Category Archives: South African Wildlife

The inhabitants of South Africa’s wild places

Mountain Reedbuck

Redunca fulvorufula

South Africa’s mountainous areas is home to the Mountain Reedbuck, a grazing antelope uniquely adapted to the highlands, mountains, hills and rocky ridges, where they prefer open vegetation.

Mountain reedbuck ewe

Mountain reedbuck ram

Mountain Reedbuck pair

Mountain reedbuck ram

Mountain reedbuck

Though they closely resemble the related southern reedbuck, they’re much more lightly built, weighing approximately 30kg and standing about 75cm at the shoulder. Only the males carry the short, forwardly curved horns.

Mountain reedbuck ewe

Mountain reedbuck ram

Mountain reedbuck ewe in Thendele

Mountain Reedbuck at full speed

Mountain reedbuck

Mountain reedbuck on the run

Mountain Reedbuck

Mountain Reedbuck family

Mountain reedbuck are more social than their close cousins, occurring in herds of up to 40, but more usually up to 16 individuals, consisting mostly of ewes and their lambs accompanied by a mature, territorial male. They’re active during the cooler daylight hours and throughout the night, which is when they’re normally heading into the lower-lying areas to drink, returning to their rugged abodes before first light. Most lambs are born in the summer rainy season and remain hidden for up to three months, with the ewe returning to it regularly to suckle, before joining their mothers in the herd. Their life expectancy is not much more than 14 years, with most of Africa’s larger predators including them in their diet and jackals especially taking a heavy toll on lambs.

Mountain reedbuck ewe and lamb

Mountain Reedbuck ewe hiding from the cold morning air

Mountain Reedbuck ram

Mountain Reedbuck ewe

Mountain Reedbuck ram (photo by Joubert)

Mountain Reedbuck

The mountain reedbuck is safely protected in several South African reserves and the IUCN estimates their population at 33,000 at least. We’ve encountered them in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, at Golden Gate, Loskop Dam, Marakele, Pilanesberg and Rietvlei Nature Reserve, but in our experience Ithala Game Reserve and Willem Pretorius Game Reserve offers the best chances to have close-up sightings of this agile antelope.

Mountain Reedbuck

Remembering the Mphongolo Buffaloes

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This herd of African buffalo, making their way out of the dry, dusty bed of the Mphongolo River in the Kruger National Park, during a visit in September 2014, is another sighting we’ll not forget in a hurry.

This is our fourth entry into the 5 Day Black-and-White Photo Challenge. There are only two rules for this challenge:

1. On 5 consecutive days, create a post using either a past or recent photo in B&W.

2. Each day invite another blog friend to join in the fun.

Today we’re inviting Sreejith Nair, author of “Santiago the Shepherd” and another long-standing friend of de Wets Wild, to join the 5 Day Black and White Photo Challenge. Sreejith, you’ve shared some amazing photos of India’s people and places and we hope you’ll consider joining in!

Remembering Isilo

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Isilo was, towards the end of his life, the biggest tusker in South Africa, and our encounter with him at Tembe Elephant Park in May 2013 will forever be one of our most memorable wildlife experiences.

This is our third installment for the 5 Day Black-and-White Photo Challenge. Today we’d like to invite Dina of Perdebytjie se Nes, to join the challenge. She blogs in Afrikaans, our mother tongue, but you’ll need no translation to enjoy the fantastic photographs she shares on her blog! Dina, ons hoop jy sien jou weg oop om deel te neem maar dis geen probleem as jy nie kan nie, solank jy weet hoe baie ons jou blog geniet!

There are only two rules for this challenge:

1. On 5 consecutive days, create a post using either a past or recent photo in B&W.

2. Each day invite another blog friend to join in the fun.

Remembering the Marula Leopard

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Today, we flash back all the way to July 2012 to remember this spectacular leopard encounter near Skukuza in the Kruger National Park

This is our second entry into the 5 Day Black-and-White Photo Challenge. There are only two rules for this challenge:

1. On 5 consecutive days, create a post using either a past or recent photo in B&W.

2. Each day invite another blog friend to join in the fun.

“i AM Safari” is the brilliant blog of another of de Wets Wild’s long standing friends, Maurice Hovens. Like us, Maurice and his family loves exploring earth’s wild places. Maurice, we hope you’ll accept our invitation to join the 5 Day Black-and-White Photo Challenge? If not, at least please see this as a token of how much we appreciate your friendship and support!

Remembering a special lion sighting

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We took these photographs at a memorable lion sighting we told you about last year, almost seven months ago (it still feels like yesterday, so vivid is the memory!), though we’ve now converted them to black-and-white for a new challenge we’re taking part in.

We’ve been invited by Jane (Just Another Nature Enthusiast) to join the 5 Day Black-and-White Photo Challenge. Jane cares a whole lot about what we’re doing to our planet, both good and bad, and if you share her love for nature, as we do, you”re sure to enjoy what she has to share.

There are only two rules for this challenge:

1. On 5 consecutive days, create a post using either a past or recent photo in B&W.
2. Each day invite another blog friend to join in the fun.

For this first of our posts, we’re throwing the ball to AJ Vosse, the expat South African talent behind “Ouch!! My back hurts” and a long time supporter of de Wets Wild. We hope you’ll find the time to join the challenge, AJ, and look forward to your contributions!

Southern Reedbuck

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Redunca arundinum

As its name suggests, the reedbuck is an antelope with very special habitat requirements; occurring in reedbeds and areas of long, often flooded, grasslands, always within easy reach of a permanent water source.

Rams are slightly larger than the ewes, standing approximately 90cm high and weighing as much as 80kg. Only the males carry horns, that normally reach lengths of around 38cm.

Young reedbuck ram

Reedbuck ewe

Adult reedbuck ram

Reedbuck live alone, in pairs or in small family groups within a territory defended by a mature ram, while the ewes dictate where and when the group moves. They graze mostly from dusk to dawn, preferring to hide in shady reedbeds and patches of long grass during daylight hours. They are not very fast nor agile, and rely heavily on camouflage to evade predators (all of Africa’s large meat-eaters prey on reedbuck). Ewes give birth to single lambs, mostly in the rainy season, and hide them away for two to four months before joining up with the family group again.

Reedbuck pair

Reedbuck males squaring of

Reedbuck ewe hiding in the shade

Young reedbuck ram

Reedbuck lamb

Southern Reedbuck

Reedbuck are often encountered along the Nshawu Marsh

Reedbuck female

Reedbuck

Southern Reedbuck in the Nshawu Vlei

Southern Reedbuck pair

Southern Reedbuck ram

Reedbuck ewe

Reedbuck ewes

Southern Reedbuck

Reedbuck ewe

Southern Reedbuck ewe (photo by Joubert)

Southern Reedbuck

Southern Reedbuck (photo by Joubert)

Southern Reedbuck ram

Southern Reedbuck ewe

Common Reedbuck

Southern Reedbuck ram

Common Reedbuck

In South Africa, the reedbuck occurs mostly in the wetter eastern part of the country. While there’s a small population of reedbuck in the Kruger National Park (sightings there are special treats), the country’s (and probably the continent’s) biggest concentrations can be found along the shores of Lake Saint Lucia, in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in Kwazulu-Natal Province. We’ll share some photos from our December visit to the Western Shores of Lake St. Lucia with you in our regular Friday post this week.

The Oribi

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Ourebia ourebi

The long-legged oribi (oorbietjie in Afrikaans) is a small antelope, and one of the most special wildlife sightings you could hope for in South Africa.

They stand only between 50 and 65cm high at the shoulder, and weigh around 14kg. Only the males carry the sharp little horns that average between 10 and 13cm long.

These dainty antelope have very specific habitat requirements, preferring grasslands and floodplains with just the correct mix of short (for grazing) and long (for hiding) patches of grass. They also have very specific preferences as to the type of short grasses they feed on and, while they often occur near water, do not appear to drink very regularly, if at all.

Oribis are the most social of the smaller antelope species; the most commonly encountered grouping being a single territorial ram with up to four adult ewes and their lambs.

Oribi grazing next to the Kamberg Road

Oribi rams are territorial, and the family groups are extremely reluctant to leave their home ranges, even when being pursued (they prefer sprinting short distances to hide in long grass). For this reason, they suffer more than most dwarf antelope from predation and poaching. In South Africa, most lambs are born in the summer months of November and December and remain hidden for up to 4 months before they join their mother’s family group. They have a natural lifespan of 8 to 13 years.

Today, the oribi is one of South Africa’s most endangered mammals, although in many other parts of Africa they are still quite numerous. Their favoured grassland habitat is prime for farming and thus getting ever scarcer and more fragmented, while illegal hunting with dogs is a further risk to their continued survival. Nevertheless, a substantial portion of the population still occurs on private land, and the Oribi Working Group’s annual census is an important tool to establish population sizes and trends.

South Africa’s biggest single population of oribi occurs in the Chelmsford Nature Reserve in Kwazulu-Natal Province. Chelmsford was the first destination on our recent summer holidays in the bush, and we’ll soon share more about our latest visit there with you.

Magnificence embodied

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This must surely rank as one of the most special wildlife encounters we’ve ever had.

We came across this beautiful black rhino cow and her two younger companions (at least one, maybe both, her calves) in December in one of the game reserves we visited on our summer trip to the bush. It was an overcast evening, with the little available light fading fast and perfectly accentuating the cow’s aggressive temperament, so characteristic of the species.

Long may she reign over her piece of African wilderness.

(click on any of the images to view them in a bigger format gallery)

The embodiment of magnificence

Gone, but not forgotten

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Dedicating this post to three of the most magnificent tuskers that roamed the Parks of South Africa and that we had the pleasure of seeing before they departed for heavenly pastures.

Masbambela (of Kruger)

Hlanganini (of Kruger)

Isilo of Tembe

“Gone, but not forgotten“is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge

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