Our little wildlife photographer working hard for a warthog portrait at Mpila, in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park
“An unusual point of view” is this week’s photo challenge from WordPress
Point of view
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Tag Archives: wildlife
Karkloof Conservation Centre
The Karkloof has a long and rich history. Having once been on the main wagon trail linking Natal and the old Transvaal it is named for an overturned ox-wagon that became a landmark along the route in the mid-1800’s.
Karkloof Conservation Centre
In modern times, local farmers, foresters and other landowners have joined hands to manage this beautiful piece of land in harmony with nature, establishing the Karkloof Conservancy in 1998.The conservancy covers an area of 40,000 hectares and protects wetlands, grasslands and natural forests and all manner of associated wildlife, including all three of South Africa’s endangered crane species, among a patchwork of scenic farmlands and plantations.
Karkloof Conservation Centre
The farmers here pride themselves on their environmentally friendly farming practices and, realising the need for and value in greater public awareness of the work of the Karkloof Conservancy, a centre dedicated to the message of conservation, education and tourism was created and officially opened in October 2007. The Karkloof Conservation Centre is located at the entrance to Gartmore Farm, 15km to the north of Howick in the Natal Midlands. Gartmore and neighbouring Loskop are working dairy farms and here, among the beautiful green pastures, two bird-viewing hides overlook natural wetlands frequented by over 180 bird species (including the blue, crowned and wattled cranes) and a variety of naturally occurring small game animals. A small picnic site is available at the entrance, from where it is a short walk along a tree-lined path to the two hides.
Gartmore Hide
Gartmore Hide
Loskop Hide
Loskop Hide: pied kingfisher
Loskop Hide: sacred ibis, spoonbill and yellow-billed ducks
Even a short visit to the Karkloof Conservation Centre will have you excited in the realisation that humans and nature can co-exist to the benefit of both, and perhaps you will be lucky, as we have, to get a glimpse of some of South Africa’s rarest birds as a bonus.
Crowned Cranes in a patch of long grass
Queen Elizabeth Park Nature Reserve
Queen Elizabeth Park Nature Reserve is located in the hills in the northern suburbs of the city of Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal Province, and about eight kilometres from the city centre. It serves as the location for the head office of the provincial conservation agency, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, world renowned especially for their achievements in saving the white rhinoceros from extinction.
Queen Elizabeth Park
Entrance is free and a short drive into the reserve provides access to three shady picnic areas and the self-guided iDube trail. There’s no accommodation available inside the reserve.
The road through the reserve
One of the picnic spots
iDube Trail
Several game species (including plains zebra, bushbuck, dassie and the rare blue duiker) and a wide variety of birds occur in this small nature reserve, established in 1960 and only 93 hectares in extent, which protects a surprising diversity of habitats ranging from grassland to forest surrounded by a sea of urbanisation.
Chorister Robin-Chat
Bushbuck
Drongo
Forest patch
Aloes
Bushbuck ewe
The Queen Elizabeth Park Nature Reserve is a fantastic asset to the people of Pietermaritzburg and especially those in search of some respite from the hustle and bustle of city life. It is a good thing though that we aren’t employed at the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife headquarters, because we won’t ever be in the office!
Focus
We encountered this male lion and his brother finishing off a wildebeest carcass near Crocodile Bridge in the Kruger National Park. His displeasure at being disturbed is clear to see…
This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge theme is “Focus“
Golden Gate Highlands National Park, August 2013
We recently had another opportunity to visit our much loved Golden Gate Highlands National Park again, having also been there just two weeks prior. This week we’re offering a gallery of photographs taken during our latest sojourn to this spectacular mountain park in early August.
(Click on any of the images for a clearer view, if you’d like)
The iconic Brandwag buttress
Blesbok on the run
Grey rhebuck
Plains zebra
Plains Zebra
Black-backed jackal silhouette
Plains zebra
Female African Stonechat
Plains zebra
Black wildebeest at dawn
Eland – the largest African antelope
Buff-streaked Chat
Grand Golden Gate scenery
Sunrise over Golden Gate
Grand Golden Gate scenery
Rock hyrax, or Dassie
The threatened Southern Bald Ibis
Black wildebeest at dawn
We also posted a couple of pictures while we were there, if you’d like to see some more:
Back at Golden Gate: 2 August 2013
SANParks’ half-price special is still available until the end of September, and we’re planning to make use of the discount at least once more 😉
One Shot, Two Ways
We encountered this bushbuck ewe this morning in the Queen Elizabeth Park Nature Reserve – the headquarters of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife – in the city of Pietermaritzburg.
“One Shot, Two Ways” is this week’s photo challenge from WordPress
Golden Gate, 3 August 2013
We followed a gravel track leading to the small town of Kestell, through the north-eastern corner of the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, this morning, and came across this big herd of blesbok dwarfed by the mountainous scenery.
Golden Gate Highlands National Park, July 2013
Golden Gate Highlands National Park is one of our favourite destinations, as many of you will already know (because we tell you that so regularly ;-)). Our last visit there was in December and we were starting to really miss the spectacular mountain scenery, so we decided on the spur of the moment to pay Golden Gate a quick weekend visit last week.
Mountain stream
Lichens Pass snaking its way up into the mountains
Golden Gate Dam
Resting in peace at the foot of the Golden Gate
Mushroom Rocks
One of the self-catering chalets at the Golden Gate Hotel, operated by SANParks, would be our accommodations for the night. Our well-appointed unit had a unobstructed view of the iconic Brandwag buttress, which is illuminated at night.
Golden Gate Chalet
A room with a view
Brandwag illuminated at night
Another view of Brandwag
The Golden Gate Hotel
Birdlife abounds around the chalets at the Golden Gate Hotel
Birdlife abounds around the chalets at the Golden Gate Hotel
The vulture hide is a very welcome recent addition to the Park’s facilities and we had a fantastic sighting of jackal / vulture interaction there on the Saturday afternoon – have a look at our “Bowling for Buzzards” post for pictures from that episode.
The Cape Griffon is an endangered species
The Cape Griffon is an endangered species
The vulture “restaurant” has a stunning view!
Black-backed jackal
Setting out at first light on Sunday morning it was clear that winter had a firm hold on this mountainous landscape. At the top of Lichens Pass our temperature gauge was showing 5 degrees below freezing at 07:00am! Despite the bitter cold we were able to enjoy a couple of good game sightings and beautiful scenery.
Zebra sunrise
Plains zebra
A herd of blesbok making their way through the frosty landscape
Sunrise over the Eastern Free State
Black wildebeest
After a leisurely picnic lunch beneath a protea-bush in the Basotho Village, we had to head for home. One night simply wasn’t enough, and we will be returning soon!
Beautiful mountain vistas at the eastern entrance to Golden Gate Highlands National Park
The Golden Gate Highlands National Park will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in September this year, and to mark the event SANParks is offering a half-price promotion – have a look if you also need to escape to the mountains in a hurry!
Bowling for Buzzards!
This afternoon, watching from the hide at the Golden Gate vulture restaurant*, I was treated to one of the most entertaining sequences of animal interaction I have ever experienced!
A pair of black-backed jackals were protecting the last scraps of a carcass with everything they had against a group of Cape griffons.
I couldn’t help but think of the “bowling for buzzards” scene in the animated Disney movie “The Lion King” where meerkat Timon and warthog Pumbaa save little Simba by rushing into the huddle of vultures surrounding the lion cub!
A “Vulture Restaurant” is a feeding station where carcasses are made available for vultures in safe places to mitigate the risk of them feeding on poisoned carcasses elsewhere.
The Golden Hour
Not only is the first and last hours of daylight – the “Golden Hours” – the best for photography, but it is also the best time to be out searching for the big cats in South Africa’s wild places, like this leopard we encountered near Cape Vidal, in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
“The Golden Hour” is the current weekly photo challenge from WordPress
DeWetsWild 