One would be forgiven for expecting that the most memorable experience of a visit to the Kruger National Park would entail one of the big, charismatic mammals exhibiting some or other fascinating behaviour: a pride of lions making a kill, an elephant cow giving birth or a thousand-strong herd of buffalo stampeding to a waterhole, for instance. However, as I found out during my solo visit to the Kruger Park at the end of May, a bounty of beautiful butterflies can easily make those hairy-and-scary creatures fade into the background! In both Pretoriuskop and Skukuza Rest Camps I found blooming Lowveld Bittertea bushes (Gymnanthemum coloratum) and the surrounding gardens and lawns attended by literally hundreds of butterflies of at least 28 different species! They kept me busy and entertained for quite some time and I hope this gallery of pictures convey at least a sense of this awesome experience.
African Leopard
African Leopard
African Monarch butterfly
African Monarch butterflies and an incoming wasp
African Monarch butterflies
Common Smoky Blue
African Migrant (female form florella)
Black-striped Hairtail
Blue Pansy
Common Diadem (male)
Common Hottentot Skipper (male)
Common Orange Tip (male)
Dancing Acraea
Layman butterfly
Layman butterfly
Layman butterfly
Spotted Joker
Spotted Joker
Squinting Bush Brown
Striped Policeman
Two-pip Policeman (butterfly)
Two-pip Policeman
Common (or Eastern) Scarlet
Robust Hoppers
Robust Hopper
Lowveld Grass Yellow
Sulphur Orange Tip
Ant-heap White
African Common White
Brown Veined White
Two-pip Policeman
Common Dotted Border
Common Dotted Border
Window Acraea
Light Red Acraea
Lowveld Grass Yellow
Dusky Acraea (butterfly)
White-barred Acraea
Yellow Pansy
Of course, the butterflies were not the only insects making good use of the proliferation of winter flowers, and various other insects, most notably bees and wasps, were to be seen in attendance. A few dragonflies and birds then also made use of the opportunity to catch an easy meal on the wing.
Swarm of honey bees
Carpenter Bee
Carpenter Bee
Dangerously armed wasp
Colourful wasp
Just look at the stinger on that wasp!
Julia Skimmer Dragonfly
Two weeks later we returned to the Kruger Park, this time to Shingwedzi Rest Camp about 280km north of Skukuza. Here we found fewer butterflies – perhaps winter had set in now, with nighttime temperatures especially being on the cold side – but there were still enough of them flitting around to keep us thoroughly engaged while spending the midday hours in camp.
Autumn-leaf Vagrant
Broad-bordered Grass Yellow in flight
Brown-veined White
African Veined White slurping nectar from an Impala Lily flower
African Veined White slurping nectar from an Impala Lily flower
Common Orange Tip (male)
Lowveld Grass Yellow
Small Orange Tip (female)
Small Orange Tip (male)
Speckled Sulphur Tip
Topaz Spotted Blue
Veined Tip
Veined Tip
Zebra White
I’d like to dedicate this post to a great friend to de Wets Wild and the biggest butterfly fundi I know – AJ Vosse of “Ouch My Back Hurts” .
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