There’s a very close bond between the members of an elephant herd, and they are extremely protective of their young, always trying their very best to ensure that the little ones are kept safely between the adults when on the move (but there’s bound to be at least one little rebel, isn’t there?)
“Between” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge. This photograph was taken in the Pilanesberg National Park.
The graceful nyala is one of our favourite antelope, and a close relative of the kudu. They occur naturally in the south-east corner of Africa, ranging from Malawi to South Africa’s eastern provinces.
To the uninitiated, the adult bulls in their dark, shaggy, coats and the ewes dressed in bright chestnut seem to be from two different species altogether. Bulls are almost double the size of the ewes, and can weigh up to 130kg.
Nyalas inhabit thickets and woodland near water, and will often forage in adjacent clearings. They’re mixed feeders, subsisting on a diet of leaves, succulent shoots and short grass.
Being social animals, nyalas occur in small groups consisting mostly of adult females and their offspring, with adult males tending to form bachelor groups. Lambs are born at any time of the year, though mostly in the wetter summer months.
The stiff-legged dominance display – you could even call it a dance! – of the adult bulls is one of nature’s most intriguing spectacles.
The bulls also have the curious habit of horning the ground at mud puddles, carrying the caked mud off with them on their headdress…
The IUCN consider the nyala’s conservation status to be of “least concern“, with a population of at least 32,000. The best places in South Africa to see these graceful antelope is the Kruger National Park (especially at Pafuri in the far north of the Park), Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, uMkhuze Game Reserve, and Tembe Elephant Park, though they occur in a number of other state and private reserves as well.
uMkhuze Game Reserve’s Kumasinga Hide is one of the very best places to watch Nyala behaviour.
The striking kudu is one of the largest, and according to many nature lovers one of the most beautiful, of South Africa’s antelope.
Weighing up to 315kg and standing up to 1.6m high at the shoulder, kudu bulls are considerably bigger than the cows.
Adult bulls are solitary or move around in bachelor groups, associating with the herds of cows and their calves only during the rutting season. Though the bulls are not territorial, they do maintain a strict dominance hierarchy through fighting, sometimes leading to the death of one or both combatants through injuries or having their horns inextricably interlocked.
Kudu inhabit a variety of bush- and shrubland habitats, and, being browsers, subsists on an extremely wide variety of leafy vegetation, being particularly fond of the thorny Acacias. While they can survive for extended periods without water, they will drink daily if it is available.
In South Africa, most calves are born in the summer months between December and March. Newborn calves are kept hidden in thick vegetation for up to three months after birth, with the cows returning to them every couple of hours to nurse. They can live to the age of 18, but being a favourite prey item for all Africa’s large predators as well as being prone to drought and cold conditions, and susceptible to a range of diseases, few kudus wil reach that age in the wild.
Kudus occur widely across South Africa, both in and outside of formal conservation areas, and are still relatively numerous. The IUCN regards their conservation status to be of “least concern”, estimating the total population to stand at almost 500,000 individuals.
Along came the 1st of May, and we had another long drive southwards from Orpen to Berg-en-Dal Rest Camp, in the far south-west corner of the Kruger National Park. The three nights we’d spend at Berg-en-Dal would conclude our autumn visit to the Park, and though the thought that our time in Kruger was coming to an end weighed heavy on our minds, we were looking forward to finding out what was still lying in wait for us.
Lions between Orpen and Satara
As expected, we had wonderful sightings along the way and we enjoyed a nice lunch with good friends at the Skukuza Golf Club.
We’ll dedicate a special post to Berg-en-Dal soon, but wanted to include some photos of the camp and our accommodation (Wielewaal Cottage, #26) as a little appetiser.
Wielewaal Cottage
Educational displays in the Rhino Hall
Apart from the wonderful array of wildlife in the Berg-en-Dal area, it is one of the most scenic parts of the Kruger Park.
Berg-en-Dal sunset
Taking a morning drive to the Biyamiti weir turned out to be one of our most enjoyable drives of the trip.
Biyamiti Weir is a beautiful photography spot
How Marilize managed to spot this boomslang at a distance of about 50 metres still has me amazed!
Can you spot the snake?
In camp, the Rhino Trail offers up close-and-personal encounters with a variety of wildlife; big and small, furry and feathery.
Time for one final afternoon drive:
And as it often does, Kruger keeps the best for last. Heading back to camp on our final afternoon, with the sun almost at the horizon, we come across a pack of wild dogs in the road, one of them heavily pregnant. These are among Africa’s rarest animals, and it was indeed a very special treat to have such a close encounter with these top predators.
It was the morning of the 4th of May and our autumn 2014 visit to the Kruger National Park has come to an end.
Thick-knee (Dikkop) in camp
On the way to Malelane Gate we had a splendid sighting of more hyenas in the very early morning.
Spotted hyena on the way to Malelane Gate
Eight nights of serene peace and quiet flew past in the wink of an eye. And of course we’re counting the days till we return!
We had started our autumn trip through the Kruger National Park up in the far north of the reserve at Shingwedzi, and after three fantastic days there it was time to move camp again, heading south to tiny Orpen Rest Camp in the central regions of the Park.
We were in for a long drive down at leisurely game-viewing pace, stopping en-route at Mopani, Letaba and Satara to stretch our legs.
Very near Orpen we received a nice reward for a long day of driving, encountering a beautiful cheetah just as dusk was descending over the lowveld.
Having spent most of the previous day in the car, on the 30th of April we decided to take only short morning and evening drives and spend the hotter hours of the day relaxing in the camp.
We’ll dedicate a special post to the Orpen Rest Camp in another blogpost, but for now just a quick introduction. We spent two nights at Orpen, in the very spacious Oasis Cottage (number 15) right in the corner of the camp, with a clear view of Orpen’s famous waterhole (which is floodlit at night, and you can follow the action live via a webcam!). Enjoying an early morning cup of coffee and a rusk or two on the veranda and watching first a pair of leopard and then a pair of lion walk past within half-an-hour was undeniably one of the highlights of our visit! The game viewing in the general vicinity of the camp is always excellent, though the road network near camp is rather limited.
Come May Day, and it was time to head on again, to Berg-en-Dal in the far south-west of the Park.
Misty Orpen sunrise
The kudu must be among the most handsome antelope on earth. We spotted this one near Cape Vidal, in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park
“Twist” is this week’s photo challenge theme from WordPress
After entering at Phalaborwa Gate in the early morning of 26 April 2014, our most recent visit to the Kruger National Park kicked of with three nights at our beloved Shingwedzi Rest Camp, in the far north of the Park.
Rocky outcrop near Phalaborwa Gate
Sunrise on the Mphongolo Loop
When it comes to game-viewing we’ve always maintained that Shingwedzi does not need to stand back for any of the more popular camps in the southern half of the Park, and this latest visit served only to reinforce our opinion. We had excellent sightings while driving slowly along the Shingwedzi River, both in the direction of Tshange Viewpoint to the west along the S52-route, and towards the Lebombo’s in the east, along the S50 (our favourite Kruger drive) that skirts the Kanniedood Dam (or what is left of it after the January 2013 floods).
Despite the autumn season being in full swing, with most of the summer migrants having already left for warmer climes, the birdlife around Shingwedzi did not disappoint either!
Even if there were no wildlife around to keep us enthralled, Shingwedzi’s scenery alone would have been worth the trip.
Our accommodation at Shingwedzi, unit 29, was built in 1956 in the traditional white-washed Shingwedzi-style, and is a very comfortable little two-bedroomed cottage, ideal for our group of four (we were joined on the trip by my mom, a real treat and even more so for Joubert having his granny by his side for nine days in a row).
There’s few places where the hustle-and-bustle of daily life seem so far away as at Shingwedzi, and it was an excellent start to our eight-day autumn visit to the Kruger National Park. From Shingwedzi we moved to the central regions of the Park, basing ourselves at Orpen Rest Camp.
During our recent Easter visit to the Giant’s Castle Game Reserve in the Drakensberg we encountered numerous black-backed jackals, and most of them turned and made a run for it the moment they realised they were spotted.
“On the Move” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge
The 21st of March is a public holiday in South Africa, and with it falling on a Friday this year made for a very welcome long weekend; just the excuse we needed to head for our beloved Golden Gate Highlands National Park again.
We stayed in a cottage at the little Glen Reenen Rest Camp, but the glorious weather and brilliant autumn colours ensured that we were outside for most of the short time we had available in the Park.
Our regular readers will know this gem of a place quite well by now, seeing as we try to visit as often as possible and enjoy sharing our experiences there with everyone who cares to listen. For those new to de Wets Wild, or who would like to know more about the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, we think the special post we did in celebration of the Park’s 50th birthday would be an excellent introduction.
The Blyde River Canyon in the Lowveld of South Africa s the world’s third biggest canyon, and one of our country’s most diverse and scenically spectacular conservation areas.
We had the pleasure of spending four nights at Forever’s Swadini Resort during our recent visit to this beautiful area. The resort has all the amenities you’d associate with a family destination of Swadini’s calibre, yet there’s no feeling of being removed from the natural splendour that completely surrounds it.
Several easy-to-follow trails meander through the enchanting riverine forests around Swadini and it’s not difficult to forget all about time and the daily rat race while exploring these unique surroundings. Be sure to visit to the nearby Blyderivierspoort Dam, where you may join a cruise on the Dam’s deep waters and encounter hippos and crocodiles, or have a picnic at the viewpoint that overlooks the watery expanse.
We’ve dedicated several other posts to the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve – have a look here if you’d like to learn more about this fantastic destination. It’s one of our favourite South African wild places, and when you visit you’re sure to fall under its spell as well.
DeWetsWild 