Category Archives: Events

World Wildlife Day 2025

In celebration of World Wildlife Day we take a look back at the 53 species of Southern African wildlife we featured in detail here at DeWetsWild through the past twelve months.

Zitting Cisticola

Large Striped Swordtail

Cape Teal

Natal Plum / Large Num-num

Blue-billed Teal

Perennial Glasswort

Marbled Leaf-toed Gecko

African Reed Warbler

Marsh Owl

Sandman Butterfly

Southern Pochard (photo by Joubert)

Pea Blue butterflies

Willow Warbler (photo by Joubert)

Caspian Tern

Purple Roller (photo by Joubert)

Broad-billed Roller

Large-leaved Dragon Plant

Streaky-headed Seedeater

Little Bittern

African death’s-head hawkmoth

Freshwater Crab

Chimpanzee

Little Blenny fish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Common Tree Euphorbia in fruit

Bushveld Candelabra Euphorbia

Wild Date Palm blowing in the wind

Barn Swallow

Marico Flycatcher

Veined Tip

Red-sided Skink

Ground Pangolin

Red-capped Lark

Black-striped Hairtail

Spotted-necked Otter

Knob Thorn

Millipede

Striped Skaapsteker

Red-billed Spurfowl

African Veined White slurping nectar from an Impala Lily flower

Flat-crown Tree

Common Scimitarbill

Gemsbok walking through Wild Rosemary (aka Kapokbos) in seed

Star Lily (Hypoxis) flowers

Bradfield’s Hornbill

Chocolate Bells

Common Brown Water Snake

Buff-streaked Chat

Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins

Fairy Flycatcher

Karoo Toad

Ludwig’s Bustard

Common Milkweed Locust

Barn Owl

Finally seeing a Pangolin in the wild!

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Last month, while travelling between Elephant Sands Lodge and the Sua Pan in Botswana during Gospel on Safari, a life-long dream of mine was realised when I finally had the chance to see a Pangolin in the wild!

Ground Pangolin

Ground Pangolin scales

Ground Pangolin rolling into a protective ball

Smutsia temminckii – The Ground Pangolin

Sadly, the Ground Pangolin is being threatened with extinction and is currently listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. Like other kinds of pangolin their populations are being driven downward by illegal trade for mainly superstitious medicinal uses and as a high-end delicacy. Farming practices, electric fences and road deaths are further threats to these enigmatic animals. In South Africa today they’re found mainly in the Northern Cape, North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and northern KZN, with populations in the Eastern Cape and Free State now feared extinct, while their natural distribution stretches beyond our borders as far north as Chad and Sudan.

Fully grown Ground Pangolins measure between 70 and 110cm in length, stand about 30cm high on all fours and weigh between 5 and 18kg, with males being considerably bigger than females. They feed on ants and termites, breaking open their nests with the powerful claws on their front feet and lapping the insects up with a tongue that is longer than the Pangolin’s body! They inhabit any habitat that has an ample supply of their favoured food items, being found from semi-deserts to the edge of forests. They do not need to drink.

As their name suggests, Ground Pangolins are strictly earthbound. They rest in tunnels that they dig themselves or take over from other animals. They plug the entrance to the tunnel from inside when using it. If caught outside they will roll up into a tight ball, their hard, sharp scales serving as excellent protection. Pangolins have wonderful senses of hearing and smell, but poor eyesight, and are solitary animals except when mating or when a mother is with her offspring. Females give birth to a single baby at a time, which she carries around with her on her tail for much of the first months of its life. They live to about 12 years of age in the wild.

Gospel on Safari: Sua Pan

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Early in June I had the enormous privilege of spending 9 days at and around Elephant Sands Lodge, located near Nata in north-eastern Botswana, participating in Gospel on Safari where I and eleven other believers spent time with our Creator and His Word in the most amazingly unspoiled natural surroundings. Without a question it was one of the most impactful experiences of my life and I am immensely grateful for and humbled by all that was revealed to us, both physically and spiritually.

One of our nights was spent sleeping out in the open under the stars on the enormously empty expanse of Sua (sometimes spelt Sowa) Pan. The next day we explored more of the pan and its surroundings, making it as far as Kubu Island, a rocky outcrop covered by baobab trees and surrounded by a sea of salty emptiness.

Camping under the stars on Sua Pan

On the horizon lies our campsite on Sua Pan, surrounded by emptiness

A little island of stingy grass and a lone thorn tree on the enormous expanse of Sua Pan

Baobab on the way to Kubu Island

Kubu Island

Herd of Red Hartbeest on the edge of Sua Pan

One of the biggest highlights of the trip was an encounter with an enigmatic animal that I’ve longed to see my whole life. More about that soon!

Watching Black Mambas at Domtshetshu Pan in Botswana

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While camping near Domtshetshu Pan in Botswana recently, as part of Gospel on Safari, I took a stroll towards a muddy part of the waterhole, where I found two Black Mambas – one of the deadliest species of snake on the planet – wallowing in the mud, drinking from little pools and being very coy with each other. The snakes paid me no notice at all, making me think that they probably have never seen a human before – what an amazing thought! Later, one of my fellow campers joined me at the sighting and still the snakes acted as if we weren’t even there.

Black Mamba

Black Mamba trail

Gospel on Safari: Domtshetshu Pan

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For three nights, with special permission granted by Botswana’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks, our group camped out in the wild at a waterhole called Domtshetshu Pan. The sense of freedom, space and wonderment was amazing!

The cutline leading to Domtshetshu

Camping at Domtshetshu Pan

Foxy Emperor Butterfly

Elephant from ground level

lephant from ground level

Elephant Silhouettes

Elephant Silhouette

Domtshetshu Pan

Domtshetshu Pan mud cracks

Elephant bulls after enjoying a muddy portion of the waterhole

Elephant bull after enjoying a muddy portion of the waterhole

Elephant bulls in procession

Elephant bull drinking

Joker Butterfly

African Migrant butterfly

Kudu cow and calf

Giraffes got a fright at my approach

Cape Turtle Doves gathering for a drink

Magpie Shrikes

Golden-breasted Bunting

Unidentified Pipit

Red-billed Spurfowl

White-browed Sparrow Weaver

Southern Pied Babbler

Camel Thorn

Domtshetshu Pan was the site of one of my most memorable wildlife encounters ever, and I will tell you more about it in the next installment!

Gospel on Safari: Elephant Sands

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Located just off the A33 main road linking Nata and Kasane, Elephant Sands offers accommodation and camping at the main lodge as well as a very comfortable bushcamp a few kilometers deeper into the bush. Both are unfenced and frequented by a wide range of wildlife day and night. The main lodge’s campsites and units, as well as the main building housing the swimming pool, restaurant, bar and curio shop, surrounds a waterhole that is supplied with pumped water and is a real magnet to elephants and a wide variety of birds. The bushcamp – Eco Lodge – has a plunge pool and 12 comfortable two-sleeper tents serviced from a large kitchen and open plan dining area that also overlooks a pump-fed waterhole.

Elephants drinking from the waterhole in Elephant Sands Lodge

Camping at Elephant Sands

Elephant Sands’ Eco Lodge

Elephant drinking from the pool at Elephant Sands’ Eco Lodge

Red-billed Spurfowl

Bradfield’s Hornbill

Immature Shikra

Cape Turtle Doves drinking from the waterhole at Elephant Sands

Burchell’s Sandgrouse

Flocks of Sandgrouse drinking from the waterhole at Elephant Sands

Pied Crows

African Red-eyed Bulbul

Speckled Pigeon

Sunrise over the waterhole at Elephant Sands’ Eco Lodge

Red-billed Teal

Blacksmith Lapwing

Cape Teal in flight

White-crowned Shrike

Crimson-breasted Shrike

Tsamma fruit

Elephant Sands serves as an excellent base from which to explore the immense wilderness that surrounds it in all directions, and wildlife viewing is especially rewarding at and around many of the waterholes that are currently being provided with pumped water, seeing as Botswana is being hard hit by one of the worst droughts ever recorded in the country.

Early morning at a waterhole near Elephant Sands

Elephant and Leadwood

Elephants abound in northern Botswana

Sandgrouse, doves and elephant sharing a waterhole

African Wild Cat

Black-backed Jackal

Kudus, impalas and ostriches sharing a waterhole

Mummified juvenile Boomslang found in a thorny shrub

Giraffe

Blacksmith Lapwing

Bradfield’s Hornbill

Cape Glossy Starling

Cape Teals

Fork-tailed Drongo

Impala

White-backed Vulture

White-crowned Shrike

Pied Crow

Red-billed Spurfowl

Red-crested Korhaan

Burchell’s Sandgrouse in flight

Burchell’s Sandgrouse in formation

Female Burchell’s Sandgrouse

Yellow-billed Hornbill

Our group spent three nights “wild camping” at one such waterhole, called Domtshetshu Pan, and I will tell you more about that experience in the next installment!

World Wildlife Day 2024

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In celebration of World Wildlife Day we take a look back at the 75 species of South African wildlife we featured in detail here at DeWetsWild through the past twelve months.

Sundowner Moth

Grey Plover

Silver Tree

Cape Shoveler

Gaboon adder (captive)

Lesser Flamingoes

Greater Flamingo in flight

Springhare jumping aroun in Bontle Camp after dark

Ruddy Turnstone

Namaqua Sandgrouse

Pincushion

Small-striped Swordtail (photo by Joubert)

Botterboom (Tylecodon paniculatus)

Bank Cormorant

Crowned Cormorant

Blue Duiker

Common Whimbrel

Cape Girdled Lizard

Ground Agama

Male Southern Black Korhaan

Curlew Sandpipers

Cape Chestnut flowers

Kittlitz’s Plover

Cape Hare

Klipfish

Pied Avocets

Southern Lechwe Ram

Kelp

Common Greenshank

Common Platanna moving over dry land after a rain storm in the Karoo

Mole Snake (photo by Joubert)

Agapanthus

Tigerfish (National Zoological Gardens, Pretoria)

Antlion larvae

Violet-eared Waxbill (photo by Joubert)

Foxy Emperor butterfly

Cape Porcupine

Bearded Woodpecker

Streaked Sailer butterfly

Puff adder, poised to strike

Aardwolf

Orange-breasted Sunbird on a Pincushion flower

Spekboom leaves

Topaz Spotted Blue

Swee Waxbill (photo by Joubert)

Clicking Stream Frog

Large-billed Lark

Grey-backed Cisticola

Marico Sunbird

Incognito Thread Snake

Chestnut-backed Sparrowlark

Grey-backed Sparrow Lark (male and chick)

Eyed Pansy

Karoo Num-num flowers

Forest Num-num

Common Carp

Yellow Canary

Acacia Pied Barbet

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

Lesser Moorhen

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

Humpbacked Whale tail-slamming off St. Lucia

Garden Fruit Chafer

Red-collared Widowbird

Fan-tailed Widowbird

Yellow-billed Egret

Whiskered Tern

Coqui Francolin (male)

Beautiful Blue Water Lily

White Water Lily in Skukuza

Grey-headed Bush-shrike (photo by Joubert)

Male Village Indigobird

Pearl-spotted Emperor

Plumbago in bloom

Red-billed Firefinch

A prized Rhino sighting in Manyeleti, just in time for World Rhino Day

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Today is World Rhino Day. The ongoing war against rhino poaching still features in the headlines all over the world and unfortunately it is seldom good news. As the numbers continue to dwindle sightings of these enigmatic creatures in our wild places are getting ever more scarce. That’s probably the reason why this wonderful encounter we had with a White Rhino bull in the Manyeleti Nature Reserve when we visited earlier in September is so precious and memorable.

White Rhino bull in the Manyeleti Nature Reserve

Don’t miss the chance to visit Manyeleti along with DeWetsWild and Hannes Rossouw Photography!

World Wildlife Day 2023

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In celebration of World Wildlife Day we take a look back at the 67 species of South African wildlife we featured in detail here at de Wets Wild through the past twelve months.

Albany, or Striped, Sandveld Lizard at Jack’s Picnic Spot

Malachite Kingfisher

Giant Carrion Flower (Stapelia gigantea)

Sulphur Orange Tip

Black Monkey Orange

Green Monkey Orange

Pygmy Hippo

Spotted Flycatcher

Scarlet Tip

Silver Cluster-leaf

Southern White-crowned Shrike

Vine-leaf Vagrant

Honeybee and honeysuckle

Giant Kingfisher

Tailed Black-eye Butterfly

Convict Surgeonfish in a rock pool at Cape Vidal

Mountain Wagtail

Ant-heap Whites

Kudu Lily

European Nightjar

Banded Gold Tip

Pel’s Fishing Owl (photo by Joubert)

Eastern Rock Sengi, or Elephant Shrew, at Lenong Viewpoint in Marakele National Park

Yellow-spotted Rock Dassie, or Hyrax (photo by Joubert)

Black-faced Waxbill

Meves’s Starling

Large-leaved Rock Fig

Grey-backed Camaroptera

Bushveld Gardenia fruit

Rattling Cisticola

Natal Acraea butterfly

Sunrise over Imfolozi with a Marula in silhouette

Yellow-breasted Apalis

Painted Lady

Giant land snail

Jacobin Cuckoo (Black Morph)

Zebra White butterfly

Weeping Wattle blooms

Great Spotted Cuckoo

Brown Commodore, aka Brown Pansy

Side-striped Jackal

Redbreast Tilapia in Nsumo Pan

African Small White butterfly on Karoo Num-num flowers

Pill-millipede

European Honey Buzzard

Dusky Copper butterfly

Male Buff-spotted Flufftail

Narina Trogon

White-backed Ducks

Candy-striped Crinum flowers

Male Subantarctic Fur Seal on the shore at Cape Vidal after a heavy storm

Green Malkoha

African Pygmy Geese (photo by Niel de Wet)

Tailor Ant nest

Green Twinspot

Southern Banded Snake Eagle (photo by Niel de Wet)

Rufous-winged Cisticola

Collared Pratincole

Yellow Weaver

Cape Fur Seals

Eastern Grey Squirrel at the Tokai Picnic Site

Lark-like Bunting

Four-colour Nudibranch (Godiva quadricolor)

Karoo Chat

Soldier Pansy

Rich floral diversity at the Cape of Good Hope – these white flowers are known as Cape Snow (Syncarpha vestita)

Rock Martin

Ten years of de Wets Wild!

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Today marks the tenth anniversary of de Wets Wild‘s “birth”.

We’re grateful for the very many friends we made along the way and for all your kindness and encouragement. Thank you.

What better way to celebrate this milestone than taking a quick tour through the wild places of the beautiful country that inspired this blog to begin with!?