Tag Archives: picnic spots

Birthday outing to Rietvlei

This past weekend saw us, accompanied by good friends and close family, heading to our local Rietvlei Nature Reserve to celebrate Joubert’s tenth birthday. The highlight of the day for Joubert and his mates was a tour to Rietvlei’s lions, with the birthday boy getting the seat of honour next to the very knowledgeable ranger-guide.

White Rhino Bull (horns humanely removed to deter poachers)

Cormorant colony at Rietvlei Dam (photo by Joubert)

Reed Cormorant in flight

African Wattled Lapwing

Crowned Lapwing

Blacksmith Lapwing

Waterbuck bull

Swainson’s Spurfowl

Rufous-naped Lark in full song

Rose-ringed Parakeet – these exotics seem to have become established in the reserve.

Red Hartebeest with an itch

Two very dusty zebras (photo by Joubert)

Male ostrich

Immature Dabchick

Lazy lioness (photo by Joubert)

Lioness

Rietvlei’s lions live a life of leisure

Groundscraper Thrush

Grey Go-away Bird

Red-billed Wood-Hoopoe

Fork-tailed Drongo

Eland herd

Egyptian Goose

Crimson-breasted Shrike

Common Moorhen

Spotted Dikkop (Spotted Thick-knree)

Cape Longclaw

Buffalo

Blesbok

Black Wildebeest (photo by Joubert)

African Stonechat (photo by Joubert)

African Stonechat male

10 years old: August 2019. Joubert at Rietvlei Nature Reserve celebrating his 10th birthday party

Very special birthday cake

All aboard the safari vehicle!

10 years old: August 2019. Joubert sitting next to the ranger-guide on a tour to see Rietvlei’s lions

The allure of the waterhole

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There’s always a sense of anticipation when we approach a waterhole in any of South Africa’s wild places, and especially so in the vast expanses of the Kruger National Park. Being literal fountains of life, the Kruger’s waterholes attract streams of wildlife to quench their thirst as the dry season drags on, causing the many ephemeral pans that followed the rains to disappear and forcing the animals to congregate around the shrinking pools in the streams and rivers.

A seemingly serene pool of water at Red Rocks

A pool at Red Rocks

A dry Shingwedzi River near Tshange viewpoint

Giraffe crossing the dry bed of the Shingwedzi

A wide bend in the Shingwedzi River

Animals congregating at a waterhole to the north of Babalala

Sitting idly waiting by a waterhole, even if it appears deserted at first, is often handsomely rewarded with the most memorable wildlife encounters, as anything from fish to elephants may make an appearance in the grand show.

Blacksmith Lapwings

Buffalo herd rushing to the water

Buffaloes slaking their thirst while zebras wait their turn

Buffalo bull drinking

Buffalo congregating around the waterhole

Buffalo herd at the water (photo by Joubert)

Bushbuck at the water’s edge

Egyptian Goose in flight (Joubert’s photo)

Eland gathering at a watering hole north of Babalala

Elephants and waterbuck at a deep pool in the otherwise dry Shingwedzi

Elephant herd gathering to drink

Elephant drinking

Elephant herd drinking

Elephants in a dry riverbed

Herd of elephant marching to the water

Elephant cow drinking at Red Rocks

Elephant herd moving along a dry river

Elephant herd running to the water

Elephant herd enjoying a social dust bath after bathing in a waterhole

Elephant tussle

Elephants at a pool in the Mphongolo River

Hippo and Crocodile

A large pod of hippo and their shrinking waterhole

Hippos

Just look at that tiny hippo baby!

Impalas drinking at Red Rocks

Impalas reflecting in the waterhole

Kudu bull

Kudu, nyala and impala share a stretch of the dry Shingwedzi

Plains Zebras

Water Thick-knees (Photo by Joubert)

Hippo pod (Photo by Joubert)

Eland, zebras and Elephants share a waterhole north of Babalala (Photo by Joubert)

Thirsty Tusker (Photo by Joubert)

Elephant Calf (Photo by Joubert)

Elephant herd on the run to Red Rocks (Photo by Joubert)

Elephant Bull (Photo by Joubert)

Elephants gathering in their numbers along the dwindling waterholes in the drying Mphongolo River

Tilapia (species unknown)

But as with so much in life there’s also two sides to the story of the waterhole. It isn’t only life-sustaining; sometimes it’s a death-trap as predators know that a waterhole is a like a magnet to their prey…

Old buffalo trapped in a muddy waterhole

Young Nile Crocodile

Nile Crocodiles

Baby Nile Crocodile and Adult Water Monitor lying next to a pool in the Shingwedzi River

Goliath Heron

Green-backed Heron

Grey Heron

Hamerkop

Pied Kingfisher

Saddle-billed Stork

Fish Eagle taking off (Photo by Joubert)

Big male lion in the bed of the Mphongolo River

Lions in the grass next to the Crocodile River

Given so much danger around, this Green-winged Pytilia drinking from a leaking hosepipe at Babalala Picnic Spot instead of taking his chances at the nearby waterhole is probably very clever!

Green-winged Pytilia

Winter Highland Holidays – Giant’s Castle

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Just two days after we returned from Shingwedzi in the Kruger National Park (which we’ll be telling you all about soon, promise!), we headed back to Giant’s Castle in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park to pick up where we left off when we had to cut our trip in March short due to illness.

Part of the planning for our original trip was to spend a day visiting the crafters and speciality shops in the KZN Midlands between Mooi River and Howick along the R103-road, particularly to stock up on a variety of cheeses and other delights to enjoy in the evenings in front of the fireplace. With check-in at Giants Castle being only from 14:00 onwards, we decided for this return visit to then get the “shopping” out of the way first before heading to the reserve. An early (04:00am) start out of Pretoria allowed us to visit all the nice stalls and shops we wanted to, discover a few new ones and do some birdwatching along the Lower Loteni and Kamberg roads on the way before arriving at Giant’s Castle just after 16:00 in the evening (dusk comes really early in the ‘Berg in winter!).

Blue Cranes on the Lower Loteni Road

Secretary Bird on the Kamberg Road

Oribi grazing next to the Kamberg Road

A juvenile Bearded Vulture

Black-headed Heron on the Kamberg Road

Giant’s Castle entrance

This Jackal Buzzard (photographed by Marilize) was our first sighting just in at the gate at Giant’s Castle

We were allocated Chalet 26 for our 4 night stay, a 2-bedroom unit which is very privately situated and offers a spectacular view of the slumbering Giant that looms over the reserve named after it below.

Giant’s Castle, Unit 26, uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, June 2019

The view from Chalet 26

A close-up view of the sleeping Giant

In a scenically grand environment like you’ll find at Giant’s Castle there’s beautiful landscapes all around, making hiking an absolute joy and the reason why we spent so much time on the different trails (thankfully we had really good weather during our visit)

Heavy clouds descending on the Drakensberg

Scenic vistas along the Bushmans River

The road leading to the REst Camp at Giant’s Castle

Beautiful spots along the Bushmans River

This Crassula is hanging on for dear life on a sheer rockface

Beautiful mountain blooms

Beautiful spots along the Bushmans River

The Main Caves in which you’ll find a fascinating museum dedicated to the San, or Bushman, people

Giant’s Castle scenery

Beautiful spots along the Bushmans River

Deep pool in the Bushmans River

Beautiful spots along the Bushmans River

Giant’s Castle scenery

Scenic vistas along the Bushmans River

This huge boulder looks like it might have been the shell of a prehistoric tortoise!

Beautiful mountain blooms

Sunlight flushing the dark from the valley below Giant’s Castle

Giant’s Castle scenery

Giant’s Castle scenery (photo by Joubert)

Beautiful mountain blooms (photo by Joubert)

Beautiful spots along the Bushmans River (photo by Joubert)

View of the Drakensberg from the Bergview Trail

View of the Drakensberg from the track to the Vulture Hide

View from the track to the Vulture Hide

Of course, being one of South Africa’s oldest protected environments there’s no shortage of wildlife to be found at Giant’s Castle, even if it can often be easily overlooked in the grand environs they inhabit!

Baboons are probably the most easily seen mammal in Giant’s Castle, as they move through the Rest Camp daily

A pair of mating baboons high in the mountains

Baboons are probably the most easily seen mammal in Giant’s Castle, as they move through the Rest Camp daily

Common Geranium Bronze butterfly

Dassie, or Rock Hyrax

Eland were the main reason the Giant’s Castle reserve was proclaimed

Eland on the run along the Bushmans River

At night, Eland often shelter in the camp

Eland were the main reason the Giant’s Castle reserve was proclaimed

Gaudy Commodore (dry season form)

Grey Duiker

Marsh Mountain Blue

Mountain Reedbuck ewe

Red-sided Skink

Small Scarlet dragonfly

Speckled Rock Skink

Common Hottentot Skipper (female)

Trapdoor Spider on the move

Foam Grasshopper nymph (species unknown)

Yellow Pansy

Horses and ponies are an invaluable tool to rangers in mountainous areas, and while they’re not indigenous these beautiful animals look very much at home in their highland abode.

Horses and ponies are an invaluable tool to rangers in mountainous areas

Baboons invading the paddock at Giant’s Castle

Horses and ponies are an invaluable tool to rangers in mountainous areas

The Drakensberg may not boast the richest variety of birdlife in South Africa, especially in winter, but we still had a great time bird-watching while out and about, and often the birds came to visit us while we were relaxing at the chalet.

African Stonechat

Southern Bald Ibis

Cape Crow

Black-headed Heron

Bokmakierie

Buffy Pipit

Cape Batis

Cape Robin-Chat

Cape Rock Thrush (male)

Cape Rock Thrush (female)

Cape Turtle Dove

Cape Wagtail

Cape White-eye

Chorister Robin-Chat

Dark-capped Bulbuls

Drakensberg Prinia

Familiar Chat

Forest Canary

Fork-tailed Drongo

Male Greater Double-Collared Sunbird

Ground Woodpeckers

Gurney’s Sugarbird

Levaillant’s Cisticola

Olive Thrush

Olive Woodpecker

Red-eyed Dove

Red-winged Starling (male)

Southern Boubou

Speckled Mousebird

Speckled Pigeon

Streaky-headed Seed-eater

Tawny-flanked Prinia

White-necked Raven

Yellow Bishop (non-breeding plumage)

We had a wonderful time at Giant’s Castle, and are incredibly grateful that we could return so soon. Along the most direct route, Giant’s Castle lies about 500km from our home in Pretoria, but with our four days in the mountains flying past unbelievably quickly we decided to prolong our return journey by taking a more scenic road over Oliviershoek Pass and through Golden Gate Highlands National Park (where our Autumn Highlands Holidays kicked off in March 2019).

Easter at Marakele

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If you thought we were a bit quiet over the Easter Weekend you’d be right, as we disappeared into the Marakele National Park in the Waterberg Mountains of the Limpopo Province, celebrating the cornerstone of our Chrisitian faith with good friends and family surrounded by awesome scenery and beautiful wildlife.

Welcome to Marakele National Park

The full moon rising over the Waterberg (photo by Joubert)

Early morning at Marakele

The view from the road to the top of Lenong Viewpoint on the mountain

Everlastings thrive on the mountain

Marakele scenery

Impressive cliffs looming over Thutong

Marakele scenery

The view from the top of Lenong Viewpoint on the mountain

Marakele scenery

The plains and Tlopi Dam below Mbidi Loop

Marakele afternoon sun

Common Sugarbush bud (photo by Joubert)

View over the valley and Waterberg range from Thutong

Marakele’s such a treasure chest of diverse wildlife that it is hard to decide what to show and what to leave out. Let’s start then with a few of the “creepy crawlies” that we encountered while exploring the Park.

Adult Blotched Antlion

Broad-bordered Grass Yellow

Guinea-fowl Butterfly

Common Orange Tip butterfly (male)

Zebra White butterfly

Large moth

Praying Mantis

Two-spotted Ground Beetle

A Velvet Ant female – the females are flightless

Flattie Spider against a bathroom wall

Grass Funnel-web Spider

Red Toad

Turner’s Giant Gecko

Speckled Rock Skink (photo by Joubert)

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake

WIth Autumn now in full swing in South Africa most of the summer visiting migrant birds have departed for warmer environs already, but bird watching at Marakele over Easter was still a special treat!

Brown-crowned Tchagra

Cape Bunting

Cape Robin Chat

Cape Rock Thrush (male)

Cape Vultures in flight over Marakele – the Park is home to the world’s biggest colony of these birds.

Emerald-spotted Wood Dove

Familiar Chat

Fork-tailed Drongo

Freckled Nightjar

Southern Grey-headed Sparrow

Lesser Striped Swallow

Long-tailed Paradise Whydah (shortly before molting)

Mocking Cliff-Chat male

Pearl-spotted Owlet

Rock Kestrels in flight

White-fronted Bee-eater

Yellow-fronted Canary

What would a National Park be without some charismatic large mammals? Marakele certainly didn’t disappoint on that score, even though the lush vegetation following the rainy season did make game-viewing a bit trickier than usual.

Blue Wildebeest

Cantankerous Buffalo bull

Dassie (Rock Hyrax)

Elephant visiting us at Thutong one night (caught on our camera-trap)

Elephant teenager showing off!

This elephant cow didn’t appreciate our presence one bit, even though we gave her plenty of space!

Giraffe bull

Impala ram

Impala lamb

Klipspringer ewe

Klipspringer pair

Kudu bull

Kudu calf

Kudu cow close-up

Majestic Kudu Bull

Juvenile Kudu

Kudu cow

Lioness (photo by Joubert)

Young male lion at Marakele

Nyala calf

Plains Zebras

Plains Zebra close-up

Vervet Monkey (photo by Joubert)

Warthog

White Rhinos

Altogether we spent 4 nights in Marakele on this trip, arriving late on the 18th and departing again on the morning of the 22nd of April 2019. When visiting Marakele in a big group there’s no better option than to stay at the Thutong Environmental Education Centre (as we did) in a remote corner of the Park.

Special friends and family sharing a beautiful piece of our country

Thutong Environmental Education Centre, Marakele NP, April 2019

We’ve covered Marakele extensively in previous posts on de Wets Wild, so why not have a read through all of them if you are interested to learn more about this magical piece of our country.

Autumn Highlands Holidays – uKhahlamba Drakensberg

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After kicking off at Glen Reenen in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, the next destination on our Autumn Highlands Holidays itinerary was the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park in Kwazulu-Natal Province – we planned to spend five nights at Thendele in the Royal Natal National Park followed by five nights at the Giant’s Castle Game Reserve.

The Drakensberg is a favourite destination for many South Africans (like us!) and international visitors alike – with such magnificent scenery and diverse activities on offer to enjoy the great outdoors it is easy to understand why! We’ve already shown off the beauty of the Amphitheatre and the Cascades but the Drakensberg has so much more to see – just look:!

Moss and ferns growing on rocks in a forest at Thendele

View northwards from behind Thendele

Mahai stream

Moss and ferns growing on rocks in a forest at Thendele

Dooley Mountain

A quiet pool on the Mahai stream

Plowman’s Kop

View towards Devil’s Hoek from below Thendele

Looking towards Thendele from the Tugela Gorge trail

Tugela River

Policeman’s Helmet

Royal Natal scenery – a wider view of the Policeman’s Helmet

Royal Natal – Dooley Mountain

Small falls in Fairy Glen

Looking from Thendele towards Mahai

One would expect that any plants occurring in the often difficult climatic conditions of the Drakensberg would be very tough and hardy – and they are, but that doesn’t mean the plants found here are any less pretty than those found in more tropical climes! We’ll be showcasing a few of them in more detail in the coming weeks.

Moss growing on the trunk of a Yellowwood Tree in the forest at Thendele

River Lily

Beautiful Drakensberg flowers

Highveld Cabbage Tree

Grassplume in the wind

Beautiful Drakensberg flowers

Drakensberg flowers

Highveld Cabbage Trees

Various kinds of ferns adorn the trails in Royal Natal

Common Tree Ferns

Common Tree Fern

River Lilies

Beautiful Drakensberg flowers

Common Sugarbush

Common Sugarbush dot a hillside below Thendele in Royal Natal National Park

The number of invertebrates that find a home in these harsh highland habitats always astounds me – there are interesting insects and spiders to be found almost everywhere you look! You can look forward to new posts featuring a few of these in the coming weeks as well!

Unidentified large moth

Common Green Mantid

African Grass Blue butterfly

Common Blue (Leptotes sp)

Dropwing Dragonfly

Golden Orb-web Spider

Rainforest Brown butterfly

Common Hottentot Skipper (males)

Common Blue (Leptotes sp)

Cupreous Blue butterfly

Gaudy Commodore butterfly (dry season form)

Drakensberg Malachite

Pea Blue butterflies

Orb-web Spider

Julia Skimmer

Dropwing Dragonfly

Gold-spotted Sylph butterfly

Water Bronze butterfly

Drakensberg Malachite

Rainforest Brown butterfly

Unidentified kind of spider

Do you still remember the great fun Joubert had photographing the guineafowls in Thendele? They’re just one of 83 species of birds we managed to identify during our time in “The ‘Berg” – here’s a few more of the feathered inhabitants of the Royal Natal section of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park and some of them will soon feature in their own posts here at de Wets Wild.

African Olive Pigeon

Familiar Chat

Fiscal Flycatcher

Southern Black Flycatcher

Cape Wagtail

Olive Thrush

Speckled Mousebird

African Black Duck

Black-headed Heron

Cape Robin-Chat

Cape White-eye

Chorister Robin-Chat

Common Moorhen

Dark-capped Bulbul

Egyptian Geese in flight

Male Greater Double-collared Sunbird

Hadeda Ibis

Helmeted Guineafowl youngsters

Little Grebe chick

Red-collared Widowbird

Southern Boubou

White-necked Raven

White-rumped Swift

African Dusky Flycatcher

Brimstone Canary

Immature Fork-tailed Drongo

Golden-breasted Bunting

Lazy Cisticola

Male Southern Double-collared Sunbird (male)

Jackal Buzzard in flight over Thendele

Levaillant’s Cisticola

Male Pin-tailed Whydah (lost the trailing feathers somehow)

Verreaux’s Eagle in flight over Thendele

Cape Eagle Owl

Cape Rock Thrush (female)

Cape White-eye

Greater Striped Swallow

Tawny-flanked Prinia

We didn’t expect to find a pair of Southern Ground Hornbills roaming the grasslands in the rain at Rugged Glen!

We’ve already shown you some of the amphibians we found at Mahai, but Royal Natal is also home to many other kinds of four-footed creatures, both cold- and warm blooded.

Baboons grooming

Baboon posing for a photo

Female baboon with baby

Cape Grey Mongoose

Bushbuck ewe with unwelcome visitors

Bushbuck ewe in hiding

Common Duiker

Rock Hyrax, or Dassie

Southern Rock Agama

Red-sided Skink

Speckled Rock Skink

Thendele is the only accommodation option in the Royal Natal National Park (campers can set up their caravans and tents at Mahai or Rugged Glen) and is built in two sections – the older Lower Camp and the newer Upper Camp. All units have lovely views of the Amphitheatre, but those units in the Upper Camp are more spacious and has more privacy. On this trip however we stayed in unit 12, a 2-bedroomed chalet in the Lower Camp, for 5 nights, and had no reason for complaint – everything was in good working order and it was a very comfortable place to rest after a day exploring the scenic splendour on offer at Royal Natal.

Thendele Cottage #12, Royal Natal National Park, March 2019

Mist settling in at Thendele as we depart for Giant’s Castle

From Thendele we departed for Giant’s Castle, further south into the Drakensberg range, on the 26th of March. We were booked to stay at Giant’s Castle for 5 nights as well, but due to me feeling quite unwell we opted to return to Pretoria after just one night there. Unfortunately this meant that we left Giant’s Castle with very few photographs, but that’s a good excuse to return soon we think!

Gate into Giant’s Castle Reserve

Giant’s Castle, Unit 7, uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, March 2019

View from unit 7 at Giant’s Castle

Large moth of an unidentified species

Cape White-eye

Olive Woodpecker

Baboon on a wet thatch roof at Giant’s Castle

Rock Hyrax, or Dassie

Highveld Cabbage Trees forming a focal point in a wooded cluster of trees at Giant’s Castle

The Royal Natal National Park and Giant’s Castle Game Reserve are our two favourite destinations in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. Both of these places can be booked through Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

Location of Royal Natal and Giant’s Castle (drawn with Google Maps)

Autumn Highlands Holidays – Frogging at Mahai

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We recently started nurturing more than a passing interest in South Africa’s different kinds of amphibians, adding another fascinating facet to our enjoyment of our natural heritage. When we visited the Royal Natal National Park in March the trout dam at Mahai proved an excellent spot to go looking for frogs and toads, and other aquatic life, as soon as darkness fell.

(Look out for a special feature post about the Common River Frog to be published here in early June, and follow the links for more on the Painted Reed Frog and Raucous Toad in the meantime)

Common River Frog

Painted Reed Frog

Raucous Toad

Freshwater Crab

By day, the dam at Mahai is a favourite spot for a quiet picnic. We also saw a few trout fisherman achieving success with their rods.

Mahai Dam

The Amphitheatre from Mahai Dam

Tranquility at the Mahai Dam

Autumn Highland Holidays – Royal Natal’s Cascades

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While the Amphitheatre, which we showed you a few days ago, certainly is Royal Natal’s most awe-inspiring feature, there’s another spot in the Park that few visitors do not spend some time at, and that is The Cascades – a beautiful stretch of the Mahai stream where the water drops over, around and even through some large rocky barriers, just a few minutes walk from the camping area. The rock pools are a delight for people old and young to cool of weary feet and bodies after a tough day’s hiking.