Tag Archives: wildlife

Bridge over the Black Umfolozi

One of our favourite spots in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park is the bridge crossing the Black Umfolozi River on the road to Mpila Camp. There just always seem to be something of interest to find there!

The Black Umfolozi

Elephant antics at the Umfolozi Bridge

Elephant feeding next to the bridge

Tranquil scene on the Black Umfolozi

Elephants walking from the water after drinking their fill

Crocodile moving to a deeper pool

Spotted hyena staking out the Black Umfolozi

This picture of a guided sunset drive about to cross the bridge was taken on a previous visit to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi

A walk in the Park

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There’s no doubt that hiking is the biggest pastime enjoyed by visitors to the Royal Natal National Park. Walking through the mountains allows access to so many beautiful spots. We particularly enjoy the easy trails that lead from the Mahai campsite and visitor centre, like Otto’s walk and the trails to the Cascades and Fairy Glen.

The beautiful campsite at Mahai

Bushbuck are commonly encountered along the trails

Looking up at the mountains

The cascades trail

Crystal clear mountain streams

This was the last installment on our December visit to Royal Natal National Park in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg. From here we travelled to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park in Zululand, and from tomorrow we’ll be sharing some of what we experienced there.

Drakensberg Birding

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The varied habitats of the Royal Natal National Park provides excellent habitat for a wide range of bird species. We’ve already introduced you to the rare Bush Blackcap, which is often recorded in the reserve, and the Lesser Striped Swallows that shared our accommodation unit, but there’s so many other feathered inhabitants in the Park that we can dedicate a whole blogpost just to them – in fact, this gallery contains just a few of the more than 60 species we ticked during our December visit!

Groundscraper Thrush

Southern Masked Weaver

Southern Masked Weaver attacking his own reflection

Cape Wagtails

Cape Robin-chat

Chorister Robin-chat

Malachite Sunbird

Male Greater Double-collared Sunbird

Female Greater Double-collared Sunbird visiting a Common Sugarbush

Male Violet-backed Starling

Female Violet-backed Starling

Helmeted Guineafowl

Fiscal Flycatcher

Cape Crow

African Dusky Flycatcher

White-throated Swallow

Sickle-winged Chat

Cape White-eye

Hadeda Ibis

African Hoopoe

Breathtaking Mountains

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Come rain or shine, and no matter which way you look, the mountain scenery at Royal Natal National Park, dominated by the magnificent cliff face of the Amphitheatre, will take your breath away!

Mahai Picnic Area

Mahai Dam

Tugela Falls

Thendele view

Highveld Cabbage Tree

Thendele rain

Tugela River Valley

Thendele storm

Mahai Dam

Golden Everlasting

Thendele view

Mountain reedbuck ewe in Thendele

Mahai Panorama

Bush Blackcap

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Lioptilus nigricapillus

Our December 2016 visit to Thendele in the Royal Natal National Park afforded us our first opportunity to photograph the Bush Blackcap, a rarely seen endemic South African bird with a very limited distribution along the Eastern Escarpment.

Bush Blackcap in Thendele

These small birds occur singly or in pairs in the dense canopy of mountain forests and their verges, moving down to coastal forests (and lush gardens) during winter. Breeding takes place in summer. They feed on fruits, berries and insects. The IUCN considers them “near threatened” due to a small population size (estimated at most around 5,000) and threats to their forest habitat.

Squatters at the lodgings

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From the moment we arrived at chalet 27 in Thendele Camp in the Royal Natal National Park in December, we just loved the unit’s setting. And we were not the only ones, as a pair of Greater Striped Swallows were diligently building their mud-walled nest on the veranda, quite unconcerned about the humans sitting below them and watching them go about the task.

Thendele Chalet 27, Royal Natal National Park, December 2016

Greater Striped Swallow bringing mud to build its nest on the veranda of Thendele’s unit 27

Greater Striped Swallows bringing mud to build their nest on the veranda of Thendele’s unit 27

Greater Striped Swallow bringing mud to build its nest on the veranda of Thendele’s unit 27

Proud builder

Departing to get some more building material

Drakensberg Dwarf Chameleon

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Bradypodion dracomontanum

Just as we arrived at Royal Natal National Park in the Drakensberg for our visit in December, Joubert noticed this laid-back little chameleon resting an elbow on a fence post in the campsite at Rugged Glen.

Turns out he (or she) is a Drakensberg Dwarf Chameleon, a species found only in the Drakensberg mountain range in Kwazulu-Natal Province, where they inhabit sheltered forests and bushes in alpine vegetation at altitudes of between 1,500 and 2,500m and feed on small insects. They grow to a length of only about 14cm. Interestingly, dwarf chameleon females give birth to between 5 and 20 live young that develop in eggs inside the female (known as ovivivipary).

Exploring Golden Gate

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As wonderful a place as Glen Reenen is, and as terrific as the trails that lead into the mountains from there are, to really experience all the Golden Gate Highlands National Park has to offer you also must take a drive along the Lichens Pass road that leads through the Park all the way between the eastern and western boundaries, the gravel road to Kestell to the northern boundary, and the Oribi and Blesbok loops that meanders up and over two plateaus near the camp. Along the way you can appreciate magnificent scenery and you could encounter some of the almost 200 species of birds and 60 species of mammals that occur here, including the bald ibis, crowned crane, guineafowl, secretarybird, cape and bearded vulture, blesbok, eland, hartebeest, oribi, grey rhebok, springbok, black wildebeest and plains zebra. Here’s just a few of the photographs we took while exploring the larger Park area during our December 2016 visit.

Golden Gate scenery

Black-headed Heron

Black-backed Jackal trying to hide from the camera

Plains zebra

Blesbok herd

Eland and blesbok

Southern bald ibis

Cape Canary

Levaillant’s Cisticola

Black-backed Jackal

Grey Rhebok

Cape Robin-Chat

Black-backed Jackal

Let nature come to you at Glen Reenen

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Glen Reenen Rest Camp is one of our favoured options for an overnight stay when visiting Golden Gate Highlands National Park. The camp has an amazing setting surrounded by the magnificent mountains, with two crystal clear mountain streams flowing past and converging at one end, and is frequented by an equally impressive diversity of wildlife – we showed you the antics of the baboons yesterday, as well as the ground woodpeckers that call Glen Reenen home – just one of many kinds of birds that you’ll find there, and at night you may be lucky to see a jackal or various kinds of antelope roaming between the huts and campsites. It is also a fantastic base from which to explore the Park, be it on foot, horseback or in your own vehicle.

Glen Reenen, Golden Gate Highlands National Park, Unit 27, December 2016

Glen Reenen huts with the Brandwag Buttress in the background

The most popular trail in the Park, to the top of Brandwag, starts at Glen Reenen

View from our cottage

Looking along the stream towards the mountains

Looking upstream

The Little Caledon stream

Tadpoles in a pool

Crystal clear mountain water

Water-dependent insects abound, indicating how healthy the water is. This is a White Malachite.

Water-dependent insects abound, indicating how healthy the water is

Freshwater crab in a mountain stream

The Common Myna is an alien invasive species

Speckled Pigeons breed in the cliffs around Glen Reenen

Immature Fiscal Shrike

Mature Fiscal Shrike pecking up baboon leftovers

Cape Weaver male

Pied Starling striding across the lawns at Glen Reenen

Male Red-Winged Starling

Female Red-Winged Starling

Red-winged Starling chick waiting for his parents

Cape Wagtail

Crested Barbet

Glen Reenen, and Golden Gate Highlands National Park, is managed by the South African National Parks and is an easy 350 to 400km drive from Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Our new favourite route to Golden Gate, via Sasolburg, Heilbron, Petrus Steyn and Bethlehem, a distance of about 400km from Pretoria (map drawn with Google Maps)

Baboon antics in Glen Reenen

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People will always find the primates entertaining, and the baboon troops in Golden Gate Highlands National Park is no exception. However, when they come foraging between the accommodation units and in the camping site at Glen Reenen Rest Camp they can really cause havoc. They’ll inspect every open window to see what’s inside a car, tent or hut, and will help themselves to whatever they find that even vaguely resembles food, while the naughty little ones can cause quite a lot of damage to property and structures with their rough-and-tumble play.