Tag Archives: travel

Back from the Kalahari

We’ve just arrived home after a little more than a week spent exploring two of South Africa’s most remote national parks – the Augrabies Falls National Park and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Here’s a little selection of the thousands of pictures we came back home with for you to enjoy while we work at answering all the comments you left for us on the scheduled posts that published during our absence. Of course there’ll be many more pictures from these two magnificent destinations in the weeks to come!

Augrabies Falls

Dassie (Rock Hyrax)

Baby Dassie

Orange River White-eye

Augrabies Flat Lizard male

Sunrise over Augrabies Falls

Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra

Starry skies over Augrabies

Sunrise over the Augrabies landscape shows a lone Quiver Tree

This Sociable Weaver nest near Twee Rivieren in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park may well be one of the biggest constructions by birds on the planet!

Crimson-breasted Shrike

Pale Chanting Goshawk

Jackal visiting our braai in Twee Rivieren (camera trap photo)

African Wild Cat

Burchell’s Sandgrouse (male)

Blue wildebeest

Kalahari lioness

Giraffes

Gemsbok

Bat-eared Fox

African Harrier Hawk

Sunset at Mata Mata

Southern White-faced Owl seen in Mata Mata

Lions at sunrise

Lioness peaking over a ridge

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

Steenbok

Northern Black Korhaan

Red Hartebeest

Lion close-up

Ground Squirrels

Pearl-spotted Owlet seen in Nossob

Lioness at Nossob’s fence

Bibron’s Thick-toed Gecko

Lanner Falcon with prey

Springbok showing off

Sociable Weaver

Windpump working hard

Puff Adder

Brown Hyena and Black-backed Jackals on a carcass

Lion watched by wildebeest

Springbok herd

Meerkat Family (Suricates)

Lion on a dune in the Kgalagadi

Wrapping up the “Dads Trip to Mopani”

27 Replies

Middle-May presented an opportunity to visit one of my favourite corners of the Kruger National Park with three very good friends. We set off early on the Friday morning and returned the following Monday, having had a thoroughly enjoyable time exploring the wilds around Mopani Rest Camp. I’ve already shared with you some of what we saw – the exhilarating waterbuck fight, a towering elephant bull owning the road and the love of a mother hyena for her cubs – but of course in a paradise like Kruger there’s still much more to be seen, and shared!

When going to northern Kruger, apart from Impalas, there are three things you just KNOW you are going to see: Elephants, Buffaloes and Hippos!

Sleepy buffalo and red-billed oxpecker

Big old buffalo bull

Mad old buffalo bull

Buffalo cow without her horns

Buffalo Bull

Elephant in the rear-view mirror

Elephant along the stream

Elephant drinking from a reservoir

Unknown Kruger Tusker (2018/05/19)

Young elephant trying to figure out whether to fight or flee

Elephants drinking from a seasonal pan

Big old elephant bull

Hippo pod in the Pioneer Dam

Hippopotamus yawn

Among all the beautiful elephants we saw, our most prized sightings were of Masasana and Ndlovane, two of the big tuskers that call the Kruger National Park home.

Tusker Ndlovane (2018/05/18)

Tusker Masasana (2018/05/19)

Early on the Saturday morning we thought we were going to be extremely lucky and see a pride of Lions take down a Blue Wildebeest at Tinhongonyeni waterhole. A passing rain shower however dampened the lions’ appetites and they went off to search for a drier spot among the dense mopane trees close-by.

Lion pride in the rain at Tinhongonyeni

Apart from the lions there were several predators in evidence around Mopani on this visit, with Black-backed Jackals and Spotted Hyenas being especially common.

Black-backed Jackal

Nile Crocodile juvenile

Big Nile Crocodile male

Spotted Hyena

Spotted Hyena cub

Large Spotted Genet captured on my camera-trap on the camp perimeter

Leopard captured on my camera-trap on the camp perimeter

And of course all those hungry meat-eater mouths rely on a steady supply of herbivores, which Mopani has no shortage of, especially around Tinhongonyeni and Mooiplaas Waterholes and in the marshland along the course of the Nshawu stream.

Blue Wildebeest

Giraffe calf

Giraffe hide

Sharpe’s Grysbok

Impala

Southern Reedbuck ram

Southern Reedbuck pair

Steenbok Ram

Tsessebe

Tsessebes

Waterbuck Bull

Waterbuck herd on the banks of the Pioneer Dam near Mopani

Plains Zebras

Kruger is always a paradise to birdwatchers, even now that most of the summer migrants have departed for warmer climes.

African Hawk Eagle

Black Crakes

Chestnut-backed Sparrowlark

Crested Barbet

Giant Kingfisher

Green-backed Heron

Ground Hornbill

Kittlitz’s Plover

Kori Bustard

Magpie Shrike

Martial Eagle

Namaqua Dove

Pied Kingfishers

African Pied Wagtail

Secretary Bird taking off

Tawny Eagle

Temminck’s Courser

White-backed Vulture in flight

Yellow-billed Hornbill

We always try to pay special attention to the interesting world of smaller creatures so often overlooked in a wild place like Kruger.

Giant / Wrestling Waterbug (Lethocerus niloticus)

Lucia Widow Dragonfly

Serrated Terrapin

Painted Lady

And then on the other side of the scale is the Park’s magnificent scenery!

Baobab with Buffalo Weaver nests

Baobab

Bushveld Candelabra Euphorbias on the hill at Shipandani

Shikumbu Hill near Phalaborwa Gate

Pan on the Shongololo Loop

Pioneer Dam near Mopani

Sunset over Pioneer Dam near Mopani, in the Kruger National Park

Sycomore Fig

The Kruger National Park is such a special place, and what a wonderful experience it was to share a piece of it with good friends!

Even hyenas need a loving family

23 Replies

These tender moments shared by a Spotted Hyena female and her two small cubs, seen on a recent weekend visit to the Mopani region of the Kruger National Park, is another one of the reasons why we keep going back to the Park as often as we can. It also made the four dads in the car really miss their own “cubs” back home…

Spotted Hyena female and two young cubs

Spotted hyena female and two young cubs

Spotted Hyena female and two young cubs

Elephants have right of way. Are you going to argue?

46 Replies

Just after sunrise last Sunday, while driving in the Mopani area of the Kruger National Park, we encountered this enormous Elephant bull in musth staking his claim to the narrow road. He was on his way to Mooiplaas waterhole and did not have any intention of letting four humans in a tiny (by his standards) metal cocoon derail his plans. In the end he made us reverse for over a kilometer before veering off towards the water.

Elephant bull owning the road in Kruger National Park

Waterbuck Duel at Dusk

35 Replies

While visiting the Mopani area of the Kruger National Park this past weekend, we (myself and three very good friends) came across these waterbuck bulls involved in a massive fight about a patch of the Nshawu Vlei (marsh) and the eligible cows that inhabit it. As is the case with several antelope species in the Park, their rutting season will be coming to an end soon and these bulls are quite desperate to sire their share of the calves that will be born towards the end of the year.

Dueling Waterbuck Bulls in the Nshawu Vlei (marsh) near Mopani in the Kruger National Park

Back from the bush, again

20 Replies

Fresh back from a self-made long weekend in the Kruger National Park again. Lots more photos coming your way in the days to follow!

Sunset over Pioneer Dam

Mokala Scenery

27 Replies

We’ve already shown you so many of the animals and birds that call Mokala home that you must by now be convinced of the fact that this National Park is one of South Africa’s conservation gems. That sensational faunal diversity however would not have existed had it not been for the wide range of vegetation, habitats and landscapes that Mokala comprises, and now in this final post about our April 2018 visit it is fitting that we showcase that aspect.

Umbrella Thorn

Camel Thorn tree with sociable weaver nest

Shepherd’s Tree

Red hartebeest in the wide open spaces

Riet River overlooked by the accommodation units at Lilydale

Stofdam

Rugged hills dot the plains in Mokala

Mokala sunset

Mokala sunrise

Gemsbok on Mokala’s open plains

Mokala’s clear, unpolluted skies make for wonderful photos of the nightsky

Hardy beauty

Vleitulp

Scenery at Mokala National Park, April 2018

Springbok and eland at Mokala National Park, April 2018

Scenery at Mokala National Park, April 2018

One of our highlights from this trip was having a front row seat to one of the most awe-inspiring experiences one could hope to have in Africa: a powerful thunderstorm rolling over the parched plains, smelling the red dust rise into the air as big drops of cool rainwater smacks into the dry soil. Soul stirring stuff.

Thunderstorm rolling over Mokala

Clearing skies after the storm

Looming thunderstorm rolling over Mokala

And finally a few shots of our favourite place to stay while visiting Mokala: the rustic Haak-en-Steek Cottage.

Signpost for Haak-en-Steek

8 Years old: April 2018. Opening the gate at Haak-en-Steek Cottage in Mokala National Park

Haak-en-Steek Cottage, Mokala NP, April 2018

Haak-en-Steek Cottage

If you’d like to learn more about Mokala National Park, why not have a read through the detailed post we did about the Park in 2016.

A rich assortment of animals at Mokala

32 Replies

Just as with the birds we showed you 2 days ago, Mokala National Park has an incredible variety of four and six legged creatures on show.

The large mammals are the easiest to see and photograph. During our 4 day visit in April 2018 we recorded over 750 different sightings of 30 different kinds of mammals!

The white rhino is the biggest of the animals in Mokala. Here they are shy and elusive and we were very happy to see a few of these endangered creatures.

White rhino cow and calf

Rhino pair in Mokala National Park

White rhino cow with almost fully grown calf

Impressive white rhino bull

Angry white rhino cow defending her calf

Remember those mud-loving buffaloes we showed you a few days ago? Well that wasn’t our only encounter with Mokala’s growing population of African buffalo and we were very fortunate to come across several more herds and a few loners while exploring the Park.

Muddy old Dagga Boy

Big buffalo bull slaking his thirst

We’ve no clue what this buffalo cow tried to tell us.

Buffalo bull soaking in the first rays of the sun

Mokala’s giraffes are shown off to great effect in the open landscape dotted with their favourite Camel Thorn and Umbrella Thorn trees.

Giraffes in Mokala National Park

Close-up of a stately giraffe bull

Giraffe family in Mokala National Park

Giraffe in Mokala National Park

Young giraffe in Mokala National Park

Mokala is certainly one of the reserves with the greatest variety of antelope in South Africa, many of which are rare in other national parks. Amongst others we managed to see black and blue wildebeest, blesbok, eland, gemsbok, grey duiker, impala, kudu, mountain reedbuck, red hartebeest, steenbok, waterbuck, tsessebe, sable and roan antelope.

Black wildebeest

Blue wildebeest

Eland

Gemsbok

Gemsbok at Mokala National Park, April 2018

Gemsbok

Impala

Kudu

Red Hartebeest

Roan antelope

Sable antelope

Steenbok

Tsessebe

Waterbuck

Not forgetting that we’ve already shown you loads of photos of Mokala’s springbok and plains zebras.

Springbok rams contesting a territory in Mokala National Park

Pale-rumped Plains Zebra in Mokala National Park

Mokala also has a wide variety of smaller mammals that are easier to overlook; Baboons and vervet monkeys, ground squirrels, warthogs, meerkats and yellow mongooses all crossed our path from time to time.

Baboon sharing a hill with a gemsbok

Southern African Ground Squirrel

Meerkat

Vervet monkeys

Warthog

Yellow mongooses

Mokala’s insects, amphibians and reptiles make you work harder for sightings of them, but for those who go to the effort there’s an astonishing variety of less conspicuous creatures waiting to entertain and enthrall!

This immature Western Olive Toad emerged after the thunderstorm

Two-spotted Tyrant Beetle

Southern Rock Agama

Marsh Terrapins

Leopard Tortoise

If you’d like to learn more about Mokala National Park, why not have a read through the detailed post we did about the Park in 2016.

Bird Watching at Mokala

22 Replies

Mokala National Park owes its diversity of bird species both to its location at the transition between South Africa’s arid west and wetter eastern regions, as well as the diversity of habitats protected within its borders. To date, more than 200 species of birds have been recorded within this relatively new Park and we, not considering ourselves very proficient birders (yet) managed to tick a respectable 70 of those. These are just a few of the feathered friends we made at Mokala during our visit in April 2018.

Ant-eating Chat

Ashy Tit

Black-faced Waxbill

Blacksmith Lapwings protecting their eggs against two wildebeest

Black-throated Canary

Black-winged Stilts

Brown-throated Martin

Brubru

Buffy Pipit

Burchell’s Sandgrouse (male)

Cape Sparrow female

Double-banded Courser

Crowned Lapwing

Egyptian Goose chasing South African Shelduck

South African Shelduck (male)

Familiar Chat

Fiscal Flycatcher

Cape Glossy Starling

Shy Golden-tailed Woodpecker

Grey-backed Sparrow Lark (male and chick)

Helmeted Guineafowl in flight

Kalahari Scrub Robin

Marico Flycatcher

Mountain Wheatear (male)

Namaqua Dove (male)

Ostrich female

Ostrich male

Pale Chanting Goshawk

Pied Crow

Red-billed Firefinch

Red-crested Korhaan

Red-headed Finch (male)

Sabota Lark

Scaly-feathered Finch

Common Scimitarbill

Southern Masked Weaver (female)

Sociable Weaver

Sociable Weaver nest

White-browed Sparrow Weaver

Spike-heeled Lark

African Spoonbill

Three-banded Plover

Cape Wagtail

White-backed Vulture W428

Yellow-billed Hornbill

Yellow Canary (Male)

If you’d like to learn more about Mokala National Park, why not have a read through the detailed post we did about the Park in 2016.

Mokala’s Pale Zebras

34 Replies

When the last Quagga mare died in Amsterdam Zoo in 1883, it was thought that this uniquely South African species of zebra was hunted into extinction, never to be seen again. Where once thousands of Quaggas, with their striped forequarters and brown backs and buttocks roamed the Karoo their distinct “kwa-ha-ha” calls would never be heard again. Over a century later however it was realised, through DNA analysis, that the Quagga was a localised race of the still extant Plains Zebra, and the Quagga Project came into being to try and bring them back through selective breeding. With each subsequent generation showing more and more Quagga-like characteristics, one day we may again see true-to-form Quaggas roaming their native country in vast numbers.

The area in which Mokala National Park is located would have been populated by zebras that were intermediate in appearance between the Quaggas and more “traditionally” patterned Plains Zebras, and thus when the Park was proclaimed it was decided to specifically stock it with zebras that had a lesser degree of striping, especially on their backs and haunches. These pale-rumped zebras are certainly an endearing feature of the Park.