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World Wildlife Day 2021

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What better excuse to take another look at the 83 species of South African wildlife that we featured here at de Wets Wild in the past year than World Wildlife Day?

Beautiful African Leopard (Phalanta-butterfly)
Village Weaver (male)
Single-striped Grass Mouse
Violet-backed Starling
Rainbow Skink (male)
Gaudy Commodore (dry season form)
Brown Snake Eagle
Common Orange Tip (male)
Wood Sandpiper
Broad-bordered Grass Yellows
Amur Falcon
Common Hottentot Skipper (male)
Black-backed Puffback
Serrated Hinged Terrapin
Common Meadow White
Black-chested Snake Eagle
Small Orange Tip (male)
Buffy Pipit
Spotted Jokers congregating on rotting fallen fruit in Mpila
Purple Heron
Layman butterfly
Honey Bee on Cape Honeysuckle
White-throated Robin-Chat
African Common White
Ruff
Guinea-fowl Butterfly
Knob-billed Duck female
African Wild Cat
Male Lesser Masked Weaver
Geranium Bronze butterfly
Southern Black Tits
Swazi Lily
Brown-headed Parrot
Leprous Grasshopper
Cut-throat Finch male
Mating Purple Tips
Red-billed Buffalo Weaver in Satara
Wattled Starling (male in breeding colours)
Turner’s Thick-toed Gecko
Black Stork
A huge bush cricket (Clonia wahlbergii) that shared our open-air shower at Mapungubwe National Park
Diederik Cuckoo
Common Diadem (male)
Green-winged Pytilia (male)
African Migrant (Butterfly)
African Migrant (female form florella)
Little Bee-eater
Senegal Lapwing
Solifuge a.k.a. Sun Spider
Spotted Eagle Owl
Yellow-throated Plated Lizard
African Hawk Eagle
Free-tailed Bats roosting beneath the thatch at Mooiplaas’ ablutions
Lesser Striped Swallow
Sycomore Fig
Long-tailed Paradise Whydah
Male Red-backed Shrike (photo by Joubert)
Tree Creeper Scorpion
Green, or Red-billed, Wood-hoopoe
Variable Skink
Black-crowned Tchagra
Black-winged Stilt
Dung beetles
Little Swift reinforcing a nest
Spectacled Weaver
Patrician Blue
African Harrier Hawk
Common Dotted Border
Giant Plated Lizards
Matabele Ants
Ashy Flycatcher
Brown-crowned Tchagra
Forest Beauty
Fulvous Whistling Duck (photo by Joubert)
Red-faced Mousebird
Guttural Toad
Squacco Heron
Little Sparrowhawk
Brown Hyena at the junction of Thuthlwa and Tlou drives in Pilanesberg
Thick-billed Weaver
Greater Red Musk Shrew
Ghost Crabs
Crowned Eagle (captive)

Merry Christmas!

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We’re wishing all our friends here at de Wets Wild a Blessed Christmas!

Here’s just a few of the festive decorations we found in the past few days adorning the trees (and bushes and shrubs and grasses and all other manner of plants) in the national parks of the Western Cape. I can’t pretend to know even most of their names, but I’m sure you’ll agree that they’re all stunningly beautiful!

Unidentified blooms at Ebb-and-Flow
Large Yellow Eulophia (Eulophia speciosa) at Ebb-and-Flow, identified with the kind assistance of Carol from Nature Back In
Natal Plum (or Large Num-num) flower
White Bristle Bush
Glossy Currant berries
Pelargonium
Unidentified flower
Unidentified flower
Ertjieblom (identified with the kiind assistance of Bonnita Hill)
Wild Camphor Bush
Grass Flower-heads
Common Arum Lily
Unidentified flower
Large Wild Iris
Unidentified flower
Unidentified flower
Water droplets on a blade of grass
Unidentified flower
Cross-berry
Common Star-Apple
Common Star-Apple
Grass Flower-head
Common Star-Apple
Unidentified flower
Sour Fig
Water droplets on aloe leaves
Wild Plum
Cape Chestnut
Unidentified blooms in Wilderness
Intricately patterned geranium leaves
Vygies
Vygies
I’m still trying to identify the tree bearing these fruit
Not sure about the identity of these flowers either
Not sure about the identity of these flowers either
Not sure about the identity of this plant either
Pincushion
Not sure about the identity of these flowers either
Sugarbush (Protea repens) at Bontebok National Park
Yellow Bush cones (Leucadendron salignum) in Bontebok National Park
Broom Cluster Fig
Bush-tick Berry or Bietou
Cape Chestnut

 

Watching a Common Moorhen chick grow up

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Over the past several weeks we’ve been fortunate to watch the resident pair of Common Moorhen raise their chick at the little pond in the centre of our local Moreletakloof Nature Reserve.

We first noticed the parent pair with more regularity in late August, with the onset of warmer spring weather. Soon after, we had our first glimpse of the chick and since have returned to visit as regularly as we could – the dam always featuring on our hike at some point and usually we’re lucky to get at least a glimpse of the chick. The rate at which it has has grown is absolutely astounding and it will soon be independent of its parents.

Common Moorhen parent
Common Moorhen parent
Common Moorhen parent
Common Moorhen parent
Common Moorhen chick on 4 September 2020
Common Moorhen chick on 4 September 2020
Common Moorhen chick on 4 September 2020
Common Moorhen chick on 10 September 2020 being fed by one of its parents
Common Moorhen chick on 10 September 2020
Common Moorhen chick on 10 September 2020 being fed by one of its parents
Common Moorhen chick on 10 September 2020 being fed by one of its parents
Common Moorhen chick on 24 September 2020
Common Moorhen chick on 24 September 2020 being fed by one of its parents
Common Moorhen chick on 24 September 2020
Common Moorhen chick on 24 September 2020
Common Moorhen chick on 15 October 2020
Common Moorhen chick on 15 October 2020
Common Moorhen chick on 15 October 2020

Pilanesberg for a day

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Yesterday, Joubert and I slipped away for a day visit to the Pilanesberg National Park. We’ll soon be telling you all about our amazing day in the bushveld, but until then we’ll share this little teaser of what’s in store.

Lions preying on buffalo in the Pilanesberg National Park
Lions preying on buffalo in the Pilanesberg National Park

 

World Wildlife Day 2020

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We can’t think of a better way to celebrate World Wildlife Day than to look back at the 64 species of South African wildlife we gave special attention to here at de Wets Wild over the past year.

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!

Garden Commodore (wet season colouration)
Black-collared Barbet
Cape Batis (female)
Boomslang
Drakensberg Malachite
Olive Thrush
Golden-breasted Bunting
River Lily
Cape Turtle Dove
Common Blue (Leptotes sp)
Jackal Buzzard
Speckled Rock Skink
White-rumped Swift
Highveld Cabbage Trees
African Olive Pigeon
Rainforest Brown butterfly
Levaillant’s Cisticola
Southern Rock Agama
Cape Canary
Common Tree Ferns
Male Greater Double-collared Sunbird
Yellow Pansy butterfly
African Hoopoe
Common River Frog
Common Sugarbush
Garden Acraea on exotic lantana
Rock Monitor
Male Southern Double-collared Sunbird
Ouhout leaves
Drakensberg Prinia
Gurney’s Sugarbird
Forest Canary
Rock Kestrel
Capped Wheatear
Cape Bunting
Cape Crow
Yellow-billed Oxpecker
Mopane leaves are uniquely butterfly- or spoor-shaped
Olive Sunbird
Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele
Red-billed Teal
Beautiful impala lily flowers
Flap-necked Chameleon
Bennett’s Woodpecker (male)
African Monarch butterfly
Kurrichane Thrush
Sausage Tree Fruit
Purple-crested Turaco
Red Toad at home outside our cottage
White-crowned Lapwing
Brown-veined White
Yellow-throated Bush Sparrow
Velvet Ant female – This flightless wasp mimics an ant whle searching for unsuspecting prey.
Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird
Black-bellied Bustard
Citrus Swallowtail
Orange-breasted Bush Shrike
Large-spotted Genet in Tamboti
Martial Eagle
Common Dwarf Gecko
Sabota Lark
Sickle Bush flowers
Emerald-spotted Wood Dove
Two-pip Policeman (butterfly)

Our 2019 in pictures

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Looking back at all the places we stayed in while exploring South Africa’s wild places in 2019!

Cottage 27, Glen Reenen Rest Camp, Golden Gate Highlands National Park, March 2019
Thendele Cottage #12, Royal Natal National Park, March 2019
Giant’s Castle, Unit 7, uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, March 2019
Thutong Environmental Education Centre, Marakele NP, April 2019
Pretoriuskop Bungalow 116, May 2019
Hut # 2 at Skukuza’s Nwaswitshaka Research Camp
Camping at Shingwedzi, Kruger National Park, June 2019
Giant’s Castle, Unit 26, uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, June 2019
Camping at Crocodile Bridge, Kruger National Park, September 2019
Tamboti Tented Camp, Tent # 6, December 2019
Camping at Satara, Kruger National Park, December 2019-January 2020

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

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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 African (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 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