Our local Rietvlei Nature Reserve is often just what the doctor ordered when I need a quick nature fix. Located just 13km from our home, with a very fair rate of admission (R50 for adults currently, roughly $3.50), decent facilities, an extensive road network and an amazing diversity of wildlife, Rietvlei never fails to recharge the batteries! A week or so ago, in serious need of getting my head cleared following a few health worries, that’s exactly where I headed for a solo trip.
In all the years we’ve been visiting Rietvlei the reserve’s cheetahs have always eluded us – these large spotted cats are experts at hiding! I therefore felt extremely pleased when at long last I encountered a female with her three cubs, just after they had their fill of a freshly caught blesbok. I returned to the site several times later during the day, hoping that the family might still be in the vicinity, only to find the remains of the carcass variously attended by nervous black-backed jackals and pied crows squabbling over the left overs.
Cheetah female
The cheetahs’ blesbok meal
Cheetah female
Cheetah cubs
Cheetah cub
Cheetah cub
Cheetah cub
Black-backed Jackal
Black-backed Jackal nervously approaching the carcass
Pied crows at the remains of the blesbok
Pied crows at the remains of the blesbok
Pied crows at the remains of the blesbok
At one of the bird-viewing hides I had another encounter that will live in my memory forever. A reedbuck ewe hid her young lamb in a dense stand of reeds nearby, which is quite normal behaviour for the species. The curious (or should that be naughty?) youngster however did not want to stay put where his mom told him to, and quite unafraid approached me where I was sitting flat on the ground taking photos of him from a distance. Eventually he got so close that I had to get up and walk away, afraid that if he was to rub up against me his mother might catch my scent on him and abandon him. If I was pleased after the earlier cheetah sighting this experience really had me feeling utterly blessed!
Reedbuck lamb
Reedbuck lamb
Reedbuck lamb
Reedbuck lamb
Reedbuck lamb
Reedbuck lamb
Winter is getting a firm hold on South Africa’s Highveld now and early morning at Rietvlei is a pleasure to behold as mist rises from the waterways and the rising sun starts to thaw the frost covering the grass and trees.
Rietvlei Spruit
A frosty start to the morning at the Finfoot Hide
Mist rising over the Rietvlei spruit
Autumn colours still much in evidence
Rietvlei Spruit in the Rietvlei Nature Reserve
A view over the reedy wetland from which Rietvlei takes its name
For a reserve almost entirely surrounded by urban sprawl and industries, Rietvlei harbours an impressive collection of large and easily visible mammalian inhabitants. My sightings included black wildebeest, blesbok, buffalo, eland, meerkat, plains zebra, hartebeest, springbok, waterbuck, white rhinos and yellow mongoose (as well as the already mentioned cheetahs, jackals and reedbuck).
Black wildebeest
Blesbok
Buffalo
Buffalo
Buffalo
Buffalo herd
Eland
Meerkat sentry
Plains Zebra
Plains Zebra
Plains Zebra
Plains Zebra
Red Hartebeest
Springbok
Waterbuck
Waterbuck
Waterbuck
White Rhinos
White Rhino
White Rhino
White Rhino
Yellow Mongoose
Yellow Mongoose
I also managed to identify 55 different kinds of birds in the few hours I spent at Rietvlei!
African Hoopoe
Buffy Pipit
African Stonechat female
African Stonechat male
African Wattled Lapwing
Ant-eating Chat
Black-chested Snake Eagles
Black-shouldered Kite
Blacksmith Lapwing
Cape Glossy Starling
Cape Longclaw
Cape Turtle Dove
Common Fiscal
Crowned lapwing
Fiscal Flycatcher
Giant Kingfisher
Groundscraper Thrush
Hadeda
Helmeted Guineafowl
Laughing Dove
Female Lesser Masked Weaver
Long-tailed Widowbird female
Northern Black Korhaan male
Northern Black Korhaan female
Ostrich
Ostrich and Pied Crows
Pied Starling
Red-throated Wryneck
Reed Cormorant
Southern Masked Weaver
Swainson’s Spurfowl
Swainson’s Spurfowl
Western Cattle Egret
White-breasted Cormorant
White-fronted Bee-eater
Yellow-billed Duck
All in all a very pleasant day’s outing; one that certainly got my head back in the right place!
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