold, frosty winters and frequent veld fires – in fact the plants often don’t flower at all if they weren’t subjected to a fire first!

Chocolate Bells

Bradfield’s Hornbill

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Today is Birding Big Day in South Africa, so in a clever twist of irony we’re showcasing a bird that none of the participants in the event is at all likely to encounter! 😀

Lophoceros (Tockus) bradfieldi

Bradfield’s Hornbill is found in only five Southern African countries: Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. According to the IUCN it is not in any imminent danger of extinction though it does note that the population is probably in decline due to habitat loss as a result of logging operations. They occur in savanna-woodland and feed mainly on invertebrates, small vertebrates, seeds and berries. They’re usually seen in pairs or small flocks.

Typical of most hornbills, Bradfield’s Hornbill also breeds in holes in trees in which the female is plastered inside with the (usually) three eggs for the 4 week incubation period while the male feeds her through a slit. She leaves the nest a few days after the chicks hatched to help the male feed them until they’re ready to leave the nest at almost 2 months old. The parents take care of the chicks for another month of so thereafter.

Bradfield’s Hornbill

Star Lily

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Genus Hypoxis

There is at least 90 species of plant in the genus Hypoxis, known colloquially as the Star Lily, with indigenous representatives being found in Australia, Asia, the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa. Almost half the known species are found in southern Africa. Most species occur in grasslands. They grow to about 50cm tall, with the star-shaped flowers – bright yellow in colour in the majority of species – being rather short lived. Leaves and flowers are only borne in the warmer months, with the plants overwintering through their underground rootstock. It is this rootstock that is used traditionally as food and medicine that gave the Star Lily its alternative name of African Potato, now even researched in western medicine as an immune booster.