We’ve been having loads of rain in Pretoria since mid-December and our local Rietvlei Nature Reserve has turned into a lush green paradise where even rhinos and buffalo can disappear among the tall grass, in striking contrast to the fire-ravaged veld in early spring. The reserve was even closed due to flooding for a few days in February! Nature’s resilience is remarkable! The month of February marks a year since I started guiding guests on drives and walks through this special reserve on a freelance basis, and in conjunction with Hannes Rossouw Photography we presented another “introduction to wildlife photography” workshop for aspirant wildlife photographers from Gauteng at the reserve in February as well.

Early morning at Rietvlei, on my way to meet my guests for the morning drive

Sunrise at Rietvlei

Sooty Blue butterfly pair

Speckled Rock Skink

Speckled Rock Skink

Mosquito Fish

Mosquito Fish

Common Diadem butterfly

Swainson’s Spurfowl landing on a dead branch

Storm building over Rietvlei

Storm building over Rietvlei

Heading home in the evening

The young Black-chested Snake Eagle is venturing further afield of the nest in which it was raised, though still returning to it regularly. I haven’t seen its parents at the nest at all during January and February, and suspect they’re probably coaxing the youngster to roam more widely by feeding it at other places.

Adult Black-chested Snake Eagle

Juvenile Black-chested Snake Eagle

Juvenile Black-chested Snake Eagle

Juvenile Black-chested Snake Eagle

Aside from the Black-chested Snake Eagles, Rietvlei’s grasslands, thorny thickets and wetlands are positively bursting at the seams with a wide-variety of other birds, several of them in enormous numbers.

African Black Duck

African Darter

African Quail Finch

African Stonechat

Amur Falcon

Banded Martin

Black-chested Prinia

Bokmakierie

Cape Grassbird

Cape Longclaw

Cape Longclaw

Cattle Egret

Crowned Lapwing

Diederik Cuckoo

Fan-tailed Widowbird

Giant Kingfisher

Hamerkop

Orange-breasted Waxbills

Ostriches dustbathing

Ostriches

Ostriches females in a tiff

Pin-tailed Whydah male displaying to the female

Pin-tailed Whydah

Red Bishop

Red-billed Quelea

Red-collared Widowbird

Red-throated Wryneck

Red-throated Wryneck

Reed Cormorant

Rufous-naped Lark

Southern Masked weaver

Spotted Thick-knee

Spotted Thick-knee

Wattled Lapwing

Willow Warbler

Yellow-billed Duck

Yellow-billed Duck

Yellow-fronted Canary

Zitting Cisticola

List of birds seen at Rietvlei in January and February 2025:

The tall grass and lush vegetation is making it very difficult to see most of the mammals and especially the smaller kinds. One exception is the zebras, seeming to now prefer the reserve’s roads for walking from one grazing area to the next and giving me and my guests wonderful up-close encounters with these beautiful animals.

Black-backed Jackal with a bullfrog

Black Wildebeest

Blesbok

Buffalo

Plains Zebras

Plains Zebras

Plains Zebra

Plains Zebra female and foal

Plains Zebra foal getting a tail in the face

Plains Zebra

Plains Zebra

Plains Zebras

Red Hartebeest calf

Eland running across the road

List of mammals seen at Rietvlei in January and February 2025:

If you’d like to join me on a guided tour of Rietvlei – on a hike or on an open vehicle drive – you can book through melanie@rietvleicoffee.co.za / +27(0)74-820-9926.

Summer has now firmly returned to our part of the world and our local Rietvlei Nature Reserve has turned into a green paradise boasting with a wide variety of colourful blooms. What a pleasure it was conducting guided drives through landscapes so vibrant with life this past month!

Serene scenic spot in Rietvlei Nature Reserve

Large herd of Eland

Hypoxis flowers

Hypoxis flowers dotting a recently burned grassland

Wild Penstemom (Graderia-sp)

Chocolate Bells

Chocolate Bells

Sweet Thorn blossoms

Sweet Thorn tree in bloom

Helichrysum species

Rorippa species

Red-hot Poker (Kniphofia) species

Gnidia species

Ipomoea species

Bloubietou

Poison Bulb (Boophane)

Solanum species

Solanum species

Doll’s Powderpuff

Fine-leaved Verbena (naturalised weed from South America)

Clerodendrum species

Berkheya species

Dog Rose (must be a garden escapee)

Unidentified bloom

Bloumelkbos

All around birds are nesting and many males are sporting their splendid breeding plumage, showing off their finery, doing display flights and singing loudly to attract their mate’s attention.

Rufous-naped Lark

Cattle Egret

Northern Black Korhaan male displaying

Long-tailed Widowbird

Southern Red Bishop male in breeding plumage

Southern Masked Weaver

Pin-tailed Whydah male

Red-collared Widowbird

Whiskered Tern

These Glossy Starling males were caught in the midst of a bloody fight, which could only be about a female or a prime nesting site – or both!

Cape Glossy Starlings in a vicious fight

Cape Glossy Starlings in a vicious fight

Cape Glossy Starlings in a vicious fight

The spring season has brought a baby boom to Rietvlei! From tiny lapwing chicks and newly hatched leopard tortoises to the newest addition to Rietvlei’s rhino population; these cute little creatures are sure to make your heart melt!

White Rhino calf

White Rhino calf

Crowned Lapwing chicks

Crowned Lapwing chick

Crowned Lapwing chick

Ostrich family with newly hatched chicks

Baby Ostrich

Red Hartebeest with newborn calf

Black-backed Jackal pup

Newborn buffalo

Eland calves with the herd

Newly hatched Leopard Tortoise

Zebra foal

Curious baby Yellow Mongoose

White Rhino calf

The resident pair of Black-chested Snake Eagles are also nesting again and providing a steady stream of serpentine sustenance to their new chick.

Black-chested Snake Eagles at their nest

Black-chested Snake Eagles at their nest

Black-chested Snake Eagles at their nest

Black-chested Snake Eagles at their nest

Black-chested Snake Eagles at their nest

Black-chested Snake Eagles at their nest

After the first heavy rain shower at the end of October, Sharp-tooth Catfish started congregating at Otter Bridge, ready to move into their spawning grounds in the marshy area upstream.

Sharptooth Catfish at Otter Bridge

Sharptooth Catfish at Otter Bridge

Sharptooth Catfish at Otter Bridge

We’re also now seeing lots of insects and reptiles out and about on the reserve thanks to the warm weather.

Speckled Rock Skink

Leopard Tortoise

Nile Monitor

Green Milkweed Locust

List of mammals seen at Rietvlei in October & November 2024:

Plains Zebras

Plains Zebras

Plains Zebras

Black-backed Jackal

Black Wildebeest

Blesbok

Black Wildebeest

Black-backed Jackal

Yellow Mongoose

Black-backed Jackal and Blesbok

Meerkat

Waterbuck

Waterbuck

Eland

Blesbok

Eland on the run

List of birds seen at Rietvlei in October & November 2024:

Ostrich

Red-billed Teals

Common Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Northern Black Korhaan male

Capped Wheatear

Banded Martin

Cape White-eye

Fiscal Flycatcher

White-throated Swallow

Spotted Dikkop

Capped Wheatear

Black-crowned Tchagra

Pied Crow

Ostrich

African Black Duck

Cape Grassbird

Capped Wheatear

Willow Warbler

Willow Warbler

Ostrich

Bokmakierie

Cattle Egret

Northern Black Korhaan

Cape Grassbird

Ostrich Male

European Bee-eater

Rufous-naped Lark

Female Pin-tailed Whydah

Female Pin-tailed Whydah

Levaillant’s Cisticola

African Darter

African Darter

Black-headed Heron

Malachite Kingfisher

Banded Martin

Yellow-billed Duck

Yellow-billed Duck

If you’d like to join me on a guided tour of Rietvlei – on a hike or on an open vehicle drive – you can book through melanie@rietvleicoffee.co.za / +27(0)74-820-9926.

I can’t believe how quickly August has flown past but I am very grateful that tomorrow represents the start of the Spring season in South Africa!

It’s time for another update from our local Rietvlei Nature Reserve where I’ve guided several drives this past month. Early in the month the reserve suffered a terrible fire that started along a public road on its eastern border and was then pushed into the reserve by a strong wind. Thankfully no infrastructure was damaged and no animals killed, and the grasslands of the highveld are very resilient to fire – already the green growth is sprouting!

Shortly after the fire we found this African Hoopoe searching for charred insects, with some success!

African Hoopoe searching for burned insects on charred grassland

African Hoopoe searching for burned insects on charred grassland

African Hoopoe searching for burned insects on charred grassland

African Hoopoe searching for burned insects on charred grassland

African Hoopoe searching for burned insects on charred grassland

The warmer weather has encouraged mating behaviour in the reserve’s Ostriches and we’ll have a boom in their population pretty soon!

Ostrich male “dancing” for the female

Ostrich male “dancing” for the female

Ostrich male “dancing” for the female

The female relents…

Mating ostriches

Mating ostriches

Rietvlei’s bird population as always provided wonderful viewing and photography opportunities. I ticked 83 species in August.

African Snipe

Bokmakierie

Cape Longclaw

Capped Wheatear

Common Moorhen

Common Moorhen

Common Moorhen

Common Dikkop (aka Thick-knee)

Crimson-breasted Shrike

Crowned Lapwing

Crowned Lapwings and Pied Starlings at an ants nest

Karoo Thrush

Levaillant’s Cisticola

Long-tailed Widowbird

Ostrich face

Reed Cormorant

Rufous-naped Lark

Southern Red Bishop

Southern Red Bishop female

Southern Boubou

Speckled Mousebirds

Swainson’s Spurfowl

Swainson’s Spurfowl

Wattled Lapwing

The fact that Rietvlei sustains healthy populations of large African mammals within sight of the capital city’s southern suburbs is a wonderful boon to residents of Pretoria and surrounding towns and cities.

Blesbok

Buffalo family

Buffalo cow

Eland

Eland

Eland

Red Hartebeest

Red Hartebeest

Black-backed Jackal

Slender Mongoose

Spotted-necked Otter

Spotted-necked Otter

White Rhinos walking in the road

White Rhinoceros ear

White Rhinoceros tail

Waterbuck

Waterbuck

Black Wildebeest

Plains Zebra and Blesbok

Plains Zebra foal

Along with Hannes Rossouw Photography we’re presenting an introductory wildlife photography session for new photographers early in September at Rietvlei and interest has been so healthy that we’ll soon organise another session or two – get in touch if you’d like to be added to the mailing list!

List of mammals I’ve seen on Rietvlei in August 2024:

List of birds I’ve seen on Rietvlei in August 2024:

If you’d like to join me on a guided tour of Rietvlei – on a hike or on an open vehicle drive – you can book through melanie@rietvleicoffee.co.za / +27(0)74-820-9926.