Category Archives: South African Wildlife

The inhabitants of South Africa’s wild places

World Wildlife Day 2019

What better way to celebrate World Wildlife Day than to look back at the 301 species of South African wildlife we featured here at de Wets Wild over the years?

Click on the first image, scroll through the gallery and by the end of it you are sure to believe, as we do, that South Africa is a treasure chest of beautiful creatures that you absolutely have to visit, and fully deserving of its reputation as one of the ten most biodiverse countries on the planet!

Plains Zebra

Cape Mountain Zebra

Ground hornbill

Black rhinos

White Rhinos

Kudu

Nyala bull

Bushbuck

Eland

Buffalo bull

Von Wielligh’s baobab in summer

Lion Kings of Addo

Oribi ram

Southern Reedbuck are extremely common around Lake Saint Lucia

Mountain reedbuck ram

Grey Rhebok

Waterbuck, S100, Kruger National Park

Variegated slug eater

Male Samango Monkey

Red duiker

Elephant crossing the Napi Road (H1-1)

White-backed Vulture

Palm-Nut Vulture, Umlalazi Nature Reserve, March 2016

Cape Vulture

Lappet-faced Vulture

Bearded Vulture

White-headed Vulture

Hooded Vulture

Common Duiker

Springbok Ram

Klipspringer in typical habitat

Crowned Hornbill

Trumpeter Hornbill

Red-billed Hornbill

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill

Sharpe’s Grysbok

Steenbok Ram

Impala Ram

Cheetah, S41, Kruger National Park

Black Heron “canopy feeding”

Crimson-breasted Shrike

Blue wildebeest are curious creatures

Black wildebeest

Blesbok ram

Tsessebe in thornveld vegetation in Ithala Game Reserve

Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest

Dominant Red Hartebeest bull

Gemsbok in the Karoo

Roan Antelope Bull along the Nshawu marsh in Kruger Park

Ostrich male

Standing proud

Blue Crane in Ithala Game Reserve

Grey Crowned Crane

Secretarybird

Kori Bustard

Red-crested Korhaan

Crested Guineafowl – iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Curious Helmeted Guineafowl

Marabou in flight

Saddle-billed Stork

African Openbill

Yellow-billed Stork at Sunset Dam

Woolly-necked Stork

Hamerkop

African Sacred Ibis

We had daily sightings of the rare bald ibis on the Oribi Loop at Golden Gate

Ground Woodpecker

Drakensberg Dwarf Chameleon

Bush Blackcap in Thendele

Mauritian Tomb Bat, Nyalazi Gate, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park

Wild dogs on the hunt (Hluhluwe-Imfolozi 27122014)

Spotted hyena

Leopard on the Maroela Loop, near Skukuza in the Kruger Park

Hadeda Ibis

Glossy Ibis

African Spoonbill

White Stork

Juvenile African (Edible) (Lesser) Bullfrog

Grey heron at Lake Panic

Goliath Heron

Black-headed Heron

Great Egret

Red-billed quelea

Western Cattle Egret

Little Egret

African Darter in flight

Little Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

Shimuwini Bushveld Camp – Hippo

Egyptian Goose

African Stonechat male

Northern Black Korhaan male

Lilac-breasted Roller

Swainson’s Spurfowl

Black-backed jackal

Southern Masked Weaver

Red-billed Oxpecker

Yellow-billed Duck

Red-winged Starling

African Fish Eagle flypast

Red-knobbed Coot

Evil-looking juvenile Baboon

Laughing Dove

Black Crake

Grey-headed Gull

Pearl-spotted Owlet

Pied crows at the remains of the blesbok

Warthogs drinking from the Sabie

Natal Spurfowl

Cape Glossy Starling

White-bellied Sunbird Juvenile Male feeding on Cape Honeysuckle nectar in our garden

Reed Cormorant

Pied Kingfisher

Water Thick-knee

Cape Robin-Chat

Blacksmith Lapwing

Bold, begging crocodile and terrapins near Olifants

Bold crocodile near Olifants

African Black Duck

African Jacana

Tawny Eagle

Pink-backed Pelican in flight

Chinspot Batis (male)

Dark-capped Bulbul

White-fronted Bee-eater

White-faced Whistling Duck

Common Moorhen

Crowned lapwing

Vervet Monkey

Blue waxbill

Black-winged Kite

Leopard tortoise feeding on fresh shoots next to the road

Cape Weaver

Three-banded Plover

Rock hyrax, or dassie

Verreaux’s Eagles at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens

Banded Mongoose

African Green Pigeon

African Wattled Lapwing

Crested Francolins

Scrub Hare

Burchell’s Coucal

Grey Go-away-bird

At night, Skukuza’s bushbabies come out to play

Scarlet-chested Sunbird (male)

Crested Barbet

Yellow Mongoose

Black-headed Oriole

African Scops Owl

Tree squirrel at the day visitors picnic spot

Yellow-billed kite

Pied Starling

Cape Grassbird

Male Double-banded Sandgrouse

Woodland Kingfisher

Cape Longclaw

Yellow-fronted Canary

Ant-eating Chat

Greater Blue-eared starling at Skukuza

Burchell’s starling

Bateleur (female)

Bearded Scrub-Robin

African Barred Owlet

Speckled Pigeon

Mocking Cliff Chat (male)

Chorister Robin-Chat

Karoo Long-billed Lark

African Penguin emerging from the surf

Black Girdled Lizard

Hartlaub’s Gull

Cape Sugarbird

Cape Grey Mongoose

Cape Spurfowl

Cape Cormorant

White-fronted Plover

Bontebok

Angulate Tortoise

African Oystercatcher

Knysna Turaco

Kelp Gull

Swift Tern

Cape Bulbul

White-browed Sparrow-weaver

Namaqua Sand Lizard

Double-banded Courser

Grey-winged francolin

Bush Karoo Rat

Karoo Korhaan

Meerkat / Suricate

Karoo Scrub Robin

Southern African Ground Squirrel

Karoo Prinia

Four-striped Grass Mouse

Steppe Buzzard

Red Bishop

Familiar Chat

Long-tailed Widowbird

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake swallowing a skink in Shingwedzi

Spotted Thick-knee

White-throated Swallow

Dwarf mongoose in Pretoriuskop

Cape Sparrow male

White-breasted Cormorant

Cardinal Woodpecker

Karoo Thrush

Red-eyed Dove

Tree Agama in Crocodile Bridge

Speckled Mousebird

Cape Wagtail

Southern Boubou

Cape White-eye

Sable Antelope

Red-headed finch (male)

Bronze Mannikin

Southern Black Flycatcher

Green-backed heron

Water Monitor

The cute and tiny lesser bushbaby

South African Shelduck (male)

Temminck’s Courser

Pin-tailed whydah

Fiscal Flycatcher

Painted Reed Frog

Caracal

Striped Skink

Brubru

Southern Grey-headed Sparrow

Sunrise over the Augrabies landscape shows a lone Quiver Tree

Pale-winged Starling

Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra

Namaqua Fig

Orange River White-eye

Augrabies Flat Lizard male

Large Namaqua Porkbush

Pririt Batis

Western Rock Skink male

Sociable Weaver

Camel Thorn tree

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

Pale Chanting Goshawk

White-backed Mousebird

Karasburg Tree Skink

Bat-eared Fox

Shepherd’s Tree

Burchell’s Sandgrouse (male)

Bibron’s Thick-toed Gecko

Kalahari Scrub Robin

Barberton Girdled Lizard

Eastern Nicator

Red-eyed Bulbul

Scaly-feathered Finch

Namaqua Dove

Marsh Terrapins at the hide in Karoo National Park

This trusting Golden-tailed Woodpecker distracted us from our breakfast at Tshokwane

Groundscraper Thrush

Verreaux’s (Giant) Eagle Owl

Fork-tailed Drongo

Bold honey badger at Nwanetsi Picnic Site

Cape Rock-Thrush (male)

African Dusky Flycatcher

African Pied wagtail

Tawny-flanked Prinia

Epauletted Fruit Bat at Skukuza Airport

African Snipe

Common Fiscal

Bokmakierie

Raucous Toad: Storms River Mouth has an amazing variety of toads and frogs that show themselves after dark

Collared Sunbird (male)

Green Milkweed Locust

White-crested Helmetshrike

Magpie Shrike

Rufous-naped Lark

Spur-winged Goose (male)

Red-necked spurfowl

Brown-hooded kingfisher

White-necked Raven

Foam Nest Frog

African Purple Swamphen

African Paradise Flycatcher (male on nest)

Is this how slender mongooses give a “high 5”?

African Mourning Dove

European Roller

Umbrella Thorn

Arrow-marked Babbler

Greater Striped Swallow

Sombre Greenbul

African Firefinch (male)

Golden Orb Web spider

African Mudhopper

Eastern Natal Green Snake

Red-capped Robin-Chat

Yellow-bellied Greenbul

Kosi Raphia Palms and Joubert

CMR Blister Beetle

White-eared Barbets – iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Common Ringed Plover

There’s beautiful specimens of the fever tree at uMkhuze

Common Tropical House Gecko

Giant Legless Skink

Yellow-throated Longclaw

White-browed Scrub Robin

Common Tropical House Gecko

21 Replies

Hemidactylus mabouia

The Common Tropical House Gecko, also known as Moreau’s Tropical House Gecko, is a nocturnal species of gecko that is found in savannas, woodlands and forests. Naturally they’re arboreal, hiding under bark and in tree hollows during the day, but they have adapted to human habitations with great enthusiasm and is often seen catching moths, beetles, cockroaches and other invertebrates attracted by lights at night, occasionally even consuming smaller reptiles as well. They can grow to a length of about 12cm.

Males are territorial and get involved in vicious fights. In spring and summer females usually lay two sticky eggs in tiny hiding places but occasionally up to 60 eggs from different females may be laid in a specific spot. The eggs take about 2 months to hatch.

Their natural distribution range in South Africa stretches along the coast from the Eastern Cape through Kwazulu-Natal to Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and North West Province. They’re also found naturally over much of the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. This species also colonized large parts of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean after being inadvertently introduced by humans since the days of the slave trade, and is listed as an invading alien species in many countries. Even here in South Africa populations have been established in towns and cities well outside their natural range.

Common Tropical House Gecko

Baby Common Tropical House Gecko

Common Tropical House Gecko

Common Tropical House Gecko outside the bathroom window

Common Tropical House Gecko

Common Tropical House Gecko eyeing a mosquito

At times the wildlife even comes into your unit! This is a Common Tropical House Gecko

Common Tropical House Gecko eyeing a beetle

Common Tropical House Gecko

Common Tropical House Gecko making short work of a cockroach

Common Tropical House Gecko

Common Tropical House Gecko baby

Common Tropical House Gecko

Tropical House Gecko

Common Tropical House Gecko

Tropical House Gecko

Tropical House Gecko (photo by Joubert)

Tropical House Gecko

Yellow-throated Longclaw

43 Replies

Macronyx croceus

Yellow-throated Longclaws inhabit relatively high rainfall savannas, open woodlands, grasslands and wetlands, usually with a few scattered trees and bushes. They’re mainly insectivorous in their diet. They sleep in long grass, but are often seen perched conspicuously at the top of thin branches or termitaria. They are usually encountered in pairs, or small family groups of up to 6 birds at the end of the breeding season, which stretches through all of spring and summer. Pairs are monogamous, with the female constructing a bulky nest well hidden in or under grass tussocks. The female also assumes most of the responsibility for the incubation of the clutch of 2-4 eggs that hatch after about two weeks. The chicks leave the nest before they’re 3 weeks old.

Adults measure around 21cm in length and weigh approximately 48g.

The IUCN considers the Yellow-throated Longclaw to be of least concern. The species has a discontinuous distribution over much of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to South Africa, where they are to be found along the coast from the Eastern Cape through Kwazulu-Natal to the Lowveld of Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

Yellow-throated Longclaw

Yellow-throated Longclaws

Yellow-throated Longclaw

Yellow-throated Longclaw in display flight

Yellow-throated Longclaw

Immature Yellow-throated Longclaw

Yellow-throated Longclaw

Giant Legless Skink

54 Replies

Acontias plumbeus

The Giant Legless Skink is a southern African endemic, occurring only on the highlands of Zimbabwe and neighbouring Mozambique, the extreme south of the latter country, Swaziland and South Africa’s Lowveld, Kwazulu-Natal and an apparently isolated population around East London in the Eastern Cape. It is not a snake but actually the world’s largest skink (type of lizard), measuring up to half a meter in length. The Giant Legless Skink lives in damp soil and leaf litter, mainly in a variety of forest and thicket habitats, and sometimes emerges above ground following drenching rains. It feeds on invertebrates, frogs and smaller reptiles. In late summer females give birth to between 2 and 14 live young.

The IUCN lists the Giant Legless Skink as being of least concern.

Giant Legless Skink

Giant Legless Skink (Joubert’s photo)

Giant Legless Skink

White-browed Scrub Robin

31 Replies

Cercotrichas leucophrys

An inhabitant of thorny savannas and woodlands with good grass covering, the White-browed Scrub Robin is a shy bird with a fairly characteristic song most often heard at sunrise or sundown. They feed predominantly on insects, especially ants and termites, caught on the ground. White-browed Scrub Robins are usually encountered in monogamous territorial pairs and breed in spring and summer. Their nest is a deep cup-shape built in dense foliage or thick grass, usually quite low to the ground. Clutches usually consist of 2-4 eggs and are incubated by the female only for a 2 week period, though both parents take an active role in feeding the chicks.

Adults weigh around 20g and grow to 15cm in length.

The White-browed Scrub Robin has a wide distribution through east, central and southern Africa. In South Africa they occur from the North West Province to the Eastern Cape, through Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal. The IUCN lists the White-browed Scrub Robin as being of least concern.

White-browed Scrub-Robin

White-browed Scrub Robin

White-browed Scrub-Robin

Well camouflaged White-browed Scrub Robin

White-browed Scrub Robin

White-browed Scrub-Robin

White-browed Scrub Robin

Fever Tree

46 Replies

Vachellia (Acacia) xanthophloea

The beautiful Fever Tree is a large thorn tree with a spreading crown, growing up to 25m high and characterised by its smooth, greenish-yellow bark. It grows on river banks, in swampy areas and in savanna and woodland with a high water table, occasionally forming “fever tree forests” that are, to me, among the most beautiful scenes to be enjoyed in some of our favourite South African wild places – among which the Pafuri area of the Kruger National Park and uMkhuze Game Reserve in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

Early European settlers noted that malaria is often contracted in areas in which this tree grew, from there the name “Fever Tree”. It was only later that the vector for malaria was identified as mosquitoes, which of course also occurs in great numbers in the swampy areas the Fever Tree prefers to grow in. The leaves, shoots, gum, flowers and pods of young fever trees are eaten by browsing herbivores, while the bark is used in traditional medicine concoctions.

South Africa’s only naturally occurring populations of the Fever Tree is to be found in the north of Kwazulu-Natal, through the Lowveld and into the Limpopo Valley. However, despite being rather prone to frost, it has been planted widely as an ornamental plant in other parts of the country.

Fever Tree Forest

There’s beautiful specimens of the fever tree at uMkhuze

Pafuri’s fever tree forest

Looking up into the branches of a fever tree

Fever Tree

Fever trees

Fever trees in Umkhuze Game Reserve

Fever Tree

Looking up into the branches of a massive fever tree

Common Ringed Plover

16 Replies

Charadrius hiaticula

The Common Ringed Plover is a summer visitor to South Africa, migrating to our country and much of sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Mediterranean from their arctic breeding grounds. Most of the birds move to the coast, where they prefer the muddy banks of estuaries and lagoons as well as rocky shores,with a lesser number overwintering at our inland water bodies – dams, marshes and even sewerage works. The first birds arrive from September, with the last ones departing by early May. A handful of individuals, perhaps those too weak to make the long distance journey, remain behind throughout our winter. They feed on small crustaceans and other aquatic and water-associated invertebrates.

The IUCN considers the Common Ringed Plover to be of least concern. It is estimated that the adult population worldwide may be as high as 1,4-million, of which as many as 10,000 arrive in southern Africa annually, from places as far afield as Siberia, 18,000km distant, and a remarkable feat for a bird so small! Adults measure about 19cm long, and weigh around 50g.

Common Ringed Plover

Common Ringed Plovers

Common Ringed Plover

Common Ringed Plovers

Common Ringed Plover

White-eared Barbet

20 Replies

Stactolaema leucotis

The White-eared Barbet is a forest bird that feeds mainly on fruit (being especially fond of wild figs), occasionally including insects in the menu. Adults measure around 18cm in length and weigh approximately 50g. Groups of up to eleven birds share a hole in a dead tree as a roost, They breed during spring and summer, laying clutches of 3-6 eggs. The chicks stay in the nest for about 5 weeks.

The IUCN notes that the overall population of the White-eared Barbet is probably decreasing due to habitat loss and modification, though still listing it as being of least concern. They occur in a narrow band along Africa’s east coast from Kenya southwards to South Africa, where they may be found only in the province of Kwazulu-Natal.

White-eared Barbet

White-eared barbet

White-eared Barbet

White-eared Barbets – iSimangaliso Wetland Park

White-eared Barbet

White-eared Barbets at their nesting hole

White-eared Barbet departing its nest

White-eared Barbets

White-eared Barbet

White-eared Barbet nest

Kosi Raphia Palm

20 Replies

Raphia australis

The Kosi Raphia Palm is an enormous tree, growing up to 25m tall with leaves up to 18m long – among the largest leaves of any plant on earth. They grow in swamp forests, often forming dense stands. Around the age of 20-30 years the Kosi Palm flowers only once , producing an immense 3m high brown inflorescence at the top of the plant and then, after bearing thousands of fruit that takes two years to mature, dies. The Raphia Palm family is a main food source for the Palmnut Vulture. Humans use the leaves as thatching material and the petioles to construct huts and fences.

Kosi Raphia Palms and Joubert

Kosi Raphia Palm grove

Kosi Raphia Palms

Kosi Raphia Palm

Kosi Raphia Palm inflorescence

Kosi Raphia Palm

Kosi Raphia Palm inflorescence

Palm-nut Vulture high in a Kosi Palm

The Kosi Raphia Palm has an extremely limited distribution, occurring only in a few locations in southern Mozambique and around Kosi Bay in the extreme north-eastern corner of Kwazulu-Natal Province in South Africa. The total population of mature individuals number probably around 7,000 only, with the IUCN listing the species as vulnerable, and noting a continuous decline in their numbers due to habitat loss. In 1916 a grove of Kosi Palms were established in the town of Mtunzini, some distance south of their natural range, by the local magistrate. After becoming established and multiplying, Mtunzini’s Raphia Palm Forest was declared a National Monument in 1942. (You may want to click on the image below for an easier read)

Mtunzini’s Raphia Palm Monument

Yellow-bellied Greenbul

19 Replies

Chlorocichla flaviventris

The Yellow-bellied Greenbul is a species of bird that is most at home in forests, dense woodlands and savanna thickets but also increasingly in well-planted gardens, where this usually shy species can become rather confiding. It is a vocal species and moves about in pairs or small groups of up to six birds. They’re mixed feeders, including invertebrates, berries, fruits, seeds and flowers in their diet.

Yellow-bellied Greenbulls breed in spring and summer, monogamous pairs constructing flimsy cup-shaped nests in dense foliage, with most clutches consisting of 2 eggs (range 1-3) only. The female incubates the eggs for a two week period, with the chicks leaving the nest when they’re around 3 weeks old. Adults grow to about 22cm in length, and weigh around 40g.

In South Africa, the Yellow-bellied Greenbul can be found from southern coastal Kwazulu-Natal and into Mpumalanga and Limpopo, recently expanding its distribution marginally into North West and Gauteng. They also occur widely in central and eastern Africa and is considered to be of least concern by the IUCN.