A pair of hadeda ibis wading on a boulder protruding from the Treur River, as it rushes towards the Bourke’s Luck Potholes in the Blyde River Canyon, South Africa (where we were fortunate to spend the Easter Weekend).
We’re participating in the online adventure travel and photography magazine LetsBeWild.com‘s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s challenge is “Distant“.
We’re spending Easter Weekend in the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve in Mpumalanga Province, surrounded by some of the most spectacular scenery imaginable!
Spectacular Blyde River Canyon
We wish you all a blessed Easter!
We took these photos this past weekend at Chelmsford Nature Reserve, in Kwazulu-Natal Province, where we were enjoying a quick getaway.
Do you see the reflection in the Anteating Chat’s eye? Have a closer look – that’s our vehicle from which it was photographed:
Cars themselves come with factory-fitted reflective devices that can be put to good use in a nature reserve
The Ntshingwayo Dam is at the centre of the Chelmsford Nature Reserve, and of course water is an excellent reflective surface:
We’re participating in the online adventure travel and photography magazine LetsBeWild.com‘s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s challenge is “Reflections“.
Our time at Chelmsford has come to an end far too quickly (as always) and we’ll be heading back to Pretoria tomorrow.
Today’s photo, of the sunrise over Chelmsford this morning, was taken by Joubert (aged 3!)
A misty start to the early morning, ideal for hiking. Later the sun managed to burn off all the fog and we enjoyed a gloriously sunny afternoon.
We’re spending a long weekend at Chelmsford Nature Reserve, in Kwazulu-Natal Province. We’ll try to post a daily picture while we are here and a full report as soon as possible after we return to the city. It’s so nice to be surrounded by nature’s peace and quiet again!
We encountered this black-backed jackal hunting for moles near Satara, in the Kruger National Park.
In South Africa, as in many other temperate parts of the world, the arrival of the spring season sees an influx of birds that had spent the winter in warmer climes. Swallows are great examples, though some individuals of the Lesser Striped Swallow depicted here (in the Pilanesberg National Park) do actually stay in South Africa year round.
We’re participating in the online adventure travel and photography magazine LetsBeWild.com‘s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s challenge was “Spring“, and we are very pleased to have been awarded an honourable mention!
Austin Roberts was one of South Africa’s most acclaimed zoologists, best known for his authoratitive reference book on the birds of Southern Africa. Today, his legacy is honoured in the Austin Roberts Memorial Bird Sanctuary, located in Pretoria’s leafy Nieuw Muckleneuk suburb.
The tiny reserve covers only eleven hectares (about four city blocks), yet more than 170 bird species have been identified here – a consequence of the wide range of habitats that it provides: dense woodland, mixed bushveld, reedbeds and nine small perennial dams. In addition, a few small antelope and a couple of tortoises also occur here.
Blesbok
Cape Teal
Common Moorhen
Egyptian Geese
Fulvous Duck
Laughing Dove nesting inside the hide
Steenbok
White-faced Ducks
Yellow-billed Duck
Red-knobbed Coot with chick
The Blue Crane is South Africa’s national bird
Crowned Crane
Facilities at the sanctuary include a restaurant and photographic hide, both extremely popular, and both offering a very nice lunchtime break from the office!
A section of the hide at Austin Roberts Bird Sanctuary
We’re very fortunate in that the housing complex where we live in Pretoria borders the “Serene Valley” – a section of the Moreleta Spruit (“spruit” is a South African term for a small stream) surrounded by natural vegetation right in the centre of our bustling suburb. Because of our proximity to this little nature area we’ve noted more than 70 species of birds in our garden, and we’ve even encountered the odd vervet monkey, bushbaby and slender mongoose from time to time.
Serene Valley
Serene Valley
While this week’s WordPress Challenge is specifically targeted at images taken with mobile phones, conventional camera photos aren’t excluded.
DeWetsWild 