Celebrating nature’s resilience at uMkhuze

Not long ago, much of South Africa was in the grip of one of the most severe droughts in recorded history, and some parts of the country still are. Recent good rains in the north and east of the country has however had a positive impact, and while the effects of the drought will probably take some time to be reversed, seeing uMkhuze Game Reserve covered in swathes of lush, green vegetation and enjoying the spectacle of a full Nsumo Pan, one couldn’t help but feel optimistic!

Giant Carrion flowers in Mantuma Camp

Most of the trees are bearing fruit

uMkhuze scenery, the Lebombo range in the background

Fungi abound thanks to the wet conditions

At Kumahlala Hide

After a rain shower

Nest of the foam-nest frog

Flowering plants making the best of the wet conditions

Nsumo Pan

uMkhuze scenery

Fever trees in Umkhuze Game Reserve

Nsumo Pan

Fever trees

Nsumo Pan

uMkhuze sunset at the lookout tower

uMkhuze sunset

uMkhuze sunset at the lookout tower

Fever trees

Baboon antics at Kumasinga

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Joubert and I had great fun with the jolly baboons at uMkhuze Game Reserve‘s Kumasinga Hide – their fun and games kept us entertained for hours! Just confirmation again of why Kumasinga is one of the best and most popular photographic hides in the country.

The big males didn’t play along much…

Like father, like son. Baboon spectators at Kumasinga

Time for some mutual grooming before the game begins

The big males didn’t play along much…

Playful baboons at Kumasinga

The big males didn’t play along much, but when they did the youngsters yielded very quickly

Playful baboons at Kumasinga

The hide itself becomes a jungle gym!

Stork Buffet at uMkhuze

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While driving around the uMkhuze Game Reserve one afternoon in March, we happened upon a seemingly insatiable Woolly-Necked Stork catching juvenile catfish in a drying mudpool. We watched the stork gorge itself on one fish after another, amazed at the ease with which it could grab its slippery, squirming quarry from the “all you can eat buffet table”, until there was no more splashing from the pool at his approach…

Woolly-necked Stork Buffet at uMkhuze

Addo’s new Nyathi Rest Camp

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View from Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

SANParks has opened its newest accommodation offering in the Addo Elephant National Park: the luxurious new Nyathi Rest Camp. The new camp is set atop a hill with magnificent views from every spacious accommodation unit over the valley below and the rolling hills beyond, and a real possibility of seeing any of the “Big Five” from the comfort of your private veranda.

Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

The camp offers eight 2-bed units, one 4-bed unit and two 6-bed units, each equipped with air-conditioning, satellite television, equipped kitchens, bathrooms with splendid views and private splash pools.

Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

Bedroom in Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

Bathroom with a view at Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

Amenities such as a restaurant, shop, fuel station and guided game drives are available at Addo’s main camp, an easy 20km drive away along sedan friendly gravel roads.

View from Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

The scenery around Nyathi is quite different from the Spekboom-dominated vegetation around Addo’s main camp

Night sky over Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

Road to Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

Kings of Addo, seen near Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

African Bullfrog

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Pyxicephalus edulis

While I doubt it reached proportions that would convince the Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt, the “eruption” of little froglets we saw at uMkhuze Game Reserve during our recent visit was quite fascinating. Rain or shine, literally hundreds (if not more) of tiny frogs could be seen jumping around on the roads all over the reserve, making driving quite tricky if you didn’t want to squash them under the vehicle’s wheels.

Juvenile African (Edible) (Lesser) Bullfrog

Juvenile African (Edible) (Lesser) Bullfrog “swarm”

Thanks to the help of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park the little ones were identified as juvenile African Bullfrogs (also known as Edible or Lesser Bullfrogs), a species that occurs over wide areas of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa, and indeed is eaten by humans in many countries where they occur. Though these newly metamorphosed juveniles were only about the size of a thumbnail, the African Bullfrog can grow to 12cm in length.

African Bullfrog

They can be found in seasonally flooded savannas and grassy woodlands, remaining dormant underground for most of the year (up to 10 months) and emerging only when sufficient rain has fallen for breeding to commence. During the breeding season males act very aggressively towards one another and will even kill each other. Eggs are laid in well vegetated, shallow, seasonal bodies of water where the males guard the eggs and tadpoles against other males and predators. Interestingly, when the tadpoles’ pools start drying up the males will dig channels to deeper pools. African Bullfrogs feed on a variety of invertebrates and small vertebrates, including other frogs, and feature in turn in the diets of various species of birds, reptiles and mammals (humans included).

During a visit to the Kruger National Park in December 2019 we witnessed the breeding habits of the African Bullfrog following a few days of continuous rain.

Bull Frogs

African Bull Frogs

African Bull Frog

African Bull Frogs

Two days in Kruger

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How much can you see in only two days in the Kruger National Park? Well, as this gallery taken over less than 48 hours around Skukuza Rest Camp during March 2017 proves, a whole lot actually!

Shitlave Dam, on the road from Pretoriuskop to Skukuza

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Napi Boulders

Taller than the trees

Plains Zebra

Thick-tailed Bushbaby

Painted Reed Frog

Sand River Lion

Elephant

Impala

Blacksmith Lapwing

Natal Francolin

Nile Crocodile

Hadeda Ibis

Warthog youngster in Skukuza

Water Thick-knee

Giraffe cousins

Kudu

Marabou roost at sunset

Spotted hyena

Hidden leopard

Elephant breakfast

Baby baboon getting a piggy-back ride

Spotted hyena

White Stork

European Roller

Zebra foals mutual grooming

Skukuza Nightlife

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One of our favourite activities when out visiting South Africa’s wild places is to search the grounds of the places where we are staying with a flashlight at night, looking for nocturnal wildlife. Skukuza, being the biggest of the camps in the Kruger National Park, is usually especially productive, as most of the wildlife inhabiting the camp is exceptionally used to having humans gawking at them!

It may look like some sort of giant cross between a dragonfly and a moth, but this large insect is actually an adult Blotched Long-horned Antlion!

Grey Duiker

Cape Porcupine

Thick-tailed Bushbaby

The pond in front of Skukuza’s reception is a wonderful place to photograph a variety of amphibians – on our latest visit the reeds and rocks there were alive with the calls of male Painted Reed Frogs and Sharp-nosed Grass Frogs trying their best to impress their female counterparts.

Skukuza Pond

Common River Frog in Skukuza

Painted Reed Frog

Playing hide-and-seek with a leopard

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Believe it or not, but in the middle of this picture there’s a leopard hidden in the grass. Don’t worry; If I didn’t see her walk in there I wouldn’t have known it either.

Luckily she grew tired of her hiding spot, got up and walked into even denser vegetation, allowing just one quickly fired shot as proof…

This leopard was lying not two meters from our car and was totally invisible – what wonderful camouflage these cats have!

(Seen along the H3-road just south of Skukuza on Friday last week as we were departing from the Kruger National Park)

Alone time with the King of Beasts

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A week ago, on an early morning drive along the Sand River near Skukuza in the Kruger National Park, this magnificent male lion popped out of the thickets to patrol and mark his territory along the road.

Sand River Lion

After spending quite a bit of time with him as he walked at pace along the river road, mostly within arm’s length of the vehicle, another car arrived on the scene, and I drove off in order to allow them the thrill of some alone time with The King as well.

White Stork

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Ciconia ciconia

Everyone will quickly recognise the White Stork as the legendary bird responsible for the delivery of newborn babies. These large, strikingly pied birds stand over a metre tall, has a wing span of up to 2 metres and weighs as much as 4kg.

White Storks migrate in enormous flocks (numbering hundreds or even thousands) from Europe, North Africa and Western Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa to spend the summer in our warm weather, the first birds arriving around September and the last departing again by April or May. At those times they are a regular sight in savannas, grasslands and cultivated fields right across South Africa, often close to water, feeding in flocks usually numbering from 10 to 50, though larger groups of several hundred are not uncommon. White Storks are diurnal in habit, roosting communally at night. They feed mainly on insects (but also rodents, reptiles and frogs), and often take advantage of fires to catch prey escaping the flames. Only a handful of pairs breed here, and only in the Western Cape. Nests are constructed of sticks in high trees or on top of buildings or other man-made structures, and often used for several consecutive years, even decades. As the nests are continuously expanded they can become quite huge over time, and are often shared by other kinds of birds. Pairs will build their nests in isolation or in loosely associated small colonies of up to 30 pairs. Up to 7 (more usually 4) eggs are laid and incubated for 33 days or so by both parents. The chicks stay in the nest for about two months after hatching.

The IUCN estimates the White Stork’s total global population at about 700,000 and growing, and considers them to be of least concern in conservation terms. The use of agricultural pesticides and subsequent poisoning, electrocution by overhead powerlines and habitat destruction are considered major local threats to the White Stork.