Tag Archives: African Elephant

Manyeleti Magic 2025: Day 4 (15 June)

Our first early morning sighting, of a little Crowned Lapwing chick, shortly after setting out from Buffelshoek was quite suprising, considering how dark and cold it was for the little one to be venturing out from underneath his mother’s wing!

Crowned Lapwing chick

Soon afterwards the sun was rising beautifully over the Lowveld horizon and we couldn’t resist parking and watching in awe as the rich colours tinted the sky, nor could we resist attempting to capture it with our cameras.

Manyeleti sunrise

A pack of spotted hyenas lounging at a waterhole was our first predator sighting of the morning. In the waterhole a hamerkop was trying to catch frogs, not in the least worried about the hyenas all around.

Spotted Hyena

Spotted Hyenas

Spotted Hyena

Hamerkop

Our next sighting of note was of a breeding herd of elephants accompanied by a very impressive tusker.

Impressive Tusker

Elephant family

Baby elephant

Of course we also saw many other kinds of birds and animals on our morning excursion before getting back to Buffelshoek, where three elephant bulls visited the local waterhole just after we finished breakfast.

Lilac-breasted Roller

Magpie Shrike

Grey Go-away Bird

Rattling Cisticola

Kudu cow

Kudu bull

Giraffe

Elephant bulls

Elephant bull

Our afternoon drive delivered spectacularly again when an off-duty guide sent word of a female cheetah with four cubs, about 7 months old, just a short drive from Buffelshoek. When we arrived at the spot the family lay claim to a termite mound from which they could keep an eye out for both prey and danger. Apparently just the day before we arrived in Manyeleti the mother was hurt in a fight with a leopard and the wounds were still evident on her right front leg, though it didn’t appear to have caused her too much discomfort and she is expected to make a full recovery.

Cheetah Cub

Cheetah Cubs

Cheetah Family

Cheetah Cub

Cheetah Family

Cheetah Cub

Cheetah female

Cheetah Cub

Cheetah female

Cheetah Cub

Cheetah female

With Buffelshoek being so far from all the other lodges in Manyeleti we had the beautiful cheetah family all to ourselves for a considerable time, and by the time vehicles from other lodges joined the sighting we had taken more than our fair share of photographs. We could therefore move on to another of Manyeleti’s special corners, a tranquil spot next to a stretch of water where we could enjoy our sundowners being watched – and serenaded – by hippos!

Grey Heron

Being watched by a hippo

Manyeleti sunset

Back at Buffelshoek my new Scops Owl friend was calling from early on. What a way to end another day in wild Africa…

Scops Owl

In the next post we’ll show you everything we encountered on the final morning of our 2025 Manyeleti Magic photo-safari and workshop. The 2026 dates are yet to be confirmed, but do get in touch with us to keep a spot for you!

More snaps from our summer days in the Addo Elephant National Park

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The Addo Elephant National Park is one of South Africa’s most visited wild places, and not without reason. The Park has a wealth of habitats and a wonderful array of wildlife, not least of which is the elephants that were the original reason for Addo’s proclamation. Furthermore it is such an easy destination to visit, with an excellent network of roads, conveniences like a shop and restaurant, and comfortable accommodation options for visitors.

During our visit earlier in January I posted a few photographs on a daily basis to give those following along on our travels a glimpse of what we were experiencing. Let’s start this recap with those.

Baby Elephant walking away with mom

Spekboom blossoms

Lots of activity at Rooidam

Bokmakierie

Elephant Bull

How’s the weather up there?

Warthog

Plains Zebra stallion

Black-backed Jackal

Cape Sparrows

Hyenas occupying a stretch of mud at Hapoor Dam

Buffaloes drinking at Hapoor

Black-backed Jackal

Red Hartebeest

Warthog

Elephant Bull

Elephant Bulls

Elephant Cows begging for a chance at the waterhole

Elephants enjoying the water and mud

Elephant youngster

Elephant rough-and-tumble

Zuurkop viewpoint

Spotted Hyena portrait

Plains Zebras

Elephant herd in a rush to water

Scrub Hare

Ndlovu Valley view

Juvenile Pale Chanting Goshawk

Elephant Bull at Hapoor Dam

Cattle Egrets

Buffaloes

Three little warthogs and an Elephant

Spotted Hyena

Ludwig’s Bustard

Black-backed Jackal

Warthog

Yellow Mongoose

The tip of an elephant’s trunk

Meerkats

Kudu bull

Common Duiker

Bushbuck

There’s no denying that Addo’s Elephants are the stars of the show – rightly so, considering how close the population were to being wiped out when the Park was proclaimed – but national parks like Addo conserve so much more than just the big, charismatic African fauna. Addo is richly endowed with various kinds of smaller, often less noticeable, plants and wildlife, and visitors who take care to look for them will find their visits endless enriched.

Wild Asparagus in bloom

Spekboom blooming

Bush Karoo Rat

Addo Flightless Dung Beetle

Brown-veined White butterflies congregating on wet dung

Bush Karoo Rat female with young

Tasman’s Girdled Lizard

Buquet’s Vagrant

Karoo Boer-bean

Crassula perforata

Snake Plant blooming

Robber Fly

Angulate Tortoise

Addo is also a haven for a wide variety of birds – we managed to identify 81 species during our four day visit.

Immature Fiscal Flycatcher

Red-necked Spurfowl

Malachite Sunbird

Black-headed Heron

Cattle Egret

Karoo Scrub-Robin

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron chick

African Spoonbill

Southern Boubou

Speckled Mousebird

Red-faced Mousebird

Forest Buzzard

Fiscal Shrike

Ant-eating Chat

Cape Crow

Pied Crow

Pale Chanting Goshawk

Southern Black Korhaan male

Helmeted Guineafowl

Bokmakierie

Red-billed Oxpeckers

Male Ostrich

Streaky-headed Seed-eater

Ludwig’s Bustard

Red-knobbed Coot chicks at the nest

Brimstone Canary

Female Southern Double-collared Sunbird

Cardinal Woodpecker (photo by Joubert)

Common Buzzard

Common Buzzard (photo by Joubert)

Red-capped Lark (photo by Joubert)

Of course a national park on this continent will never grow famous if it isn’t home to a wide variety of charismatic mammals, and here Addo certainly ranks among the best of the best. Lions, hyenas, jackals, zebras, antelope, buffaloes and warthogs can pop out around any corner and are usually quite comfortable around humans in their vehicles, making for great photographic opportunities.

Plains Zebra

Plains Zebra smile

Plains Zebras

Warthog

Kudu bull in thick bush

Spotted Hyena

Black-backed Jackals

Plains Zebra foal

Buffaloes

Plains Zebra stallion

This warthog family almost ran straight into the jackal!

Warthog babies

Spotted Hyena

Black-backed Jackal

Lions on a distant hillside

And then, of course, there’s the elephants. Addo’s elephants are more relaxed than most other populations in the country and, if you are as enthralled with these beautiful animals as we are, you will enjoy the many up-close encounters Addo delivers with the giant pachyderms.

Elephants playing in the water

Elephant calf

Tiny Elephant calf

Elephant bull taking a drink of water

Two elephant bulls greeting each other

Elephant cows in Addo seldom have well developed tusks

Elephant cow and calf

Elephant herd in a rush to the waterhole

Close-up detail of an elephant’s tail

Elephant feeding on a Plumbago

DeWetsWild is proud to be a contracted reservations agent for the Addo Elephant National Park, so whether you’d like us to assist you with a reservation to visit on your own or would like us to include the Park in a guided tour arranged specifically for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Snaps on Tour: The Loneliest Elephant

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In October 2024 I had the immense pleasure of hosting long-time blogging friend John Steiner (of Journeys with Johnbo), his wife Lynn, John’s niece Patricia Broesder and her husband Gary on a tour of Cape Town and the Kruger National Park. In Kruger we were joined by colleagues Hannes Rossouw and Irving Knight, both experts in their respective fields.

Still on the subject of elephants. Travelling between Letaba and Satara one early afternoon we came across a most harrowing sight of a lone young elephant, emaciated and totally oblivious to his surroundings and most certainly too small to have been expelled from the herd, walking along an elephant footpath towards – well, what? There was no elephant herd anywhere nearby and we could only guess as to why he was so terribly alone, and obviously has been for quite a while, and where he might be headed. Nature can be cruel at times and watching her take her course is not always easy, but in national parks like the Kruger that is exactly what has to happen. There can only be human intervention if the problem was caused by human interference to begin with and in this case there was no reason to suspect that this was the case.

Young elephant totally alone in the wilderness

Luckily we had many other wonderful encounters with elephants during our visit where we could watch their endearing familiar relations and interactions within the herd.

African Elephant

Young elephant

African Elephant

Baby Elephant

African Elephant

Baby elephant

Big old elephant bull between Satara and Olifants in the Kruger National Park

African Elephant

Baby elephant

Elephant

Elephant calf

Elephant Tusker

Tiny baby elephant

Elephant cow walking past Shingwedzi Camp’s entrance

I am a fully accredited and legally registered tour guide (with all the necessary insurance, professional drivers license and first aid certification) – don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like me to arrange a guided tour of beautiful South Africa and all her natural wonders, like the Kruger National Park, for you as well, or even just to assist with your holiday reservations for our national parks and nature reserves throughout the country.

Snaps on Tour: A Stingy Elephant

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Last month, while following the course of the Mphongolo River north of Shingwedzi in the Kruger National Park on our morning drive, we came across this amusing scene at the Mavatsani waterhole, just south of the turnoff to Sirheni Bushveld Camp. The day was already quite hot and a herd of elephants, a couple of buffaloes, some baboons, nyalas and warthogs were milling around the muddy water. An elephant cow claimed a hole from which clear water was seeping but had her hands – or is that head, trunk and front leg? – full with a youngster trying to muscle his way in on her treasure. The calf protested with loud screams when she tried to shove him away but he did not give an inch and, her gentle nature obviously winning over her frustration, the cow eventually let him through to quench his thirst from her well.

Mavatsani Waterhole between Sirheni and Shingwedzi in the Kruger National Park

Elephant cow bullying a youngster at the waterhole

Encounters with Elephants at uMkhuze Game Reserve

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We had some excellent sightings of African Elephants in the uMkhuze Game Reserve section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park when we toured the reserve earlier in November.

Elephant bull at uMkhuze

Elephant bull on a walk about

Elephant bull at uMkhuze

There were some adorable babies in this big breeding herd – at least 50 individuals strong – that crossed the road in front of us in a hurry past the eThaleni Picnic Spot.

Elephant bulls are always a thrill to encounter.

We were trapped behind this big Elephant bull in musth – a period of heightened reproductive urges accompanied by aggressive behaviour – while heading back to camp on our first evening at uMkhuze. Luckily he gave way just in time for us to make the gate closing time of 19h00.

Remember that DeWetsWild will gladly assist you with reservations and guided tours of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park if you’d like to visit this wonderful place as well.

Some of our encounters with Manyeleti’s Elephants

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Being an extreme fan of African Elephants, when I made my first visit to Manyeleti Nature Reserve I was wondering how many elephants we would see there. Thankfully I can now confirm that the reserve has a thriving population of the pachyderms and they were very much in evidence as we went driving around the reserve.

This was the biggest herd we saw during our stay in the Manyeleti. In elephant society the breeding herds usually consists only of adults females and their offspring, with adult males only visiting the herd when there’s a cow in oestrus present.

Elephant family

Elephant calf

Elephant cow

Elephant mother and calf

Elephant family crossing the road, with the matriarch taking a prominent protective roll

This young bull we found a bit later at a dam was definitely interested in some or other smell exuded by another elephant or elephants, using his trunk to test both the air and urine spots left on the ground.

Young Elephant bull testing for smells with his trunk

One of our final sightings as we drove towards the gate on our way back home was of a small group of bachelor Elephant bulls hanging around at – and in – the large dam in the centre of the reserve.

Elephant bull at a large dam in Manyeleti

Elephant bulls playing in a large dam in Manyeleti

Elephant bull at a large dam in Manyeleti

Don’t miss the chance to visit Manyeleti along with DeWetsWild and Hannes Rossouw Photography!

A memorable encounter with Elephant bulls near Tihongonyeni

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South Africa’s Kruger National Park is renowned for wonderful encounters with African Elephants, and our quick visit last week proved no exception. We were based in the Mopani region of the Park, where mopane shrubs and trees dominate the plains and elephants congregate in their numbers near permanent water sources, like the Tihongonyeni waterhole. It was on our way to Tihongonyeni late one morning that these two bulls decided to make use of a flimsy shadow cast over the road by a big tree to rest their tired legs. Every time we ventured closer to try and sneak past on the verge of the road, the bull nearer to us would give a warning step or two in our direction, trunk outstretched, and so I’d back up again. Eventually we waited half-an-hour before the two eventually allowed us, with a shake of the head and a toss of the trunk as if they’d grown tired of our meekness and just wanted to be rid of us, to pass them.

Impressive tusker near Tihongonyeni

African Elephant bull near Tihongonyeni waterhole in Kruger

African Elephant bulls near Tihongonyeni waterhole in Kruger

Here’s a short video of an encounter we’ll remember fondly when passing that way again in future.

If you love Elephants…

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… as much as we do, then the Kruger National Park with its large population of African Elephants really is a must visit destination! This is just a few of the hundreds of elephant photos we took during our visit to the Park in June 2023, with a short video as bonus (and don’t miss the cute little baby trying to drink from the river alongside his mom around the middle of the video!).

Elephant family

Elephant cow in profile

Elephant bulls gathering at a self-dug waterhole in the dry Timbavati River

Elephant hogging Malopenyana Waterhole for himself (photo by Joubert)

Big old Elephant bull

Elephant family (photo by Joubert)

Smiling baby elephant (photo by Joubert)

Bull elephant in a hurry

Elephants (and a buffalo to the side) making their way to the waterhole at Babalala

Elephant warning (photo by Joubert)

Elephant Cow and baby

The Elephant’s Tail

Elephant youngster (photo by Joubert)

Elephants drinking from the Pioneer Dam at Mopani Rest Camp

A huge bull Elephant on his way to the Mooiplaas Waterhole

Marakele’s Behemoths

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There’s no denying that Africa’s mega-mammals are a great attraction for visitors to our national parks, and being in close proximity to these majestic and charismatic animals remains a thrill we cannot ever tire of, no matter how often we have the pleasure to see them up close.

The Cape, of African, Buffalo may not box in the same weight division as the rhinos and elephants that also call Marakele National Park home, but they have a well deserved fearsome reputation, especially the cantankerous lone males, of which we saw quite a few while we were exploring the Park on our short visit last week.

A lone Cape Buffalo bull sauntering along the road in Marakele National Park

An old Buffalo bull staring at us from behind a bush

With our white and black rhinos being so severely threatened by poachers it was heartening to have several good sightings of these prehistoric-looking animals at Marakele, and we realised again what a great debt of gratitude we owe the rangers who keep these animals safe on a daily basis.

White Rhino family in Marakele National Park

White Rhino family in Marakele National Park (photo by Joubert)

Enormous White Rhino bull walking straight at us (photo by Joubert)

Enormous White Rhino bull walking straight at us

Young White Rhino by its mother’s side (photo by Joubert)

White Rhino family in Marakele National Park

Big White Rhino Bull (photo by Joubert)

Big White Rhino Bull

An elephant roadblock is always a wonderful experience, but in Marakele, where the elephants are less used to having vehicles in their space, it can be downright exciting! It is important to give the grey giants lots of space and respect, so I am grateful that I can trust Joubert to get the shots while I keep the car pointing in the right direction!

Elephant claiming the right of way in Marakele National Park (photo by Joubert)

Joubert taking pictures of the elephant

Remember that DeWetsWild will gladly assist you with a reservation and planning if you’re interested in visiting Marakele National Park and making the most of your visit.

Limpopo Ramble 2022: Taking our Elephant for a walk

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Late one evening as we were slowly heading back to Marakele National Park’s Tlopi Camp with a few minutes left before gate closing time, we found our way blocked by a big herd of elephants, and I parked our vehicle a good distance away so that we could enjoy the sighting. While the herd were peacefully going about their business up ahead, suddenly a young elephant cow came charging at full tilt out of the bush right next to us!

I immediately turned the car around and drove off. After a few hundred metres I slowed down so that we could resume our more leisurely game-viewing pace, only to have the raging cow appear in the rear-view mirror again. This being repeated several times, it was startling to realise that she would not relent and in the end she chased us for over a kilometre – with Joubert snapping away these photographs – before she turned around.