Tag Archives: travel

Satara Summer 2021 – Fascinated with Spotted Hyenas

Spotted Hyenas are probably the most numerous large predator in the Kruger National Park, with a population estimated at around 7,000. While many people still hold on to incorrect beliefs that the Spotted Hyena is a cowardly scavenger, amongst other insults, we know better and are always excited when we get a chance to spend time with these fascinating carnivores.

Spotted Hyenas

Spotted Hyena (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena with a bitten ear

Spotted Hyena

Spotted Hyena (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena

For the entire duration of our December 2021 visit to the Satara area of the Kruger National Park a large pack of Hyenas maintained a den site about 3km to the north of the camp, along the H1-4 road. We regularly encountered these Hyenas, of all sexes and ages, while setting out or returning to camp and seldom left them without more photographs to add to the album.

Spotted Hyena at a den just north of Satara (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena at a den just north of Satara

Spotted Hyenas at a den just north of Satara (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena at a den just north of Satara

Spotted Hyena at a den just north of Satara (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena

This little family was a different story however. Along the Ngotso stream one very hot day early into our visit we came across a Spotted Hyena female with the two most lovable cubs imaginable. Though we looked for them in the same vicinity on several occasions later on we weren’t lucky to see them again.

Spotted Hyena mother and cub

Spotted Hyena cub

Spotted Hyena cub (photo by Joubert)

Just south of Tshokwane, where the main road to Lower Sabie turns off, as we were heading home on the 2nd of January, we noticed a big female Hyena standing next to a culvert. In Kruger Spotted Hyenas make good use of these man-made tunnels as dens. Sure enough, as we brought our vehicle to a halt first one, then a second and then a third little head popped out from underneath the road to inspect the strange creature humming on top of their home.

Spotted Hyena cub

Spotted Hyena cubs

Spotted Hyena cub

Spotted Hyena female

Spotted Hyena cub (photo by Joubert)

So often when we encounter Spotted Hyenas they are on the move with a single-minded sense of purpose. This very big individual came running from the front at great speed along the road to Tshokwane one morning, only to disappear into the bush before we could even turn the car around.

Spotted Hyena going for a jog

Spotted Hyena out for its morning jog

While they’re not always doing it on the trot, it happens very often that we find a Hyena, like this one near Balule, striding along the road to pass us as if it didn’t even notice us.

Spotted Hyena walking along the road near Balule (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena walking along the road near Balule

Spotted Hyena walking along the road near Balule (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena walking along the road near Balule

Spotted Hyenas are great opportunists. We found this one hanging around a herd of impalas that included lots of newborn lambs along the S126 Sweni Road.

Spotted Hyena on the lookout for newborn Impalas

At the Vutomi Dam, west of Tshokwane, we saw two Spotted Hyenas enjoying a refreshing dip in a muddy pool on a hot day before they headed off into the veld.

Spotted Hyenas bathing at Vutomi

Spotted Hyenas bathing at Vutomi (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyenas bathing at Vutomi

Spotted Hyenas bathing at Vutomi (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyena taking a quick drink from Vutomi Dam…

…before they headed back into the bush

One morning, near the turnoff to Olifants Rest Camp, we found a very nervous Spotted Hyena with the tip of its nose hanging by a thread.

Soon after we found four more Hyenas, which were very excited, patrolling up and down the road as if they were looking for something. Perhaps they were looking for the Hyena with the hurt nose. They ran along the road and then stopped at some invisible scent marks, growling and grunting loudly and scent marking in the same spot before running off to the next one. This was fascinating behaviour we have never observed before, and whoever they were looking for would have done well to stay out of this posse’s way!

Spotted Hyena (photo by Joubert)

Excited Spotted Hyenas patrolling along the Olifants River

Excited Spotted Hyenas patrolling along the Olifants River (photo by Joubert)

Excited Spotted Hyenas patrolling along the Olifants River

Excited Spotted Hyenas patrolling along the Olifants River (photo by Joubert)

Excited Spotted Hyenas patrolling along the Olifants River

When we passed the same way several hours later the matriarch of the group was still patrolling up and down the same stretch of road. How is that for dogged perseverance!?

Satara Summer 2021 – Jaunting with Jackals

18 Replies

The plains around Satara is usually one of the best regions of the Kruger National Park for regular encounters with Black-backed Jackals, and that certainly was the case again when we visited in December 2021.

Black-backed Jackal

Black-backed Jackal (photo by Joubert)

Pair of Black-backed Jackals

Black-backed Jackal at rest

Alert Black-backed Jackal

Black-backed Jackal portrait (photo by Joubert)

Black-backed Jackals are nocturnal creatures

Black-backed Jackal on the Sweni Road

In the first few days after we arrived at Satara we were lucky to spend some time with a pair of Black-backed Jackals and their small puppies that were using a den just outside the camp’s north-west corner. The parents must have moved their den later because we didn’t get to see the family again later in our stay.

Baby Black-backed Jackal (photo by Joubert)

Black-backed Jackal puppy

Black-backed Jackal adult at the den near Satara

Black-backed Jackal puppy

Another pair of baby jackals were to be seen on the H6 road and these lively puppies were responsible for lots of smiles. One morning we found them playing with every kind of dung that was lying on the road near them – I wondered what their parents thought of their smelly breath and fur!

Very wet pair of young Black-backed Jackals (photo by Joubert)

Jackal pup playing with zebra dung

Black-backed Jackal puppy

Black-backed Jackal puppy playing with elephant dung

Black-backed Jackal puppy playing with elephant dung (photo by Joubert)

Black-backed Jackal puppy (photo by Joubert)

Black-backed Jackal puppies (photo by Joubert)

Black-backed Jackals are great at making the most of every opportunity. We found this jackal scrounging around for grubs in elephant dung one morning on the S90.

Black-backed Jackal finding grubs in elephant dung

Black-backed Jackal finding grubs in elephant dung (photo by Joubert)

While Black-backed Jackals are commonly encountered around Satara, the other kind of jackal that occurs in the Kruger National Park – the Side-striped Jackal – is a much rarer find. We only had one fleeting glimpse of one individual during our three week trip to Satara.

Side-striped Jackal

Satara Summer 2021 – Mingling with Antelope

22 Replies

The Kruger National Park is home to 21 different kinds of antelope – more than any other protected area in our country. Along with zebras and warthogs they form the staple prey for the majority of the large predators in the Park.

The Satara area of the park, which we visited in December 2021, hosts the largest concentrations of Blue Wildebeest in Kruger. Most Wildebeest calves are born at this time of the year, when the summer rains bring a flush of green fodder for the lactating cows.

Blue Wildebeest

Blue Wildebeest calves

Blue Wildebeest cow and calf

Blue Wildebeest calf

Blue Wildebeest calves (photo by Joubert)

Solitary Blue Wildebeest bull mingling with Impalas

Blue Wildebeest calves

Bushbuck aren’t seen around Satara all that often; the veld is generally too open for their liking in this part of the Park and any sightings are likely to be along the stream courses where the riverine vegetation provides the cover and browse they need.

Bushbuck ewe

Bushbuck ewe (photo by Joubert)

Bushbuck ewe

The S36 road linking Satara and Orpen to the picnic spots at Muzandzeni and Nhlanguleni is usually reliable for finding Common Duikers, and if you are lucky these shy little antelope may stand still for a second or two so you can take a picture.

Common Duiker

It is a real pity that the Impala is so numerous in Kruger that most visitors seem to not even spare them a second glance. They are actually really athletic and beautiful antelope.

Impala Ram (photo by Joubert)

Running Impala (photo by Joubert)

Impala Ram

Sparring young Impala rams (photo by Joubert)

Impala ewe (photo by Joubert)

Impressive Impala ram (photo by Joubert)

Impala ewe preparing to jump (photo by Joubert)

Impala ram leaping (photo by Joubert)

Joubert got these photographs of two impala rams sparring.

Impala rams measuring their strength (photos by Joubert)

The birth of Impala lambs are timed to occur en masse at the end of November and into early December. The lambs congregate into a “creche” within the herd when they’re at rest, but can often be seen running and chasing each other around – seems they have boundless energy.

Flying Impala lamb (photo by Joubert)

Exercise session at the Impala creche (photo by Joubert)

Impala lamb enjoying a drink of milk (photo by Joubert)

Impala lamb

Impala lamb (photo by Joubert)

Impala lamb

Impala lambs

Impala lamb (photo by Joubert)

Impala lamb

Impala lambs (photo by Joubert)

Impala lamb (photo by Joubert)

Impala lambs

Impala lambs in a creche (photo by Joubert)

Impala lamb

Impala lambs (photo by Joubert)

In the evening of the 31st of December, along the Sweni Road (S126), we encountered a huge herd of Impalas. They were on the move, relinquishing the open plain where they were feeding for denser bush in which to spend the night. We spent several minutes with the herd as they walked off until the whole plain was abandoned.

Big herd of Impala on the S126

Big herd of Impala on the S126 (photo by Joubert)

Owing to the general scarcity of suitable rocky habitats around Satara, our only Klipspringer sighting of the entire 3 weeks we spent in that part of the Kruger Park was at an outcrop to the south of Tshokwane.

Three Klipspringers near Tshokwane

The open, thorny savanna around Satara supports a high density of the magnificent Greater Kudu and they can easily be seen along any of the roads that radiate from the camp.

Young male kudu (photo by Joubert)

Young Kudu bull (photo by Joubert)

Young kudu crossing the road

Proud Kudu bull

Kudu bull

Kudu cow (photo by Joubert)

Kudu cow

Kudu bull with an itch

Kudu bull (photo by Joubert)

Kudu bull

By contrast, the Nyala is rarely encountered in this part of the Park and while they’re sometimes seen along the course of the Nwaswitsontso River south of Satara we had to go north to the banks of the Olifants River this time around to see this impressive bull.

Nyala bull

The Steenbok is the small antelope seen most often around Satara – they find the open grasslands perfectly to their liking.

Steenbok ram

Pregnant Steenbok

Steenbok ewe

Steenbok ewe (photo by Joubert)

The less I say about the expression on these Steenbokkies’ faces after mating, the better probably…

Mating Steenbok pair

The Tsessebe is one of the rarest antelope in the Kruger National Park, and is not found near Satara. We undertook a day’s outing north to the Mopani area of the Park specifically to go looking for them, and luckily did not return to Satara with nothing to show for our effort.

Tsessebes near Mopani

Tsessebe on the Nshawu marsh between Letaba and Olifants

Another large antelope you would defnitely encounter when visiting Satara is the Waterbuck. They’re quite numerous along the courses of the Nwanetsi and Gudzani streams to the east of the camp.

Waterbuck in a lush central Kruger Park, December 2021

Waterbuck herd

Waterbuck bull (photo by Joubert)

Waterbuck bull

Waterbuck herd

Waterbuck bull

Waterbuck cow

Waterbuck bull

Waterbuck bulls fighting (photo by Joubert)

Waterbuck cow

Waterbuck bull

Satara Summer 2021 – Raptors Rule The Skies

22 Replies

Protected places like the Kruger National Park is becoming the last strongholds for many birds-of-prey, the undeniable masters of the skies. Any visit to the Kruger is sure to provide regular encounters with a wide variety of meat-eating birds, and in summer even more so as many species migrate here to escape from the winter in the northern hemisphere.

Not all birds-of-prey boast the size and muscle of the big Eagles. Some, like the Falcons, Kestrels, Kites and Harriers make up for what they lack in brawn by being exceedingly fast, nimble and stealthy.

Amur Falcons at sunset

Amur Falcon male

Amur Falcon female (photo by Joubert)

Black-winged Kite

Lesser Kestrel (photo by Joubert)

Pallid Harrier female

Yellow-billed Kite (photo by Joubert)

Of course no one’s going to deny the absolute majesty of the Eagles. No wonder they’ve been featured in religion, folklore and heraldry for centuries.

Fish Eagle with prey

African Fish Eagle

Immature Bateleur (photo by Joubert)

Brown Snake Eagle

African Hawk Eagles

Martial Eagle with Steenbok prey

Lesser Spotted Eagle

Long-crested Eagle

Martial Eagle

Tawny Eagle

Wahlberg’s Eagle

If the Eagles rule the sky during the day then it belongs to the Owls at night. Of course this makes them much harder to see, and photograph, but we were lucky on a few occasions.

Verreaux’s Eagle Owl

Pearl-spotted Owlet (photo by Joubert)

Vultures fulfill a vital role in the ecosystem, efficiently cleaning away any leftovers remaining after the large predators have had their fill of a carcass, and in a place like Kruger National Park with healthy populations of all Africa’s large carnivores there’s certainly lots of work for the Vultures. Sadly these birds are all highly endangered outside our country’s large protected areas.

Hooded Vulture (photo by Joubert)

Hooded Vulture

Hooded Vulture (photo by Joubert)

Lappet-faced Vulture

White-headed Vulture (photo by Joubert)

White-backed Vulture

White-backed Vultures

White-backed Vulture

White-backed Vultures (photo by Joubert)

Satara Summer 2021 – African Cuckoos

13 Replies

Another bird that we encountered much more frequently during our December 2021 visit to the Kruger National Park than on any previous visit is the African Cuckoo. Perhaps their exceptional numbers this time around is thanks to an explosion of caterpillars following good early rains.

African Cuckoo

Cuculus gularis

The African Cuckoo inhabits savanna and woodland habitats and feeds almost exclusively on caterpillars; only rarely does it include anything else, like other insects, eggs or small birds, in its diet. They are usually solitary.

As with the other members of the family the African Cuckoo is a brood parasite, relying specifically on the fork-tailed drongo to raise its brood. After mating the male African Cuckoo will distract the fork-tailed drongo parents from their nest while the female Cuckoo gets rid of any drongo eggs already in the nest and replaces them with one of her own. The Cuckoo egg hatches about 17 days later and the newly hatched chick immediately sets about pushing any other chicks or eggs from the nest. It is then cared for by its adoptive drongo-parents, growing rapidly until it fledges about three weeks after hatching. Even after the chick leaves the nest it is still cared for by the drongos for several weeks. Fully grown they measure about 32cm in length and weigh around 105g, so by the time they leave their foster parents the chicks are much bigger than them.

African Cuckoos spend the spring and summer months from August to April in southern Africa, migrating here from equatorial Africa to breed. In South Africa during that period they can be found in all the northerly provinces, being absent only from the Eastern and Western Capes and most of the Northern Cape and Free State. They’re found across most of Sub-Saharan Africa for at least a part of the year. According to the IUCN the African Cuckoo is of least concern.

African Cuckoo

Black-crowned Night Heron

20 Replies

The Black-crowned Night Heron isn’t necessarily a rare bird, but because it is so shy and retiring, and nocturnal, is not seen very often and not very obliging for photographs. During our December 2021 visit to the Kruger National Park, we found a juvenile where the S41-road crosses the Nwanetsi stream. In the early morning it was often quite willing to sit in the open for a photo or two, and one one occasion we even got to see one of its parents flying back home on an overcast morning.

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron (photo by Joubert)

Nycticorax nycticorax

The Black-crowned Night Heron is a nocturnal bird whose habitat requirements are closely linked to slow-moving water with lush growth of emergent vegetation. As these habitats are often fleeting in this part of the world many of our local populations are nomadic in response to rainfall patterns through the region. Their prey ranges from insects and other invertebrates to fish and amphibians and even small reptiles, birds and mammals. As their name suggests these herons are active from dusk to dawn, hiding in dense vegetation by day.

Black-crowned Night Herons often breed colonially, with others of their kind or even other species of water birds. Adults form monogamous pairs with both partners participating in the nest building, incubating the clutch of 2-8 eggs (that take between 3 and 4 weeks to hatch) and rearing the chicks, who fledge at around 7 weeks of age. Breeding can take place at any time of year but reaches a peak in our wetter summer months. Fully grown they measure around 56cm in length and weigh approximately 630g.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron chick

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron

Occurring widely but sparsely all over South Africa where there is suitable habitat, the Black-crowned Night Heron’s distribution stretches far beyond our borders to every other continent except Antarctica and Australia. The IUCN considers it to be of least concern.

During a visit to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in March 2022 we found a slightly older Black-crowned Night Heron and its parents near Cape Vidal.

Black-crowned Night Herons

Another special sighting of this bird was one we saw flying over De Hoop Vlei during broad daylight during a visit to De Hoop Nature Reserve in December 2022.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Southern Carmine Bee-eaters

20 Replies

The Southern Carmine Bee-eater is a regular summer visitor to South Africa, so they are not entirely unfamiliar to us. We have however not seen them in such numbers before as we have during our December 2021 visit to the Kruger National Park.

Southern Carmine Bee-eater

Southern Carmine Bee-eater (photo by Joubert)

Southern Carmine Bee-eater

Merops nubicoides

The beautiful Southern Carmine Bee-eater is a bird that lives in open woodland and savannah habitats, often found near open water, and that feeds exclusively on insects, most of which they catch in flight and usually much bigger than the fare enjoyed by most other bee-eaters. They’re often seen hunting near to large mammals and ground birds – often using them as a perch – catching the insects these bigger animals disturb into flying. They’re attracted to veld fires for similar reasons.

Southern Carmine Bee-eaters breed in huge colonies numbering up to a thousand pairs, where each monogamous pair excavates a nest-tunnel up to 3.5m deep into earthen banks, usually along rivers and gullies. The clutch of 1-6 eggs take 2 weeks to hatch and the chicks then leave the nest when they’re around 3 weeks old. When not breeding they are less gregarious and more dispersed. Southern Carmine Bee-eaters are the largest of the family occurring in Africa, measuring around 25cm in length (excluding the elongated tail feathers) with a weight of about 62g.

In South Africa, Southern Carmine Bee-eaters are found mainly in the provinces of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, and marginally into Gauteng and North West, with most birds arriving locally by December and departing again by March. Interestingly the majority of birds arrive to breed in our northern neighbours Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Okavango region of Botswana from August to November, with the chicks already fledged by the time they then move further southwards to other parts of Botswana and South Africa’s northern provinces. At the onset of our autumn season they then return northwards to countries as far afield as the DRC and Tanzania. Only in a very narrow band crossing parts of Angola, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique are they resident throughout the year. The IUCN lists the Southern Carmine Bee-eater as being of least concern.

Southern Carmine Bee-eater

Satara Summer 2021 – Greater Painted-Snipes

20 Replies

The Greater Painted-Snipe is not a bird that we get to see very often, much less photograph, so we were thrilled to have several wonderful sightings of this elusive bird along the S90 and S89 roads between Satara and Olifants when we visited the Kruger National Park in December 2021.

Greater Painted Snipe female (photo by Joubert)

Greater Painted Snipe female

Greater Painted Snipe (male)

Greater Painted Snipe female (photo by Joubert)

Rostratula benghalensis

Among Greater Painted-Snipes it is the female which is the dominant sex. She is bigger, boasts the bolder plumage and leaves the incubation of the eggs and rearing of the chicks entirely to the male. Shy birds that inhabit flooded grasslands, marshes and other muddy wetlands where they skulk among the reeds and other emergent vegetation, the Greater Painted-Snipe searches for the insects and other invertebrates that forms the bulk of its diet by probing in the mud with its elongated bill. They are usually seen singly or in pairs, with family groups encountered during and shortly after the breeding season.

Female Greater Painted-Snipes mate with 2-4 males in a breeding season, which spans the period September to March in our part of the world, leaving the males to incubate the clutch of 2-5 eggs over a period of almost 3 weeks. The chicks leave the nest before they’re a day old, moving around with their father who feeds them for the first ten days of their life. The chicks can fly when they’re a month old but remain with their father for another month or two before becoming fully independent. Fully grown Greater Painted-Snipes measure around 25cm in length and weigh approximately 120g.

Greater Painted-Snipes are very sparsely distributed over South Africa, with the Kruger National Park seemingly the most reliable place to find this species in our country and especially so during periods of above-average rainfall. Beyond our borders they’re found over most of Sub-Saharan Africa, in Madagascar, the Nile Delta, and in Asia from the Indian subcontinent to Japan and while the IUCN considers it to be of least concern overall, in South Africa it is listed as Near-Threatened due to the loss of suitable habitat.

Satara Summer 2021 – Summer Birding

34 Replies

We were fortunate to see and identify at least 202 bird species during our December 2021 visit to the Satara area of the Kruger National Park. This gallery features many of them. Over the course of the next few days we’ll be looking more closely at four very special species that made this trip even more memorable, and then on Friday we will showcase the magnificent birds-of-prey that rule the skies of Kruger.

In most browsers you should be able to click on the first image and then work your way through the carousel of pictures:

Acacia Pied Barbet

African Cuckoo

African Green Pigeon

African Hoopoe

African Jacana showing off its very long toes

African Mourning Dove

African Pipit

African Spoonbill

Arrow-marked Babbler

Black Crake

Black Flycatcher

Black Heron

Black Storks

Black-backed Puffback

Black-bellied Bustard

Black-collared Barbet (photo by Joubert)

Black-crowned Night Heron (photo by Joubert)

Black-headed Heron

Black-winged Stilt

Blue Waxbills

Bronze-winged Courser

Brown-crowned Tchagra

Brown-headed Parrot

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Burchell’s Starling

Cardinal Woodpecker

Southern Carmine Bee-eater

Cattle Egrets (photo by Joubert)

Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark

Chinspot Batis

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting

Collared Sunbird

Common Greenshank

Common Sandpiper

Crested Francolin hen and chicks

Dark-capped Bulbul

Double-banded Sandgrouse

Dwarf Bittern

Egyptian Goose

European Bee-eater

European Roller (photo by Joubert)

Fork-tailed Drongo on its (very exposed) nest

Giant Kingfisher (photo by Joubert)

Great Spotted Cuckoo

Greater Painted Snipe female (photo by Joubert)

Green, or Red-billed, Wood-hoopoe

Green-backed Heron (photo by Joubert)

Green-winged Pytilia (photo by Joubert)

Grey Heron

African Grey Hornbill

Grey Tit-Flycatcher

Grey-headed Bush-shrike

Dustbathing Grey-headed Sparrow

Ground Hornbill

Hamerkop (photo by Joubert)

House Sparrow (photo by Joubert)

Jacobin Cuckoo

Jameson’s Firefinch

Kori Bustard

Male Knob-billed Duck strutting his stuff

Laughing Dove

Lesser Grey Shrike

Lesser Masked Weaver

Lesser Striped Swallow

Lilac-breasted Roller

Little Egret

Little Grebe

Little Swift

Long-tailed Paradise Whydahs

Malachite Kingfisher

Marabou (photo by Joubert)

Marsh Sandpiper

Monotonous Lark

Neddicky

Olive-tree Warbler

Orange-breasted Bush Shrike

Ostriches

Pied Kingfisher (photo by Joubert)

Pied Wagtail

Red-backed Shrike

Red-billed Buffalo Weaver

Red-billed Firefinch

Red-billed Hornbill (photo by Joubert)

Red-billed Oxpecker

Flock of Red-billed Queleas

Red-breasted Swallow

Red-crested Korhaan

Red-headed Weaver

Reed Cormorant

Rufous-naped Lark

Sabota Lark

Saddle-billed Stork

Southern Black Tit

Southern Masked Weaver

Speckled Mousebird

Spectacled Weaver

Spotted Dikkop

Spotted Flycatcher (photo by Joubert)

Swainson’s Spurfowl

Tawny-flanked Prinia

Three-banded Plover

Village Indigobird male

Village Weaver

Violet-backed Starling male (photo by Joubert)

Water Thick-knees

Wattled Starling

White Storks

White-browed Scrub-Robin

White-crowned Shrike

White-faced Whistling Duck surrounded by Little Grebes

White-fronted Bee-eater

White-winged Widowbird

Wood Sandpiper

Woodland Kingfisher (photo by Joubert)

Woolly-necked Stork

Yellow-billed Hornbill (photo by Joubert)

Satara Summer 2021 – Squirrels, Rats and Bats

27 Replies

Bats and rodents are not everyone’s cup of tea, but in South Africa’s wild places they’re very much at home and a crucial component of the ecosystem. During our visit to the Kruger National Park in December 2021 we were lucky, though not all equally happy 😉 , to bump into a few of them in and around Satara Rest Camp.

The Red Veld Rat (aka Red Rock Rat) sauntered closer to Marilize while I was busy taking pictures of the Brown-backed Tree Frog one night.

We seem to be more forgiving of rodents that roam during the daylight, like these cute and cuddly Southern African Tree Squirrels.

Southern African Tree Squirrel

Southern African Tree Squirrel sneaking a drink

Squirrel hijacking our car while we were having a picnic

Now Bats again are a different story. I’ve heard them being referred to as the “rats of the air”. If you could look past their appearance, often smelly colonies, and the fact that they are indeed carriers of some pretty serious diseases, they are actually a quite fascinating and diverse group of creatures!