Tag Archives: picnic spots

Summertide Diary: Arriving at Bontebok

18 December 2020 (cont.)

After an exhilarating day on the road, traversing no less than four different mountain passes including the famous Swartberg Pass, it was good to arrive at the Bontebok National Park outside Swellendam in the Western Cape. It’s just a short drive from the reception office to the Lang Elsie’s Kraal Rest Camp.

The renosterveld plains of the Bontebok National Park, with the Langeberge in the background

Sugarbush (Protea repens) at Bontebok National Park

Bitter Aloe (photo by Joubert)

Pin-tailed Whydah male (photo by Joubert)

Greater Striped Swallows swooping over the lawns of the camp (photo by Joubert)

Cape Wagtail welcoming us to our chalet (photo by Joubert)

Tortoises are common in Bontebok National Park – this one being a Leopard Tortoise seen at the reception building

Female Malachite Sunbird

Cape Bulbul hoping for a handout (which didn’t come)

With our chalet overlooking the serenity of the Breede River and the sunset beyond, the day came to a fitting close.

The entrance to Lang Elsie’s Kraal Rest Camp in the Bontebok National Park

Chalet #7 at Lang Elsie’s Kraal Rest Camp in the Bontebok National Park

Sunset over the Breede River, seen from Chalet #7 at Lang Elsie’s Kraal Rest Camp in the Bontebok National Park

If you’d like to learn more about the Bontebok National Park, have a read through this special feature we published after a previous visit. For more about the beautiful Bontebok antelope, read here.

Map of Bontebok National Park, from a brochure published by SANParks

Summertide Diary: Swartberg Pass

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18 December 2020 (cont.)

On a clear day, when you turn onto the N12-highway just west of the gates to the Karoo National Park, you will see straight ahead of you the outlines of a large mountain range some 100km to the south. That’s the Swartberg (“Black Mountain“) – the highest mountains in the Western Cape, separating the Great Karoo from the Little Karoo.

The Swartberg seen from the N12

We had two choices to get to the other side of the Swartberg, driving as we were from the Karoo National Park to the Bontebok National Park. The first is to stay on the N12 and go “through” the mountain along Meiringspoort – a beautiful stretch of tarred road but the less adventurous of the two options. The other option is to turn off the N12 onto the R407 just before Meiringspoort, following the road that leads to the small town of Prince Albert, and then taking a left turn into the Swartberg Pass (road R328). For us, the choice is an easy one.

Prince Albert’s pass leading to the town of the same name

The start of the Swartberg Pass

Unquestionably one of the most exhilarating drives in South Africa and a personal favourite of ours, the Swartberg Pass is an engineering masterpiece designed and built (with convict labourers, many of whom died during construction) by the renowned Thomas C.J. Bain between 1881 and 1888. Recognised as a national monument, with a gravel surface and supported by impressive dry-stone retaining walls, the pass connects the Western Cape towns of Oudtshoorn and Prince Albert. Crossing over the beautifully unspoilt Swartberg, itself a declared nature reserve and World Heritage Site, while reaching a maximum altitude of 1,575 metres above sea level, the scenery along the Swartberg Pass is as awe-inspiring as the numerous tight switch-back bends, blind rises and steep gradients are hair-raising!

Swartberg Pass

Summertide Rambles 31 December 2020

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This morning it was a sad farewell to Marilize’s parents who joined us for the 4 nights we spent at Addo Elephant National Park. They headed home to Jeffreys Bay while we travelled in the opposite direction to the final stop of our 2020 summertide ramble – the beautiful Mountain Zebra National Park (please click on the image for a clearer view).

Summertide Rambles 29 December 2020

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During our drive through the Addo Elephant Park this morning we were fortunate to encounter this confrontation between an elephant bull and two spotted hyenas who were trying to hide the remains of their prey in a water trough.

Spotted Hyena and Buffalo prey

Time to fight about who gets the lion’s share

Elephant locked onto target!

Summertide Rambles 23 December 2020

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I think it’s more the inclement weather than the government-imposed restriction on beach-going in the Garden Route (an attempt at limiting crowds to curb the spread of COVID-19) that caused the beach at Nature’s Valley to be this deserted today.

The deserted beach at Nature’s Valley

We’ll be spending the next few days with close family in Jeffreys Bay but we’ll resume our summertide rambles through two of the Eastern Cape national parks on the 27th.

Summertide Rambles 22 December 2020

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As the sun sets this evening we’re enjoying the serenity of the next destination of our 2020 summertide ramble: Nature’s Valley in the Garden Route National Park. From our chalet we have a beautiful view of the Groot River and the Tsitsikamma forest and mountains beyond – who could ask for more?

Chalet 12 at Nature’s Valley Rest Camp

The view from chalet 12 at Nature’s Valley Rest Camp

Groot River and the Tsitsikamma

Summertide Rambles 20 December 2020

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It’s the fifth day of our 2020 Summertide Ramble, and we’ve moved again – this time about 200km due east to the Wilderness section of the Garden Route National Park, where our cosy log cottage in the Ebb-and-Flow Rest Camp has a lovely (if overcast and rather chilly at the moment) view over the wetlands of the Serpentine River just before its confluence with the Touw River.

Wilderness Ebb-and-Flow Cottage 13A

Serpentine wetlands

Serpentine River in front of our cottage

Touw River

Summertide Rambles 19 December 2020

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A focal point of the Bontebok National Park is the Breede River, serenely flowing along the park’s southern border. Visitors can kayak, fish and swim in the river or picnic and camp on its banks.

Breede River at sunrise

Breede River panorama

Breede River rapids at Lang Elsie’s Kraal

Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

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With it being a short school holiday we had the opportunity to visit the privately owned Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve for a day this past week.

The reserve was established in 1990 and is located in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site northwest of Johannesburg in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. It covers approximately 1,600 hectares of undulating terrain at the transition between the open grasslands of the Highveld and the savannas of the Bushveld.

Hilltop scenery in the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

A dam at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

An exotic Jacaranda tree in full bloom stands out like a sore thumb among the natural vegetation of the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Going by the name, clearly pride of place at the reserve goes to two species. The first is the white rhinoceros, which are heavily guarded on the reserve to keep them safe from poachers – in fact, several of the reserve’s rhinos arrived here as orphans after their mothers were poached. Furthermore the horns of the rhinos at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve has been infused with a toxin that makes it unfit for human consumption to further deter the unscrupulous syndicates supplying the traditional medicine markets in Asia.

White Rhinos at Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

White Rhino at Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

In a corner of the reserve are four large camps through which visitors are allowed to drive to view two prides of lion, African wild dogs and cheetahs in natural surroundings. Whenever we consider visiting a destination where large predators are kept in camps and enclosures we are always very careful that it is not in any way linked to the absolutely abhorrent canned hunting fraternity, cub petting or the lion-bone trade. The owners and management of the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve have publicly undertaken that the animals on the reserve will not be subjected to such inhumane practices.

The first and most expansive of the predator camps at the reserve is allocated to the tawny lions. We arrived there just minutes before feeding time, and found the lions up and very active indeed!

Young lioness at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Big male lion at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Feeding time at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Energetic female lions at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Feeding time at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Feeding time at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve(photo by Joubert)

Feeding time at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

The next camp visitors enter houses a sizable pack of the highly social African Wild Dog, also known as Painted Wolves for their beautifully blotched coats.

African Wild Dogs at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

A pride of White Lions is to be seen in the third predator camp (regular readers of our blog will remember how excited we were to have seen one of only three known wild white lions back in January during a visit to the Kruger National Park).

White Lions at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

White Lion at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

White Lion at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserv

In the fourth camp visitors can try and spot cheetahs, though these lanky cats use their camouflage to great effect and finding them may be neigh impossible if they don’t want to be spotted!

Cheetah at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Cheetahs at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Cheetah at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Another positive feature of the reserve is the vulture restaurant – a feeding station where carcasses are regularly laid out for the endangered birds. Throughout our day on the reserve we had regular sightings of the impressive but endangered Cape Vultures overhead, and many other kinds of birds were also in evidence.

Soaring Cape Vulture

Cattle Egret

Egyptian Geese on the wing

Common Moorhen (immature)

Pied Crow (hoping for road kill?)

African Sacred Ibis

White-browed Sparrow Weaver

Other kinds of mammals, aside from the rhinos and large predators, thrive on the reserve and roam freely over most of it. We were especially impressed by the large herd of eland and beautiful sable antelope, and we also saw black-backed jackal, black and blue wildebeest, blesbok, buffalo, gemsbok, grey duiker, impala, roan antelope, springbok, warthog, waterbuck and yellow mongoose.

Black-backed Jackal

Black Wildebeest

Blesbok

Blue Wildebeest

African buffalo

Eland calves

Eland herd

Eland calves

Eland bull

Gemsbok

Grey Duiker

Impala ram

Roan Antelope

Sable Antelope bull

Sable Antelope cow

Springbok

Warthog boar

Warthog sow

Waterbuck calf

Waterbuck bull

Yellow Mongoose

Special mention needs to be made of the reserve’s population of Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra. Being not at all indigenous to this part of the country visitors are provided an opportunity to see the least well-known of the three kinds of zebra found in South Africa.

Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra (photo by Joubert)

Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra

Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra foal

Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra

The main visitor centre of the reserve offers an extensive picnic site and playground, restaurant, swimming pool and the wildlife centre – a collection of endangered and mostly non-indigenous reptiles, birds and mammals, obviously well taken care of and displayed in well maintained terrariums and enclosures, among which visitors are allowed to stroll at their leisure.

Picnic Site at the Visitor Centre

Clouded Leopard at the Wildlife Centre

Nile Crocodile at the Wildlife Centre

Black Jaguar at the Wildlife Centre

Reptile exhibits at the Wildlife Centre

Suni breeding pair at the Wildlife Centre at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Fulvous Whistling Duck

Mallard drake

Visitors can overnight on the reserve in chalets and log cabins, the latter overlooking a portion of the lion camp. Given the rather small size of the reserve the road network, all dirt, is not very extensive but the majority of roads can at least be fairly easily traversed in standard passenger vehicles while there’s also additional routes available to 4×4’s. Unfortunately the Wonder Cave which as adjacent to the reserve was closed at the time of our visit.

The log cabins overlook the lion camp at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

The chalets at the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve

Location of the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve (Google Maps)

A day in Pilanesberg: Hour 4

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Mankwe Dam, a large man-made impoundment that holds water throughout the year and that’s a veritable magnet for wildlife, is located in the heart of the Pilanesberg National Park. On its banks you’ll find the Mankwe Hide, very popular with photographers and recently rebuilt after being destroyed in a veld fire. That is where we are headed next.

African Pipit just outside Mankwe Hide

We weren’t exactly thrilled to see this exotic invader, a Common Myna, at Mankwe Dam

Warthog and Mankwe Hide

View over Mankwe Dam from Mankwe Hide

Yellow-billed Stork at Mankwe Dam

Back in the hide’s parking area this southern masked weaver is enjoying a bath in a small puddle- as if he is too scared to go swimming in the big pool on the other side!

Southern Masked Weaver enjoying a muddy puddle at Mankwe Dam

Almost immediately after driving out of the parking area at the hide, we come across a pair of lions – our second lion sighting of the day and less than 200 steps from where we were standing outside our vehicle just a few seconds ago! Luckily, being a mating pair, their attentions are focused on satisfying other base instincts than finding food. Our day just keeps getting better!

Mating lions at Mankwe Hide

Leaving the lions to their honeymoon, we head north along Kgabo Drive and take a left into Tlou. Along the way we add further to our list of birds seen, including this rufous-naped lark singing its lungs out from a prominent perch.

Rufous-naped Lark

Just as we get to the junction of Tlou and Thuthlwa drives we find another brown hyena, walking quite purposefully away from an old elephant carcass with a large chunk of bone in its jaws. We follow alongside until it disappears into a thicket, its destination remaining a mystery to us but we like to think that it is headed to a den with hungry youngsters waiting.