We’ve just returned from ten wonderful days in the Kruger National Park, and we’ll be telling you all about it in upcoming editions of de Wets Wild.
We hope this little albino vervet monkey we saw near the Timbavati picnic spot will convince you just how special our sightings were, and make you come back for more soon!
The lion. Such a short name for such a magnificent creature.
If there’s one animal that draws people from all over the world to our country’s wild places more than any other, it has to be the “King of the jungle”.
The lion is Africa’s biggest cat; males weighing over 200kg and standing up to 1.2m high at the shoulder.
They’re very adaptable creatures, inhabiting almost any habitat where there’s enough prey to sustain them. They’ll prey on anything from insects to crocodiles, buffaloes, rhinos, hippos and even elephants, and can consume up to 40kg of meat in a single sitting. And despite their association with royalty, they’re not above stealing carcasses from other predators, or taking carrion. They’ll drink regularly if water is available, but otherwise can go without it for extended periods.
It is well known that lions are the most sociable of cats, living in prides that can number over 30 animals where food is abundant. These prides are controlled by single or coalitions of up to 6 adult males, defending territories in which the core of the pride, the adult females, can safely raise their cubs. The strength of the pride lies in the defending of territory, hunting of large prey animals, and communal care of the cubs. Depending on the availability of food, the territories can cover areas as large as 2000 square kilometres, scentmarked by animals of both sexes and loudly proclaimed by their distinctive roaring. Neighbouring prides will get involved in serious fights over territory, and when new males take over a pride it is seldom a bloodless affair, more often than not killing the cubs sired by the ousted males (who themselves are lucky if they escape alive). All in all, the life of a lion is not an easy one, and their lifespan is limited to only 12 to 15 years in the wild, if they reach adulthood at all.
Today, despite all the reverence afforded to it through the ages as a symbol of nobility and bravery, the lion is a species under threat. Ever increasing human populations, and their accompanying livestock, is shrinking the habitat and prey available to these powerful cats by the day. They are being persecuted as livestock killers. They’re being poached for their skin and heads as trophies, and for their bones, used in traditional Asian “medicine”, “tiger wine” and “love potions”. There’s many so-called “captive-breeding facilities” where lions are exploited for the same purposes. To top it off, the dwindling populations are susceptible to disease and inbreeding. Though estimates range widely, there’s probably no more than 30,000 wild lions remaining in Africa (maybe as few as 10,000), and perhaps 400 in India. In South Africa, there’s sizable populations finding protection in the Kruger National Park and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, with smaller numbers in several other reserves, including Pilanesberg, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, iSimangaliso, Tembe, Mapungubwe, Marakele, Addo, Karoo and Mountain Zebra.
The 10th of August has been designated World Lion Day; “An independent campaign working to highlight the importance of the lion globally and to raise lion conservation awareness worldwide“
We’ve arrived back at the Kruger National Park, and ended our day with a magnificent lion sighting near Skukuza; males, females and cubs crossing the road all around our vehicle.
Here’s a little teaser 😉
African legend has it that God got upset with the baobab and kicked it out of heaven. It smashed into the earth upside down, with its roots sticking into the air.
Due to its size, an adult baobab cannot be mistaken for any other tree. They reach heights of over 20m, with trunks sometimes more than 10m in diameter. Trees this size are estimated to be between 2000 and 4000 years old and have served as landmarks in the vast African wilderness for centuries.
Baobabs are deciduous trees, covered in dense green leaves during summer and completely devoid of their foliage in winter. The wood is very soft, and when the tree dies disintegrates quickly into a heap of fibres.
Unfortunately, elephants have a particular fondness for the baobab and especially the bark, often causing the death of the trees by their very destructive feeding habits. Several other animals, including baboons, monkeys, birds, and predators use the tree for food or shelter.
The baobab has many traditional uses: the fruit can be used to make a most refreshing cooldrink with water or milk, the seeds roasted as a coffee substitute, the roots can be used to make a kind of porridge, young leaves cooked like vegetables, and the fibrous bark, apart from being used in traditional medicine, can be woven into mats used to build shelter or as floor covering.
In South Africa, the baobab occurs naturally only in the extreme northern and eastern parts of the Limpopo Province, with magnificent specimens to be found in the Kruger and Mapungubwe National Parks.
The midday heat of a Lowveld summer can get exceedingly oppressive. If you can muster the courage to keep yourself out of the swimming pool and head to a waterhole, you may just be lucky enough to enjoy the antics of a herd of elephant playing around in the refreshing water. These shots were taken at the Klopperfontein Dam, near Punda Maria in the Kruger National Park.
“Summer Lovin‘” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge
Nestled along the Matjulu Spruit, in the mountainous south-western corner of the Kruger National Park, just 12km from the Malelane Gate, lies the aptly named and very popular Berg-en-Dal Rest Camp (Afrikaans for “Mountain-and-Valley”).
When it opened in February 1984, Berg-en-Dal’s face-brick architecture was a considerable departure from the “traditional” appearance of other Kruger camps. The camp’s buildings blend in perfectly with the mountainous surroundings and the small dam at the central visitor complex is a popular attraction to visitors who enjoy quietly watching a wide variety of game and birds come to the water.
The camp covers an area of approximately 24 hectares, in which the natural vegetation has been preserved as far as possible, providing both privacy and a closeness with nature to Berg-en-Dal’s guests. The camping area has space for up to 70 caravans and tents, and accommodation is available in 69 bungalows, 23 cottages and two luxury guest houses. Facilities available include a restaurant and take-away kiosk, shop, fuel station, conference facilities, laundromat, swimming pool and amphitheatre in which wildlife films are shown in the evenings. Guided game-viewing drives and bush walks (the only way to see some of the San rock art found in the area if you are not booked on the three-night Bushman Wilderness Trail) can be booked in advance or at reception. In the reception building, the information centre provides fascinating insights into the biology and conservation of the black and white rhino. A new picnic facility for day visitors has recently been opened just a short distance from the camp, on the way to Malelane Gate.
The Rhino Trail meanders from the dam at the restaurant along the camp’s fence for a total distance of over 2km, exposing guests to a wide variety of aromatic bushes and trees with frequent sightings of Berg-en-Dal’s avian inhabitants and sometimes even encounters with big game, safely on the other side of the electrified perimeter fence. The first part of the trail, about 600m in length, is made accessible to visually impaired nature enthusiasts by a guide rope linking displays and braille information boards.
Malelane is a small camp just 3km from the entrance gate with the same name, and 9km from Berg-en-Dal. The name means “out-of-sight”, referring to the outpost of warriors posted here to protect Swazi interests in the area in pre-colonial days. Agricultural and industrial development across the Crocodile River, which forms the southern border of the Kruger Park, unfortunately do detract from the visitor experience at this otherwise lovely camp and was a deciding factor in the National Parks Board opting to build Berg-en-Dal in the hills nearby. The Malelane of today is much smaller than the original camp, offering five bungalows and 15 campsites compared to the original camp of 25 huts and 30 camping sites, and does not offer any of the other amenities available at Berg-en-Dal.
Game-viewing in the scenic surroundings of Malelane and Berg-en-Dal can be a richly rewarding experience. Lion and hyena are often seen, but it is leopards and wild dogs that the area is renowned for. Kudu, giraffe and impala, being browsing animals, are frequently encountered, while elephant and buffalo are attracted to the area by the relative abundance of water. A firm favourite (late afternoon) destination with many visitors is the Matjulu waterhole just 4km from Berg-en-Dal, where they while away the last minutes of sunlight before heading back to camp before the gates close for the night. Further afield the H3 main road through to Afsaal picnic site, and the gravel roads to the east of it linking up with the gravel S114-road to the Biyamiti causeway (and onwards to Skukuza) and the S25 that leads to Crocodile Bridge, seldom fails to deliver something exciting.
The pugnacious African buffalo, Africa’s only extant species of wild cattle, is a worthy member of the elite “Big-5” group of animals. Though they can appear very docile, buffalo are extremely dangerous, especially when threatened or wounded; they’ve even been known to circle back around hunters tracking them to launch unexpected attacks on their persecutors from behind.
You wouldn’t want to find yourself on foot in thick vegetation like this when buffalo are around…
These bulky animals weigh in between 500 and 900kg, with adult bulls being much larger than the cows.
African buffalo inhabit a wide range of habitats, ranging from open grassy plains to dense rainforest, their most important requirements being an ample supply of fresh grazing, regular access to drinking water, and cover in which to evade (or ambush) predators.
Buffalo are gregarious animals, congregating in herds that may number into the thousands. Encountering one of these huge herds is among Africa’s most memorable experiences.
Old bulls that cannot keep up with the breeding herds become loners or join “bachelor” groups. It is these old “dagga boys” that have the worse reputation of being overly aggressive and extremely dangerous, probably due to being easier targets for hunters and predators than members of the well-protected herds where there’s safety in numbers.
Calves are normally born during the rainy season, and can keep up with their maternal herds within hours of birth. Buffalo of all ages are a favourite prey of lions, and large herds are often followed by prides of lion that specialise in taking down these powerful animals, despite the good chance that they’ll pay with their lives for their boldness. Buffalo are also susceptible to a wide range of diseases and parasites, and have a natural life expectancy of between 15 and 30 years.
Today, the buffalo remains one of Africa’s most numerous game species, with the IUCN estimating that a population of around 830,000 roam the continent, despite the pressures of hunting and habitat loss. In South Africa, large populations can be found in the Kruger National Park, Addo Elephant Park, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park and iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
Be afraid, be very afraid…
The common eland is the biggest antelope occurring in South Africa. Eland are bulky animals, the bulls weighing up to 950kg and standing over 6 feet (1.8m) high at the shoulder. Cows weigh up to 700kg. Eland differ from their close relatives – the kudu, nyala and bushbuck – in that both sexes carry horns and not only the males.
Eland occur in an extremely wide variety of habitats, from high mountains to the arid extremes of the Namib and Kalahari deserts. They are herbivorous, browsing and grazing on a huge assortment of plants, and are able to forego drinking water for extended periods.
They are social animals, keeping in mixed herds numbering from three to several thousand. The bigger herds form mainly during the wet season and when the animals migrate, sometimes over vast distances. Despite their hefty physiques, eland are surprisingly agile, with even the biggest bulls easily managing to jump fences two to three meters in height.
Single calves are born mostly just before or during the rainy season, and have a life expectancy of between twelve and twenty years.
The IUCN estimates the total population of the common eland at about 136,000 and regards it to be safe (“least concern”) in conservation terms. In South Africa, we consider the Golden Gate Highlands National Park and the Giant’s Castle Game Reserve among the most reliable places to see these incredibly big antelope in their natural habitat.
As its name suggests, the bushbuck is a denizen of densely vegetated habitats, ranging from riverine woodland and thickets in mountain valleys to the deepest jungles of tropical Africa.
They live mostly solitary lives, or in small and very unstable groups of ewes and lambs, and often associate with baboons and monkeys to take advantage of any fruits dropped by the foraging primates (their diet consists mostly of leaves and succulent shoots though).
Small it may be , but the male bushbuck is a tenacious fellow and rather dangerous when wounded, as several hunters and their dogs have found out to their detriment.
With a total population estimated at well over a million animals, the bushbuck is one of Africa’s most wide-spread and numerous antelope. In our experience, the best places to see bushbuck in South Africa is at Cape Vidal in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, at Letaba in the Kruger National Park, and at Swadini in the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve.
The bushbuck is a smaller cousin of the kudu and nyala, with a shoulder height of only 60 to 100cm and an average weight of less than 50kg.
Doesn’t it look just like the African version of Bambi!?
In northern Botswana and along the Zambezi River occurs the distinct subspecies T. s. ornatus, known as the Chobe Bushbuck.
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