Tag Archives: vacation

Green

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A collection of images depicting the splendour of the natural vegetation found in South Africa’s wild places.

(click on an image to view the picture carousel):

The rolling hills of Giants Castle Game Reserve in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park
Looming thunderstorm over the plains of the central Kruger National Park
a View over the Ithala Game Reserve
Nkumbe viewpoint, Kruger National Park
View across the Eastern Shores of Lake Saint Lucia (iSimangaliso Wetland Park)
a Red Bishop in a reed bed in the Moreletakloof
Waterbuck drinking from a small stream with dense riparian vegetation in the Kruger National Park
Serene river pool in the Kruger National Park
Nwanedzi viewpoint in the Kruger National Park

Sunsets

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We’re participating in LetsBeWild.com‘s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge. This week’s challenge is Sunsets and we are submitting this collection of sunset pictures taken in South Africa’s wild places.

(click on an image to view the picture carousel)

Sunset over Marakele National Park
Sunset over the Kruger National Park (near Olifants Rest Camp)
Sunset over Ithala Game Reserve
Sunset over the Kruger National Park (near Shimuwini Bushveld Camp)
Sunset over Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park

Renewal

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Caring for a new generation: Vervet monkey female and baby bonding through fun and games, as seen in Skukuza Rest Camp in the Kruger National Park. I think it’s clear from the expression on the little one’s face how much he’s enjoying their play!?

uMkhuze Game Reserve

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Heaven to bird watchers and a paradise for photographers!

The uMkhuze Game Reserve, which celebrated its centenary on the 12th of February 2012, is today an integral part of the greater Isimangaliso Wetland Park (a World Heritage Site) and is one of South Africa’s most ecologically diverse conservation areas. It is located in the north of Kwazulu-Natal province, roughly 500 kilometres south-east of Johannesburg or 350 kilometres north of Durban, very near the N2-national highway which makes it a very easy-to-reach destination.

The reserve is probably best known as a mecca for bird watchers, with over 400 bird species having been identified here.

This abundant birdlife is attracted to the reserve by the wide array of habitats, stretching from the slopes of the Lebombo Mountains through gently rolling bushveld and dense woodlands to thick riparian forests, swamps and the magnificent watery expanse of Nsumo Pan.

With the exception of lion, uMkhuze provides sanctuary to good numbers of almost all South Africa’s big game and large predators. (EDIT: Lions were reintroduced to uMkhuze in late 2013)

Photographers have been well catered for, with several hides and platforms available in which visitors can easily spend hours or even the entire day watching the continuous processions of animals and birds slaking their thirst at the water’s edge.

Mantuma is the main camp in uMkhuze. Here you will find a curio shop with basic items for sale, a swimming pool and the delightfully named “Rhino Dine-O” take-away kiosk catering to the needs of the reserve’s guests. The elegant nyala often make themselves at home amongst the huts in the unfenced Mantuma Camp. A spacious and very shady camping area at the Emshopi entrance gate accommodates up to 100 campers at a time.

uMkhuze Game Reserve offers so much to experience that there’s always something left to explore and that’s ample reason to return again and again!

Kruger National Park, October 2012

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As close to a wild lion as you can get!

Less than a month has passed since our previous visit, and the early spring rains have transformed the southern regions of the Kruger National Park into a lush green paradise. Animals abound – the reason why many of the Kruger-faithful refers to the south of the Park as “the zoo” – and a lot of the migratory birds that call South Africa home during our hot summer months have already made their appearance, joining the large number of bird species that are resident throughout the year.

We always lament the fact that a trip to the Kruger National Park seems to fly past in a heartbeat, and our three night visit (staying over in Skukuza and Crocodile Bridge Rest Camps) was no different. But this time Kruger kept the best for last – our parting gift, on the way to Malelane Gate, was a pride of about fifteen lions lazing around in and next to the road, delaying our exit by almost an hour (not that we’d ever complain!) before they decided to march right past our vehicle – a breathtaking experience that will remain in our memories for ever.

We’re happy to have been able to share some more pictures of our latest adventure with you (we’ve already published two images from this trip in weekly photo challenges – “Foreign” and “Escape“) in the hope that you’d be inspired by our natural heritage as much as we are!

Water

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These are the fever-tree lined shores of Nsumo Pan, a vast wetland which is a central feature of the uMkhuze Game Reserve (which has recently been incorporated into the Isimangaliso Wetland Park).

We’re participating in LetsBeWild.com‘s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge. This week’s challenge is Water.

Foreign

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We took this photograph this morning as we were driving to the Malelane Gate to exit the Kruger National Park, another wonderful trip over far too quickly (more on this latest trip to follow soon!). I was struck just how out of place we, the gawking tourists in our metal cocoons, are when confronted with the raw primeval power of Africa’s big cats – to them, we must seem decidedly “foreign”.

Lions meet Tourists, Kruger National Park

Escape

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It’s because of situations like these that the Kruger National Park is the place we escape to so regularly. On arriving this morning, these two white rhinoceroses blocked our way into the rest camp (the gates of which you can see just behind them)!

I’m participating in the LetsBeWild.com Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – this week’s challenge is Escape!

Mountain Zebra National Park

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A rising star with humble beginnings.

The Mountain Zebra National Park had an inauspicious start. Proclaimed in 1937 near the small town of Cradock to protect the then critically endangered Cape Mountain Zebra, the reserve covered only 1,712 hectares and contained only 6 individual animals of its most precious charges.

Gradually the park was expanded, with much public support, and today the Mountain Zebra National Park is a grand showcase spanning across 28,412 hectares of scenic plains and rugged mountains. Located at the interface between the arid Karoo and the central grasslands, the Park is home to at least 680 plant species which in turn provide habitat and sustenance to a myriad of faunal life.

Here, the Cape Mountain Zebra was saved from the brink of extinction and today the Park houses almost 500 individuals, with thousands more now occurring in other National Parks, numerous state-owned reserves and on private land across their former range.

The Park is now large enough to accommodate many other large, charismatic mammals and visitors have an excellent chance of spotting cheetah, black rhino and buffalo among the other natural denizens of South Africa’s central plains – animals like the black wildebeest and blesbok (both species themselves having been virtually wiped out by the early 1900’s), springbok, red hartebeest, eland, kudu and gemsbok and birds such as the ostrich and blue crane.

The South African National Parks provide accommodation and camping in a picturesque rest camp in the centre of the Park while the Doornhoek Guest House, exclusively located some distance further, provides a luxurious alternative to the standard accommodation fare. This Victorian farmstead has been meticulously restored, is a national monument and has been tastefully furnished with all the modern conveniences while retaining its old world charm thanks to the antique period pieces used to decorate both the interior and farmyard.

In recent times the Mountain Zebra National Park has been growing in popularity, and deservedly so. Park management have introduced a number of unique guided activities, such as cheetah tracking and visits to San rock art sites. Spend a few days at “Bergkwagga” (the Afrikaans name for the Mountain Zebra) and it will be a firm favourite for you too!

Weather

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Just minutes before this picture was taken on the 17th of January 2006, a huge thunderstorm rumbled across the Pioneer Dam, overlooked by the Mopani Rest Camp, in the Kruger National Park. In this magical setting, with the afternoon sun dipping below the dark clouds, I proposed marriage to Marilize.

I’m participating in the LetsBeWild.com Wild Weekly Photo Challenge! This week’s challenge is weather!