Just to prove that a visit to a game reserve isn’t all about the “hairies and scaries”, one of the most memorable sightings of the trip we took to Marakele National Park last weekend wasn’t of one of the “Big Five” or another large mammal, bird or reptile. Instead, we watched in awe as a wasp carried (sometimes through the air, but mostly along the ground) a large, paralysed caterpillar to a specially prepared tunnel. In there, the wasp’s young can grow to adulthood by feeding on the hapless immature insect.

Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele

Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele

Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele

Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele

Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele

Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele

Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele

Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele

Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele

Thread-waisted Wasp and caterpillar prey at Marakele

Thread-waisted Wasp closing up the nesting tunnel after depositing the caterpillar and laying the egg (at Marakele NP)