Tag Archives: travel

Remembering a special lion sighting

We took these photographs at a memorable lion sighting we told you about last year, almost seven months ago (it still feels like yesterday, so vivid is the memory!), though we’ve now converted them to black-and-white for a new challenge we’re taking part in.

We’ve been invited by Jane (Just Another Nature Enthusiast) to join the 5 Day Black-and-White Photo Challenge. Jane cares a whole lot about what we’re doing to our planet, both good and bad, and if you share her love for nature, as we do, you”re sure to enjoy what she has to share.

There are only two rules for this challenge:

1. On 5 consecutive days, create a post using either a past or recent photo in B&W.
2. Each day invite another blog friend to join in the fun.

For this first of our posts, we’re throwing the ball to AJ Vosse, the expat South African talent behind “Ouch!! My back hurts” and a long time supporter of de Wets Wild. We hope you’ll find the time to join the challenge, AJ, and look forward to your contributions!

Rule of thirds

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Joubert and his grandpa heading for the swimming pool at Glen Reenen, in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Rule of thirds

“Rule of thirds” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge.

“Basically, the Rule of Thirds asks you to imagine a tic-tac-toe grid over the thing you’re photographing, and suggests that you put your subject at one of the four spots where the lines intersect“

The exuberance of youth

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We had plenty of wonderful sightings during our recent three week long holidays in the bush – we already shared much of it with you, and there’s yet more to come in the next few weeks – but this was probably the biggest highlight of the trip!

Late in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, we encountered a white rhino cow and her small calf just where the road goes into and through a thicket of thorny trees. We followed slowly behind as they ambled along, until eventually there was a clearing in the vegetation, just at the spot where there’s also a broad bend in the road. Mom started grazing on the roadside, while her little one decided it was time for some fun. He started running like crazy, at times flying with all four feet off the ground, running circles around his mother and us, then slamming on the brakes in a cloud of dust. Several times he’d charge directly at our vehicle, stopping a meter or two in front of us, only to spin around again, running away at breakneck speed, likely hoping that our silver-grey Jazz was a playmate he could chase and be chased by. Of course, with mom keeping an eye on his antics from close-by, there was no way we could join him for playtime. But inside the car we were laughing out loud in sheer delight.

Eventually he realised that his mom has disappeared around the corner, and he hightailed it to catch up. As we rounded the bend ourselves, we found him next to mom, totally breathless.

We were in awe of the fantastic Christmas present Hluhluwe-Imfolozi had just gifted us.

(you may click on the photos below to view them all in a carousel gallery)

The picture of a well behaved little rhino, staying close to mom…

Now he’s been set loose!

Getting rid of all this excess energy!

Run!

Catch me mom!

Here I come again!

You’ll never catch me!

You can’t keep up!

Still speeding along

Sharp turn ahead!

Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Christmas Eve

I’m coming for you!

All tired out…

Summer at uMkhuze

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uMkhuze Game Reserve, in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and World Heritage Site, was the third destination of our epic summer 2014 bush holidays. We arrived at uMkhuze’s western gate, Emshopi, on the 18th of December, after an easy 164km drive from Ithala Game Reserve. Our reservation was for three nights in an extremely spacious cottage at Mantuma Rest Camp. When we say “extremely spacious”, we are not lying; you could have held a dance in the lounge!

Mantuma, uMkhuze, December 2014

We’ve already shared with you our experiences at two of uMkhuze’s biggest attractions, the Nsumo Pan and Kumasinga Hide, and in this post we’ll focus on some of the things we saw in the rest of this unique reserve.

Nsumo magic

Zebra reflections at Kumasinga

Of the bat, it has to be said that uMkhuze is one of South Africa’s best known birding destinations. The variety of birds is absolutely staggering, thanks to the diversity of habitats the reserve protects, and we were lucky to add a couple of new “lifers” to our birding tick list.

European Honey Buzzard

Broad-billed rollers

Cattle egret

Purple-crested Turaco

uMkhuze protects a sizable piece of sand forest, a very rare plant community in South Africa. An equally rare little antelope, the suni, lives only within this habitat. We had several sightings of them, but getting even a half-decent photograph of these shy creatures proved very difficult!

A pair of suni in the sand forest

We also had our first sightings of large predators (on this trip) at uMkhuze. Lions were reintroduced to the reserve a year ago, and we were thrilled to find two females during a guided night drive. On our last afternoon at uMkhuze, we found a very shy spotted hyena lurking in the bush.

Lions at uMkhuze (18122014)

Spot the spotted hyena!

uMkhuze protects large populations of other well-known African mammals and they certainly were not shy to show themselves!

There seemed to be impala lambs around every corner at uMkhuze

Plains zebras

White rhinoceros

Don’t mess with a black rhino

Blue wildebeest

Grey duiker

Radio-controlled warthogs

uMkhuze has its fair share of creepy-crawlies too!

Colourful spider

Red Toad at home outside our cottage

Common Tropical House Gecko outside the bathroom window

I’ve already mentioned what a diverse reserve uMkhuze is, and there’s no better place to see this than from the top of the observation tower just a few kilometers south of Mantuma Rest Camp.

Atop the observation tower

A view towards the Lebombos

Acacia flowers

There’s beautiful specimens of the fever tree at uMkhuze

uMkhuze really is a gem in the crown of South Africa’s wild places, and we always enjoy visiting here. Leaving through the Ophansi Gate on uMkhuze’s eastern boundary we felt like we should have stayed a bit longer still, thankfully we could console ourselves by thinking about the great destinations that were still waiting for us on our summer trip to the bush!

Driving through the riverine forest at Ophansi Gate

Driving into the riverine forest at Ophansi Gate

In the pound seats at Kumasinga

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The fantastic Kumasinga Hide is one of the uMkhuze Game Reserve‘s major attractions. The hide is built in the middle of a natural-looking waterhole and offers uninterrupted views and excellent photographic opportunities right around. During our visit to uMkhuze in December 2014 we spent several hours every day at the hide, enthralled by the spectacle of literally hundreds of animals and birds making their way to the water to slake their thirst in the oppressive summer heat.

Best to look over your shoulder every now and then while walking to the hide!

uMkhuze’s Kumasinga Hide

Spectator

Even beneath the hide there’s action!

Rush hour at Kumasinga

Nervous impala

Nyalas are very common patrons at Kumasinga

Nyala bulls coming for a drink

Nyalas are very common patrons at Kumasinga

Nyalas drinking

Red-billed quelea

Fork-tailed drongo dropping in for a drink

Emerald-spotted wood dove

Warthog spa treatment

Blue wildebeests slaking their thirst

Zebr and wildebeest sharing the waterhole

Thirsty zebra

New to the waterhole

Zebra reflections

Marsh Terrapins basking in the sun

We have lots more to share from our uMkhuze visit, so please join us again next week!

The magic of Nsumo Pan

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uMkhuze Game Reserve, in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, has a lot to offer any nature lover, no matter where their interests lie. One of the reserve’s biggest drawcards is the Nsumo Pan, a large body of water fed by the Mkuzi River. Nsumo is home to breeding pink-backed and great white pelicans, hippos and crocodiles, among the huge variety of birds and animals that live along its reed and fever-tree lined shores. The reserve authorities have made it really easy to enjoy Nsumo’s magic: a tar road skirts a part of its northern banks, there are two bird-viewing platforms at the water’s edge and a beautiful picnic site with clean ablutions and braai (barbeque) facilities.

The vast expanse of Nsumo Pan

Goliath heron

Pink-backed Pelican at dawn

Pink-backed Pelican in flight

Hippos at rest in Nsumo Pan

Hippo highway leading from the water

Crocodile lurking in the water

the road along Nsumo Pan

One of the bird-viewing hides at Nsumo

Nsumo picnic site

Nsumo magic

We have lots more to share in upcoming posts about our December visit to uMkhuze Game Reserve 😀

Summer at Ithala

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There’s just something so very special about Ithala Game Reserve that causes us to return year after year. Maybe it is the spectacular scenery or the amazingly diverse wildlife. Maybe it’s the friendly, hospitable staff members that makes us feel so welcome. Whatever the reason (and we suppose it has to be the entire package), there was no way we couldn’t include Ithala in the itinerary of our “summer in the bush” December holidays.

Ithala’s only 197km from Chelmsford Nature Reserve, and we arrived in the morning of the 15th of December under heavily laden skies. In fact, we’d see very little sunshine during our three night stay in comfortable Ntshondwe, Ithala’s award-winning resort.

Ntshondwe, Ithala, December 2014

The reserve has a good network of all-weather gravel roads, and the rain did not interfere with our game-viewing to any large degree, although we weren’t able to enjoy quite as many picnics as we had hoped to. While we didn’t have any sightings of the predators that roam Ithala’s diverse habitats (mostly at night) on this trip, the numerous herds of large herbivores were a sight to behold.

Grey duiker

Kudu

White rhinoceros

Juvenile giraffe

Kudu

Impala lambs

Red Hartebeest

Tsessebe in Ithala Game Reserve

Tsessebe Bull

Blue wildebeest

Steenbok

Plains zebras

Eland

Kudu

Mountain Reedbuck

Waterbuck posteriors

Kudu cow

Ithala 15122014

The elephants at Ithala are shy and seldomly seen, so we count ourselves very lucky to have had two sightings of them on this trip. One sighting was of a big herd near Ngubhu Picnic Site, moving along a drainage line some distance away. The second sighting however was a thrilling affair as we happened upon two young bulls right in the road, near gate closing time, around a bend between the Ngulumbeni Loop and camp. One of the bulls hightailed it deep into the bush as soon as we appeared around the corner, but his companion decided to give us a good show for quite a while, not prepared to relinquish his spot on the road to let us pass.

Whenever there was a break in the rain, we’d undertake short walks around Ntshondwe, enjoying the opportunity to get closer to some of Ithala’s smaller and more delicate inhabitants.

Eastern Olive Toad

Tiny Raucous Toad

Millipede

Sickle Bush flowers

(Unidentified) Emperor Moth

Barberton Girdled Lizard

CMR Blister Beetles

Dassie

Shy bushbuck ewe

Ntshondwe walkway

Dung beetle with his bounty

Ithala in summer is a bird-watcher’s delight, and even us, relatively novice “twitchers”, managed to seek out and identify a wide variety of the reserve’s feathered denizens, despite the mostly inclement weather.

Rufous-naped Lark

Blue crane

Black-winged Kite

Hamerkop

Steppe Buzzard

Reed cormorant

Black-winged Kite

Black-bellied bustard

We’ve no idea how this domestic goose made it into the reserve!

Ostrich male swallowing something large

Before leaving Ithala for uMkhuze Game Reserve, we took a short, final early morning drive towards the gate and Onverwacht Loop, and were rewarded for our effort by a herd of giraffe moving serenely along the horizon, dark clouds and the sun struggling to break through providing a dramatic background to the scene.

Giraffes on the horizon

Reason enough to return to Ithala? Absolutely! Not that we need an excuse, this place has had us under its spell for so long we won’t be able to stay away.

Fight for dominance

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We were fortunate to witness these two plains zebras settling a dispute at Ithala Game Reserve, during our recent summer visit there. They were so close to our vehicle we almost felt every bite and kick they dealt one another…

Ithala fight for dominance

Summer at Chelmsford

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We kicked off our recent “summer in the bush” holidays with a two night stay at Chelmsford Nature Reserve near the town of Newcastle, in the north-west of Kwazulu-Natal Province. Chelmsford may be a tiny reserve as far as African game parks go, but it is a very important piece of conservation estate, conserving South Africa’s largest population of locally endangered oribi antelope.

We stayed in one of the comfortable two-bedroom self-catering chalets at Leokop Camp, right on the banks of the Ntshingwayo Dam. The reserve was busy with holidaymakers coming to enjoy the great watersport opportunities and picnics at the water’s edge, while others, like the de Wets, enjoyed the reserve’s more natural attractions.

Chelmsford Nature Reserve, December 2014

Zebra and black wildebeest graze while visitors picnic in the background

Zebra and black wildebeest at ease while visitors picnic in the background

After unpacking, we were off to explore the wonders of this special little reserve that’s crept so deep into our hearts. These plains zebra entertained us with the running of the Chelmsford Derby…

The Chelmsford Derby

Chelmsford 13122014

The Chelmsford Derby

Being a grassland reserve, Chelmsford hosts large populations of plains game, including the already mentioned oribi and zebra, black wildebeest, blesbuck, and springbok, one of our national emblems. There’s no large predators at Chelmsford, but smaller carnivores like yellow mongoose and cape fox are well represented and frequently encountered.

Plains zebra

Yellow mongoose

Plains zebra foal

Blesbuck

Blesbuck lambs

Zebra foal

Plains zebra

Springbok

Springbok, showing off

Cape Fox

Oribi ram

The reserve is surrounded by farmland, and this fence-jumping cow was an unexpected find during one of our drives.

Because there’s no dangerous man-eating predators lurking in Chelmsford’s grasslands, visitors are free to explore the reserve on foot, making it easier to appreciate its smaller, less obvious, inhabitants.

Wild flowers at Chelmsford

Yellow Pansy butterfly

Wild flowers at Chelmsford

Clothes Moth on a window pane

Wild flowers at Chelmsford

Bird-watching is another pastime to revel in at Chelmsford, especially as the reserve is home to several special bird species, like the blue crane (our national bird).

Long-tailed widowbird

Anteating chats

Blue cranes

Blue crane

Blue cranes

Diederik Cuckoo

Bokmakierie

For such a small piece of land, Chelmsford offers an amazing variety of scenery. Leokop-hill is an ever-present element, as is the dam, making for dramatic vistas at sunrise and sunset over the wide-open spaces.

Chelmsford sunset 14122014

Leokop and a lone paperbark tree in Chelmsford Nature Reserve

Ntshingwayo sunrise

Chelmsford sunrise

Chelmsford may only be a small reserve without any of the charismatic Big-5 African animals, but to those that take the time to get to know it better there’s a chest of treasures waiting to be unearthed and savored. We’ll be back, that’s for sure.