Tag Archives: outdoors

Getting to the top of the Brandwag

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We wanted to do something special to end 2014. We couldn’t think of any better way to spend the last morning of the year than getting to the top of the Brandwag Buttress, the icon of the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, even if the weather did not play along as nicely as we had hoped.

The walk to the top of the immense Brandwag (Afrikaans for “sentinel”) formation is the most popular of Golden Gate’s trails. You can walk the Brandwag route in less than an hour, but to us that would be missing the point; you have to take time to appreciate the scenery along the way and the grand views from the top. There are two routes to choose from; one starting at Glen Reenen Rest Camp and the other at the Golden Gate Hotel and Chalets, and combining the two; going up one way and down the other, really is the way to go.

Which way to go?
The trail
Crossing a mountain stream
Enjoying the view
A trail with a view
Hiding from the wet weather under an overhang
Low clouds and scenery
Looking down at Glen Reenen from the top
Looking down at the Golden Gate Hotel and Chalets from the top of the Brandwag
The road westwards towards Clarens
The route down on the Hotel side of the Brandwag
The route down on the Hotel side of the Brandwag
Halfway down
A grey rhebuck coming to investigate the interlopers in his territory
Cape Rock-Thrush (male)
Crossing the Little Caledon
Crossing the Little Caledon
Walking back to Glen Reenen
Walking back to Glen Reenen
From the foot of the Brandwag Buttress

 

Fresh

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The crystal clear and unquestionably fresh mountain streams at Giant’s Castle Game Reserve, in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park

Giant’s Castle’s fresh mountain streams
Giant’s Castle’s fresh mountain streams
Giant’s Castle’s fresh mountain streams
Giant’s Castle’s fresh mountain streams

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

The floral splendour of Golden Gate

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There is only one way to truly appreciate the amazing diversity and breathtaking beauty of the flowers that occur in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, and that is on any or all of the Park’s walking trails. This is a gallery of just some of the fragile blooms we enjoyed while exploring the Park during our December bush holidays.

Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Floral splendour at Golden Gate Highlands National Park

We’ll be dedicating upcoming installments of de Wets Wild to three of Golden Gate’s easiest walking trails.

Wall

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The spectacular Amphitheatre formation in the Drakensberg range is the focal point of the Royal Natal National Park.

Royal Natal Amphitheatre
Royal Natal Amphitheatre
Royal Natal Amphitheatre
Royal Natal Amphitheatre
Royal Natal Amphitheatre
Royal Natal Amphitheatre

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

Summer at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi

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Over the last couple of weeks we’ve shared with you several exciting sightings we enjoyed at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, during our December holidays in the bush. Time to wrap up that part of our trip now.

We left the cheese farm near Mtubatuba very early in the morning of the 24th of December, and made it to the Memorial Gate just in time for it opening at 05:00AM (it’s a drive of about 75km only). We used Memorial Gate so that we could explore the Hluhluwe-section of the reserve on our way south to Mpila Camp, where we could check in 14:00 in the afternoon.

Buffaloes on the way to Maphumulo Picnic Site
Yellow-throated Longclaw
Red Duiker in Hilltop Camp
Nyala at the Hluhluwe River bridge
Single-striped Grass Mouse at Centenary Centre
Elephant browsing at Imfolozi

Mpila is a favourite camp of ours. It is unfenced, except for a single strand of electric wire strung high enough to only keep out elephants and giraffes. Other wildlife, including large predators, regularly roam among the accommodation units. Visitors should keep a special eye open for raids by vervet monkeys during the day, and for hyenas at night while preparing their evening meals on the barbeque fires.

These impalas considered Mpila a good place to raise their lambs
These impalas considered Mpila a good place to raise their lambs
Hyenas come into camp every night. This one we saw at Masinda Lodge, a short distance from Mpila, one morning
Mpila, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, December 2014

That afternoon, we went for a quick drive and had some fun with a cute white rhino calf. Hluhluwe-Imfolozi is renowned as a rhinoceros haven, and we pray that the hard work and dedication of the rangers protecting them against a terrible onslaught from armed poachers will not be in vain.

Black rhinos
I’m coming for you!

When we made our December 2014 plans a year before, we specifically wanted to spend Christmas at Mpila. A special day at a special place. We set out for a quick drive on a glorious morning, then went back to camp to prepare and enjoy Christmas lunch. In the afternoon the Park was inundated by a quick cloud burst, luckily the gravel roads are in good condition and we could continue to explore the Park soon after.

Chistmas sunrise over Hluhluwe-Imfolozi
Beautiful Sontuli Picnic Spot on the banks of the Black Umfolozi
Heavy clouds threatening to dampen Christmas
Heavy rain falling over HIP on Christmas Day
Three-Banded Plover at uBhejane Hide
Yellow-billed kite
Elephant and dung beetle
Spotted hyena

Boxing Day brought us our memorable encounter with lions in trees, but Hluhluwe-Imfolozi has much more to offer and our sightings this day was particularly varied. Our day ended with our best ever sighting of a wild African Rock Python, almost as long as the road was wide!

Elephants crossing the White Mfolozi
Not scared of heights!
Wild lilies in bloom
Warthog piglet
Master of all he surveys
Our best ever sighting of a wild python!
Our best ever sighting of a wild python!

Every day at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi brings something special and exciting, and the 27th of December was no different. Our day started with a thrilling wild dog pack on the hunt, but that wasn’t where it ended!

Wild Dog alpha pair
Browsing elephant
Another sighting of this self-confident bull
Warthog family spa treatment
Warthogs
Mocking Cliff-chat (female)
Young buffalo bull
Muddy buffalo cow
Bad tempered buffalo bull
White Stork
Warthog piglets
Steppe Buzzard

Our last full day at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park seemed to belong to the elephants, with a number of really close-up encounters, but we also had a good laugh at a hyena that bit off more than she could chew.

Hluhluwe-Imfolozi 28122014
The day of the elephants
The story of the (over) ambitious hyena
Buffalo mud-wallow
The day of the elephants
The day of the elephants
The day of the elephants
White-fronted bee-eater

All too soon our five night stay at Mpila came to an end. We had collected so many memories, and can’t wait to return. Driving to Nyalazi Gate we tried to postpone our departure as long as we could, even spending half-an-hour looking for a distant pride of lions reported by fellow spotters in the kznsightings group (a group set up so that visitors to the game reserves in Kwazulu-Natal can share what they find while exploring with other visitors).

Zebra in Imfolozi’s misty hills
Spotted hyena sniffing the breeze
Can you spot the lions? 😀

We found the lions and then departed for Midmar in the KZN Midlands.

 

 

Summer at uMkhuze

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uMkhuze Game Reserve, in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and World Heritage Site, was the third destination of our epic summer 2014 bush holidays. We arrived at uMkhuze’s western gate, Emshopi, on the 18th of December, after an easy 164km drive from Ithala Game Reserve. Our reservation was for three nights in an extremely spacious cottage at Mantuma Rest Camp. When we say “extremely spacious”, we are not lying; you could have held a dance in the lounge!

Mantuma, uMkhuze, December 2014

Mantuma, uMkhuze, December 2014

We’ve already shared with you our experiences at two of uMkhuze’s biggest attractions, the Nsumo Pan and Kumasinga Hide, and in this post we’ll focus on some of the things we saw in the rest of this unique reserve.

Nsumo magic

Nsumo magic

Zebra reflections

Zebra reflections at Kumasinga

Of the bat, it has to be said that uMkhuze is one of South Africa’s best known birding destinations. The variety of birds is absolutely staggering, thanks to the diversity of habitats the reserve protects, and we were lucky to add a couple of new “lifers” to our birding tick list.

European Honey Buzzard
Broad-billed rollers
Cattle egret
Purple-crested Turaco

uMkhuze protects a sizable piece of sand forest, a very rare plant community in South Africa. An equally rare little antelope, the suni, lives only within this habitat. We had several sightings of them, but getting even a half-decent photograph of these shy creatures proved very difficult!

A pair of suni in the sand forest

A pair of suni in the sand forest

We also had our first sightings of large predators (on this trip) at uMkhuze. Lions were reintroduced to the reserve a year ago, and we were thrilled to find two females during a guided night drive. On our last afternoon at uMkhuze, we found a very shy spotted hyena lurking in the bush.

Lions at uMkhuze (18122014)
Spot the spotted hyena!

uMkhuze protects large populations of other well-known African mammals and they certainly were not shy to show themselves!

There seemed to be impala lambs around every corner at uMkhuze
There seemed to be impala lambs around every corner at uMkhuze
There seemed to be impala lambs around every corner at uMkhuze
Plains zebras
Plains zebras
White rhinoceros
White rhinoceros
Don’t mess with a black rhino
Blue wildebeest
Grey duiker
Radio-controlled warthogs

uMkhuze has its fair share of creepy-crawlies too!

Colourful spider
Red Toad at home outside our cottage
Common Tropical House Gecko outside the bathroom window

I’ve already mentioned what a diverse reserve uMkhuze is, and there’s no better place to see this than from the top of the observation tower just a few kilometers south of Mantuma Rest Camp.

Atop the observation tower
A view towards the Lebombos
Acacia flowers
There’s beautiful specimens of the fever tree at uMkhuze
There’s beautiful specimens of the fever tree at uMkhuze

uMkhuze really is a gem in the crown of South Africa’s wild places, and we always enjoy visiting here. Leaving through the Ophansi Gate on uMkhuze’s eastern boundary we felt like we should have stayed a bit longer still, thankfully we could console ourselves by thinking about the great destinations that were still waiting for us on our summer trip to the bush!

Driving through the riverine forest at Ophansi Gate

Driving into the riverine forest at Ophansi Gate

In the pound seats at Kumasinga

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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
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
Warthog spa treatment
Warthog spa treatment
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
Bourke’s Luck Potholes
Bourke’s Luck Potholes
Bourke’s Luck Potholes
Bourke’s Luck Potholes
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
Pink-backed Pelican in flight
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
One of the bird-viewing hides at Nsumo
One of the bird-viewing hides at Nsumo
Nsumo picnic site
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_December2014 (12)

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

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.

Ithala 16122014

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
Giraffes on the horizon
Giraffes on the horizon
Giraffes on the horizon
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.