A beautiful day to spend on a deserted beach here at Cape Vidal!
And the post delayed by a day due to a tardy national electricity provider…
Summertide Rambles 18 January 2021
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Category Archives: Kwazulu Natal Province
Summertide Rambles 17 January 2021
Today we had to play chicken with an old buffalo bull on our way to a view point here on the Eastern Shores of Lake Saint Lucia in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. Don’t worry; he won the staring contest and we gave him all the time and space he needed…
Summertide Rambles, Act 2 – 16 January 2021
After 2 weeks hiatus in Pretoria we’re off on the next adventure of our Summertide Rambles. This is the beach at beautifully wild Cape Vidal, in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park on the north coast of Kwazulu-Natal Province. Not exactly swimming weather, but great to be able to have feet on the beach for a change and not only have to stare at it longingly from a distance…
Heavy skies above the beach at Cape Vidal
Mountain folk
There’s so much more animal life occurring in the mountainous habitats of the Royal Natal National Park than the butterflies we’ve already shown you, many of them wonderfully adapted to the harsh environmental extremes at these altitudes.
African Firefinch
African Hoopoe
Female Baboon in oestrus
Marbled Fruit Chafer
Bushbuck lamb
Bushbuck ewe
Cape Robin Chat
Cape Wagtail
Common River Frog
Common River Frog
Familiar Chat
Fiscal Flycatcher
Freshwater Crab
Golden Orb-web Spider female with prey
Golden Orb-web Spider – male top left, female bottom right
Groundscraper Thrush
Guttural Toad
Bushbuck ewe
Guineafowl chick (photo by Joubert)
Helmeted Guineafowl (photo by Joubert)
Guineafowl chick (photo by Joubert)
Lazy Cisticola
Mountain Malachite Damselfly
Olive Pigeon
Olive Thrush
Olive Woodpecker
Red-winged Starlings
Swamp Bluet
Mating Swamp Bluets
Variable Skink
This African Wood Owl woke Marilize and me up for some bird-watching at 3am!
Feeling small in the Drakensberg
“This mountain, the arched back of the earth risen before us, it made me feel humble, like a beggar, just lucky to be here at all, even briefly.” (Bridget Asher)
Do the mountains have the same profound impact on you as it does for us?
“These mountains, which have seen untold sunrises, long to thunder praise but stand reverent, silent so that man’s weak praise should be given God’s attention.” (Donald Miller)
The trout dam at Mahai, with Dooley Mountain and the Drakensberg’s Amphitheatre forming the backdrop
At the Queen’s Causeway on the trail to the Cascades
At the Queen’s Causeway on the trail to the Cascades
At the Queen’s Causeway on the trail to the Cascades
At sunrise, looking back from the Cascades on the Mahai River
The Cascades on the Mahai River
The Cascades on the Mahai River
The Cascades on the Mahai River
The Cascades on the Mahai River
The Cascades on the Mahai River
The Cascades on the Mahai River
The Mahai Stream from the Visitor Centre, with Dooley Mountain and Tiger Falls in the background
A tranquil stretch on the Mahai stream
The view from Thendele towards the Amphitheatre and Tugela River on an overcast morning
Dooley Mountain, with Tiger Falls barely visible in the kloof
Looking up at Dooley Mountain rising above Mahai
Above the Mahai Valley, looking past Dooley Mountain towards the Amphitheatre
A bouquet from the ‘Berg
The mountainous grasslands and forested riverbanks around Mahai in the Royal Natal National Park are adorned by the most beautiful, though hardy, plants – a treat to even the most amateurish of botanists like me; so if you can help with identifying most of these beauties I’d be forever in your debt (I know at least that mushrooms aren’t plants, strictly speaking…)
Everlasting (Helichrysum-species)
Helichrysum-species
Everlasting (Helichrysum-species)
Everlasting (Helichrysum-species)
Highveld Cabbage Tree in flower
Mushroom at the Cascades
Mushroom at the Cascades
River Lily
River Lily
Wild Flowers of Royal Natal
Wild Flowers of Royal Natal
Wild Flowers of Royal Natal
Wild Flowers of Royal Natal
Wild Flowers of Royal Natal
Wild Flowers of Royal Natal
Wild Flowers of Royal Natal
Female cones of the Real Yellowwood (Podocarpus latifolius)
Real Yellowwood (Podocarpus latifolius)
The hills are alive… with butterflies!
I know this is a post that will be very pleasing to several of our regular followers!
With bright sunshine and warm autumn weather in the Drakensberg the butterflies come out to play in their numbers, and we go chasing them with camera in hand. These little beauties were all fluttering around Mahai in the Royal Natal National Park on Monday.
African Monarch
Common Blue (Leptotes sp)
Forest Beauty
Gaudy Commodore (dry season form)
Green-banded Swallowtail
Green-banded Swallowtail
Marsh Commodore
Rainforest Brown
Yellow Pansy
Picturesque Camping at Mahai
Mahai is the larger of the two camping areas at Royal Natal National Park, and there aren’t very many camping sites that can compete with it for scenic beauty!
Camping at Mahai in the Royal Natal National Park
Camping at Mahai in the Royal Natal National Park, March 2020
Isolation, the way we like it…
With South Africa preparing for a nationwide “lock-down” of a minimum three week duration in the face of the global pandemic, we’ve returned from the Drakensberg grateful for having had a chance to recharge our batteries in beautiful natural surroundings. We’ll be sharing many more photos from our latest trip in days to come and hope that they’ll bring you as much joy as the memories will for us in these trying times.
God bless you and keep you.
Fresh air and fresh water at Royal Natal
With a massive storm looming over the Drakensberg this evening we can look back on another fun-filled day in the great outdoors at Royal Natal.
Reflections at Mahai
The Cascades in the Mahai stream
DeWetsWild 