Tag Archives: travel

Stork Buffet at uMkhuze

While driving around the uMkhuze Game Reserve one afternoon in March, we happened upon a seemingly insatiable Woolly-Necked Stork catching juvenile catfish in a drying mudpool. We watched the stork gorge itself on one fish after another, amazed at the ease with which it could grab its slippery, squirming quarry from the “all you can eat buffet table”, until there was no more splashing from the pool at his approach…

Woolly-necked Stork Buffet at uMkhuze

Addo’s new Nyathi Rest Camp

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View from Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

SANParks has opened its newest accommodation offering in the Addo Elephant National Park: the luxurious new Nyathi Rest Camp. The new camp is set atop a hill with magnificent views from every spacious accommodation unit over the valley below and the rolling hills beyond, and a real possibility of seeing any of the “Big Five” from the comfort of your private veranda.

Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

The camp offers eight 2-bed units, one 4-bed unit and two 6-bed units, each equipped with air-conditioning, satellite television, equipped kitchens, bathrooms with splendid views and private splash pools.

Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

Bedroom in Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

Bathroom with a view at Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

Amenities such as a restaurant, shop, fuel station and guided game drives are available at Addo’s main camp, an easy 20km drive away along sedan friendly gravel roads.

View from Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

The scenery around Nyathi is quite different from the Spekboom-dominated vegetation around Addo’s main camp

Night sky over Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

Road to Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

Kings of Addo, seen near Addo’s new Nyathi Camp

African Bullfrog

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Pyxicephalus edulis

While I doubt it reached proportions that would convince the Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt, the “eruption” of little froglets we saw at uMkhuze Game Reserve during our recent visit was quite fascinating. Rain or shine, literally hundreds (if not more) of tiny frogs could be seen jumping around on the roads all over the reserve, making driving quite tricky if you didn’t want to squash them under the vehicle’s wheels.

Juvenile African (Edible) (Lesser) Bullfrog

Juvenile African (Edible) (Lesser) Bullfrog “swarm”

Thanks to the help of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park the little ones were identified as juvenile African Bullfrogs (also known as Edible or Lesser Bullfrogs), a species that occurs over wide areas of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa, and indeed is eaten by humans in many countries where they occur. Though these newly metamorphosed juveniles were only about the size of a thumbnail, the African Bullfrog can grow to 12cm in length.

African Bullfrog

They can be found in seasonally flooded savannas and grassy woodlands, remaining dormant underground for most of the year (up to 10 months) and emerging only when sufficient rain has fallen for breeding to commence. During the breeding season males act very aggressively towards one another and will even kill each other. Eggs are laid in well vegetated, shallow, seasonal bodies of water where the males guard the eggs and tadpoles against other males and predators. Interestingly, when the tadpoles’ pools start drying up the males will dig channels to deeper pools. African Bullfrogs feed on a variety of invertebrates and small vertebrates, including other frogs, and feature in turn in the diets of various species of birds, reptiles and mammals (humans included).

During a visit to the Kruger National Park in December 2019 we witnessed the breeding habits of the African Bullfrog following a few days of continuous rain.

Bull Frogs

African Bull Frogs

African Bull Frog

African Bull Frogs

Two days in Kruger

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How much can you see in only two days in the Kruger National Park? Well, as this gallery taken over less than 48 hours around Skukuza Rest Camp during March 2017 proves, a whole lot actually!

Shitlave Dam, on the road from Pretoriuskop to Skukuza

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Napi Boulders

Taller than the trees

Plains Zebra

Thick-tailed Bushbaby

Painted Reed Frog

Sand River Lion

Elephant

Impala

Blacksmith Lapwing

Natal Francolin

Nile Crocodile

Hadeda Ibis

Warthog youngster in Skukuza

Water Thick-knee

Giraffe cousins

Kudu

Marabou roost at sunset

Spotted hyena

Hidden leopard

Elephant breakfast

Baby baboon getting a piggy-back ride

Spotted hyena

White Stork

European Roller

Zebra foals mutual grooming

Skukuza Nightlife

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One of our favourite activities when out visiting South Africa’s wild places is to search the grounds of the places where we are staying with a flashlight at night, looking for nocturnal wildlife. Skukuza, being the biggest of the camps in the Kruger National Park, is usually especially productive, as most of the wildlife inhabiting the camp is exceptionally used to having humans gawking at them!

It may look like some sort of giant cross between a dragonfly and a moth, but this large insect is actually an adult Blotched Long-horned Antlion!

Grey Duiker

Cape Porcupine

Thick-tailed Bushbaby

The pond in front of Skukuza’s reception is a wonderful place to photograph a variety of amphibians – on our latest visit the reeds and rocks there were alive with the calls of male Painted Reed Frogs and Sharp-nosed Grass Frogs trying their best to impress their female counterparts.

Skukuza Pond

Common River Frog in Skukuza

Painted Reed Frog

Playing hide-and-seek with a leopard

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Believe it or not, but in the middle of this picture there’s a leopard hidden in the grass. Don’t worry; If I didn’t see her walk in there I wouldn’t have known it either.

Luckily she grew tired of her hiding spot, got up and walked into even denser vegetation, allowing just one quickly fired shot as proof…

This leopard was lying not two meters from our car and was totally invisible – what wonderful camouflage these cats have!

(Seen along the H3-road just south of Skukuza on Friday last week as we were departing from the Kruger National Park)

Alone time with the King of Beasts

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A week ago, on an early morning drive along the Sand River near Skukuza in the Kruger National Park, this magnificent male lion popped out of the thickets to patrol and mark his territory along the road.

Sand River Lion

After spending quite a bit of time with him as he walked at pace along the river road, mostly within arm’s length of the vehicle, another car arrived on the scene, and I drove off in order to allow them the thrill of some alone time with The King as well.

Fresh out of the bush

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We’re fresh back from visits to the Kruger National Park and uMkhuze Game Reserve (part of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park) and of course we have lots of photos and stories to share – so stay tuned!

We’ll also be catching up with all the comments you’ve left for us while we were away in the coming days, I promise!

A quick breakaway to Loskop

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We spent the past weekend with good friends in and around the Loskop Dam Nature Reserve, taking in the peaceful atmosphere, spectacular scenery and diverse wildlife. Here’s a gallery showing some of what we saw and experienced – if you’d like to know more about Loskop Dam and the general area, have a read here.

On the trail to the waterfall at Waterfall Safari Lodge

Waterfall at Waterfall Safari Lodge

On the trail to the waterfall at Waterfall Safari Lodge

View from Waterfall Safari Lodge

Garden Commodore (wet season colouration)

Natal Acraea

Guinea-fowl Butterfly

Foxy Emperor

Spotted Joker

Mixed bag of butterflies at a mud puddle

Poisonous Koppie Foam Grasshopper

Common Stick Grasshopper camouflage

Elegant Grasshopper nymphs

Golden Orb Web Spider – the female is considerably larger than the male

Red Toad at the Waterfall Safari Lodge

Arrow-marked Babbler

Male Red-backed Shrike

Woodland Kingfisher

Bushbuck ram

Bushbuck ewe

Warthog

Kudu

Waterbuck ewe

Waterbuck bull

Impala ram

Impala lamb

Giraffe

Vervet monkey

Loskop scenery

Lily Dam Hide in Loskop Dam Nature Reserve

Rhino Social Media

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White rhino bulls use dung middens to communicate their presence and demarcate their territories. They’ll also kick around in the middens to transfer the scent onto their feet and then spread it throughout their stomping grounds, communicating their ownership to interlopers.