Tag Archives: outdoors

In the pound seats at Kumasinga

The fantastic Kumasinga Hide is one of the uMkhuze Game Reserve‘s major attractions. The hide is built in the middle of a natural-looking waterhole and offers uninterrupted views and excellent photographic opportunities right around. During our visit to uMkhuze in December 2014 we spent several hours every day at the hide, enthralled by the spectacle of literally hundreds of animals and birds making their way to the water to slake their thirst in the oppressive summer heat.

Best to look over your shoulder every now and then while walking to the hide!

uMkhuze’s Kumasinga Hide

Spectator

Even beneath the hide there’s action!

Rush hour at Kumasinga

Nervous impala

Nyalas are very common patrons at Kumasinga

Nyala bulls coming for a drink

Nyalas are very common patrons at Kumasinga

Nyalas drinking

Red-billed quelea

Fork-tailed drongo dropping in for a drink

Emerald-spotted wood dove

Warthog spa treatment

Blue wildebeests slaking their thirst

Zebr and wildebeest sharing the waterhole

Thirsty zebra

New to the waterhole

Zebra reflections

Marsh Terrapins basking in the sun

We have lots more to share from our uMkhuze visit, so please join us again next week!

Depth

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The Bourke’s Luck Potholes, at the confluence of the Treur and Blyde Rivers, form the head of the Blyde River Canyon, the third biggest canyon on earth.

Bourke’s Luck Potholes

“Depth” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge

The magic of Nsumo Pan

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uMkhuze Game Reserve, in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, has a lot to offer any nature lover, no matter where their interests lie. One of the reserve’s biggest drawcards is the Nsumo Pan, a large body of water fed by the Mkuzi River. Nsumo is home to breeding pink-backed and great white pelicans, hippos and crocodiles, among the huge variety of birds and animals that live along its reed and fever-tree lined shores. The reserve authorities have made it really easy to enjoy Nsumo’s magic: a tar road skirts a part of its northern banks, there are two bird-viewing platforms at the water’s edge and a beautiful picnic site with clean ablutions and braai (barbeque) facilities.

The vast expanse of Nsumo Pan

Goliath heron

Pink-backed Pelican at dawn

Pink-backed Pelican in flight

Hippos at rest in Nsumo Pan

Hippo highway leading from the water

Crocodile lurking in the water

the road along Nsumo Pan

One of the bird-viewing hides at Nsumo

Nsumo picnic site

Nsumo magic

We have lots more to share in upcoming posts about our December visit to uMkhuze Game Reserve 😀

Summer at Ithala

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There’s just something so very special about Ithala Game Reserve that causes us to return year after year. Maybe it is the spectacular scenery or the amazingly diverse wildlife. Maybe it’s the friendly, hospitable staff members that makes us feel so welcome. Whatever the reason (and we suppose it has to be the entire package), there was no way we couldn’t include Ithala in the itinerary of our “summer in the bush” December holidays.

Ithala’s only 197km from Chelmsford Nature Reserve, and we arrived in the morning of the 15th of December under heavily laden skies. In fact, we’d see very little sunshine during our three night stay in comfortable Ntshondwe, Ithala’s award-winning resort.

Ntshondwe, Ithala, December 2014

The reserve has a good network of all-weather gravel roads, and the rain did not interfere with our game-viewing to any large degree, although we weren’t able to enjoy quite as many picnics as we had hoped to. While we didn’t have any sightings of the predators that roam Ithala’s diverse habitats (mostly at night) on this trip, the numerous herds of large herbivores were a sight to behold.

Grey duiker

Kudu

White rhinoceros

Juvenile giraffe

Kudu

Impala lambs

Red Hartebeest

Tsessebe in Ithala Game Reserve

Tsessebe Bull

Blue wildebeest

Steenbok

Plains zebras

Eland

Kudu

Mountain Reedbuck

Waterbuck posteriors

Kudu cow

Ithala 15122014

The elephants at Ithala are shy and seldomly seen, so we count ourselves very lucky to have had two sightings of them on this trip. One sighting was of a big herd near Ngubhu Picnic Site, moving along a drainage line some distance away. The second sighting however was a thrilling affair as we happened upon two young bulls right in the road, near gate closing time, around a bend between the Ngulumbeni Loop and camp. One of the bulls hightailed it deep into the bush as soon as we appeared around the corner, but his companion decided to give us a good show for quite a while, not prepared to relinquish his spot on the road to let us pass.

Whenever there was a break in the rain, we’d undertake short walks around Ntshondwe, enjoying the opportunity to get closer to some of Ithala’s smaller and more delicate inhabitants.

Eastern Olive Toad

Tiny Raucous Toad

Millipede

Sickle Bush flowers

(Unidentified) Emperor Moth

Barberton Girdled Lizard

CMR Blister Beetles

Dassie

Shy bushbuck ewe

Ntshondwe walkway

Dung beetle with his bounty

Ithala in summer is a bird-watcher’s delight, and even us, relatively novice “twitchers”, managed to seek out and identify a wide variety of the reserve’s feathered denizens, despite the mostly inclement weather.

Rufous-naped Lark

Blue crane

Black-winged Kite

Hamerkop

Steppe Buzzard

Reed cormorant

Black-winged Kite

Black-bellied bustard

We’ve no idea how this domestic goose made it into the reserve!

Ostrich male swallowing something large

Before leaving Ithala for uMkhuze Game Reserve, we took a short, final early morning drive towards the gate and Onverwacht Loop, and were rewarded for our effort by a herd of giraffe moving serenely along the horizon, dark clouds and the sun struggling to break through providing a dramatic background to the scene.

Giraffes on the horizon

Reason enough to return to Ithala? Absolutely! Not that we need an excuse, this place has had us under its spell for so long we won’t be able to stay away.

Summer at Chelmsford

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We kicked off our recent “summer in the bush” holidays with a two night stay at Chelmsford Nature Reserve near the town of Newcastle, in the north-west of Kwazulu-Natal Province. Chelmsford may be a tiny reserve as far as African game parks go, but it is a very important piece of conservation estate, conserving South Africa’s largest population of locally endangered oribi antelope.

We stayed in one of the comfortable two-bedroom self-catering chalets at Leokop Camp, right on the banks of the Ntshingwayo Dam. The reserve was busy with holidaymakers coming to enjoy the great watersport opportunities and picnics at the water’s edge, while others, like the de Wets, enjoyed the reserve’s more natural attractions.

Chelmsford Nature Reserve, December 2014

Zebra and black wildebeest graze while visitors picnic in the background

Zebra and black wildebeest at ease while visitors picnic in the background

After unpacking, we were off to explore the wonders of this special little reserve that’s crept so deep into our hearts. These plains zebra entertained us with the running of the Chelmsford Derby…

The Chelmsford Derby

Chelmsford 13122014

The Chelmsford Derby

Being a grassland reserve, Chelmsford hosts large populations of plains game, including the already mentioned oribi and zebra, black wildebeest, blesbuck, and springbok, one of our national emblems. There’s no large predators at Chelmsford, but smaller carnivores like yellow mongoose and cape fox are well represented and frequently encountered.

Plains zebra

Yellow mongoose

Plains zebra foal

Blesbuck

Blesbuck lambs

Zebra foal

Plains zebra

Springbok

Springbok, showing off

Cape Fox

Oribi ram

The reserve is surrounded by farmland, and this fence-jumping cow was an unexpected find during one of our drives.

Because there’s no dangerous man-eating predators lurking in Chelmsford’s grasslands, visitors are free to explore the reserve on foot, making it easier to appreciate its smaller, less obvious, inhabitants.

Wild flowers at Chelmsford

Yellow Pansy butterfly

Wild flowers at Chelmsford

Clothes Moth on a window pane

Wild flowers at Chelmsford

Bird-watching is another pastime to revel in at Chelmsford, especially as the reserve is home to several special bird species, like the blue crane (our national bird).

Long-tailed widowbird

Anteating chats

Blue cranes

Blue crane

Blue cranes

Diederik Cuckoo

Bokmakierie

For such a small piece of land, Chelmsford offers an amazing variety of scenery. Leokop-hill is an ever-present element, as is the dam, making for dramatic vistas at sunrise and sunset over the wide-open spaces.

Chelmsford sunset 14122014

Leokop and a lone paperbark tree in Chelmsford Nature Reserve

Ntshingwayo sunrise

Chelmsford sunrise

Chelmsford may only be a small reserve without any of the charismatic Big-5 African animals, but to those that take the time to get to know it better there’s a chest of treasures waiting to be unearthed and savored. We’ll be back, that’s for sure.

Shadowed

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Contrasting light and shadows in the Echo Ravine, in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. An easy but exquisitely beautiful walk from Glen Reenen Rest Camp delivers you to the ravine, a wonderland of enormous rock walls, dripping water, crystal clear streams and a diverse plant life. We’ll share more from Echo Ravine, and other trails at Golden Gate, in a forthcoming post.

Shadowed

“Shadowed” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge

A garden where the eagles soar

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Jumping up from a picnic, while celebrating a special friends birthday, to take pictures of large eagles flying over a major metropolis is not a familiar scenario for the de Wets. And yet that seems to be par for the course at the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens!

Opened to the public in 1987 as the Witwatersrand National Botanical Garden on land donated five years earlier by the town councils in Johannesburg’s western suburbs, the gardens were renamed after the ANC leader Walter Sisulu in 2004. The focal point of the garden is undoubtedly the Witpoortjie Waterfall, the source of the Crocodile River which flows through much of the garden. Apart from beautifully tended and themed plant displays, the grounds include large tracts of natural vegetation and ample lawns under shady trees, very popular for picnics. Several pathways and tracks provide access to various parts of the gardens, and the most challenging of these lead to the top of the cliff above the waterfall, a favourite spot for many photographers hoping for a special shot of the eagles soaring past.

Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

The path to the top of the Waterfall

Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

Witpoortjie Falls

Crocodile River

The gardens are open daily from 08:00 to 17:00 and facilities include a restaurant, kiosk, several function venues, a concert stage, an environmental education centre, a curio shop and a nursery selling indigenous garden plants. Guided tours of the gardens can be arranged in advance. We like the garden’s policy of “picnic in, litter out” encouraging visitors to take all their garbage with them when they leave.

The gardens are a haven for a multitude of birds and small animals, many of which are quite tame and obviously used to the human presence.

Red Bishop

Southern Masked Weaver

Juvenile Red-Chested Cuckoo

Dark-capped Bulbul

Leopard tortoise

Weevil

It’s been more than thirty years since a pair of Verreaux’s Eagles (formerly known as Black Eagles) first took up residence at a nesting site next to the Witpoortjie Waterfall. The current pair had successfully raised a chick to sub-adulthood and at the time of our visit was just starting to let the youngster know that it has to start looking for lodgings of its own. This made for spectacular flying displays over the gardens and against the backdrop of the Roodekrans cliffs.

Signage encouraging responsible enjoyment of the magnificent eagles

Their nesting site

Verreaux’s Eagles at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens

On the other side of the garden, a dam with a bird-viewing hide at its edge was just one more delightful feature to add to our reasons to return to the gardens (soon!). Here we found an extremely irritable Egyptian Goose laying claim to the body of water and intent on ridding it of anything else that seemed remotely like waterfowl! It probably had a nest or goslings hidden somewhere near.

Sasol Dam from the Bird Hide

Egyptian Goose on the attack

Yellow-billed Duck fleeing the area

Egyptian Goose on the attack

Very pleased Egyptian Goose

African Black Duck

This was our first visit to these beautiful gardens, and we were wonderfully surprised and delighted by what we found. We spent the entire day at the garden, from when the gates opened until they closed, and yet feel like we haven’t seen most of it. Couple that with a jolly time spent with good friends, we’re sure it won’t be long before we return.

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A quick sojourn to Skukuza

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Roughly two weeks ago I was invited to Skukuza Rest Camp, in the Kruger National Park, and of course this was the perfect opportunity to mix business and pleasure again. Unfortunately Marilize and Joubert couldn’t join me on this trip, but instead I enjoyed the company of a colleague as passionate about the Park as I am.

We drove to Kruger on the Sunday afternoon and could enjoy the scenery and wildlife along the way from Phabeni Gate to Skukuza. It had been raining all day, and some more in the weeks prior to our arrival, and fresh, green growth was sprouting all over.

Despite heavily overcast skies, Monday afforded us more opportunity to experience the Park, before and after our important meeting of course. The rains heralded the start of the impala lambing season, and many other kinds of animals were getting into the birthing action too.

Alert impala

Hadeda Ibis

Buffalo remains on Skukuza’s promenade

Ample opportunity to enjoy the antics of Skukuza’s vervet monkeys

Purple-crested Turaco

Bearded Scrub-Robin

Bushbuck

Lazy lioness

Threatening clouds over the Sabie River

Impala lambing season

Hyenas are commonly encountered at Skukuza

Fruit bats under the thatch of Skukuza's shop

Epauletted Fruit Bat under the thatch of Skukuza’s shop

And then Tuesday dawned, with bright and sunny skies, but for us it was time to head back to Pretoria, via Lower Sabie and exiting the Park at Crocodile Bridge.

Baboons abound along the Sabie

Yes, they’re fast asleep!

Laughing dove in Lower Sabie

Glossy starling in Lower Sabie

Expertly camouflaged tree agama

Signs of spring all around

Arrow-marked babbler in Lower Sabie

Glossy starling after taking a bath

Warthogs drinking from the Sabie

Life and death in the Sabie

Leopard Tortoise enjoying freshly sprouted grass

Newborn warthogs

Common Emperor Moth at Crocodile Bridge

Nothing like an unexpected bush visit to rejuvenate mind and body! This last gallery sums it up so well for me; even such a short visit to the Kruger Park can deliver unexpected and very memorable sightings. While doing our walkabout at Lower Sabie Rest Camp, I came across this tree agama being irritated by a large ant…

Notice the ant on this agama’s leg?

She does!

Taking aim

Out comes the tongue!

And gone is the ant…

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Thank you for your support!

Angular

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The Witpoortjie Falls, in the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden, where we spent several hours today enjoying the scenic surroundings, soaring eagles and the company of wonderful friends.

Angular

“Angular” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge

Surrounded by splendour at Golden Gate

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Few places can compete with the Golden Gate Highlands National Park when it comes to sheer scenic splendour. Visiting the Park is always a pleasure, and our November 2014 visit was no exception. The Park is looking beautiful following the first good spring rains, and walking or driving around, there’s just so much to take in!

This way for great scenery!

Peace and tranquility at Golden Gate

Crystal clear mountain streams

Mushroom Rocks

The view from Glen Reenen

Double rainbow over Golden Gate

Rainbow over Glen Reenen

Misty sunrise

Valleys cloaked in mist

Glen Reenen

The road to Clarens

Fresh water in abundance

Thunder and lightning over Glen Reenen

Lighting up the skies over Glen Reenen

Craggy heights silhouetted at sunrise

Summer is the best time for bird-watching, when the migrants from cooler climes arrive and many male birds are adorned in their breeding plumage. In addition, Golden Gate is home to several rare and endangered species, and we were lucky to encounter some of them.

We had daily sightings of the rare bald ibis on the Oribi Loop at Golden Gate

Endangered bearded vulture in flight

Bearded vulture at the feeding station

Red-winged starling looking after our car

Cape Longclaw

Of course, a National Park wouldn’t be complete without large mammals, and Golden Gate has its fair share of animals adapted to the climatic extremes of a mountain environment.