Category Archives: South African Wildlife

The inhabitants of South Africa’s wild places

Marula

19 Replies

Sclerocarya birrea

One of Africa’s most iconic trees, the Marula is widespread over sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. In South Africa it is found in Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and Northwest. It grows in savanna and woodland.

The Marula is a large tree, growing up to 18m tall, with a wide spreading crown. Its fruit and leaves are popular with a very wide range of animals, from moth larvae and rodents to giraffes and elephants.

Marula fruit are edible, either fresh or made into jam. Fermented it is used to make traditional beer and Marula cream liqueur is exported the world over. The nut is used as food by itself or mixed with vegetables. In traditional medicine various parts of the Marula tree is used to treat allergies, diarrhoea, rheumatism, haemorrhoids , constipation, even gonorrhoea. The wood is good enough to manufacture furniture and floors and strong rope can be made from the inside layer of the bark.

Marula tree
Marula tree
Marula Tree in Pretoriuskop
Marula Tree (photograph by Joubert)
Marula tree
Marula tree
Zebras and marulas outside Satara
Marula tree damaged by a foraging elephant
Marula fruit
Marula fruit
Sunrise over Imfolozi with a Marula in silhouette
Marula Tree in the first light of day

Natal Acraea Butterfly

28 Replies

Acraea natalica

The striking Natal Acraea is a medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan of between 5 and 7cm. In South Africa it occurs commonly through all our northern and eastern provinces, where it is found in forest and savanna habitats. Like most others in the genus the Natal Acraea flies slowly and settles often on flowers, its seemingly lackadaisical attitude being a clue to the fact that it is foul tasting and avoided by predators.

Natal Acraea
Natal Acraea
Natal Acraea
Natal Acraea butterfly
Natal Acraea butterfly
Natal Acraea
Natal Acraea butterfly
Natal Acraea butterfly
Natal Acraea butterfly
Natal Acraea butterfly
Natal Acraea
Natal Acraea
Natal Acraea

Rattling Cisticola

13 Replies

Cisticola chiniana

The Rattling Cisticola occurs in savannas, especially those dominated by thorny trees and bushes, and woodland. It feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates, but have also been observed taking nectar from aloes.

Rattling Cisticolas are usually seen in monogamous pairs or family groups, and breed in spring and summer. They construct ball-shaped nests near the ground in a shrub or tuft of grass. The female takes sole responsibility for incubating the clutch of 2-5 eggs for 2 weeks, with the chicks leaving the nest about the same length of time after hatching. Adults are approximately 15cm long and weigh around 16g.

According to the IUCN the Rattling Cisticola is of least concern, and it occurs from Ethiopia southwards. In South Africa it is commonly found through most of Kwazulu-Natal, in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng, North West, the eastern reaches of the Northern Cape and the north-western parts of the Free State, often being one of the most numerous bird species where they’re found.

Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola

Bushveld Gardenia

18 Replies

Gardenia volkensii

The Bushveld Gardenia is a small to medium-sized shrub or tree growing to a height of up to 10m and with its spreading branches often reaching down to the ground. The large, white flowers (older flowers turn yellow) have a sweet aroma and are carried from July to December. They open at night and are probably pollinated by moths. The leaves of the Bushveld Gardenia are browsed by a wide range of animals, including giraffes and kudus. The hard fruit ripen between December and April and are favoured by primates, antelope and elephants.

In traditional medicine the Bushveld Gardenia is used to treat intestinal parasites, while the hard wood is used for carving ornaments and utensils.

The Bushveld Gardenia grows in savanna and open woodland and in South Africa occurs through much of Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and North West Province.

Bushveld Gardenia
Bushveld Gardenia
Bushveld Gardenia bark
Bushveld Gardenia leaves
Bushveld Gardenia bloom
Bushveld Gardenia fruit
Bushveld Gardenia fruit
Bushveld Gardenia fruit
Bushveld Gardenia fruit

Grey-backed Camaroptera

20 Replies

Camaroptera brevicaudata

Many authorities, including the IUCN and Birdlife International, consider the Grey-backed Camaroptera to be the same species as the Green-backed Camaroptera (Camaroptera brachyura), and hybrids between the two are recorded from time-to-time. In South Africa the Grey-backed Camaroptera occurs mainly in the North West Province, Gauteng and Limpopo, where it inhabits thickets and riverine vegetation in the savanna biome and feeds on a wide variety of invertebrates. These are shy birds, usually encountered singly or in pairs, that rarely ventures from low, dense vegetation.

Their nests are constructed of living leaves woven and stitched together into a ball shape low to the ground in dense foliage. The nesting season stretches through spring and summer and into early autumn, with clutches of 2-4 eggs being incubated over a two week period. The chicks leave the nest when they’re approximately two weeks old – even before they can fly. Fully grown, the Grey-backed Camaroptera weighs around 10g and measure about 12cm long.

Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera (photo by Joubert)
Grey-backed Camaroptera (photo by Joubert)
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera (photo by Joubert)
Grey-backed Camaroptera (photo by Joubert)
Grey-backed Camaroptera

Large-leaved Rock Fig

25 Replies

Ficus abutilifolia

Seen growing on rocky outcrops and cliffs from northern Kwazulu-Natal through Mpumalanga and Limpopo to North West Province (and beyond our borders as far afield as Guinea in the west and Somalia in the north-east), the Large-leaved Rock Fig is an easily noticed and impressive tree not necessarily for its size but because it is capable of flourishing in apparently precarious locations and of splitting rocks with its roots. These trees seldom grow taller than 5m, though their roots can stretch up to 60m deep!

In keeping with many other kinds of fig, the Large-leaved Rock Fig is pollinated by wasps. Ripe fruit are much sought after by frugivorous birds, bats and primates (humans included!), and antelope and wild pigs are very fond of figs that have fallen to the ground. Though their use in a garden is limited due to the strong and expansive roots, these trees work excellently as bonsai.

Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
A small Large-leaved Rock Fig getting a grip on its rocky substrate
A small Large-leaved Rock Fig getting a grip on its rocky substrate
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
A yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax hiding in a crevice secured by the roots of a Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig roots and trunk
Large-leaved Rock Fig roots and trunk
Large-leaved Rock Fig roots
Large-leaved Rock Fig roots and branches
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig leaves
Large-leaved Rock Figs
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig supporting a boulders
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Fig
Large-leaved Rock Figs

Meves’s Starling

22 Replies

Lamprotornis mevesii

A bird of riverine forests and floodplains with mature woodland, the Meves’s Starling (or Longtailed Starling) subsists on a diet of insects, fruits and flowers, foraged mostly on the ground. Adults measure approximately 34cm long, including the very long tail, and weigh around 75g.

These striking birds breed in spring and summer, building their nests inside cavities in trees – often using the same nest in successive years. The female takes sole responsibility for incubating the clutch of 3-5 eggs, which usually takes just short of 3 weeks, but both parents are involved in rearing the chicks, which fledge when they’re about 3 weeks old.

Meves’s Starling has a limited distribution in southern Africa – from Zambia and Malawi south to the Limpopo Valley on the border of South Africa with Botswana and Zimbabwe, meaning that the Mapungubwe National Park and the Pafuri region of the Kruger National Park is the most accessible locations in our country to go looking for them. The IUCN lists this species as being of least concern.

Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling (photo by Joubert)
Meves’s Starling
Meves’s Starling

Black-faced Waxbill

14 Replies

Estrilda erythronotos

The Black-faced Waxbill is a tiny finch (12cm in length and weighing only about 10g), living in dry, thorny savannas with ready access to reliable waterholes and perennial streams. They feed mainly on seeds, supplementing their dietary intake with small invertebrates, berries, flowers and nectar.

Black-faced Waxbills are usually seen in pairs or small groups. During the breeding season, which peaks in late summer, pairs hold small territories and build together at the ball-shaped grass-nest, which has a long entrance tunnel at the bottom, well hidden in the tops of thorny trees. Both parents incubate the clutch of 2-6 eggs, which hatch within two weeks. The chicks leave the nest when they’re about 3 weeks old and stay with their parents for another two weeks or so before becoming fully independent.

The Black-faced Waxbill occurs in two separate parts of Africa, the one in East Africa stretching from Tanzania to Somalia and the other in Southern Africa (mainly South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe extending marginally into Zambia and Angola). In our country specifically they are commonly found in the western half of Limpopo, the North West Province, Gauteng, the northwestern Free State and eastern reaches of the Northern Cape. The IUCN considers the Black-faced Waxbill to be of least concern.

Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill (photo by Joubert)
Black-faced Waxbill (photo by Joubert)
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbills
Black-faced Waxbills
Black-faced Waxbills
Black-faced Waxbills
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbills
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbill
Black-faced Waxbills
Black-faced Waxbill

Limpopo Ramble 2022: Yellow-spotted Rock Dassie

16 Replies

A fact that is not well-known, even among South Africans, is that our country is home to two different kinds of Dassie, or Hyrax, that live mainly in rocky terrain. We’ve already featured the species most people are acquainted with, the Rock Dassie (Procavia capensis), which is widely distributed throughout all our provinces. By contrast, in this country the Yellow-spotted Rock Dassie occurs only in our northernmost province, Limpopo, and often in mixed communities of both species numbering from a few to more than a hundred. The rugged Mapungubwe National Park is an excellent place to see them.

Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax (photo by Joubert)
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax (photo by Joubert)
Yellow-spotted Rock Dassie, or Hyrax (photo by Joubert)
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyraxes
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax (photo by Joubert)
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax (photo by Joubert)
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax (photo by Joubert)
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax (photo by Joubert)
Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax (photo by Joubert)
A yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax hiding in a crevice secured by the roots of a Large-leaved Rock Fig

Heterohyrax brucei

Like their better known relatives, Yellow-spotted Rock Dassies are herbivores that feed on a wide variety of plant material, with leaves forming the bulk of their diet. They are fairly independent of drinking water. Yellow-spotted Rock Dassies are also diurnal and love basking in the sun. They’re excellent at climbing around in trees, which they do mostly for feeding as they’d usually take cover among the rocks in case of danger. One of the group is always on sentry duty while the rest feed.

The basic social unit of a colony of Yellow-spotted Rock Dassies consist of a dominant, territorial male with a harem of adult females and their young. They breed throughout the year, females usually giving birth to 2 babies. Adult Yellow-spotted Rock Dassies weigh between 1.5kg and 3.5kg and measure between 30cm and 50cm in length. They seldom live to older than 11 years in the wild, and usually much shorter.

With its distribution extending northwards well beyond Limpopo Province all the way to Sudan, the IUCN considers the Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax to be of least concern.

Yellow-spotted (left) and Rock Dassie (right) sharing the sun in Mapungubwe

Limpopo Ramble 2022: Eastern Rock Sengi

28 Replies

During our recent visit to Marakele National Park, while enjoying the magnificent view from the Lenong Viewpoint, we spied a little Eastern Rock Sengi basking in the early morning sun – a habit they are particularly fond of – behind a fence surrounding one of the communication towers also built atop the mountain. While the fence is a rather irritating obtrusion in these photo’s of ours, it is probably because of it that the Sengi felt comfortable enough to be out and about, safe in the knowledge that neither us humans nor any other predator could reach it!

Eastern Rock Elephant Shrew at Lenong Viewpoint in Marakele National Park
Eastern Rock Sengi, or Elephant Shrew, at Lenong Viewpoint in Marakele National Park
Eastern Rock Elephant Shrew at Lenong Viewpoint in Marakele National Park
Eastern Rock Elephant Shrew at Lenong Viewpoint in Marakele National Park (photo by Joubert)

Elephantulus myurus

The Sengis, or Elephant Shrews, (order Macroscelidea) are a family of 20 small, insectivorous mammal species occurring only in Africa. While they’re superficially very shrew-like they are in fact not related to shrews at all (and they are in fact more closely related to elephants, even if their “trunks” aren’t nearly as long and prehensile), which is why the scientific community is trying to move away from the old moniker in favour of Sengi, a name based in indigenous African languages.

The Eastern Rock Elephant Shrew, or Sengi then, occurs widely in South Africa’s northern and eastern provinces and throughout Zimbabwe, extending into portions of Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana and Mozambique south of the Zambezi. The IUCN considers it to be of least concern.

As suggested by its name, the Eastern Rock Sengi is always found in close association with rocky areas where they hide in cracks and tiny caves among the boulders. Here they subsist on a diet that consist of insects (mainly ants and termites) and other invertebrates, though they will also eat seeds. They are diurnal, very rarely venturing out in the dark. They are also very alert and nervous, usually dashing for cover at the slightest disturbance.

Eastern Rock Sengi’s are mainly solitary and seen in pairs only while they breed during spring and summer. Females usually give birth to twins after a two-month long gestation. The young are very well developed and can move around with their mother soon after birth. Fully grown, Eastern Rock Sengi’s measure about 26cm long (of which the tail is more than half) and weigh approximately 60g. They have a very short lifespan and may live to only around 18 months of age in the wild.