Tag Archives: view sites

The fairest Cape of all

According to Sir Francis Drake, a famous 16th century English admiral, the Cape of Good Hope “is a most stately thing and the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth“.

We couldn’t agree more.

We’ve arrived at the next destination on our summer holidays: The Cape of Good Hope in the Table Mountain National Park.

De Wets at the Cape of Good Hope

8 Years old: December 2017. Sunset over the Atlantic

Cape of Good Hope

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Breathing in our Natural Heritage at Marakele

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In South Africa, we celebrate the 24th of September as “Heritage Day”, and of course to us de Wets our country’s natural heritage is our biggest pride. What better way then to spend the Heritage Day long weekend than at a place as beautiful as Marakele National Park, accompanied by a group of wonderful friends?

Marakele’s varied landscapes makes for such a diverse experience – from the top of the Waterberg massif to the plains of Kwaggasvlakte below. A few fires passed through the area some days before our visit (a quite natural occurrence in African savannas, to which animal and plant life alike are perfectly adapted) and as soon as the first rains of spring fall Marakele should be transformed into a green paradise again.

Marakele sunrise

Marakele scenery

Marakele stream crossing

Dusty road at sunset

Marakele scenery

Marakele stream crossing (near Tlopi)

Marakele scenery

Bollonoto waterhole near Bontle

Marakele scenery

Milky Way above Marakele

Thutong view

There’s no doubt in our mind that Marakele’s populations of the popular “Big Five” animals must be growing at a good rate. We’ve never seen so many elephants on any of our previous visits to this Park, and this latest visit also delivered us our first encounters with both Marakele’s buffaloes and lions. It is now only the Park’s leopards that still elude us.

Elephant mock-charge

Old buffalo bull

Lioness and mate

Lion

Baby elephant show-off

White Rhinoceros

Old matriarch

Tiny new herd member

Elephant youngster

White rhinos

Heavyweights on the run

By now our regular readers will know that we love walking around after dark looking for nocturnal creatures, and in this respect the Thutong Environmental Education Centre where we stayed delivered a range of arachnid species!

Giant spider

Baby scorpion

Solifuge a.k.a. Sun Spider

We’ve already shared with you a series of photos of a wasp dragging a paralysed caterpillar to a nesting tunnel for its young to feed on – have a look here for the complete set.

Wasp and prey

Marakele means “a place of sanctuary”, and it is as true for human visitors as it is for the immense collection of wildlife that calls this gem of a place home!

Ostrich at Bollonoto

White-fronted Bee-eater

Little Bee-eater

Golden-tailed Woodpecker

Yellow-throated Bush Sparrow

Southern Black Flycatcher

Female Red-billed Quelea

Red-billed Oxpecker

Kudu cow

Kudu calves

Nyala calf

Bushbuck ewe

Plains Zebra

Blue Wildebeest

Impala

A big group of people needs a big place to stay. Marakele’s Thutong Environmental Education Centre is a dormitory-style facility built purposely to accommodate visiting school groups, however it is available for private groups when not being used by school children. Provided is six double rooms with en-suite bathrooms for the teachers, with a maximum of 128 children that can be accommodated in 16 seperate rooms with 8 bunk beds in each. Thutong also has a decently equipped kitchen to cook for that many mouths, and a large hall and fireplace. It is securely fenced – the necessity for which we clearly understood when we found lion tracks right outside the gate one morning!

Thutong Environmental Education Centre, Marakele National Park, September 2017

Want to learn more about Marakele National Park? Why not scroll through all our posts about this special place, here.

Back from Marakele

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If you thought we were a little quiet the last few days, you’d be right. We spent the Heritage Day long weekend enjoying our natural heritage and the company of good friends at Marakele National Park. Here’s just a little sample of some of what we experienced, with a promise of more to come later in the week.

White Rhinoceros

Baby scorpion

Giant spider

Baby elephant show-off

Old buffalo bull

Marakele scenery

Elephant mock-charge

Marakele sunrise

Lion

Lioness and mate

Thread-waisted Wasp and prey at Marakele National Park

The night before we ventured into the Wilderness…

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Earlier this month I was joined by my mother, sister and brother in the Kruger National Park, chiefly to participate in the Napi Wilderness Trail, one of several guided multi-day walking trails available in the Park.

However, with the trail only starting on Sunday afternoon, we weren’t going to let the weekend go to waste and got underway from Gauteng to Kruger in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Arriving at Kruger’s Malelane Gate around 07:30 allowed us time to enjoy a quick picnic breakfast and coffee before following a meandering route along the quieter gravel roads as we made our slow way to Lower Sabie, making frequent stops to appreciate the wildlife and scenery for which the Kruger Park is world renowned.

Malelane Gate, morning of 5 August 2017

Dwarf Mongoose den

Giraffe

Common Duiker

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

White Rhino Calf suckling

White Rhino Cow and Calf

White Rhino calf

Young elephant

Immature Saddle-billed Storks

Shy Nyala bull

African Grey Hornbill

Burchell’s Coucal

Our accommodation for the night was a basic but comfortable 4-bed hut located close to a communal kitchen and bathroom at Lower Sabie‘s eastern fenceline. These huts are surrounded by enormous trees and indigenous shrubbery frequented by a myriad of birds and small reptiles that are quite used to having humans poking lenses in their faces…

Lower Sabie hut 49, Kruger National Park, August 2017

Greater Blue-eared Starling

Chinspot Batis (female)

Spectacled Weaver

White-bellied Sunbird

Yellow-fronted Canary

Dark-capped Bulbul

Juvenile Bateleur flying overhead

Tree Agama

Our game drive for the afternoon took us first to Sunset Dam just outside the camp’s gates, then a quick detour across the causeway over the Sabie River, and then along the S28, S137 and H4-2 roads to the south of Lower Sabie, returning to camp just before the gates closed.

Yellow-billed Storks

Hippopotamus

Hippo jawbone in the Sabie

Hippopotamus

Lion laying claim to his stretch of the Sabie River

The view from Nthandanyathi Hide

Striped Skink

Waterbuck cow

Blue wildebeest

Kudu herd

Warthog drinking from a shrinking stream

African Fish Eagle

Walking around camp in the dark after dinner, looking for nocturnal wildlife with a flashlight, is a firmly entrenched tradition for the de Wets. Both inside and outside Lower Sabie, there’s always plenty to see, and we’re almost unwilling to go to bed for fear of missing out on something interesting!

Bushbuck ewe

Lesser Bushbaby

Being one of the first vehicles to leave Lower Sabie when the gates opened at 06:00 on Sunday morning, we opted to take the main road to Skukuza before this hugely popular route gets too busy with traffic. A quick detour along the short Nwatimhiri causeway-loop rewarded us handsomly with a sighting of three young lions trying to hide, with limited success, in the thick riverine vegetation. Along the way we also popped into Nkuhlu Picnic Spot, Skukuza’s airport, the Skukuza Golf Club and Lake Panic birdhide, before heading for historic Pretoriuskop, all the time enjoying some more of the Kruger Park’s sights, sounds and smells.

Young lion failing in his quest to keep hidden from the de Wets!

Helmeted Guineafowl

Greater Blue-eared Starling

Cape Turtle Dove

Hamerkop

Young Chacma Baboon

Epauletted Fruit Bat

Nyala bull

Nile crocodile

Water Thick-knee

Skukuza Golf Club

Nyala ewe

Big old elephant bull

Kudu bull

Waterbuck bull at Transport Dam

Egyptian Goose and goslings

Waterbuck calves

Brown Snake Eagle

Slender mongoose

Waterbuck herd at Shitlhave Dam

After arriving at Pretoriuskop there’s more than enough time to pop into reception to complete all the necessary formalities for the Napi Trail and then take a gentle stroll through the camp appreciating the astounding variety of birdlife that occurs there.

Scarlet-chested Sunbird (male)

Black-collared Barbet

Southern Black Flycatcher

Kurrichane Thrush

Black-headed Oriole

African Hoopoe

Right on time (at 15:00) we were met at the designated spot by our two guides and group of four fellow trailists for the main event; the Napi Wilderness Trail (more about that wonderful experience in our next post, so stay tuned!).

Back from the bush… Again!

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I’ve just arrived back home again after another fantastic trip to the Kruger National Park, this time to participate in the Napi Wilderness Trail along with my mom, sister and brother.

Sunset on the Napi Trail

It will be a few days before I’ll be ready to tell you all about our experiences on the trail, and in the meantime will get to all the comments you’ve left while I was away and line up some more scheduled posts on interesting South African wildlife.

Photo Safari through Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (Part 1)

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Moving along to the latter half of our winter holidays in the bush brings us to another of Africa’s oldest conservation areas (and another of our favourite wild places) – the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.

This conservation area covers an enormous 960km² of beautifully unspoilt wilderness, and incorporates the Hluhluwe and Umfolozi Game Reserves that were officially proclaimed in 1895.

View of Hluhluwe Game Reserve along the Isivivaneni road

Waterhole at Mphafa Hide

Umfolozi sunset

Umfolozi sunrise

View from Sontuli Picnic Site

A view over the hills of the Hluhluwe section

The sun sitting low on the Umfolozi horizon

We spent four nights in the Park – 3 in cottage #17 at wonderfully wild Mpila and the last in chalet #42 at the Park’s flagship tourist facility; Hilltop.

Mpila #17, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, July 2017

Hilltop #42, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, July 2017

Of course no visit to a Game Reserve would be complete without plentiful encounters with wild creatures, so let’s get started with a few small critters we came across (more to follow in the next two days).

Caterpillar or moth eggs on a twig at Sontuli

Leopard Tortoise hatchling, just a little bigger than a match box

Rainbow Skink

Marsh Terrapins

Being one of our favourite destinations, we’ve featured Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park many times on our blog – have a look through all our posts about this special wilderness if you’d like to learn more about it.

iSimangaliso’s Eastern Shores – A Photographic Journey (Part 2)

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The iSimangaliso Wetland Park is a bird-watcher’s paradise – 526 bird species have been recorded within its borders!

During the few days we recently spent on the Eastern Shores of Lake St. Lucia, we managed to tick 109 kinds of birds, and had we been better at identifying the “Little Brown Jobs” our list would undoubtedly have been quite a bit longer still.

This incredible diversity is surely due to the Park’s rich variety of habitats, and our “success” in connecting with so many kinds of birds can only be ascribed to the terrific collection of roads, hides, picnic sites and other localities so easily accessible to visitors.

We hope you enjoy this sample of iSimangaliso’s birdlife!

African Dusky Flycatcher

African Harrier Hawk

African Olive Pigeon

African Oystercatcher

African Stonechat

Baillon’s Crake

Bearded Scrub Robin

Black Saw-wing

Brown Snake Eagle

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Burchell’s Coucal

Cape White-eye

Caspian Tern

Collared Sunbird (female)

Crested Guineafowl – iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Crowned Hornbill

Dark-backed Weaver

Dark-capped Bulbul

Denham’s Bustard

Square-tailed Nightjar

Fiscal Flycatcher

Grey Waxbill

Grey-headed Gull

Southern Grey-headed Sparrow

Hadeda

Kurrichane Thrush

Neddicky

Olive Sunbird

African Paradise Flycatcher (female)

Pink-backed Pelican

Pink-backed Pelicans – iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Rattling Cisticola

Red-billed Teals

Red-capped Robin-Chat

Red-eyed Dove

Black-winged Lapwing

Southern Black Flycatcher

Southern Masked Weaver

Tawny-flanked Prinia

White-eared Barbets – iSimangaliso Wetland Park

White-faced Whistling Duck

White-fronted Plover

White-winged Widowbird

Woolly-necked Stork

Yellow Weaver

Yellow-billed Egrets

Yellow-breasted Apalis

Yellow-fronted Canary

Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird

Yellow-throated Longclaw

Follow the links for more of our posts about St. Lucia town, Cape Vidal and Mission Rocks.

iSimangaliso’s Eastern Shores – A Photographic Journey (Part 1)

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We’re fresh back from a terrific holiday in two very special wild places in northern Kwazulu-Natal. Our first destination was the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, and specifically the Eastern Shores of Lake St. Lucia, where we spent one night at Manzini Chalets in the holiday town of St. Lucia, and four nights in a log cabin at Cape Vidal.

Manzini Chalets #9, St. Lucia Town, July 2017

Cape Vidal Chalet 9, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, July 2017

I can’t think of a better way to start off the report back on our trip than with a few landscape photos that illustrates why iSimangaliso is a land of “miracles and wonders”, and one of our favourite destinations!

Where Lake St. Lucia meets the Indian Ocean

The beach at Cape Vidal

Sunrise over the Eastern Shores

Mziki viewsite

Catalina Bay

Sunset over Catalina Bay

The Red Dunes at eSibomvini

Lake Bhangazi

Mission Rocks – iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Follow the links for more of our posts about St. Lucia town, Cape Vidal and Mission Rocks.

A not so wintry day at Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden

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It is supposed to be mid-winter in South Africa, but with daytime temperatures in the comfortable low 20’s centigrade recently, we just couldn’t pass on the opportunity to visit the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden in Johannesburg again this past Sunday. We enjoyed a lovely day walking and picnicking with good friends, soaking up the glorious sunshine under a cloudless sky, and of course our cameras went along!

Even in winter the garden is a feast for the eyes, and especially the winter-blooming aloes and carpets of daisies are a sight to behold. You are seldom far from water anywhere in the garden, with the Crocodile River flowing serenely through it and the Witpoortjie Falls being the focal point for all visitors to the gardens.

Scenery at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

Splendid gardens at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

Splendid flowers at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

Scenery at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

Splendid flowers at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

Bee on succulent flowers at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

Splendid flowers at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

Yellow Pansy

Leopard Tortoise

Anyone with a love for or interest in birds, especially photographers, will really find a visit to the gardens worth their while. Apart from the highly visible nesting pair of Verreaux’s Eagles, the garden absolutely abounds with birdlife, even now in winter when so many of the summer migrants have departed for warmer climes. The hide at the Sasol Dam in a quieter corner of the garden must surely rank as one of the best facilities of its kind in the country in terms of the variety and quality of sightings on offer.

African Black Duck

Amethyst Sunbird

Blacksmith Lapwing

Bronze Mannikin juvenile

Cape Robin-chat

Cape Sparrow male

Common Moorhen

Dark-capped Bulbul

Egyptian Goose

Green-backed Heron

Grey Heron

Hadeda

Hamerkop

Kurrichane Thrush

Laughing Dove

Pied Kingfisher

Red Bishop female

Red-eyed Dove

Reed Cormorant

African Sacred Ibis

Southern Boubou

Tawny-flanked Prinia

Verreaux’s Eagles at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens

African Wattled Lapwing

If you’d like to know more about the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens, have a look at our post about our visit in November 2014 or visit their website.

A Quick Nature Fix at Rietvlei

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Our local Rietvlei Nature Reserve is often just what the doctor ordered when I need a quick nature fix. Located just 13km from our home, with a very fair rate of admission (R50 for adults currently, roughly $3.50), decent facilities, an extensive road network and an amazing diversity of wildlife, Rietvlei never fails to recharge the batteries! A week or so ago, in serious need of getting my head cleared following a few health worries, that’s exactly where I headed for a solo trip.

In all the years we’ve been visiting Rietvlei the reserve’s cheetahs have always eluded us – these large spotted cats are experts at hiding! I therefore felt extremely pleased when at long last I encountered a female with her three cubs, just after they had their fill of a freshly caught blesbok. I returned to the site several times later during the day, hoping that the family might still be in the vicinity, only to find the remains of the carcass variously attended by nervous black-backed jackals and pied crows squabbling over the left overs.

Cheetah female

The cheetahs’ blesbok meal

Cheetah female

Cheetah cubs

Cheetah cub

Black-backed Jackal

Black-backed Jackal nervously approaching the carcass

Pied crows at the remains of the blesbok

At one of the bird-viewing hides I had another encounter that will live in my memory forever. A reedbuck ewe hid her young lamb in a dense stand of reeds nearby, which is quite normal behaviour for the species. The curious (or should that be naughty?) youngster however did not want to stay put where his mom told him to, and quite unafraid approached me where I was sitting flat on the ground taking photos of him from a distance. Eventually he got so close that I had to get up and walk away, afraid that if he was to rub up against me his mother might catch my scent on him and abandon him. If I was pleased after the earlier cheetah sighting this experience really had me feeling utterly blessed!

Reedbuck lamb

Winter is getting a firm hold on South Africa’s Highveld now and early morning at Rietvlei is a pleasure to behold as mist rises from the waterways and the rising sun starts to thaw the frost covering the grass and trees.

Rietvlei Spruit

A frosty start to the morning at the Finfoot Hide

Mist rising over the Rietvlei spruit

Autumn colours still much in evidence

Rietvlei Spruit in the Rietvlei Nature Reserve

A view over the reedy wetland from which Rietvlei takes its name

For a reserve almost entirely surrounded by urban sprawl and industries, Rietvlei harbours an impressive collection of large and easily visible mammalian inhabitants. My sightings included black wildebeest, blesbok, buffalo, eland, meerkat, plains zebra, hartebeest, springbok, waterbuck, white rhinos and yellow mongoose (as well as the already mentioned cheetahs, jackals and reedbuck).