Tag Archives: travel

Common Brown Water Snake

Lycodonomorphus rufulus

The Common Brown Water Snake is a small snake that on average grows to about 60cm in length, adult females being considerably larger than males. It is of no danger to anything except the small frogs, tadpoles and fish it feeds on, being as its name suggests closely associated with watery habitats where it is an excellent swimmer. The Common Brown Water Snake is non-venomous and kills its prey by constriction. It is placid by nature and rarely bites when handled. Females lay between 10 and 20 eggs in the summer months, with the babies hatching about 2 months later.

We have Joubert’s sharp eyes to thank for seeing this beautifully camouflaged specimen at a stream in the Mountain Zebra National Park. The sighting was rather unusual as these snakes are usually active at night.

Common Brown Water Snake (photo by Joubert)

Common Brown Water Snake

More snaps from our summer days in the Mountain Zebra National Park

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For the majority of local and international tourists the Mountain Zebra National Park is probably one of the country’s most underestimated protected areas. Conservationists and those visitors who have fell under its spell, however, can’t praise the place highly enough. But don’t give away the secret – we love Mountain Zebra National Park for its untrammeled wilderness feeling far from the madding crowds!

During our visit earlier in January I posted a few photographs on a daily basis to give those following along on our travels a glimpse of what we were experiencing. Let’s start this recap with those.

Kudu bull eating sweet-thorn blossoms

Gemsbok

Black Rhino

Springbok ewe (photo by Joubert)

Blesbok lamb (photo by Joubert)

Mountain Zebra (photo by Joubert)

Young Kudu bull (photo by Joubert)

Black Rhino (photo by Joubert)

Speckled Mousebird

Mountain Zebra National Park: Scenery along the Kranskop Loop

Mountain Zebra family squabble

Black Wildebeest

Black Rhino

Springbok

Black Rhino

Ostrich chick

Yellow Mongoose

Ground Squirrel

Marsh Terrapin

Mountain Zebra

Kudu calf

Scenery in Mountain Zebra National Park

Of course, pride of place goes to the population of Cape Mountain Zebra, as saving these beautiful creatures from extinction was the reason behind the Park’s proclamation almost 90 years ago.

Cape Mountain Zebras

Cape Mountain Zebra

Cape Mountain Zebra foal

Cape Mountain Zebra foal being shy

Cape Mountain Zebra

Cape Mountain Zebra mare and foal

But of course, Mountain Zebra National Park is also home to an amazing variety of other wildlife that also finds a home in this beautiful landscape.

Ludwig’s Bustard

Chat Flycatcher

Blesbok

Warthog (photo by Joubert)

Southern African Ground Squirrel

Yellow Mongoose

Yellow Canary

Ammocharis lily

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Four-striped Grass Mouse

Blesbok

Springbok herd on the move

Meerkat

Cape Longclaw

Familiar Chat

I suspect this is Cotyledon campanulata

Common River Frogs

Blue Cranes

Southern Ground Agama

Namaqua Sand Lizard

Springbok (photo by Joubert)

Eastern Clapper Lark

Blesbok lamb

Spike-heeled Lark

Black Wildebeest herd

Scaly-feathered Finch

Bar-throated Apalis

Red Hartebeest

Poynton’s River Frog

Southern African Ground Squirrels

Male Ostrich sunbathing

Blesbok Ram standing proud

Malachite Kingfisher (photo by Joubert)

Grey Rhebok

Yellow-throated Bush Sparrow

Nile Monitor

Male Buff-streaked Chat (photo by Joubert)

Common Brown Water Snake

Female Sentinel Rock Thrush

One of the most exciting sightings of our entire trip occurred early morning on our last full day in the Park, when we came across a herd of buffalo anxiously milling on the road at a precarious downhill stretch on the Kranskop Loop, just where it crosses a small stream. Only after some of the herd passed us, nerve-wreckingly due to the steep slope next to us parked off to the side of the very narrow roadway, we could go around the corner and saw the reason for the buffaloes’ distress – they were being stalked by two lionesses! The cats never went into a full blown attack while we were watching but seemed content to keep following the buffaloes and working on their nerves.

Buffalo roadblock

Buffalo herd on the move – photo by Joubert

Buffalo herd almost forcing their way past our vehicle on a narrow, steep road!

Buffalo close-up (photo by Joubert)

Buffalo

Very nervous buffalo cow – photo by Joubert

Nervous buffalo cow

Buffalo herd continuing over the stream and up the hill to get distance between them and the lions

Lioness

Lioness eyeing us and the buffaloes from the grass (photo by Joubert)

Lioness

Seen high from the Kranskop Loop Road the buffaloes are still trying to put distance between them and the lions

But the lionesses are following patiently behind

We ended our visit to Mountain Zebra National Park with a night drive. The Park is renowned for the quality sightings of otherwise rarely seen nocturnal creatures and our drive certainly did not disappoint!

Scrub Hare (photo by Joubert)

Bat-eared Fox (photo by Joubert)

Aardwolf (photo by Joubert)

DeWetsWild is proud to be a contracted reservations agent for the Mountain Zebra National Park, so whether you’d like us to assist you with a reservation to visit on your own or would like us to include the Park in a guided tour arranged specifically for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

More snaps from our summer days in the Addo Elephant National Park

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The Addo Elephant National Park is one of South Africa’s most visited wild places, and not without reason. The Park has a wealth of habitats and a wonderful array of wildlife, not least of which is the elephants that were the original reason for Addo’s proclamation. Furthermore it is such an easy destination to visit, with an excellent network of roads, conveniences like a shop and restaurant, and comfortable accommodation options for visitors.

Baby Elephant walking away with mom

Spekboom blossoms

Lots of activity at Rooidam

Bokmakierie

Elephant Bull

How’s the weather up there?

Warthog

Plains Zebra stallion

Black-backed Jackal

Cape Sparrows

Hyenas occupying a stretch of mud at Hapoor Dam

Buffaloes drinking at Hapoor

Black-backed Jackal

Red Hartebeest

Warthog

Elephant Bull

Elephant Bulls

Elephant Cows begging for a chance at the waterhole

Elephants enjoying the water and mud

Elephant youngster

Elephant rough-and-tumble

Zuurkop viewpoint

Spotted Hyena portrait

Plains Zebras

Elephant herd in a rush to water

Scrub Hare

Ndlovu Valley view

Juvenile Pale Chanting Goshawk

Elephant Bull at Hapoor Dam

Cattle Egrets

Buffaloes

Three little warthogs and an Elephant

Spotted Hyena

Ludwig’s Bustard

Black-backed Jackal

Warthog

Yellow Mongoose

The tip of an elephant’s trunk

Meerkats

Kudu bull

Common Duiker

Bushbuck

There’s no denying that Addo’s Elephants are the stars of the show – rightly so, considering how close the population were to being wiped out when the Park was proclaimed – but national parks like Addo conserve so much more than just the big, charismatic African fauna. Addo is richly endowed with various kinds of smaller, often less noticeable, plants and wildlife, and visitors who take care to look for them will find their visits endless enriched.

Wild Asparagus in bloom

Spekboom blooming

Bush Karoo Rat

Addo Flightless Dung Beetle

Brown-veined White butterflies congregating on wet dung

Bush Karoo Rat female with young

Tasman’s Girdled Lizard

Buquet’s Vagrant

Karoo Boer-bean

Crassula perforata

Snake Plant blooming

Robber Fly

Angulate Tortoise

Addo is also a haven for a wide variety of birds – we managed to identify 81 species during our four day visit.

Immature Fiscal Flycatcher

Red-necked Spurfowl

Malachite Sunbird

Black-headed Heron

Cattle Egret

Karoo Scrub-Robin

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron chick

African Spoonbill

Southern Boubou

Speckled Mousebird

Red-faced Mousebird

Forest Buzzard

Fiscal Shrike

Ant-eating Chat

Cape Crow

Pied Crow

Pale Chanting Goshawk

Southern Black Korhaan male

Helmeted Guineafowl

Bokmakierie

Red-billed Oxpeckers

Male Ostrich

Streaky-headed Seed-eater

Ludwig’s Bustard

Red-knobbed Coot chicks at the nest

Brimstone Canary

Female Southern Double-collared Sunbird

Cardinal Woodpecker (photo by Joubert)

Common Buzzard

Common Buzzard (photo by Joubert)

Red-capped Lark (photo by Joubert)

Of course a national park on this continent will never grow famous if it isn’t home to a wide variety of charismatic mammals, and here Addo certainly ranks among the best of the best. Lions, hyenas, jackals, zebras, antelope, buffaloes and warthogs can pop out around any corner and are usually quite comfortable around humans in their vehicles, making for great photographic opportunities.

Plains Zebra

Plains Zebra smile

Plains Zebras

Warthog

Kudu bull in thick bush

Spotted Hyena

Black-backed Jackals

Plains Zebra foal

Buffaloes

Plains Zebra stallion

This warthog family almost ran straight into the jackal!

Warthog babies

Spotted Hyena

Black-backed Jackal

Lions on a distant hillside

And then, of course, there’s the elephants. Addo’s elephants are more relaxed than most other populations in the country and, if you are as enthralled with these beautiful animals as we are, you will enjoy the many up-close encounters Addo delivers with the giant pachyderms.

Elephants playing in the water

Elephant calf

Tiny Elephant calf

Elephant bull taking a drink of water

Two elephant bulls greeting each other

Elephant cows in Addo seldom have well developed tusks

Elephant cow and calf

Elephant herd in a rush to the waterhole

Close-up detail of an elephant’s tail

Elephant feeding on a Plumbago

DeWetsWild is proud to be a contracted reservations agent for the Addo Elephant National Park, so whether you’d like us to assist you with a reservation to visit on your own or would like us to include the Park in a guided tour arranged specifically for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

DeWetsWild adds CapeNature to our portfolio!

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DeWetsWild is proud to announce that we can now assist with reservations at CapeNature reserves in the Western Cape, and also use these as bases on our bespoke guided tours!

The new reserves in our fold are:

Anysberg Nature Reserve in the Little Karoo
Cederberg Wilderness Reserve
Gamkaberg Nature Reserve in the Little Karoo
Goukamma Nature Reserve on the Garden Route
Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve in the Overberg
Keurbooms (Whiskey Creek) Nature Reserve on the Garden Route
Kogelberg Nature Reserve in the Overberg
Limietberg Nature Reserve in the Winelands
Marloth Nature Reserve in the Overberg
Robberg Nature Reserve on the Garden Route
Rocherpan Nature Reserve on the West Coast
Vrolijkheid Natue Reserve in the Winelands

You are welcome to email us on dries@dewetswild.com with your request or alternatively complete the following form if you would like DeWetsWild to take care of your next holiday reservation in one of the CapeNature Reserves listed here (the more detail you provide us, the better service we can provide to you):

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Name & Surname

Please give us the email address we should use for correspondence related to this reservation only.

Please tell us which destinations you'd want to stay at?

Please tell us which kinds of accommodation you prefer (camping, budget units with communal facilities, fully self-contained units, multi-room family units, etc)

Please tell us how many adults and children the required reservation is for (and please provide the ages of the children at the time of the visit)

Please tell us the dates of your intended visit, and please be as specific as possible about your first night, last night and number of nights you're hoping for at the destination, etc.

Any other information you'd want us to be aware of? Give us as much information as possible so that we can provide you with the best possible service.

Cango Caves

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Located in the southern foothills of the Swartberg mountain range just 29km from the town of Oudtshoorn, the Cango Caves is considered to be South Africa’s oldest tourist attraction, with increasing visitor numbers and resultant damage to the formations requiring special regulations to be gazetted as early as 1820 to protect the caves from damage by indiscriminate collection of souvenirs. The caves, formed about 20 million years ago as a result of a geological fault, were rediscovered in 1780, but evidence suggests that parts of the cave system was inhabited by humans since the middle stone age. The caves have been explored to a distance of 4km underground, of which about a quarter is accessible to visitors on guided tours (the adventure tour takes in some challenging, narrow tunnels requiring visitors to crawl, climb and slide and takes longer than the standard tour, which is much easier going)

Facilities at the caves are rounded off with an interesting interpretive centre, curio shop and restaurant. The Cango Caves is a national monument and administered by the municipality of Oudtshoorn. DeWetsWild will be glad to include the Cango Caves on a bespoke guided tour of the South Africa arranged specifically to your requirements.

Entrance to the cave after exiting from the visitor centre

Visitors standing in Van Zyl’s Hall admiring the formations

Organ Pipes formation in Van Zyl’s Hall

Cleopatra’s Needle

Botha’s Hall in the Cango Caves

Formations in the Cango Caves

More snaps from our summer days in the Karoo National Park

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The Karoo National Park, a perennial favourite of ours, was the first major destination on our recent “summer trek” through the national parks and nature reserves of the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces. The Karoo’s landscapes may be harsh, and its inhabitants equally tough, but there’s no denying that having so much open space around you has a very special allure.

During our visit I posted a few photographs on a daily basis to give those following along on our travels a glimpse of what we were experiencing. Let’s start this recap with those.

Camping at Karoo National Park, December 2024

Karoo Scenery

Gemsbok

Steenbok

Springbok

Amegilla Bee and Swartstorm bloom

Red Hartebeest

Sunset glow over the Rest Camp at Karoo National Park

Klipspringer Pass

Karoo Scenery

Pririt Batis

Klipspringer pair on Klipspringer Pass

Red Hartebeest Calf

Springbok youngsters

Fairy Flycatcher

Four-striped Grass Mouse

Karoo Prinia

The Karoo National Park has two major game-viewing loops accessible to visitors without a 4×4. The shortest of those is the route through the Lammertjiesleegte between the rest camp and the entrance gate. Along the way, the Bulkraal Picnic Site is a nice place to stretch your legs and look for habituated birds to photograph.

Bokmakierie (photo by Joubert)

Double-banded Courser

Karoo Long-billed Lark

Ludwig’s Bustard

Dusky Sunbird

Familiar Chat

Steenbok

Grey Rhebok

Karoo National Park’s Rest Camp is a delightful oasis in this thirstland, and besides being a safe and comfortable place for humans to spend the night it is also a magnet for a range of wildlife!

Small-spotted Genet visiting our campsite after dark

This kudu cow, obviously used to being fed by visitors, was a regular visitor to our tents

Rock Martin

Chestnut-vented Warbler

“Dikvoet” plant

Unidentified species of Robber Fly

Leopard Tortoise

Karoo Toad

Lesser Swamp Warbler

Marsh Terrapin at the waterhole next to the camp’s entrance

Platanna tadpole leaping like a fish from the water!

Western Rock Skink (female)

Southern Rock Agama

Karoo Num-num

Cape Skink

Leopard Tortoise seeking respite from the heat in the shade beneath our car

Cape Serotine Bat (photo by Joubert)

Southern Masked Weaver (photo by Joubert)

Four-striped Grass Mouse

Poison Bulb

The longer of the Karoo National Park’s all-access game-viewing loops is called Potlekkertjie, and incorporates the ingeniously constructed Klipspringer Pass. This beautiful drive has something to offer driven at any time of day, but is best enjoyed slowly early in the morning or late in the afternoon, when the sunlight catches the surrounding mountains and glades so beautifully. Halfway along visitors can have a picnic at secluded Doornhoek.

Klipspringer

Steenbok

Kudu calf

Bokmakierie

Red Hartebeest cow and calf

Karoo Korhaan

Spike-heeled Lark

Sickle-winged Chat

Ludwig’s Bustards

Grey Rhebok

Southern Rock Agama

Mountain Wheatear

Gemsbok

White-throated Canary

Rock Kestrel

Grey Rhebok

Mountain Zebra

Karoo Chat

Grey Rhebok

Western Rock Skink

Steenbok

Eland

Karoo Girdled Lizard

Bibron’s Thick-toed Gecko

Baboons

Ground Agama in a tree

Klipspringer on the ledge! (photo by Joubert)

Klipspringer (photo by Joubert)

Gemsbok calves

Short-toed Rock Thrushes

Dassie family

Mountain Zebra

Red Hartebeest Calf

Karoo Long-billed Lark

Eland

Pale-winged Starling

Cape Clapper Lark

Leopard Tortoise

DeWetsWild is proud to be a contracted reservations agent for the Karoo National Park, so whether you’d like us to assist you with a reservation to visit on your own or would like us to include the Park in a guided tour arranged specifically for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Summer Trek – Mountain Zebra, 9 January 2025

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Our final full day at Mountain Zebra National Park started with great excitement when we found two lionesses following a very nervous herd of buffalo. As per usual the Park delivered the goods all day long. We’re undertaking a guided night drive later tonight and looking forward to even more special encounters to conclude our visits to the national parks and nature reserves of the Western and Eastern Cape. Thank you to all those who joined us on our travels – I promise to respond to all your kind comments in the next few days.