Category Archives: South African Wildlife

The inhabitants of South Africa’s wild places

Isilo of Tembe

In the presence of majesty

It’s mid-afternoon at Tembe Elephant Park, and we’re watching a number of elephant bulls milling around Mahlasela Pan. Occasionally the peaceful scene is disturbed by two or more of the younger bulls mock-fighting and testing one another’s strength with heads held high and tusks and trunks interlocked, sending nervous nyalas and impalas running for cover…

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Slowly, royally, a magnificent tusker moves out from behind a clump of bushes to drink from the pan. The day before, when our guide Patrick asked us what we’d most like to see at Tembe I was very quick in replying “Isilo please!”. And now, perched in the game-viewing vehicle, we’re speechlessly admiring South Africa’s biggest living tusker – a wish granted, a prayer answered. We’re looking upon one of the most awesome animals in all creation and nothing could wipe the smile from our faces.

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Isilo. “The King”. What an apt name.

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We watch enthralled as Isilo moves around the pan, stopping often to quench what must be a massive thirst. The old gentleman is looking frail; at an estimated sixty years of age, he’d be having trouble eating the woody vegetation that has sustained him all his life. His tusks must weigh about 60 kilograms each, and in excess of 2.5 meters in length – what a strain it must be on the neck to keep those massive ivory pillars from scraping on the ground as he moves. Yet there’s no feeling of pity. This is the King!

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Taking his leave now of the pan and the younger company around it, Isilo ambles westwards into the woodland. We follow alongside, hoping to spend as much time in his audience as he will allow. Occasionally he stops to enjoy a tender creeper or succulent young shoot.

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My heart skips a beat as Isilo turns towards us, moving ever closer, gently and peacefully passing within touching distance of the admiring humans in the game-viewing vehicle. No one says a word. There’s no need to; the expressions on our faces tell the full story.

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As we follow a while, Isilo slowly walking along the sandy track into the sunset, there’s no denying that we’ve spent a tiny fraction of our lives in the presence of majesty. Sala kahle Isilo. Stay well.

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We went to Tembe Elephant Park in search of Isilo, and it was every bit the exhilarating experience we had hoped it would be. But Tembe turned out to be so much more: have a read here for more of our impressions of this South African treasure.

If you’re interested in South Africa’s big tuskers, you can see more pictures of these magnificent animals, from the Kruger National Park this time, here and here.

The Big-5 in Black-and-White

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The “Big Five” is probably Africa’s most sought-after animals – the term was coined by colonial-era trophy hunters to describe the group of animals considered the most dangerous to hunt: Black Rhino, Buffalo, Elephant, Leopard and Lion. Today, these animals are a major reason for the popularity of South Africa’s wildlife reserves among locals and tourists from all over the world.

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We’re participating in the online adventure travel and photography magazine LetsBeWild.com‘s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s challenge is “Black-and-White“

Kruger’s Big Tuskers

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There’s more than 14,000 elephants in the Kruger National Park, and of course they are a big drawcard for visitors to this game reserve, being charismatic animals and members of the famed “Big 5”.

For us too, encountering elephants is always a special treat: witnessing the interactions between different herd members or the playful antics of the calves, and there’s few things in nature as beautiful as the gait of a confident elephant bull, his massive head swaying from side to side, intent on ensuring anything and everything in his way clears out before he gets there.

The Kruger Park is known as one of the few remaining places on the African continent where you still have the chance to see elephants carrying impressive tusks, sometimes in excess of 2 or even 3 metres in length and weighing anything between 40 and 70kg. In the Letaba Rest Camp there’s a fascinating museum dedicated to the elephant, where visitors can also marvel at the tusks of some of Kruger’s most famous tuskers.

Over the years, we’ve been extremely fortunate to have encountered a handful of these living monuments while exploring the Kruger National Park, especially in the northern regions of the park in the vicinity of Shingwedzi, Letaba and Mopani Rest Camps. Traditionally, these remarkable giants are given distinctive names, either for the area they roam or in honour of Kruger staff members who have dedicated their lives to the protection of this special place.

Eventhough I was then only a child travelling to the Kruger Park with my parents, long before the advent of cheap (digital) photographic equipment, encounters with the magnificent Mandleve and Mabarule will live in my memory forever.

The photographs we’re sharing here are more recent. In January 2006, Marilize and I became two of the very small number of people to have had the honour of seeing Masbambela -we’ve already posted some pictures of him in a previous post (here)

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Our sighting of Ngunyupezi in April 2007, when the whole de Wet clan went camping at Shingwedzi, was just as special – it was only the second officially recorded sighting of this enigmatic bull, whose left tusk characteristically grows almost straight down. At one point he charged at us, head held high and that straight tusk leading the way like the lance of a medieval knight! Ngunyupezi is still seen in the Shingwedzi area from time to time.

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Hlanganini was a well-known tusker, regularly seen around Letaba Rest Camp. This is also where we met him, in September 2007. Hlanganini died a couple of years ago, following a fight with another bull.

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During a visit in June 2011, my brother Niel and I came accross two of the new generation of Kruger Tuskers: Machachule, right at Shingwedzi’s back gate, and Masanana, near Letaba.

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We’ve already had five encounters with Masthulele, believed to be Kruger biggest tusker at the moment, over the years. This sighting was in April 2012 near Letaba, while visiting the Park with our friends the du Plessis’.

Edit: SANParks announced in September 2017 that Masthulele had died during 2016.

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During our visit in September of 2012 we were lucky to see two more tuskers: Mandzemba welcomed us back to our beloved Shingwedzi, while Ngodzi bade us farewell us we departed from Mopani. These two tuskers haven’t been named “officially” by Kruger’s management (yet) and their names are, for now, derived from waterholes found in their home ranges.

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Everytime we visit the Kruger Park, we hope for another special appearance by one of these majestic animals. It may be years before we are fortunate to have our path cross one of theirs again, but when it happens it will surely be another thrilling experience!

Masbambela

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One of our most treasured sightings ever in the Kruger National Park. This magnificent animal was called “Masbambela”, named in honour of ranger Ben Pretorius who had spent 35 years working in the Park. Masbambela means “the one that can stand his ground” – isn’t that an absolutely apt name for this beautiful creature?

Masbambela was a shy tusker rarely seen by tourists to the Park and even Kruger’s researchers had difficulty tracking him, making our sighting on the 15th of January 2006 all the more special. We found him to the north of our beloved Shingwedzi Rest Camp, along the course of the Mphongolo River, where he was feeding peacefully only meters away from our vehicle.

Unfortunately, by August 2006 researchers noticed that he had broken a piece off his left tusk and sadly, Masbambela died, of natural causes, in November of that same year. His intact right tusk measured 2.31m in length and weighed 49kg, while the stump of his left tusk was 2.07m long and weighed almost 43kg.

We are honoured to have one of our images of Masbambela featured in Johan Marais’ book “Great Tuskers of Africa” – a must read for anyone interested in these awe-inspiring African icons.

Over the years we’ve encountered a number of other bulls carrying impressive ivory – if you are as much in awe with these beautiful animals as we are, have a look at the special posts we did on Kruger’s Big Tuskers and Isilo of Tembe.

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Have a look here to see other “unique” entries from wordpress bloggers.

World Rhino Day 2012

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South Africa is home to both species of African rhinoceros: the extremely aggressive black rhino and the much more placid white rhino. Encountering either species during our visits to our country’s wild places is always a thrilling experience and losing these beautiful beasts forever, due to human greed and superstition, is a thought too terrible to ponder.

As I post these images I cannot help but wonder whether the individual animals they depict are still alive and well?

The 22^nd of September 2012 is internationally celebrated as World Rhino Day. The message that rhinoceros horn holds no curative or aphrodisiac properties needs to be spread loud and clear so that the market for rhino horn can be wiped out, and it cannot happen soon enough. There are many people from all over the world and from all walks of life working tirelessly, and even putting their own lives in the firing line, to protect these magnificent creatures from savage poachers, but the onslaught from the organised crime syndicates continue unabated – so far this year we’ve lost at least 381 rhinoceros through poaching in South Africa alone (according to the official figures published in September 2012).

Please lend your support by spreading the message of World Rhino Day to the world.

Leopard Sighting 24 July 2012

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A picture paints a thousand words, or so the often used cliche goes. And then sometimes Mother Nature dishes up a feast so grand that words alone cannot describe the experience nearly adequately enough. This recent sighting of a pair of leopards in the early light of 24 July 2012, on the Marula Loop near Skukuza in the Kruger National Park, ranks as one of my most memorable wildlife encounters ever.