iSimangaliso’s Marine Gems

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park does not only conserve some of the most magnificent terrestrial environments in our country, but it also has a grand marine component extending along the coastline and many nautical miles out into the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Several pristine beaches are accessible to visitors for sunbathing, fishing (with permits strictly required), snorkeling, scuba-diving, canoeing and boating.

An enormous jellyfish that drifted out of a rough sea on the beach at St. Lucia

Mission Rocks

Natal Rock Crab

Cape Vidal at low tide

Swift Tern

Cattle Egrets in flight over the sea at the estuary of Lake St. Lucia

Humpbacked Whale tail-slamming off St. Lucia

The beach at the estuary of Lake Saint Lucia

Large-spot Pompano

Fishermen heading out to sea

Sunrise at the St. Lucia estuary

Cape Vidal beach

Blennies in a rock pool

Marine Crab (species unknown)

Natal Rock Crab

I know that many of DeWetsWild’s readers are very fond of spending time at the beach, so I made a few videos especially for you!

Remember that DeWetsWild will gladly assist you with reservations and guided tours of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park if you’d like to visit this wonderful place as well.

Flatface Longhorn Beetle

20 Replies

Lasiopezus longimanus

While strolling around the grounds of Mantuma Rest Camp in the uMkhuze Game Reserve section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park earlier this month I came across this incredible creature, identified as one of the Flatface Longhorn Beetles with the kind assistance of the experts in the “Insects only – Southern Africa” Facebook group.

While it was impressively big (the body was about 4cm long), boasted very long feelers and its colours perfectly imitated a bird dropping, it was the hairy feet I found most intriguing. It is possible that the “hairs” has some sensory function, but from a distance it makes the beetle look as if it is wearing mittens!

Flatface Longhorn Beetle (Lasiopezus longimanus), identified with the kind assistance of the “Insects only – Southern Africa” facebook page.

Lesser Moorhen

10 Replies

Finding a Lesser Moorhen at a newly formed pan of water in the Eastern Shores section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park was a real highlight of my most recent visit to the “Place of Miracles and Wonders”, as it brings me to 609 species of birds seen in South Africa.

Lesser Moorhen

Paragallinula (Gallinula) angulata

The Lesser Moorhen inhabits freshwater wetlands ranging from periodically flooded grasslands to permanent swamps and marshes, showing a strong preference for areas densely covered by emergent vegetation and limited open water. They’re omnivores, feeding on water plants and aquatic invertebrates.

Lesser Moorhens start breeding after the first floods, building their cup-shaped grass nests on a platform of flattened living grass, reeds or sedges. The female is responsible for most of the incubation duties, with the clutch of up to nine eggs (though about 6 is more usual) hatching after about 3 weeks. The chicks start flying at about 5 weeks of age, but remain with their parents up to about 2 months old. Fully grown they’ll weigh about 135g and measure approximately 23cm in length. Lesser Moorhens are very shy and seldom venture into the open.

The IUCN lists the Lesser Moorhen as being of least concern. It is found in suitable habitat over most of sub-Saharan Africa, though locally their populations fluctuate widely according to the quality of early rainfall and they’re usually only present in small numbers in Gauteng, parts of the Limpopo Highveld, the Lowveld and northern Kwazulu-Natal from November to May, migrating back to central Africa at the onset of winter (though a handful may remain throughout the year).

(Remember that DeWetsWild will gladly assist you with reservations and guided tours of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park if you’d like to visit this wonderful place as well.)

All the water has turned iSimangaliso into frog heaven!

15 Replies

A wonderful consequence of the water wonderland that is the iSimangaliso Wetland Park now, is the incredible numbers of amphibians evident throughout the Park. I’m featuring just a few of them here.

Driving around the Park you cannot escape the calls of the Painted Reed Frogs, though they’re almost impossible to see without stepping out of your vehicle and searching for them (which isn’t allowed, due to the presence of dangerous animals). I was therefore very impressed with myself when I saw this Painted Reed Frog as I was driving by. See how small it is!

Can you spot the Painted Reed Frog?

Painted Reed Frog at a temporary pan on the eastern shores of Lake Saint Lucia

While using the facilities at one of the stopping points on the Western Shores of Lake Saint Lucia I noticed this Peeping Tom hiding in a corner. It is a Red Toad and I left him there to amuse the next visitor as well…

Red Toad in an ablution block in the Western Shores section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Platannas seem to have quickly colonized all the newly formed stretches of water in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, but usually quickly dive under water at the slightest disturbance. It was pleasing to find one that wasn’t too shy to pose for a few photo’s.

Platanna

It would be better if it cultivated a more apprehensive disposition though, because Platannas are on the menu of many waterbirds and in the 10 days I spent in iSimangaliso on this latest trip I saw many a Platanna disappearing down a gullet.

Reed Cormorant with a Platanna

After dark, hundreds of immature African Bull Frogs emerged onto the roads, especially following rainy days.

Immature African Bull Frog on a road in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Kumasinga Hide at uMkhuze Game Reserve has turned into a paradise for Southern Foam Nest Frogs, with dozens of the cute little creatures clinging to the hide’s framework, with a few foam nests already constructed over the water and a few still in the making (allowing me to make a video of the process).

The toes of a Foam Nest Frog

Foam Nest Frog in Kumasinga Hide

Foam Nest Frogs mating

Foam Nest Frog nests

Foam Nest Frogs mating

Remember that DeWetsWild will gladly assist you with reservations and guided tours of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park if you’d like to visit this wonderful place as well.

iSimangaliso is a very wet Wetland Park at the moment

25 Replies

I mentioned in my previous post about my latest tour of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park that I have never seen the Park so wet. There seemed to be water everywhere, and in enormous quantities. And the most astounding thing about that is that we are only at the start of the rainy season (over 150mm of rain fell just in just 2 days during our trip). It is amazing how resiliently nature is rebounding in a part of the country that, not even a generation ago, was almost completely covered by thirsty plantations of exotic pine and bluegum trees.

Sunrise over the wetlands

A stretch of the vastly expanded Lake Bhangazi

Mfabeni Swamp

A quiet corner of the Mfabeni Swamp

Banded Tilapia. The newly formed ponds have quickly been populated by fish and tadpoles.

Mfabeni Swamp

I took this video from the Mziki viewpoint near Mission Rocks, to show just a portion of the extent of the wetlands on the eastern shores of Lake Saint Lucia. The bird songs coming from the forest in the foreground is rather special as well.

Lake Bhangazi is a beautiful freshwater lake near Cape Vidal in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

Remember that DeWetsWild will gladly assist you with reservations and guided tours of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park if you’d like to visit this wonderful place as well.

I just can’t stay away from the iSimangaliso Wetland Park

26 Replies

I’m fresh back from a 10 day tour through the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, visiting the Eastern and Western Shores of Lake Saint Lucia, the estuary, beaches and trails around the town of Saint Lucia as well as the uMkhuze section of the Park. Regular readers will know that this is one of my favourite South African wild places to visit and take guests to, but in almost thirty years of visiting I have never seen the Park live up to the “Wetland” part of its moniker as wonderfully as I have on this latest trip. Of course there’s a lot of photographs and videos in store for you in the weeks to come, but here’s a little appetizer to tide you over while I get down to the business of sorting and editing hundreds more.

An enormous jellyfish that drifted out of a rough sea on the beach at St. Lucia

Humpbacked Whale tail-slamming off St. Lucia

Cattle Egrets in flight over the sea at the estuary of Lake St. Lucia

Common Bush Brown butterfly

Spotted Buff butterfly

The bright flowers of the Canary Creeper

Mushrooms thriving in the damp coastal forest

Blue Pansy butterfly

African Piedspot Dragonfly

Mating Common Blue butterflies

Yellow Weaver

Kudu calf

Bushbuck ram

Crested Guineafowl

African Pygmy Geese among Blue Water Lilies

Immature Kelp Gull

Collared Pratincole

Lesser Moorhen

Sunrise over the wetlands

Narina Trogon

Road through the swamp forest near Cape Vidal

Squacco Heron

A stretch of the vastly expanded Lake Bhangazi

Huge Nile Crocodile slipping into the Mfabeni swamp

Reed Cormorant with a Platanna

Mission Rocks

Natal Rock Crab

Blue Water Lilies

African Buffalo

Sunrise over the wetlands

Spotted Hyena

African Buffalo

This leucistic Samango Monkey is a familiar inhabitant of Cape Vidal

Mfabeni Swamp

Secretary Bird

Plains Zebras

Platanna

Cape Vidal at low tide

Swift Tern

Samango Monkeys

Little Bee-eaters

African Swamphen

Kudu couple

Yellow-throated Longclaw

Purple Heron

Hippopotamus

The toes of a Foam Nest Frog

Flatface Longhorn Beetle (Lasiopezus longimanus), identified with the kind assistance of the “Insects only – Southern Africa” facebook page.

Marsh Terrapins

Slug close-up

Foam Nest Frogs mating

Foam Nest Frog in Kumasinga Hide

Foam Nest Frogs mating

Elephant bull on a walk about

Elephant bull at uMkhuze

Remember that DeWetsWild will gladly assist you with reservations and guided tours of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park if you’d like to visit this wonderful place as well.

Armoured Ground Crickets

12 Replies

Family Hetrodinae

There aren’t very many creatures in Africa that gives me nightmares, but this is undeniably one of the exceptions! Built like tanks complete with an armoured exoskeleton, formidable mandibles with which they can inflict a painful bite, and intimidating spikes on their legs and 5cm-long bodies (without including their legs in the measurement), just the thought of one of them finding its way onto my neck is almost enough to make me faint…

South Africa has about 30 species of Armoured Ground Crickets, also known locally as Corn Crickets, occurring throughout the country. They are omnivores, often regarded as an agricultural pest and capable even of killing and eating chicks in their nests, and will even cannibalise dead of their own kind! Not much will try and prey on Armoured Ground Crickets as they have the habit of spraying noxious “blood” from their bodies to ward of attackers, though they are eaten by bat-eared foxes and kori bustards.

Corn Cricket

Armoured Ground Cricket

There seemed to be armoured crickets everywhere you looked! This one was feasting on a trampled comrade in Satara’s parking area…

Armoured ground crickets abound in the mopaneveld in the north of the Park

Armoured Ground Cricket

Acacia Pied Barbet

14 Replies

Tricholaema leucomelas

Originally a denizen of savanna habitats, the distribution range of the Acacia Pied Barbet expanded tremendously during the 20th century into previously unsuitable habitats thanks to the provisioning of water, planting of exotic trees and the establishment of well-wooded parks and gardens in previously unoccupied parts of the country. They follow a varied diet of invertebrates, fruit, flowers and nectar, and are usually seen alone or in pairs.

Acacia Pied Barbets form monogamous pairs that nest in cavities they excavate together in the underside of branches of soft-wooded trees during spring and summer. Both partners share the duty of incubating the clutch of 2-4 eggs that hatch within 3 weeks of laying. Both also provide food to the chicks until they leave the nest at about 5 weeks of age. Adults are about 18cm long and weigh around 30g.

The Acacia Pied Barbet is widely distributed in South Africa, being absent only from the erstwhile Transkei and bordering districts of Kwazulu-Natal. They’re also found in all our neighbouring states and Angola, and is listed as being of least concern by the IUCN.

Acacia Pied Barbet

Yellow Canary

7 Replies

Crithagra flaviventris

The Yellow Canary inhabits heathland, arid scrubland and dry grasslands and savannas, where it feeds mainly on seeds and, to a lesser extent, small invertebrates, nectar and flowers. During periods of drought they may be quite nomadic. They’re social birds found in sizable flocks and often in association with other species of seed-eating birds. In South Africa, the Yellow Canary occurs mainly in the drier western and central parts of the country and is absent from most of Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal. Beyond our borders they’re also found in Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana and small pockets of Angola and have been introduced to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.

Yellow Canaries may breed at anytime of year, peaking during periods of highest rainfall. They form monogamous pairs, with the dull-coloured female responsible for the building of the cup-shaped nest in a shrub or small tree while the bright male defends the nesting territory. She is also solely responsible for incubating the clutch of 2-5 eggs, which takes about two weeks. Both parents provide food to the growing chicks, which leave the nest about a fortnight after hatching. Fully grown they weigh around 17g and measure approximately 13cm in length.

The IUCN considers the Yellow Canary to be of least concern.

Yellow Canary

Yellow Canary (Male)

Yellow Canary

Yellow Canary (male)

Female Yellow Canary

Yellow Canary

Yellow Canary (photo by Joubert)

Yellow Canary

Yellow Canaries

Common Carp

9 Replies

Cyprinus carpio

The Common Carp, also known as the European or Eurasian Carp, is native to freshwater in Europe and Central Asia, and was introduced to South Africa in the 1700’s. It is valued in aquaculture and recreational angling but is considered to be one of the 100 worst invading species in the world and now occurs in almost all rivers and impoundments in our country. Common Carp negatively impacts local aquatic ecosystems due to their indelicate feeding habits; uprooting plants and churning up the sediment making the water unsuitable for indigenous species.

Common Carp can adapt to almost any water conditions but prefer slow-flowing rivers and standing water, such as in ponds, dams and lakes. They are also quite catholic in their omnivorous diet, consuming anything it finds while poking around the soft silt. European Carp has been cultivated as food for humans since Roman times.

Common Carp breed in spring and summer, and large females may lay more than 300,000 eggs at a time and more than a million in a breeding season. The fry hatch within a week and grow rapidly. They can grow to over a meter in length and more than 30kg in weight – the world angling record stands at over 45kg! Common Carp can live for up to 20 years in the wild.