Category Archives: Memorable sightings

Rhino Social Media

White rhino bulls use dung middens to communicate their presence and demarcate their territories. They’ll also kick around in the middens to transfer the scent onto their feet and then spread it throughout their stomping grounds, communicating their ownership to interlopers.

White Rhino Territorial Demarcation

Encounters with Cheetahs at Imfolozi

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Many of our friends here at de Wets Wild are great fans of cheetahs, so they especially would be thrilled to know that we had three wonderful encounters with these lithe cats during our December visit to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.

Cheetah with a tracking-collar

Cheetah in the long grass

Cheetah with a tracking-collar causing a traffic-jam

Cheetah with a tracking-collar

Monkey Cuteness

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This tiny vervet monkey, playing with his toes and being amazed by the things he sees around him in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park’s Hilltop Camp, must be one of the cutest things I’ve seen in a long time!

The cutest monkey in Hilltop

This baboon youngster on the other hand reminds me of that evil doll Chucky…

Nest Building Secretarybirds

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A pair of Secretarybirds had just started building their platform-nest on top of a small tree near the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park’s Cengeni Gate when we visited in December. It was quite interesting to watch them searching the surrounding area for sticks and twigs to use in the construction.

Secretarybird nest building

Caterpillars and Cocoons at our Chalet

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It appeared our accommodation unit (#21) at Mpila (Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park) in December was some kind of magnet to some very large and very hairy caterpillars intent on spinning their cocoons in any available nook or cranny. We didn’t mind, of course, as the whole process is just so darn interesting!

Caterpillars and Cocoons at our Chalet

Cocoons at our Chalet

Bush Blackcap

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Lioptilus nigricapillus

Our December 2016 visit to Thendele in the Royal Natal National Park afforded us our first opportunity to photograph the Bush Blackcap, a rarely seen endemic South African bird with a very limited distribution along the Eastern Escarpment.

Bush Blackcap in Thendele

These small birds occur singly or in pairs in the dense canopy of mountain forests and their verges, moving down to coastal forests (and lush gardens) during winter. Breeding takes place in summer. They feed on fruits, berries and insects. The IUCN considers them “near threatened” due to a small population size (estimated at most around 5,000) and threats to their forest habitat.

Squatters at the lodgings

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From the moment we arrived at chalet 27 in Thendele Camp in the Royal Natal National Park in December, we just loved the unit’s setting. And we were not the only ones, as a pair of Greater Striped Swallows were diligently building their mud-walled nest on the veranda, quite unconcerned about the humans sitting below them and watching them go about the task.

Thendele Chalet 27, Royal Natal National Park, December 2016

Greater Striped Swallow bringing mud to build its nest on the veranda of Thendele’s unit 27

Greater Striped Swallows bringing mud to build their nest on the veranda of Thendele’s unit 27

Greater Striped Swallow bringing mud to build its nest on the veranda of Thendele’s unit 27

Proud builder

Departing to get some more building material

Drakensberg Dwarf Chameleon

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Bradypodion dracomontanum

Just as we arrived at Royal Natal National Park in the Drakensberg for our visit in December, Joubert noticed this laid-back little chameleon resting an elbow on a fence post in the campsite at Rugged Glen.

Turns out he (or she) is a Drakensberg Dwarf Chameleon, a species found only in the Drakensberg mountain range in Kwazulu-Natal Province, where they inhabit sheltered forests and bushes in alpine vegetation at altitudes of between 1,500 and 2,500m and feed on small insects. They grow to a length of only about 14cm. Interestingly, dwarf chameleon females give birth to between 5 and 20 live young that develop in eggs inside the female (known as ovivivipary).

The Victor and the Vanquished (Duel at first light – the series)

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Early into our December holidays, we came upon two black wildebeest bulls squaring off in a territorial tussle near the Basotho Cultural Village in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. At the onset they appeared evenly matched, sometimes wrestling each other right to the ground with their horns interlocked, entirely oblivious to the human spectators. Reasonably quickly one triumphed and sent his rival running, the entire fight lasting all of one exhilarating four minute long round.

Walking to the battle ground

Sizing up one another

Round 1! Black Wildebeest Duel

The victor and the vanquished

Golden Gate has a substantial population of black wildebeest, and is one of the best places to go searching for these endemic South African creatures.

Territorial Black Wildebeest bull that’s lost the tips of both his horns in fights!

Black wildebeest on the trot along Golden Gate’s game viewing circuit

Black wildebeest herd on a plateau

Black wildebeest calves

Kings of Addo

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Two male lions waited for us next to the road as we were driving from Addo‘s new, soon to be opened Nyathi Camp early on Friday morning. We may only have spent a few minutes in their audience, but the experience will remain a thrilling memory forever.