Tag Archives: Summertide Rambles 2020-2021

Summertide Diary: Exploring iSimangaliso (final instalment)

22 January 2021

It’s our last full day in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and it’s one of those beautiful mornings that you can only experience out in wild Africa. Clear skies, golden light, inspiring scenery and beautiful creatures along the Grassland Loop all conspired to make us want the moment to last forever.

Mfabeni landscape

Yellow-throated Longclaws

Yellow-throated Longclaw

Red-breasted Swallow

Rufous-winged Cisticola

Heavily pregnant Plains Zebra mare

Black-belliedBustard

European Honey Buzzard

Warthog

Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird

Herd of buffalo on the Mfabeni swamp

Red Duiker

Heading back to camp after our breakfast at the lookout point near Mission Rocks, from where we could see both the Indian Ocean to the east and Lake St. Lucia to the west while drinking our morning coffee, we couldn’t help but reflect on why this is one of our favourite corners of South Africa.

Kudu hiding in the shade of a small Wild Date Palm

Black Monkey Orange fruit

Natal Iron Plum fruit

Looking up into the branches of a Flat-crown tree

Lake Bhangazi

Bushbuck

Yellow-bellied Greenbul

Seeing as it may be some time before we see the sea again we opted to spend our final afternoon in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park on the beach at Cape Vidal.

Cape Vidal beach at low tide

23 January 2021

Sadly our time at Cape Vidal in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, and with it our Summertide Ramble through the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal, has come to an end. The 30km to the Bhangazi Gate goes by far too quickly for our liking, despite some good sightings along the way, and with heavy hearts we tackle the road back to Pretoria…

A huge thanks to each and every one of you that joined us for our daily recollections of this most memorable trip!

Spotted Hyena (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena

Crowned Hornbill

Amazibu Pan

Map of the eastern shores section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (from https://isimangaliso.com/)

Summertide Diary: iSimangaliso Rhinos

28 Replies

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park is home to healthy populations of both White and Black Rhinoceros, jealously guarded by the reserve’s rangers and routinely dehorned to deter poachers. Rhino populations all over our country are under severe threat and seeing these animals in the wild, even without their trademark horns, is an experience we’re very grateful for.

Being diurnal in habit and much less skittish, the White Rhino is the easier of the two African species to find while driving around iSimangaliso.

White Rhinos

White Rhino

White Rhino rubbing mud from its face

White Rhinos

Lazy White Rhinos

White Rhino

Black Rhinos are solitary, shy, more nocturnal and consequently seen less often than White Rhinos.

Black Rhino on the eastern shores of Lake St. Lucia

Black Rhinoceros (photo by Joubert)

Black Rhinoceros

This muddy signpost in the park was used by a muddy rhino as a rubbing post. Rolling in mud, leaving it to dry and then rubbing the caked mud off against a sturdy rock, tree or …signpost, is a way for the rhino to rid itself of external parasites like ticks.

Signpost re-modelled by a muddy rhinoceros

Summertide Diary: Rock Pool Wonderland

17 Replies

For landlubbers like us gawking with open mouths at the colourful life in a rock pool at the sea shore is one of the highlights of a beach holiday. Many of the life forms are so unique and different from what we’re used to as to seem utterly alien. We were fortunate in that, during our time in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, we had a chance to visit Mission Rocks at low tide in the cool of the afternoon, allowing us to clamber over the rocks from one pool to the next to our heart’s content.

Mission Rocks

Rock pools at Mission Rocks

Mission Rocks

Heart-shaped rock pool at Mission Rocks

Convict Surgeonfish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Crab moving between rock pools at Mission Rocks

Convict Surgeonfish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Little fish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Barred Flagtail in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Little fish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Crab next to a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Crab at Mission Rocks

Convict Surgeonfish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Natal Rock Crab at Mission Rocks

Hermit Crab at Mission Rocks

Crab and little fish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Crabs and little fish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Crabs on the rocks at Mission Rocks

Crab in a pool at Mission Rocks

Barred Flagtail in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Convict Surgeonfish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Halfmoon Butterflyfish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Convict Surgeonfish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Little fish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Natal Rock Crab at Mission Rocks

Crab in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Little fish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Crab on its way to a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Convict Surgeonfish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Summertide Diary: Exploring iSimangaliso (part five)

15 Replies

21 January 2021

After a night of heavy rainfall our first encounter of the morning was with an amphibian, probably no surprize there. It was however the first time we saw the tiny Bush Squeaker frog – this one, no bigger than a thumbnail, was sitting next to our vehicle as we wanted to climb aboard for our morning excursion.

Bush Squeaker

Everything was crisp and clean along the Grassland Loop after the rainstorm the previous night.

African Pygmy Kingfisher

Sunrise over Lake Bhangazi and the forested dunes of Cape Vidal

Cuckoo Hawk

Immature Burchell’s Coucal

Red-breasted Swallows

Climbing to the top of the Kwasheleni Tower and taking in the beautiful views in the morning light with the smell of a wet forest all around was magical.

Kwasheleni Tower

Steps leading up to the Kwasheleni Tower

Thorny Bone-apple fruit

Indian Ocean from Kwasheleni Tower

View towards the north-west from Kwasheleni Tower

View southwards from Kwasheleni Tower

View to the south-west from Kwasheleni Tower, with Lake St. Lucia in the background

There was lots to see along the remainder of the road back to camp

Distant view of a Crowned Eagle in the forest

Buffalo close-up

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Bell’s Hinged Tortoise

Crested Guineafowl leaving home for work (photo by Joubert)

Samango Monkey

Black-bellied Starling

With low tide arriving around 15:00 this afternoon we used the opportunity to go down to Mission Rocks and explore the wonders of the rocky shoreline there. This gallery is just a little teaser of what we have in store for you tomorrow.

Wild Date Palm

Mission Rocks

Interesting plantlife above the high water mark at Mission Rocks

Little fish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Natal Rock Crab at Mission Rocks

Interesting plantlife above the high water mark at Mission Rocks

Little fish in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

Heart-shaped rock pool at Mission Rocks

Mission Rocks

Barred Flagtail in a rock pool at Mission Rocks

After a wonderful time around the rock pools at Mission Rocks the road back to Cape Vidal was buzzing with lots to see.

Cute little Vervet Monkeys – just look at that smile!

Flat-crown Tree

Scenery along the Vlei Loop on the Eastern Shores of Lake St. Lucia

Black-bellied Starling at its nest

Kudu bull close-up

Kudu bull

Map of the eastern shores section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (from https://isimangaliso.com/)

Summertide Diary: Exploring iSimangaliso (part four)

17 Replies

20 January 2021

Morning broke at Cape Vidal with a thick blanket of fog covering the coast, and knowing that visibility along the Grassland Loop would be limited as a result we stuck to the main road out of camp, heading south as far as Amazibu Pan.

Thick fog blanket the Mfabeni swamp

Scruffy-looking Spotted Hyena

African Pygmy Kingfisher

Spectacled Weaver

Immature Cuckoo Hawk

Crowned Hornbill

As per usual Amazibu Pan was abuzz with a variety of mammalian and avian wildlife when we arrived.

Burchell’s Coucal

Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters

Small herd of buffaloes

Black-belled Bustard

Rufous-winged Cisticola

Kudu cow

Next on our itinerary for the morning was a jaunt along the Vlei Loop, though in these early hours not much game were around the waterholes as yet.

Black-crowned Tchagra

Crowned Hornbill (photo by Joubert)

Common Duiker

Then followed a short detour along the Forest Loop…

Peek-a-boo! Mother and baby Vervet Monkey

Red Duiker

Black-backed Puffback displaying

Flat-crown Tree

Green Monkey Orange

…and the Dune Loop…

Female Fan-tailed Widowbird

Flat-crown Tree

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting

… before arriving back at our cabin in Cape Vidal where some interesting visitors were already in attendance.

Square-tailed Drongo

Eastern Coastal Skink

Collared Sunbird

Giant-leaved Fig growing precariously

Dark-backed Weaver

Having had to skip the Grassland Loop in the morning, that is where our attention was focused for our afternoon drive.

Flat-crown Tree

Wild Date Palm

Enormous Kudu bull in the Mfabeni Swamp

Bushbuck ram

Rainbow along the Grassland Loop

Trumpeter Hornbill

In the evening while having dinner on the deck of our cabin the Tropical House Gecko kept us thoroughly entertained by catching moths attracted to the outside light.

Tropical House Gecko

Map of the eastern shores section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (from https://isimangaliso.com/)

Crowned Eagles

29 Replies

We were about half-way through our visit to Cape Vidal in January 2021 when we found that a pair of Crowned Eagles were rearing a chick in a tall Casuarina tree right inside the camp and very near our cabin. The eagles were very careful not to attract attention to their nest and being known for attacking humans that venture too close to their nests we didn’t hang around there too often. We therefore got very few glimpses of the chick in its treetop fortress.

Crowned Eagle

Crowned Eagle in flight

Crowned Eagle nest

Crowned Eagle nestling

Crowned Eagle

Considered Africa’s most powerful eagle, capable of preying even on mammals the size of bushbuck, the Crowned Eagle is a very large bird of prey – females, the larger of the sexes, weighs up to 5kg and has a wingspan of around 1.6m. Crowned Eagles are forest birds, but have adapted to life in exotic plantations where there’s suitable prey available. Mammals – hyraxes, monkeys and antelope – make up the majority of their dietary intake and small pets regularly feature on the menu of Crowned Eagles living in or near urban areas that fall within their distribution range.

Crowned Eagles are monogamous and form lasting pair bonds, each pair defending a large tract of forest as their exclusive territory. Their large stick-platform nests are built by both partners on cliffs or at the top of tall forest trees. These nests are usually reused for consecutive years and are continuously added to, eventually becoming massive structures up to 3m tall. Clutches of two eggs are laid in the spring months and incubated over a seven week period, mostly be the female. Unless the first laid egg doesn’t hatch the older sibling will kill the younger soon after it hatches. While the male regularly brings food to the nest it never feeds the chick, this task is always performed by the female until the chick is about a month-and-a-half old, at which point it starts feeding itself on meals brought to it by the parent birds. The chick takes its first flight around four months after hatching and is finally chased from its parental territory when it is at least ten months old.

Though occurring widely over Africa’s forested areas, the IUCN lists the Crowned Eagle as being near-threatened, siting a decreasing population of no more than 50,000 mature individuals caused by habitat destruction and persecution by humans. In South Africa they’re found from the Garden Route, through the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal, to the escarpment of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, the Soutpansberg range and the Pafuri region of the Kruger National Park.

Immature Crowned Eagle

Immature Crowned eagle

Distant view of a Crowned Eagle in the forest

Crowned Eagle

Crowned Eagle (captive)

Summertide Diary: Exploring iSimangaliso (part three)

13 Replies

19 January 2021

The Grassland Loop is the first turnoff from the main tarred road you reach after leaving Cape Vidal. And because we just love taking the backroads while exploring South Africa’s wild places that is invariably the route we opt for – it criss-crosses a variety of habitats (from forest to grassland to swamp) and skirts the shores of Lake Bhangazi, which always has something interesting to see.

Hippo walking back to Lake Bhangazi

African Green Pigeon

Buffalo bull (photo by Joubert)

Buffalo bull

Long-crested Eagle

This morning we were particularly lucky with what we found on the Grassland Loop – a pack of four Spotted Hyenas who showed just a mild interest in a few Plains Zebras and Blue Wildebeest grazing nearby.

Spotted Hyena

Spotted Hyena (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena

Spotted Hyena (photo by Joubert)

The Grassland Loop completed and now heading to our breakfast spot, an extended family of Crested Guineafowl crossed our path – not something we get to see often and very excited at the pictures we got of them.

Crested Guineafowl family

Crested Guineafowl chicks

Joubert’s picture of a baby Crested Guineafowl taking off quite strongly!

Crested Guineafowl

Crested Guineafowl family

Passing through a forested patch we were entertained by a troop of Vervet Monkeys and, while watching them, a few other denizens of the forest also came into view.

Trumpeter Hornbill

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Grooming Vervet Monkeys

Alarmed Vervet Monkey

Vervet Monkey

Eastern Coastal Skink

Unidentified bloom

We needed to stock up on our fresh food and drinking water supply today, so headed south to Bhangazi Gate and the holiday town of Saint Lucia.

Kudu

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Blue Pansy

Tassel-berry

Rufous-naped Lark and Black-collared Barbet

Impala ewe

Right at the Bhangazi Gate the Crocodile Centre is always a worthwhile place to stop and learn more about the Nile Crocodile – a key component of the ecosystem of Lake St. Lucia. The centre houses some really impressive specimens, many of them rescued from poachers’ traps or after becoming problematic in nearby communities, and their progeny are then released back into the wild. Furthermore there are two other species of crocodiles from equatorial Africa and American alligators on show, and a myriad of other animals and birds have also made themselves at home at the centre.

Little Warthogs

Little Warthog

Elegant Grasshopper

Nile Crocodile

Nile Crocodile (photo by Joubert)

Nile Crocodile

White-eared Barbet

Red-capped Robin Chat

Dwarf Crocodile (photo by Joubert)

Nile Crocodile (photo by Joubert)

Dwarf Crocodile

Slender-snouted Crocodile

Alligator

Nile Crocodile

Black-bellied Starling

Yellow Weaver

After a relaxed hour or so at the Crocodile Centre we tackled the 4km round trip hike from the parking area at Sugarloaf to the mouth of Lake St. Lucia. While the distance isn’t daunting at all the heat and humidity and trudging through the hot, deep sand proved more of a challenge than we anticipated, and the sight of a huge Nile Crocodile basking on a sandbank was all the convincing we needed not to dare cool our feet in the water. In the end the beautiful scenes we enjoyed more than made up for the heat-stroke risk though.

Tailor Ant nest

Osprey in flight

White-fronted Plover

St. Lucia mouth

The mouth of Lake St. Lucia, with the Umfolozi River coming in from the front and the lake from the right, with the ocean to the left of the image

Common Whimbrel

Little Terns congregating on a sandbank

Little Terns in flight

Fish Eagle in flight

Nile Crocodile at the mouth of Lake St. Lucia

Interesting plantlife on the beach at St. Lucia

Cocktail Ant nest

Our shopping completed we headed back to Cape Vidal. In the midday heat there wasn’t much to be seen along the way. Only mad dogs and Englishmen… and the de Wets… venture out in the midday sun. An outing to the beach was on the cards for the afternoon. Yellow-billed Kites flying overhead regularly swooped down to catch an unwary crab, but they knew better than to trifle with the bluebottles drifting in the waves.

Yellow-billed Kite

Ghost Crabs on the beach at Cape Vidal

Bluebottle – note the stinging tentacle lying to the right

Yellow-billed Kite

Walking back to our cabin there was an enormous commotion in the tree-tops owing to screeching Vervet Monkeys and alarm-calling Hadedas. Looking up, we’re just in time to see a Crowned Eagle flying off with a large prize in its talons and an empty hadeda nest… We then noticed another Crowned Eagle surveying the area from high in a Cassuarina-tree and watched it until it flew off in the direction of the cabins. More about them tomorrow…

Crowned Eagle

Crowned Eagle in flight

Map of the eastern shores section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (from https://isimangaliso.com/)

Summertide Diary: Spying on the neighbours at Cape Vidal

23 Replies

A few years ago we purchased a very simple trail camera to take along on our visits to South Africa’s wild places, reason being that we were interested to know and see what wildlife roamed around after the humans went to bed. During our week at Cape Vidal in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park a dripping geyser overflow that created a small puddle in hardened mud and a pie-dish beneath an outside tap were the perfect locations to set up our little “camera trap” and spy on the wild neighbours that roam the camp by day and night. The camera worked overtime and took thousands of photos, and with great excitement we’d download these on a daily basis to see what came to visit while we were either away or asleep.

Vervet Monkey sneaking a drink beneath the geyser overflow

As was to be expected a wide variety of birds were drawn to the artificial “waterholes” around our cabin. What made us really excited was the very many shots the camera got of usually very shy and retiring forest birds we would otherwise have broken our necks trying to sneak even a single photograph of.

Bearded Scrub-Robin

Dark-backed Weavers and a Grey-headed Sparrow

Dark-capped Bulbul

Green Twinspot

Grey-headed Sparrow

Grey-tit Flycatcher and Olive Sunbird, with Samango Monkeys in the background

Grey Waxbill – the only appearance by this species on thousands of photos taken by the camera trap during our week at Cape Vidal

Livingstone’s Turacos

Livingstone’s Turaco

Olive Sunbird

Pink-throated and Green Twinspots

Red-capped Robin Chat

Red-capped Robin Chats

Tambourine Dove

White-eared Barbet

Yellow-bellied Greenbuls

Yellow-fronted Canary, with a bushbuck in the background

By day the biggest mammals that roamed around the camp at Cape Vidal was the Bushbucks. Male and female, young and old, they all put in an appearance.

Very old Bushbuck ewe

Bushbuck ewe

Bushbuck ram

Very old Bushbuck ewe

Bushbuck ram

Young Bushbuck

Young Bushbuck ram

Bushbuck ram and ewe

Bushbuck ewe

By far the species featured most often in the photos taken by the trailcam was the Samango Monkeys, and some of the things they got up to when they thought there weren’t any humans around to see was most amusing.

Samango Monkey

Samango Monkeys

Samango Monkey

Samango Monkeys

Samango Monkey

Samango Monkeys

Samango Monkey

Samango Monkeys

Samango Monkeys with a bushbuck in the background

Samango Monkey

Samango Monkeys

Samango Monkey with a bushbuck in the background

Samango Monkeys

Samango Monkey with a bushbuck in the background

Samango Monkeys with a bushbuck in the background

Samango Monkey with a bushbuck in the background

Samango Monkeys with abushbuck in the background

Samango Monkeys and a bushbuck in the background

Samango Monkeys

Samango Monkey

Samango Monkey mom and baby

Nighttime brought a shift in the animals coming to prowl around our accommodations – the bushbuck were still around and genets aren’t really threatening, but I wouldn’t want to encounter the bushpigs or hyenas in the dark!

Bushbuck ram outside our cabin in the dark of night

Bushpig outside our cabin in the dark of night

Bushpigs outside our cabin in the dark of night

Bushpig outside our cabin in the dark of night

Bushpigs outside our cabin in the dark of night

Large-spotted Genet outside our cabin in the dark of night

Spotted Hyena outside our cabin in the dark of night

Summertide Diary: Exploring iSimangaliso (part two)

29 Replies

18 January 2021

Our morning drive may just have been a relatively short circuit around the Grassland Loop, passing the shores of Lake Bhangazi, and then back to Cape Vidal, but we saw so much that it actually took quite a few hours to complete.

African Pygmy Kingfisher

Saddle-billed Stork

Spotted Hyena

Bushpig sounder

Red-breasted Swallow

Denham’s Bustard

Burchell’s Coucal

Secretarybird

Waterbuck

Plains Zebra

Red-backed Shrike

Crested Guineafowl

Vervet Monkey (sitting on a thorn, perhaps!?)

Baby Vervet Monkey

Cape Vidal really is the most wonderful combination of a beach holiday and a bush safari. I need to be honest here: I get bored on the beach reeeaaally quickly when it is high-tide. Therefore it is marvelous to be able to just walk over the first dune and start looking for forest birds and animals without having to distract Marilize and Joubert from whichever wet or sandy pursuit they’re enjoying at that point in time, and then quickly pop back over the dune every now-and-then to check that the sea hasn’t disappeared yet! 😀

The beach at Cape Vidal

Cape Vidal

Samango Monkey

Cape Vidal

Wild Plum

Bushbuck

Cape Vidal

Flower on the beach at Cape Vidal

Black-backed Puffback

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Livingstone’s Turaco

Bushbuck ram

Black-bellied Starling

Our very leisurely afternoon outing took us south to Catalina Bay and then slowly back to camp. A strong wind and ever darkening skies accompanied us all the way.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters

Woolly-necked Stork

White-eared Barbet

Hamerkop nest

African Pipit

Steppe Buzzard

Southern Reedbuck

Fish Eagle

Rays of sunshine through the clouds over Catalina Bay, Lake St. Lucia

Wild Date Palm blowing in the wind

Map of the eastern shores section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (from https://isimangaliso.com/)

Summertide Diary: Butterfly Bonanza (and a few other insects too)

33 Replies

When we first walked to the KuMfazana hide on our recent visit to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, we didn’t quite find what we expected. Normally, if the pans in front of the hide holds water, there are hippos and crocodiles and a myriad of water-dependent birds to keep visitors entertained for hours. This time however it was the walkway through the swamp forest to the hide that held us enthralled for hours, and not because of some “hairy and scary” creatures either…

We dubbed this stretch of the walkway to the hide at kuMfazana “Butterfly Glen”

It was thanks to the sheer numbers and diversity of butterflies to be seen along this short walk that we visited kuMfazana almost daily for the week that we were at Cape Vidal in January 2021. Last time I saw anything like it was during a solitary autumn visit to the Kruger National Park in 2019. iSimangaliso’s rich plantlife and habitats supports an extraordinary list of butterfly species, each seemingly more beautiful than the one you’ve seen just before. Other spots in the Park, most notably at Cape Vidal and Mission Rocks, also contributed to the bounty but none so richly as kuMfazana. I really hope this gallery gives you an idea of what we experienced that week.