Category Archives: About

Growing up with a love for nature: Joubert turns 10!

Today is Joubert’s 10th birthday.

Marilize and I thank God for creating Joubert for us and us for him. What more could we need? What a blessing it’s been to watch this bright and beautiful little boy grow up to share our appreciation and deep love for South Africa’s wild places.

Looking back at some photos of him enjoying the great outdoors brings a smile to my face and joy to my heart. Has ten years really flown by so quickly!?

Happy Birthday, Joubert!

2 Months old: October 2009. First visit to the Kruger National Park, and time for a nappy change in the bush!

7 Months old: March 2010. Climbing trees at Olifants in the Kruger National Park.

7 Months old: March 2010. Off-roading pram along the Rademeyer Spruit in the Moreletakloof.

9 Months old: May 2010. Did Dad see the elephants? Spekboom Hide, Addo Elephant Park.

9 Months old: May 2010. Surrounded by Guineafowl in the rest camp at Wilderness in the Garden Route National Park.

1 Year old: September 2010. What to do with these francolins? Biyamiti, Kruger National Park.

1 Year old: November 2010. Game-viewing at Chelmsford Nature Reserve.

1 Year old: November 2010. Time to learn more about birds. Mpila, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.

1 Year old: November 2010. Playing on the beach at Cape Vidal, iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

1 Year old: November 2010. Time for a picnic in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

1 Year old: December 2010. Chasing butterflies through a field on the North West Province farm where Grandpa grew up.

1 Year old: April 2011. Looking for the Big 5 in the Kruger National Park.

1 Year old: April 2011. Just look at that interesting lizard! Letaba, Kruger National Park.

2 Years old: August 2011. Joubert appreciating the view from unit 14 at Olifants

2 Years old: October 2011. Short, unsteady legs over big rocks at Pilanesberg National Park.

2 Years old: December 2011. Inspecting a dead butterfly picked up at the Willem Pretorius Game Reserve.

2 Years old: June 2012. Making the acquaintance of a bushbuck at Letaba in the Kruger National Park.

2 Years old: April 2012. Happiness in a forest at Royal Natal.

2 Years old: June 2012. Just how big is that elephant skull!? Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve.

3 Years old: August 2012. Photographing a warthog at our cottage in Mpila, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.

3 Years old: August 2012. Something’s very interesting on the ground at Midmar Nature Reserve.

3 Years old: September 2012. Closer inspection of a nyala ewe in Pafuri Picnic Site, Kruger National Park.

3 Years old: December 2012. Practicing balancing at Ithala Game Reserve.

3 Years old: January 2013. Wet morning in the Moreletakloof.

3 Years old: February 2013. In the hide at Lake Mankwe, Pilanesberg Game Reserve.

3 Years old: March 2013. At the entrance to Chelmsford Nature Reserve.

3 Years old: April 2013. Best seat in the house: Mlondozi Picnic Site, Kruger National Park.

3 Years old: May 2013. Following an elephant at Tembe

3 Years old: July 2013. Almost as high as a pony! Golden Gate Highlands National Park.

4 Years old: August 2013. Being silly at Queen Elizabeth Park in Kwazulu-Natal.

4 Years old: September 2013. Showing one of Letaba’s bushbuck where to go for tastier leaves. Kruger National Park.

4 Years old: November 2013. Taking photos of dung beetles in Pilanesberg National Park is serious business!

4 Years old: December 2013. Fun and games in Golden Gate.

4 Years old: December 2013. Is it safe to venture forth? Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.

4 Years old: December 2013. Quiet contemplation atop a hill at Ithala Game Reserve.

4 Years old: March 2014. Setting off on a walk in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park.

4 Years old: April 2014. Joubert de Wet, Horse Whisperer, at Golden Gate Highlands National Park

4 Years old: April 2014. Calling francolin chicks to come closer at Giant’s Castle.

4 Years old: April 2014. Different perspective on wildlife photography in Kruger National Park.

5 Years old: November 2014. Looking for jewels at Golden Gate Highlands National Park.

5 Years old: December 2014. Chancing being blown off the jetty at Charter’s Creek in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

5 Years old: December 2014. Figuring out Grandpa’s binoculars

5 Years old: December 2014. Posing at the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife logo at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park’s Centenary Centre

5 Years old: December 2014. Braaiing at Ithala Game Reserve.

5 Years old: December 2014. Wildlife photography at kuMasinga Hide at uMkhuze Game Reserve.

5 Years old: April 2015. Skipping stones on Loskop Dam.

5 Years old: May 2015. Titanic impression on a trout dam at Kamberg in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park.

5 Years old: May 2015. Kamberg tranquility with Mom.

5 Years old: June 2015. Boat cruise on Lake St. Lucia.

6 Years old: August 2015. Scientific experiment from atop a boulder at Tendele in Royal Natal.

6 Years old: September 2015. Photographing the photographer at Ithala Game Reserve.

6 Years old: October 2015. Showing off his ticklist in Pafuri Picnic Spot, Kruger National Park.

6 Years old: December 2015. Again Joubert and a Letaba bushbuck! Kruger National Park.

6 Years old: December 2015. This sign in Rietvlei Nature Reserve doesn’t scare Joubert!

6 Years old: March 2016. Photographing a mangrove-crab at Umlalazi Nature Reserve.

6 Years old: June 2016. Antlions are so interesting! Satara, Kruger Park.

7 Years old: December 2016. Taking a break in Golden Gate Highlands National Park

7 Years old: December 2016. Getting wet at Royal Natal National Park

7 Years old: March 2017. Nsumo Picnic Site, uMkhuze Game Reserve, iSimangaliso Wetland Park

7 Years old: April 2017. Low with the flow at Giant’s Castle

8 Years old: September 2017. Photographing an animal burrow at Nylsvley Nature Reserve.

8 Years old: December 2017. In the information centre at Addo Elephant National park

8 Years old: December 2017. Walking in the Karoo National Park

8 Years old: December 2017. The cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the Table Mountain National Park

8 Years old: December 2017. Sunset over the Atlantic

8 Years old: April 2018. Opening the gate at Haak-en-Steek Cottage in Mokala National Park

9 Years old: August 2018. Celebrating his 9th birthday at Rietvlei Nature Reserve!

9 Years old: December 2018. Joubert the photographer, Mpila, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park

9 years old: March 2019. Joubert photographing guineafowl at Thendele

9 years old: March 2019. Walking in the Mountains

9 years old: May 2019. Joubert at Austin Roberts Bird Sanctuary

9 years old: June 2019. Photographing a bull elephant crossing a road near Shingwedzi in the Kruger National Park

9 years old: June 2019. Photographing elephants near Shingwedzi in the Kruger National Park

9 years old: June 2019. Playing cricket (his other great love) in the camping area at Shingwedzi in the Kruger Park.

9 years old: June 2019. Joubert photographing San rock art at Giant’s Castle

9 years old: June 2019. Joubert photographing reflections at Giant’s Castle

10 years old: August 2019. Joubert at Rietvlei Nature Reserve celebrating his 10th birthday party

10 years old: August 2019. Joubert sitting next to the ranger-guide on a tour to see Rietvlei’s lions

World Wildlife Day 2019

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What better way to celebrate World Wildlife Day than to look back at the 301 species of South African wildlife we featured here at de Wets Wild over the years?

Click on the first image, scroll through the gallery and by the end of it you are sure to believe, as we do, that South Africa is a treasure chest of beautiful creatures that you absolutely have to visit, and fully deserving of its reputation as one of the ten most biodiverse countries on the planet!

Plains Zebra

Cape Mountain Zebra

Ground hornbill

Black rhinos

White Rhinos

Kudu

Nyala bull

Bushbuck

Eland

Buffalo bull

Von Wielligh’s baobab in summer

Lion Kings of Addo

Oribi ram

Southern Reedbuck are extremely common around Lake Saint Lucia

Mountain reedbuck ram

Grey Rhebok

Waterbuck, S100, Kruger National Park

Variegated slug eater

Male Samango Monkey

Red duiker

Elephant crossing the Napi Road (H1-1)

White-backed Vulture

Palm-Nut Vulture, Umlalazi Nature Reserve, March 2016

Cape Vulture

Lappet-faced Vulture

Bearded Vulture

White-headed Vulture

Hooded Vulture

Common Duiker

Springbok Ram

Klipspringer in typical habitat

Crowned Hornbill

Trumpeter Hornbill

Red-billed Hornbill

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill

Sharpe’s Grysbok

Steenbok Ram

Impala Ram

Cheetah, S41, Kruger National Park

Black Heron “canopy feeding”

Crimson-breasted Shrike

Blue wildebeest are curious creatures

Black wildebeest

Blesbok ram

Tsessebe in thornveld vegetation in Ithala Game Reserve

Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest

Dominant Red Hartebeest bull

Gemsbok in the Karoo

Roan Antelope Bull along the Nshawu marsh in Kruger Park

Ostrich male

Standing proud

Blue Crane in Ithala Game Reserve

Grey Crowned Crane

Secretarybird

Kori Bustard

Red-crested Korhaan

Crested Guineafowl – iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Curious Helmeted Guineafowl

Marabou in flight

Saddle-billed Stork

African Openbill

Yellow-billed Stork at Sunset Dam

Woolly-necked Stork

Hamerkop

African Sacred Ibis

We had daily sightings of the rare bald ibis on the Oribi Loop at Golden Gate

Ground Woodpecker

Drakensberg Dwarf Chameleon

Bush Blackcap in Thendele

Mauritian Tomb Bat, Nyalazi Gate, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park

Wild dogs on the hunt (Hluhluwe-Imfolozi 27122014)

Spotted hyena

Leopard on the Maroela Loop, near Skukuza in the Kruger Park

Hadeda Ibis

Glossy Ibis

African Spoonbill

White Stork

Juvenile Edible (Lesser) Bullfrog

Grey heron at Lake Panic

Goliath Heron

Black-headed Heron

Great Egret

Red-billed quelea

Western Cattle Egret

Little Egret

African Darter in flight

Little Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

Shimuwini Bushveld Camp – Hippo

Egyptian Goose

African Stonechat male

Northern Black Korhaan male

Lilac-breasted Roller

Swainson’s Spurfowl

Black-backed jackal

Southern Masked Weaver

Red-billed Oxpecker

Yellow-billed Duck

Red-winged Starling

African Fish Eagle flypast

Red-knobbed Coot

Evil-looking juvenile Baboon

Laughing Dove

Black Crake

Grey-headed Gull

Pearl-spotted Owlet

Pied crows at the remains of the blesbok

Warthogs drinking from the Sabie

Natal Spurfowl

Cape Glossy Starling

White-bellied Sunbird Juvenile Male

Reed Cormorant

Pied Kingfisher

Water Thick-knee

Cape Robin-Chat

Blacksmith Lapwing

Bold, begging crocodile and terrapins near Olifants

Bold crocodile near Olifants

African Black Duck

African Jacana

Tawny Eagle

Pink-backed Pelican in flight

Chinspot Batis (male)

Dark-capped Bulbul

White-fronted Bee-eater

White-faced Whistling Duck

Common Moorhen

Crowned lapwing

Vervet Monkey

Blue waxbill

Black-shouldered Kite

Leopard tortoise feeding on fresh shoots next to the road

Cape Weaver

Three-banded Plover

Rock hyrax, or dassie

Verreaux’s Eagles at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens

Banded Mongoose

African Green Pigeon

African Wattled Lapwing

Crested Francolins

Scrub Hare

Burchell’s Coucal

Grey Go-away-bird

At night, Skukuza’s bushbabies come out to play

Scarlet-chested Sunbird (male)

Crested Barbet

Yellow Mongoose

Black-headed Oriole

African Scops Owl

Tree squirrel at the day visitors picnic spot

Yellow-billed kite

Pied Starling

Cape Grassbird

Male Double-banded Sandgrouse

Woodland Kingfisher

Cape Longclaw

Yellow-fronted Canary

Ant-eating Chat

Greater Blue-eared starling at Skukuza

Burchell’s starling

Bateleur (female)

Bearded Scrub-Robin

African Barred Owlet

Speckled Pigeon

Mocking Cliff Chat (male)

Chorister Robin-Chat

Karoo Long-billed Lark

African Penguin emerging from the surf

Black Girdled Lizard

Hartlaub’s Gull

Cape Sugarbird

Cape Grey Mongoose

Cape Spurfowl

Cape Cormorant

White-fronted Plover

Bontebok

Angulate Tortoise

African Oystercatcher

Knysna Turaco

Kelp Gull

Swift Tern

Cape Bulbul

White-browed Sparrow-weaver

Namaqua Sand Lizard

Double-banded Courser

Grey-winged francolin

Bush Karoo Rat

Karoo Korhaan

Meerkat / Suricate

Karoo Scrub Robin

Southern African Ground Squirrel

Karoo Prinia

Four-striped Grass Mouse

Steppe Buzzard

Red Bishop

Familiar Chat

Long-tailed Widowbird

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake swallowing a skink in Shingwedzi

Spotted Thick-knee

White-throated Swallow

Dwarf mongoose in Pretoriuskop

Cape Sparrow male

White-breasted Cormorant

Cardinal Woodpecker

Karoo Thrush

Red-eyed Dove

Tree Agama in Crocodile Bridge

Speckled Mousebird

Cape Wagtail

Southern Boubou

Cape White-eye

Sable Antelope

Red-headed finch (male)

Bronze Mannikin

Southern Black Flycatcher

Green-backed heron

Water Monitor

The cute and tiny lesser bushbaby

South African Shelduck (male)

Temminck’s Courser

Pin-tailed whydah

Fiscal Flycatcher

Painted Reed Frog

Caracal

Striped Skink

Brubru

Southern Grey-headed Sparrow

Sunrise over the Augrabies landscape shows a lone Quiver Tree

Pale-winged Starling

Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra

Namaqua Fig

Orange River White-eye

Augrabies Flat Lizard male

Large Namaqua Porkbush

Pririt Batis

Western Rock Skink male

Sociable Weaver

Camel Thorn tree

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

Pale Chanting Goshawk

White-backed Mousebird

Karasburg Tree Skink

Bat-eared Fox

Shepherd’s Tree

Burchell’s Sandgrouse (male)

Bibron’s Thick-toed Gecko

Kalahari Scrub Robin

Barberton Girdled Lizard

Eastern Nicator

Red-eyed Bulbul

Scaly-feathered Finch

Namaqua Dove

Marsh Terrapins at the hide in Karoo National Park

This trusting Golden-tailed Woodpecker distracted us from our breakfast at Tshokwane

Groundscraper Thrush

Verreaux’s (Giant) Eagle Owl

Fork-tailed Drongo

Bold honey badger at Nwanetsi Picnic Site

Cape Rock-Thrush (male)

African Dusky Flycatcher

African Pied wagtail

Tawny-flanked Prinia

Epauletted Fruit Bat at Skukuza Airport

African Snipe

Common Fiscal

Bokmakierie

Raucous Toad: Storms River Mouth has an amazing variety of toads and frogs that show themselves after dark

Collared Sunbird (male)

Green Milkweed Locust

White-crested Helmetshrike

Magpie Shrike

Rufous-naped Lark

Spur-winged Goose (male)

Red-necked spurfowl

Brown-hooded kingfisher

White-necked Raven

Foam Nest Frog

African Purple Swamphen

African Paradise Flycatcher (male on nest)

Is this how slender mongooses give a “high 5”?

African Mourning Dove

European Roller

Umbrella Thorn

Arrow-marked Babbler

Greater Striped Swallow

Sombre Greenbul

African Firefinch (male)

Golden Orb Web spider

African Mudhopper

Eastern Natal Green Snake

Red-capped Robin-Chat

Yellow-bellied Greenbul

Kosi Raphia Palms and Joubert

CMR Blister Beetle

White-eared Barbets – iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Common Ringed Plover

There’s beautiful specimens of the fever tree at uMkhuze

Common Tropical House Gecko

Giant Legless Skink

Yellow-throated Longclaw

White-browed Scrub Robin

The results of the 2018 South African Blog Awards have been announced!

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We are so grateful to everyone that supported us in the 2018 South African Blog Awards, the results of which were announced last night. Thanks to you, de Wets Wild has not only been announced as runners up in the Best Environmental Blog Category, but we’ve also been voted the winners in the Best Travel Blog category for the second year running! Thank you so much, again, for all the support and encouragement you’ve given us! We consider ourselves blessed for being able to call this beautiful country home, and being able to share its wildlife treasures with you all.

Winners 2018 Best Travel Blog

Runners Up 2018 Best Environmental Blog

Our thanks also goes to the organisers and judges of the 2018 awards, with hearty congratulations to all the other great blogs featured in the results!

Our 2018 in pictures

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Taking a look back at all the wonderful places we stayed at while exploring South Africa’s wild destinations in 2018.

We hope that 2019 will be kind to all our friends here at de Wets Wild, and that we’ll continue to share in each others adventures!

Skukuza Unit 210, Kruger National Park, March 2018

Twanana Research Camp, Kruger National Park, March & May 2018

Haak-en-Steek Cottage, Mokala NP, April 2018

Chalet 26 at Augrabies Falls National Park, June 2018

Cottage 25 at Twee Rivieren, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, June 2018

Cottage 1 at Mata Mata, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, June 2018

Cottage 8 at Nossob, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, June 2018

Chalet 24 at Twee Rivieren, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, June 2018

Ntshondwe Chalet #20, Ithala Game Reserve, August 2018

Camping at Bakgatla, Pilanesberg National Park, November 2018

Umlalazi Log Cabin #1, December 2018

Chalet 16 at Mpila in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, December 2018

SA Blog Awards 2018

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It is time for the annual SA Blog Awards again! In 2017 we won in both the “Best Travel Blog” and “Best Environmental Blog” categories and we need your help to defend our titles!

If you enjoy De Wets Wild as much as we enjoy sharing our love for South Africa’s wild places and the wildlife that thrives there with you, please support us again in the 2018 South African Blog Awards? We’ve again entered the categories for “Best Travel Blog” and “Best Environmental Blog“, and you are allowed to vote for us in both. Clicking on the badge below will bring you to the voting site. After voting, you’ll receive an e-mail requiring you to click on a link to confirm your votes.

Thank you very much for your support – we really do appreciate it!

A thousand posts on de Wets Wild!

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Today we celebrate a major milestone for us here at de Wets Wild – our 1,000th post!

A huge word of thanks must go to our all our friends and followers for their support and encouragement over the course of the past 6 years! Thank you for sharing our love and passion for South Africa’s wild places and the creatures that find a home there with us – we hope you’ll continue to do so for many years to come!

Seems fitting now to have a look at some of the most popular posts and other highlights we enjoyed on this journey. (Clicking on the links provided should open the posts in a new window without closing this post).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, our “About” page (home page) is by far the most visited.

de Wets at Golden Gate Highlands National Park, July 2013

de Wet family at Ithala Game Reserve, December 2014

Wild de Wets

Giant’s Castle

But how and why the post about South African Hornbills come in second place, I have no explanation!? That they’re fascinating birds we won’t argue about.

Yellow-billed hornbill

Crowned Hornbill

Red-billed Hornbill

Trumpeter Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill

Ground Hornbill

South Africa’s vultures are getting some well-deserved attention as well.

Hooded Vulture

White-headed Vulture

White-backed Vulture

Bearded Vulture

Lappet-faced Vulture

Cape Vulture

Palm-Nut Vulture, Umlalazi Nature Reserve, March 2016

Another post about a bird that got a lot of attention is that about the black heron and its fascinating hunting technique.

Black Heron “canopy feeding”

Early into our blogging “career” we took part in a few photo challenges – the image we posted of dew droplets caught in a spider’s web was the best received of those.

The post we did on the Kruger National Park’s Selati Line, with thanks to my sister for the use of her photos, has been a perennial favourite.

Steam engine at Skukuza “station”

The features we did on Pafuri Border Camp (in Kruger) and Nyathi Rest Camp (in Addo) when they opened are still very popular – people are obviously very eager to explore new destinations and we’re glad that de Wets Wild could help so many of them plan their visits!

Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

Mockford Cottage, Pafuri Border Camp

But it is not only the new destinations that people are interested in, as the posts about familiar favourites like Skukuza in the Kruger Park, Loskop Dam and Golden Gate Highlands National Park prove.

Sabie Bridge at Skukuza

Loskop scenery

Brandwag Buttress in Golden Gate

Plains Zebras seem to be the most popular mammal featured here at de Wets Wild, as a few posts about these beautiful animals feature at the top of the charts!

Plains Zebra

Ithala fight for dominance

Plains Zebras

Pale-rumped Plains Zebra in Mokala National Park

Plains Zebra

Plains Zebra trying to trip an opponent

Plains zebra

But the world’s cutest bouncing baby rhino will not be outdone!

You’ll never catch me!

Of course we cannot talk about highlights and forget how your support helped us feature in the honours at the SA Blog Awards – from finishing as runners up in both the Best Travel Blog and Best Environmental Blog Categories in 2014, 2015 and 2016 to finally winning in both in 2017!

Celebrating South Africa’s wild places on Earth Day

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The theme for this year’s Earth Day is an end to plastic pollution.

It is almost unthinkable that humans would wantonly destroy our planet through the careless manufacturing and discarding of plastic waste, and yet we are pumping tons and tons of plastic into our ecosystems on a daily basis, endangering not only the wildlife that depend on these habitats but also our own continued existence.

Celebrating South Africa’s beautiful wild places seems like a good way to spend Earth Day 2018, but isn’t it sickening to imagine landscapes like these buried under heaps of trash?