Tag Archives: nature

Cape Honeysuckle

Tecomaria capensis

The Cape Honeysuckle is a scrambling, evergreen shrub with multiple stems, growing to about 3m high and equally wide, occurring in bushveld and on forest margins along the coast from the southern Western Cape through to Kwazulu-Natal and into the Lowveld and escarpment of Mpumalanga and Limpopo. The flowers appear in masses at the end of winter and are carried through till deep in the autumn months – some even flower year-round. The flowers come in yellow, orange or red varieties.

Cape Honeysuckles are hardy, fast growing and easy to maintain and is therefore a favourite indigenous garden feature that have been exported to other parts of the world too (where it can become invasive). We have two Cape Honeysuckle shrubs in our little garden – they’re excellent for creating a screen between us and the neighbours. The bark is used in traditional medicine to treat pain, fever, diarrhoea, bronchitis and sleeplessness. The flowers are a magnet to sunbirds and insects and its dense, scrambling nature means that it is often used as a nesting site by smaller birds. Wild animals and livestock will browse on the leaves.

Cape Honeysuckle leaves

Cape Honeysuckle in flower

Cape Honeysuckle buds

Honey Bee on Cape Honeysuckle

CMR Blister Beetle and honeysuckle

Honeybee and honeysuckle

Cape Honeysuckle

Cape Honeysuckle seedpod

Amethyst Sunbird Female feeding on Cape Honeysuckle nectar in our garden

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

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

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

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

Vine-leaf Vagrant Butterfly

23 Replies

Eronia cleodora

The Vine-leaf Vagrant is a medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan of around 6cm (males are usually a bit smaller than the females). They fly fast and wandering, often settling quickly on flowers as they go. These beautiful butterflies may be seen year-round, though their numbers usually peak in spring and late summer. Their larvae feed on the leaves of the caper-bushes (Capparis).

In South Africa the Vine-leaf Vagrant is found in forests and moist savannas from the Eastern Cape coast, through Kwazulu-Natal and into the Lowveld and escarpment of Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

Vine-leaf Vagrant

Southern White-crowned Shrike

18 Replies

Eurocephalus anguitimens

The Southern White-crowned Shrike is a bird that is endemic to southern Africa, ranging from Angola to Mozambique through Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. In our country it occurs marginally in the Northern Cape and widely in the North West, northern Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. According to the IUCN it is of least concern. These insectivorous birds live in savanna and open woodlands with a sparse ground cover.

Southern White-crowned Shrikes live in family groups consisting of a dominant pair and 1-6 helpers which assist in the breeding process by helping to build the nest – a neat cup constructed with fine plant material and spiderwebs in the fork of a tree – and looking after the chicks, of which 2-5 hatch after a 3 week incubation period. They breed during spring and summer with the chicks leaving the nest about 20 days after hatching. Outside of the breeding season they may form larger groups of up to 20.

Adults weigh about 70g and measure around 24cm in length.

Southern White-crowned Shrike

White-crowned Shrike

Southern White-crowned Shrike

White-crowned Shrike

White-crowned Shrike (photo by Joubert)

White-crowned Shrike

Silver Cluster-leaf

21 Replies

Terminalia sericea

The Silver Cluster-leaf is a medium sized deciduous tree, usually not higher than 9m but occasionally growing up to 23m, that grows on sandy soils in open woodland habitats. Silver Cluster-leafs will colonize open areas, forming dense thickets. Even in mature mixed woodland it can be a dominant tree. The blue-green leaves from which it takes its name is densely covered in shiny hairs and are shed in autumn. Flowers are borne from September to January after the new leaves have appeared following the first rains and is probably pollinated by flies (the flowers have a rather unpleasant smell).

In traditional medicine the Silver Cluster-leaf’s roots and leaves are put to good use, being used as an antibiotic, to treat coughs, diarrhoea, stomach ache and to stop bleeding. The wood is used for cooking and fencing. It is an important food source to several kinds of caterpillars, particularly those of the guinea-fowl butterfly, and will be browsed by cattle during drought conditions.

In South Africa Silver-cluster leaf trees grow naturally in the north-east of Kwazulu-Natal, through the Lowveld of Mpumalanga, most of the bushveld regions of Limpopo, northern Gauteng, throughout the North West Province and widely in the Kalahari regions of the Northern Cape. Beyond our borders it is found as far north as Tanzania and the DRC.

Silver Cluster-leaf

Silver Cluster-leafs

Silver Cluster-leaf

Silver Cluster-leaf bark

Silver Cluster-leaf leaves

Silver Cluster-leaf leaves leaves

Silver Cluster-leaf leaves

Silver Cluster-leaf leaves and flowers

Silver Cluster-leaf flowers

Silver Cluster-leaf fruit

Scarlet Tip Butterfly

24 Replies

Colotis annae

The Scarlet Tip Butterfly, especially the male, is one of the most striking of its genus. Fully grown adults have a wingspan of up to 5.5cm, though this varies between the seasonal forms. Where their food plants (wormbushes Cadaba and bead-bean Maerua) are abundant Scarlet Tips may form large swarms, especially in late summer and autumn, though there are adults to be seen on the wing throughout the year. They’re often seen together with the Sulphur Orange Tip butterfly, flying similarly slowly and close to the ground and settling often. Scarlet tips inhabit a wide range of savanna vegetation types. In South Africa they’re found from the Eastern Cape through Kwazulu-Natal to Mpumalanga and Limpopo

Scarlet Tip

Scarlet Tip female

Scarlet Tip male

Scarlet Tip butterfly (female)

Scarlet Tip female

Scarlet Tip Butterfly

Scarlet Tip butterfly

Spotted Flycatcher

30 Replies

Muscicapa striata

The Spotted Flycatcher is a migrant to sub-Saharan Africa, travelling here to escape the winter in its Eurasian breeding grounds. The birds arrive in South Africa during October and November and leave again by early April, and is one of the most numerous summer visitors. While here, they can be seen in any part of the country, though the highest densities occur in our northern and eastern provinces. The IUCN considers the Spotted Flycatcher to be of Least Concern, estimating a total population of at least 54-million.

While they’re visiting our country during our summer months, the Spotted Flycatcher is not picky about its habitat – any open haunt that provides them a low perch from which to hunt the insects they subsist on seems to do. They are usually seen alone in these parts. Fully grown they measure about 14cm in length and weigh approximately 15g.

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Flycatcher

Pygmy Hippopotamus

23 Replies

Today, on Endangered Species Day, we feature another African mammal that isn’t indigenous to South Africa.

Choeropsis liberiensis

With an adult population in the wild estimated at no higher than 2,500 animals and still declining, the IUCN considers the Pygmy Hippo to be an endangered species. The biggest threats to their continued existence is hunting and the destruction of their forest habitat, with only a small proportion of the remaining population being found inside formally protected reserves and most of it being restricted to ever shrinking and increasingly isolated pockets of natural habitat. Today, wild populations are found in only four neighbouring countries in West Africa: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire. An isolated population in Nigeria probably went extinct in the 1940’s. An internationally coordinated captive breeding programme for the species holds about 380 individuals in facilities across the world, including here in South Africa.

As its name suggests, the Pygmy Hippo is much smaller than the only other extant species of hippopotamus, the Common Hippo. Adult males weigh up to 280kg, females up to 190kg, and they stand only 70-90cm high at the shoulder. While they live in close association with fresh water in lowland and swamp forests, the Pygmy Hippo spends much less time in the water than its larger cousin. They feed on swamp plants, leaves, roots and fruit (grass is the main fodder for the Common Hippo, but is in short supply in the forests the Pygmy Hippo inhabits). Pygmy Hippos are solitary, nocturnal creatures and the only associations are of mating couples or a cow and her single offspring, born after a 7 month gestation. Despite their comparatively diminutive size, Pygmy Hippos are aggressive and quite dangerous when cornered or wounded.

Pygmy Hippo

Pygmy Hippo baby

Pygmy Hippo (photo by Joubert)

Pygmy Hippo

Monkey Oranges

24 Replies

Genus Strychnos

The genus Strychnos has about 9 representatives in South Africa, of which we are featuring two large-fruited species in this post. While the fruit pulp is edible and even delicious in certain species, if you are not certain with which species you are dealing the seeds should never be chewed or swallowed as many are extremely poisonous; the poisons strychnine and curare come from plants in this genus.

Both the Black and Green Monkey Oranges are small, deciduous trees with many branches and irregular growth forms. The fruit are huge (up to 12cm in diameter) and take very long to ripen, with a thick husk protecting the fleshy pulp and densely-packed seeds.

Monkey Orange leaves are browsed by a wide variety of animals, and the fruit is eaten by baboons, monkeys, large antelope and bushpigs. Humans eat the pulp of the fruit (it is often dried and powdered for preservation). The wood of the Green Monkey Orange lends itself to carving, as does the husks of the fruit of both species, which is often sold as ornaments in curio stalls. The roots of the Black Monkey Orange are ground and taken as a tea to induce vomiting. The root, bark and unripe fruit of the Green Monkey Orange is used in traditional medicine to treat venomous snake bites; it is thought that the strychnine or similar alkaloid it contains might counteract the effects of the snake venom. The seeds of the Green Monkey Orange should therefore definitely not be eaten, though the fruit pulp surrounding the seeds is apparently delicious.

While both species are well known from the savanna and forest regions of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal, only the Green Monkey Orange’s distribution extends into the Eastern Cape and as far as the Garden Route.

Black Monkey Orange – Strychnos madagascariensis

Black Monkey Orange

Black Monkey Orange fruit

Black Monkey Orange leaves

Black Monkey Orange fruit

Black Monkey Orange

Green (Natal) Monkey Orange – Strychnos spinosa

Green Monkey Orange fruit

Green Monkey Orange

Sulphur Orange Tip Butterfly

21 Replies

Colotis auxo

The Sulphur Orange Tip is a smallish butterfly with a wingspan of only about 4cm. It inhabits savanna habitats and adults may be seen year-round, being must numerous in late summer and autumn. Larvae feed on the leaves of the wormbushes (genus Cadaba). They are restless and fast fliers, usually staying close to the ground.

In South Africa the Sulphur Orange Tip is found along the coast and adjacent interior of the Eastern Cape, through most of Kwazulu-Natal, the Lowveld of Mpumalanga and throughout the Limpopo Province.

Sulphur Orange Tip

Sulphur Orange Tip female

iSimangaliso Wetland Park: uMKhuze Game Reserve

35 Replies

On the 15th of February 1912 the Mkuzi Game Reserve was proclaimed in the north of the Natal Province. At that stage the reserve covered 251km², with its northern and eastern border being the river of the same name. In the west the reserve straddles the Lebombo Mountain and in the south it reached to the Umsunduzi River and Nsumo Pan. Before its proclamation the area was popular among hunters, especially in winter when the dangers of malaria and tsetse flies were diminished, and as a result several animal species, including white rhino, buffalo and eland, were wiped from the area. With a large and impoverished human population living around it, after the reserve was established it faced, and still does, a never ending war with both commercial and subsistence poaching.

In the early years there was lots of hostility to the reserve’s existence, with neighbouring farmers seeing it as a breeding ground for the cattle disease nagana (of which the tsetse fly is a vector from game, which is immune against it). As a result, the reserve was deproclaimed in 1939 and control of the land transferred to the government veterinary department. Subsequently more than 38,000 wild animals were killed, with only black rhinos spared, after which an extensive aerial spraying campaign with poisonous insecticides followed. The war to control the tsetse fly was won at great financial and environmental cost. The reserve was re-proclaimed, under the auspices of the Natal Parks Board (now Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife), in 1954.

Shortly after, the reserve faced a new existential threat when the Mkuze River and the pans it feeds at Nhlonhlela and Nsumo dried up due to dams and extraction for irrigation upstream. With no surface water available for the animals the reserve staff had to sink deep boreholes in the bed of the river to pump water to two waterholes deeper in the reserve to prevent animals moving out. One of these waterholes, Kumasinga, is still a major attraction for both game and human visitors.

Entrance to the walkway at the parking area for Kumasinga Hide

Looking out from Kumasinga Hide

uMkhuze’s Kumasinga Hide

Nyala bull

uMkhuze 20122014

Impala ewe

Warthog family

New to the waterhole

Zebra reflections

Zebr and wildebeest sharing the waterhole

I took this photo of the outside of the hide a bit later in the day

In 1972 the Nxwala State Lands, on Mkuzi’s then south-eastern boundary, was incorporated into the reserve, increasing its size by a further 58km². The reserve boundary was later moved further south to beyond the Umsunduzi River to bring it to its current size. Today the reserve covers 400km² and uses the more correct traditional spelling of uMkhuze for its name. It forms an integral part of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. Have a read here for more about the history of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

Map of uMkhuze Game Reserve (https://isimangaliso.com/)

uMkhuze is rich in scenery and biodiversity. Records indicate that the reserve is home to more than 700 indigenous plant species, 90 mammal species, 450 bird species, 64 kinds of reptile (perhaps as many as 85), 43 kinds of frogs and 32 fish species. The extensive Nsumo Pan, its shores lined by magnificent fever trees, is a watery haven for a myriad water-dependent birds and a magnet for other kinds of wildlife. Majestic riverine forest trees like the sycomore fig trace the course of the Mkuze River. Sand forest is a unique and endangered plant community in South Africa of which a tiny portion is protected in uMkhuze and the open plains of the reserve are covered by savannas and grasslands with a fascinating mix of plant species. Above this all tower the 600m high peaks of the Lebombos.

Nsumo Pan

Nsumo magic

Nsumo Pan

Rainbow over Nsumo Pan

There’s beautiful specimens of the fever tree at uMkhuze

uMkhuze sunset

uMkhuze scenery, the Lebombo range in the background

uMkhuze scenery

Fever trees in Umkhuze Game Reserve

Fever trees

uMkhuze sunset at the lookout tower

uMkhuze scenery

Looking up into the branches of a massive fever tree

Golden Orb-web Spider webs in the golden light of early morning

Giant Carrion Flower (Stapelia gigantea)

uMKhuze landscape, with giraffes

Elephants were reintroduced to the uMkhuze Game Reserve in 1994, and today number more than a hundred animals. They are however not seen very often.

Matriarch of the uMkhuze Game Reserve elephant herd (photo by Joubert)

Younger members of the uMkhuze Game Reserve herd with their leader

Elephant Bull accompanying the herd

Playful Elephant youngster (photo by Joubert)

While the founding population of uMkhuze’s white rhinos were translocated from Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park in the 1960’s, the black rhinos have occurred here throug the ages. What a pity that these enigmatic creatures are now again threatened by poaching

White rhinoceros

Don’t mess with a black rhino

White rhinoceros cow and rather large calf

Black Rhinos

White Rhinos

In August 2005, buffalo was reintroduced to Umkhuze Game Reserve (from Marakele National Park). Although numbering several hundred, they’re still not often seen and tend to remain in the wilderness areas far from human eyes.

Buffalo bull near Ophansi Gate

uMkhuze’s buffaloes are not frequently seen

After an absence of 44 years, lions were reintroduced to the uMkhuze Game Reserve in December 2013.

Lions at uMkhuze (18 December 2014)

uMkhuze is home to leopards, cheetahs and wild dogs, but we haven’t seen them yet. We did however have a few encounters with uMkhuze’s spotted hyenas over the years though.

Spotted hyena

Spot the spotted hyena!

uMkhuze harbours around 300 of the rare suni antelope which finds refuge in the sand forest.

A pair of suni in the sand forest

Suni

uMkhuze is well know for its sizable population of the beautiful nyala.

Nyala bull

Nyala

Nyala lamb

Nyala bull horning the mud

Nyala bull

Big Nyala bull

Other herbivores that occur in uMkhuze are hippo, giraffe, plains zebra, warthog, bushpig, kudu, blue wildebeest, bushbuck, impala, steenbok, common and red duiker, baboon, vervet monkey, thick-tailed bushbaby and scrub hare.

Plains zebras

Grey duiker

Radio-controlled warthogs

There seemed to be impala lambs around every corner at uMkhuze

Thick-tailed Bushbabies visited our tent at uMkhuze every night

Hippos

Giraffe

Baboon

Blue wildebeest

Giraffe

Impala herd

Vervet Monkeys admiring their reflections

Young Kudu bull

Common Duiker

Kudu cow

Hippos at rest in Nsumo Pan

Playful baboons at Kumasinga

Scrub Hare

Steenbok

uMkhuze is considered one of the top bird-watching destinations in South Africa

Broad-billed rollers

European Honey Buzzard

Cattle egret

Woolly-necked Stork Buffet at uMkhuze

European Roller

Crested Guineafowl

Crested Francolin

Trumpeter Hornbill

Spur-winged Goose (male)

Lappet-faced Vulture

White-faced Whistling Duck at Kumasinga, uMkhuze

Tawny Eagle

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

Bearded Scrub-Robin

Chinspot Batis (male)

Jameson’s Firefinch

Blue Waxbill

Pied Wagtail

African Jacana

Yellow-throated Longclaw

White-crested Helmetshrike

Golden-breasted Bunting

Crested Guineafowl

Black Flycatcher

African Darter

Purple-crested Turaco

Rudd’s Apalis

White-browed Scrub Robin

Pink-throated Twinspot

European Nightjar

Grey Waxbill

Sombre Greenbul

Common Waxbill

African Hoopoe

Burchell’s Coucal

African Harrier-Hawk

Yellow-fronted Canary

Chinspot Batis

Emerald-spotted Wood Dove

Red-backed Shrike

European Nightjar

Pink-backed Pelican in flight

Cold-blooded creatures abound in uMhuze too, and visitors can expect to see anything from fish to nile crocodiles while exploring the reserve.

Red Toad at home outside our cottage

Common Tropical House Gecko outside the bathroom window

Juvenile African (Edible) (Lesser) Bullfrog

Striped Skink enjoying a grasshopper meal

Tortoises have right of way on uMkhuze’s roads – this is a Natal Hinged Tortoise

Tortoise have right of way on uMkhuze’s roads

Serrated Terrapins soaking up the sun at Nsumo Pan

Flap-necked Chameleon (photo by Joubert)

Eastern Natal Green Snake at Kumasinga Hide, 21 March 2022

Leopard Tortoise

Tree Agama female

Water Monitor

Crocodile lurking in the water

Redbreast Tilapia in Nsumo Pan

In 1958 Mkuzi Game Reserve opened to the public, when three rustic huts were erected for use by overnight visitors. The reserve’s Mantuma Rest Camp today provides a variety of comfortable accommodation options in huts, chalets, safari tents and cottages with a swimming pool available to accommodated guests. Unleaded petrol and diesel is available and the reception office doubles as a small shop selling mainly snacks and fizzy drinks. The Rhino Din-o is a small cafeteria in Mantuma that sells light meals and offers excellent value for money. There is also a well-shaded picnic site for day visitors in the grounds of the reception office. Guided night drives and guided walks through the Fig Tree Forest departs from the main camp. The exclusive Nhlonhlela Bush Lodge, overlooking the pan with the same name and able to accommodate 8 guests, is located a few kilometers away from Mantuma, while the rustic Umkhumbe Camp in the far south of the reserve also accommodates groups of up to 8 guests. There is a spacious camping ground at eMshopi at the western entrance to the reserve. All these overnight facilities are booked through Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. Malaria is still endemic in the area and precautions are strongly advised.

Mantuma, uMkhuze, December 2014

Mantuma Tent #22, uMkhuze Game Reserve, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, March 2017

Chalet 12 in Mantuma Camp, uMkhuze Game Reserve, Isimangaliso Wetland Park, March 2022

Chalet in Mantuma

Swimming Pool at Mantuma

Emshopi Campsite

There are two access gates into the uMkhuze Game Reserve. In the west, 15km from Mkuze town, lies eMshopi Gate. In the east, providing easy access from Sodwana and the R22 road, is the newer Ophansi Gate which opened in 2006. Visitors have access to a road network spanning 100km within the reserve for game viewing, much of it tarred. There is a beautiful picnic site with braai facilities on the shores of Nsumo Pan. Photographic hides at kuMalibala, kuMasinga and kuMahlahla as well as two on Nsumo Pan are well maintained and very popular. The Lebombo Lookout Tower, just a few kilometers south of the main camp, is another spot not to be missed.