Tag Archives: wildlife

Ground Woodpecker

Geocolaptes olivaceus

Glen Reenen Rest Camp in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park is one of the best places in the country to go searching for the Ground Woodpecker, a bird that occupies open, rocky hillsides in arid scrubland, fynbos and grasslands and occurs only in upland parts of South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho.

With a length of 30cm and a weight up to 130g, this is the largest woodpecker in South Africa. They can usually be found in pairs or small family groups, and unlike other, more well-known, woodpeckers search for food (mostly ants) on the ground and among rocks rather than in trees. They are always to be found near water, and usually very conspicuous thanks to their load calls and habit of using high vantage points to watch for danger. Most breeding takes place in early spring, when 3 eggs are laid in nesting chambers at the end of tunnels excavated in vertical soil banks. Some of these tunnels are occupied year-round and not only during the nesting season.

Ground Woodpeckers are common over most of their range and not currently considered to be under any threat to their survival, as their preferred habitat is mostly inaccessible and largely unsuited to human habitation or agriculture.

Ground Woodpeckers love scanning their surroundings from high vantage points, such as the top of roofs in Glen Reenen

Ground Woodpecker

Ground Woodpecker fighting his own reflection

Ground Woodpecker

Ground Woodpecker searching for food

Ground Woodpecker

Ground Woodpecker searching for food

Ground Woodpeckers love scanning their surroundings from high vantage points

Ground Woodpeckers love scanning their surroundings from high vantage points, such as the top of roofs in Glen Reenen

Ground Woodpeckers

Ground Woodpecker

Ground Woodpeckers

Ground Woodpecker

Ground Woodpeckers

The Victor and the Vanquished (Duel at first light – the series)

14 Replies

Early into our December holidays, we came upon two black wildebeest bulls squaring off in a territorial tussle near the Basotho Cultural Village in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. At the onset they appeared evenly matched, sometimes wrestling each other right to the ground with their horns interlocked, entirely oblivious to the human spectators. Reasonably quickly one triumphed and sent his rival running, the entire fight lasting all of one exhilarating four minute long round.

Walking to the battle ground

Sizing up one another

Round 1! Black Wildebeest Duel

The victor and the vanquished

Golden Gate has a substantial population of black wildebeest, and is one of the best places to go searching for these endemic South African creatures.

Territorial Black Wildebeest bull that’s lost the tips of both his horns in fights!

Black wildebeest on the trot along Golden Gate’s game viewing circuit

Black wildebeest herd on a plateau

Black wildebeest calves

Quick wrap-up from Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park

19 Replies

We’re back home in Pretoria after our 10 day Christmas-in-the-Bush holiday. We didn’t have very good internet connection at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, the last stop-over on our trip, and couldn’t post our usual daily photo. For now though, herewith a few photographs from HIP just as a teaser with a promise of lots more to come soon!

Sunset over the Black Umfolozi River

Sunrise over Imfolozi with a Marula in silhouette

Cheetah with a tracking-collar

Tranquil scene on the Black Umfolozi

Impalas at dusk

Coming to you live from Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park!

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After a long drive from the Drakensberg we’ve arrived safely at the big game haven that is Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park!

(Seems we struck it unexpectedly lucky with the connectivity this evening!)

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Duel at first light

22 Replies

Early this morning we were treated to the spectacle of two black wildebeest bulls locking horns over a disputed territory near Basotho Cultural Village in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park.

golden-gate-18dec16wp

We’ll share the whole sequence when we’re back home after the holidays.

Dinokeng Game Reserve

30 Replies

When I was planning a quick weekend getaway for our milestone tenth wedding anniversary, I was looking for a destination we’ve not visited before, within easy driving distance of Pretoria in case Joubert still had to attend classes in the morning, and that Marilize would never guess as I wanted it to be a surprise. Dinokeng Game Reserve fitted the bill perfectly, but even now I still can’t believe just how much this place exceeded my every expectation!

As promised, we’ll give a bit of an overview of the reserve and share some of what we saw and experienced during our first visit to Dinokeng. Having been used as farmlands for so long before the reserve’s founding, I expected there to be little left of the pristine natural vegetation that would have occurred here centuries ago, but I couldn’t have been further off the mark. The reserve’s vegetation is typical varied bushveld (savanna) on a flat to gently undulating landscape, drained by three large streams and their tributaries. The Tswana name “Dinokeng” translates to “a place of rivers” in English, and obviously the name is well deserved.

Wilderness Way entrance into Dinokeng Game Reserve and the Self-Drive Route

Dinokeng Scenery

Track through Dinokeng Game Reserve

Dinokeng Scenery

Track through Dinokeng Game Reserve

Dinokeng Scenery

Dinokeng Game Reserve Scenery

Dinokeng Sunset

For a relatively newly established reserve, the list of recorded bird species found at Dinokeng, already over 350 species strong, is phenomenal! We managed to connect with 74 kinds of birds during our weekend visit and have no doubt that more proficient birders would have had an even longer list at the end of theirs.

Woodland Kingfisher

Male Southern Masked Weaver

Hadeda Ibis

Red Bishop

Grey Heron

Ostrich juvenile

Ostrich family

Namaqua Dove

Spotted Flycatcher

Egyptian Geese family

Three-banded Plover

Marsh Sandpiper

Purple Heron

Purple Heron, slowly approaching a nesting pair of Whistling Ducks

Little Grebe on its nest

Rufous-naped Lark

African Wattled Lapwing chick

African Wattled Lapwing adult

Groundscraper Thrush

Diederik Cuckoo

Ostrich female on a nest

Dinokeng’s mammalian inhabitants are obviously flourishing. Of the “Big 5” we only managed to see White Rhinos, though we found ample evidence of the reserve’s three Lion prides in the remains of their kills. The Lions, Elephants, Buffaloes and Leopards will have to wait for our next visit then. Sightings of Impala, Kudu, Warthog, Plains Zebra, Blesbok and Blue Wildebeest were numerous, with rarer glimpses of Cheetah, Tsessebe, Eland, Waterbuck, Nyala, Springbok, Grey Duiker, Giraffe, Banded Moongoose, Black-backed Jackal and Vervet Monkey adding variety to our game drives.

Kudus

Impala ram

Plains Zebra

Banded Mongoose

Warthog

Tsessebe

Blue wildebeest

Eland

Impala ewes

Curious Kudu youngster

Giraffes

Nyala bull

Nyala calf

White Rhino

Kudu

Blesbok

Dinokeng Game Reserve boasts more than 30 different accommodation providers, ranging from rustic camping areas to luxury, full-service lodges. For our first visit to the reserve we had the pleasure of staying at OuKlip Game Lodge, deep inside the reserve, where eight fully self-contained safari tents (rated 4-stars) provide very comfortably for two to four guests each. We were immediately taken in by the great facilities in the tents and camp as a whole, not forgetting the warm hospitality of the owners and staff, and have already decided that OuKlip will be our preferred base for future visits to Dinokeng as well. I think what I will most remember about our tent, number one, was the two magnificent sunsets we enjoyed from the veranda! Contact Marilize if you’d like to make reservations at OuKlip; it is sure to be one of Dinokeng’s most popular retreats.

Entrance to OuKlip Game Lodge

OuKlip’s farmyard is a hit with the young ones!

OuKlip’s luxury safari tents (in Dinokeng Game Reserve)

Quality time spent around the campfire

Lots of smaller animals to entertain at OuKlip

Habituated antelope, like this nyala bull, roam freely through the bush at OuKlip

The Dinokeng Game Reserve was officially opened in September 2011, following the amalgamation of 200 private properties, and is managed co-operatively with the provincial government. Visitors to Dinokeng should remember that this is still a developing reserve and that there remains a lot of work to do to remove old farming infrastructure, derelict buildings and fences, and that a few public roads, with associated traffic, crosses through the reserve. It is the only game reserve with free-roaming populations of the “Big 5” in Gauteng Province, South Africa’s economic hub. Today it covers 185km², with plans for further expansion. The Self-Drive Route covers large areas of the reserve, and most of the over 100km of track is good enough to traverse in a sedan. Along the way visitors will find picnic sites (with toilets), hides and viewpoints, and several restaurants (we can honestly recommend the Kingfisher Restaurant at Mongena). Overnight guests and day visitors can also join guided drives and walks from many of the reserve’s private lodges. Other exhilarating activities available inside the reserve includes cultural tours, hot air ballooning and microlight flights, fishing, clay-pigeon shooting, boat cruises and spas. The “Safari Mall” stocks basic groceries and baked goods and also offers a fuel station and bottle store.

Dinokeng Game Reserve is easily accessed from the Hammanskraal offramp from the N1-highway heading north, around half-an-hour from Pretoria.

Dinokeng is located just north of Pretoria and easily accessible.

Already missing Dinokeng!

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Our weekend away, to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary, has flown past in the blink of an eye, and the little taste we had of the Dinokeng Game Reserve has us thoroughly addicted now. We’ll be sharing some more from this wonderful destination, and the very special Ouklip Game Lodge where we stayed, soon!

dinokeng-signoff

Day Two at Dinokeng

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Good evening from Dinokeng Game Reserve, where we spent most of the day (except for a short siesta at noon) exploring this beautiful treasure almost right on Pretoria’s doorstep. Thank you as well for all the kind comments on our anniversary yesterday – we’ll get to them all when we return to “civilisation” tomorrow…

dinokeng-03-12-2016

African Sacred Ibis

20 Replies

Threskiornis aethiopicus

These easily recognisable, medium-sized birds (1-2kg) are extremely gregarious, flying and roosting in large flocks, and can be found near inland and coastal wetlands of all description, including sewerage works. Their natural diet consists of insects, worms, crustaceans, molluscs, fish, frogs, eggs, nestlings and carrion, and they are often to be found on the outskirts of towns scavenging at rubbish dumps and abattoirs. African Sacred Ibisses start breeding at the onset of the rainy season, in mixed-species colonies of up to 2000 pairs. Nests, in which 2 to 3 eggs are laid, consist of sticks and branches and are built in reeds or trees or on the ground on rocky islands.

African Sacred Ibis

African Sacred Ibis flocks typically fly in V-formation

African Sacred Ibis

Sacred Ibis

African Sacred Ibis

AfricanSacred Ibis

African Sacred Ibis

African Sacred Ibisses

African Sacred Ibis

Sacred Ibis on a tiny nest at Kubu Dam

African Sacred Ibis

Sacred Ibis

Sacred Ibises coming to roost

Sacred Ibis

Sacred Ibises

Thanks to a wide distribution across most of Sub-Saharan Africa, and a large though probably declining population (200,000 to 450,000), the IUCN considers the African Sacred Ibis to be of Least Concern. The species is a common resident in most parts of South Africa, local numbers often swollen in summer by individuals migrating southwards from the equator, and have been introduced to Europe, the USA (Florida) and Taiwan. They are now extinct in Egypt, where they were once considered a sacred symbol of one of the Egyptian deities, and often mummified.

Southern Bald Ibis

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Geronticus calvus

The Southern Bald Ibis is an endemic Southern African bird that occurs in high rainfall, high altitude, short grasslands, and has a special preference for areas where recent burns occurred. It will also forage in recently ploughed fields and cultivated pastures. These birds feed on insects and other invertebrates, usually foraging in small flocks though at times up to 100 can congregate together. Bald ibisses breed in colonies on ledges on high cliffs, laying 2 or 3 eggs that are incubated for four weeks in nests built of sticks and grass. They weigh about a kilogram and are about 80cm long from head to tail.

We had daily sightings of the rare bald ibis on the Oribi Loop at Golden Gate

Southern Bald Ibis

The threatened Southern Bald Ibis

Southern Bald Ibis

The IUCN considers the Southern Bald Ibis conservation status “vulnerable”, owing to its limited distribution and ongoing destruction of its habitat for agriculture and forestry. They occur only on the central highlands of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, with an overall population of perhaps 8,000 to 10,000 birds, with around 2,000 breeding pairs occurring in 200 or so colonies. In our experience, good places to go looking for the Southern bald Ibis would be Golden Gate Highlands National Park, the reserves of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, Ithala Game Reserve, and Chelmsford Nature Reserve.