Tag Archives: vacation

Bird Watching at Mokala

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

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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.

Pale-rumped Plains Zebra foal in Mokala National Park

Some plains zebras in Mokala National Park still don the more “traditional” look.

Pale-rumped Plains Zebra foal in Mokala National Park

Pale-rumped Plains Zebra in Mokala National Park

Pale-rumped Plains Zebra foal in Mokala National Park

Pale-rumped Plains Zebra in Mokala National Park

Plains Zebras at Mokala National Park, April 2018

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.

How Vulture W428 is helping to conserve its species

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On arriving at Haak-en-Steek Cottage at Mokala National Park on the 27th of April 2018, we found this young White-backed Vulture waiting to welcome us. Thanks to the tag fitted conspicuously on the wing it was easy to identify him / her as “Vulture W428”, and of course we wanted to find out more about this bird.

Mokala’s Park Manager put us in contact with Angus Anthony of the EWT’s Vulture Monitoring Project, thanks to whom we learned that Vulture W428 is one of 56 chicks that were tagged on their nests on Dronfield, a farm just north of the city of Kimberley in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province, in October 2017. Once they become independent, these juvenile White-backed Vultures may roam very widely – even as far afield as Angola! Obviously Vulture W428 is a little less adventurous and likes staying closer to home. This may be because there’s a vulture feeding station on Dronfield, where there’s presently a growing population of about 100 breeding pairs of White-backed Vultures.

Research projects like these are invaluable in protecting South Africa’s dwindling vulture populations. Reporting sightings of tagged birds allow researchers to follow their movement and breeding patterns, glean information about their behaviour (do they mate for life, do pairs return to the same nest annually, etc) and calculate their life expectancy. Thanks to the tags it could be established for instance that young vultures return from their explorations to breed at Dronfield when they’re 4 to 5 years old, but then the question is whether the same holds true for other breeding colonies? This is vital information, considering that the IUCN recently reclassified the White-backed Vulture as Critically Endangered due to a rapid and enormous decline in their populations.

If you are lucky to see one of these tagged vultures while travelling through South Africa (or one of our neighbouring countries), please do share that information with the EWT – what may seem like a little piece of information may be vital to their continued survival. The kind of information the researchers are hoping for include the location (gps co-ordinates would be handy), date and time of the sighting, the colour and code of the tag, comments about the bird’s behaviour at the time (feeding, roosting, nesting, flying, solitary or with other vultures, etc), if possible the species and whether it is an adult or juvenile, and of course your own contact details in case they have follow-up questions.

This is a fantastic way to contribute to the protection of our natural heritage!

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 multitude of Springbok

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The Springbok is by far the most commonly encountered large mammal in Mokala National Park – during our four day stay in April 2018 we had over 200 springbok sightings ranging from solitary rams to enormous herds. Thankfully they are such beautiful animals that one could never tire of them, and the sprinkling of black and copper coated individuals made for fascinating comparisons with the more standard liveried animals.

Copper Springbok

Copper and normal coloured Springbok

Copper Springbok ram

Springbok

Copper Springbok ram

Springbok ewes

Springbok showing off

Springbok herd

Springbok bachelor rams

Copper Springbok ram

Springbok ewe

Springbok rams sparring

Black Springbok

Copper Springbok ram

Springbok ram

Copper Springbok lamb

Black Springbok

Copper Springbok lamb

Our most exhilarating encounter with Mokala’s Springbok was with these two mature rams contesting for ownership of a prime territory right in the middle of the road!

Springbok rams contesting a territory in Mokala National Park

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.

Muddy fun at Dries se Gat

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“Dries se Gat” is one of our favourite waterholes in Mokala National Park, not only because I share a name with it but also because there always seem to be something interesting happening there.

During our latest visit to Mokala we arrived at the waterhole just as a big herd of 100+ buffaloes were making their way to the water, and could spend quite a bit of time watching the animals interact with each other while slaking their thirst and enjoying a mud bath.

Buffalo Wallow at Dries se Gat, Mokala National Park

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.

Back from another taste of Mokala Magic

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We’ve just returned home after spending a four-night weekend at beautiful Mokala National Park in the Northern Cape. We had a lovely time and of course we have lots to share with you in the coming days – Here’s just a little teaser!

Scenery at Mokala National Park, April 2018

Springbok and eland at Mokala National Park, April 2018

Gemsbok at Mokala National Park, April 2018

Scenery at Mokala National Park, April 2018

Plains Zebras at Mokala National Park, April 2018

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.

Easter in Kruger

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The Easter break afforded us the opportunity to visit South Africa’s flagship National Park, and one of our favourite destinations, again, spending first three nights at Skukuza Rest Camp in the south of the Kruger National Park, and then four nights around Mopani Rest Camp in the north. After a summer of apparently good rainfall, the Park’s vegetation is lush and green, with water in ample supply. These conditions make searching for wildlife a bit trickier, but it is wonderful to see the Park transformed from the harrowing effects of the recent drought that is still so fresh in our minds.

Leadwood stump

Tsendze pool

Nshawu view

Sunset on the Shongololo Loop

Sunrise over a pan near Mopani

Malelane mountains

Kwaggaspan

Sabie Bridge from Skukuza

Sabie River

Sabie Bridge near Skukuza

Blue Water Lily

White Water Lily in Skukuza

Kruger sunset

Sausage Tree Fruit

Shipandani Hide

Nkumbe View

The Kruger National Park is renowned for its Big-5 sightings. There isn’t very many other places where one can so easily find completely wild lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes and rhinos from the comfort of your own vehicle, at your own pace and according to your own schedule. And then there’s always a chance that you may cross paths with a magnificent big tusker!

White rhino’s poor attempt at hiding

Lion near Skukuza

Lion with his zebra meal, just outside Satara

Lioness pacing the H4-1 between Skukuza and Lower Sabie

Pride of lions at Kumana Dam

Leopard near Lower Sabie

Leopard in a tree south of Skukuza

Buffalo near Mopani

Buffalo in the rain

Buffalo roadblock

Trio of buffalo bulls

Elephant near Mopani

Unknown Kruger Tusker (2018/03/21)

Testing their strength

Just a little irritated

Walking along the Ngwenyeni

Elephants on the way to Phalaborwa Gate

Elephant bull enjoying a puddle near Mopani

Young elephant interactions

Crossing the Letaba River

Tiny baby next to mom

Testing the wind

Elephant’s tail

The deep water in the reservoir is much cooler than that in the trough

On the other side of the scale are those less frequently noticed smaller critters (“creepy crawlies” or “goggas” as we call them), that fairly seldom feature on any of the Kruger visitors’ sightings wish-lists. They may be small and unobtrusive, but they are certainly no less fascinating than the glamorous Big-5. We already shared with your the exciting scenes of a Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake catching and swallowing a skink in Shingwedzi, but there’s plenty more to see if you bend your knees!

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake swallowing a skink in Shingwedzi

Common River Frog in Skukuza

Painted Reed Frog in Skukuza

Plain Grass Frog at Twanana

Cricket perfectly imitating a mopane leaf

Rainbow Skink

Serrated Hinged Terrapin

Juvenile Mozambique Tilapia in the Tsendze River

Water Monitor

The Mopani area is well-known for prized sightings of the rarer antelope species, and we weren’t disappointed on that score either, ticking bushbuck, nyala, eland, tsessebe, reedbuck and roan antelope on our list.

Eland near Bowkerskop

Eland at Tinhongonyeni

Roan antelope in the dense mopane near Middelvlei

Southern Reedbuck in the Nshawu Vlei

Tsessebe at Mooiplaas

Tsessebe at Nshawu

Nyala near Skukuza

Bushbuck near Skukuza

Bushbuck mingling with baboons and impala along the Sand River

The lush vegetation made it very challenging to see the smaller antelope species. We managed to photograph steenbok, grey duiker and klipspringer, but unfortunately the grysbok just weren’t willing to pose for a picture this time around.

Grey Duiker

Klipspringer

Steenbok

There’s quite a few herbivore species that you are virtually guaranteed to see when visiting the Kruger National Park. Among these are baboons and vervet monkeys, blue wildebeest, plains zebra, impala, kudu, waterbuck, giraffe, warthog and hippo.

Wet Baboon after a rainstorm

Baboon youngsters at speed!

Blue wildebeest

Giraffe

Hippo eyeing us from the Sabie River

Impala Ram

Kudu Calf

Plains Zebra

Vervet Monkey

Warthog

Waterbuck Bull on the bank of the Sabie

Waterbuck cows and calves

Of course, with such a menu there are many predators in attendance. Apart from lions and leopards, on our latest visit we also encountered spotted hyena, side-striped and black-backed jackal, crocodile and large-spotted genet.

Nile crocodile at Sunset Dam

Large-spotted Genet patrolling outside our bungalow at Skukuza

Black-backed Jackal

Spotted Hyena cub

Spotted Hyena cub and mother

Spotted Hyena cubs with a bone

The Kruger National Park is regarded as a paradise for bird-watchers, and that is not without reason. During the warmer months especially, when many summer migrants from northern latitudes enjoy our warm weather, the variety and numbers of bird species to be seen is absolutely prolific, but even in winter feathered life abounds in the Lowveld.

European Bee-eaters

Temminck’s Courser

African Mourning Dove on a nest at Satara

Knob-billed Duck

White-faced Whistling Ducks

Black-chested Snake Eagle

Wahlberg’s Eagle

Tawny Eagle

Spotted Flycatcher

Swainson’s Spurfowl

Natal Spurfowl

Green-backed Heron

Grey Heron

Ground Hornbill juvenile

Hamerkop

African Jacana

Pied Kingfisher

Black-winged Kite

Red-crested Korhaan

Black-bellied Bustard

Kori Bustard

Blacksmith Lapwing

Ostrich male

Verreaux’s Eagle Owl

Red-billed Oxpecker

Yellow-billed Oxpecker on a festering wound

Long-tailed Paradise Whydah

European Roller

Common Sandpiper

Double-banded Sandgrouse

Lesser Grey Shrike

Male Red-backed Shrike

Saddle-billed Stork

Black Stork

White-backed Vultures in a tree near a carcass

African Pied wagtail

Greater Painted Snipe

Blue waxbill

The Kruger National Park is an addictive place. You only need to visit once for it to get under your skin, and stay there. The more you experience of Kruger’s wonders, the more you pine for it. We’ll be back again and again, no question about it.

Easter Encounters with Tuskers

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One of our greatest joys when visiting the Kruger National Park is being treated to an encounter with a real “Tusker”; a majestic elephant bull carrying massive ivory. There are only a handful of these enigmatic animals on the continent, and they are living monuments to those who protect our wild places for generations to come. Owing to their special status, they are given names by the Park authorities, often according to specific areas they roam or in remembrance of rangers or other members of staff that dedicated their lives to the Park.

During our Easter visit to Kruger, we were lucky to have seen no less than three of these awesome animals. Each one of them has some unique features – scars on the ears, marks on the trunk, characteristic tusk shape, etc. that aids in the identification. We’ve submitted our photographs to the Kruger’s Emerging Tuskers Project and will update this post once we hear the names of these tuskers.

This is Xidudla, the name being in reference to his large size:

Xidudla (2018/03/29)

This big bull is known as “Hahlwa“, which is Tsonga for “twin” because he looks so similar to Masasana, another big tusker roaming the Kruger Park.

Hahlwa (2018/04/01)

This last bull has not been named yet, but the project team will be keeping a close watch on him until he too receives his well-deserved moniker.

Yet to be identified Kruger Tusker

Unknown Kruger Tusker (2018/04/02)

For some more pictures of tuskers we’ve seen in Kruger in years past have a look at this post.

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake

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Psammophis subtaeniatus

One of the most exciting and memorable sightings of our Easter trip to the Kruger National Park took place right in front of the reception office at Shingwedzi Rest Camp. We watched as a Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake (aka Western Yellow-bellied Sand Snake) stalked, caught, killed and swallowed a skink – the whole episode playing out within perhaps ten minutes at the most.

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake hunting skinks in Shingwedzi

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake – Note the skink just behind the snake

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake swallowing a skink in Shingwedzi

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake after swallowing a skink in Shingwedzi

This was a fairly large specimen of this slender species, which grows to around a metre in length. Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snakes are strictly diurnal, equally at home on the ground or in low trees and shrubs, and extremely fast moving. Aside from lizards they will also prey on frogs, small birds and rodents, which they dispatch with a dose of mild venom (not lethal to humans though).

Females lay between 4 and 10 eggs in summer, and probably lives for between 5 and 10 years in the wild.

The Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake is described as widespread and common by the IUCN, which considers it to be of least concern. It is distributed from southern Angola and northern Namibia through to Swaziland and South Africa (North West, Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and possibly northern Kwazulu-Natal), occurring in a variety of savanna types and being especially closely associated with mopane veld (such as which occurs around Shingwedzi).

While visiting Marakele National Park over Easter in 2019, we encountered another Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake at the Thutong Environmental Education Centre, and watched as it searched, this time unsuccessfully, for a lizard to catch.

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake

This Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake visited our tent at Tlopi in the Marakale National Park during a visit in February 2021:

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake at our tent

While staying at Shingwedzi Rest Camp in the Kruger National Park in June 2019, a Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake came to visit us at our campsite – seems Shingwedzi is a really good place to go looking for this species!

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake

We were parked at a Leopard sighting while visiting the Kruger National Park in December 2021 when Marilize noticed this Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake in a bush next to our car.

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake (photo by Joubert)

In July 2022 we visited Marakele National park and Tlopi Tented Camp again, and were delighted to find another Western Stripe-belllied Sand Snake guarding our tent again.

Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake

Back from our Easter Bush Breakaway

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We’re fresh back from our Easter break around Skukuza and Mopani in the Kruger National Park, and of course well be sharing lots and lots more photos from this beautiful place with you soon! (as well as replying to all the comments you left us over the last few days).