Tag Archives: wildlife

Kruger Park 26/04/2013

Yep, we’re back in the Kruger National Park – we simply cannot get enough of this paradise!

Tonight, we’re sleeping in historic Pretoriuskop Rest Camp. Depicted below is the nearby Ship Mountain (so named because it resembles the upturned hull of a ship) used as a landmark by transport riders and explorers more than a hundred years ago en route to Delagoa Bay (today’s Maputo in Mozambique).

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If our internet connection allows, we’ll again try to post a picture or two on a daily basis while we’re in the Park, and there will definitely be a full report back when (unfortunately) we have to return to the city…

Up!

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This cute, tree-dwelling, nocturnal primate is a thick-tailed bushbaby (or galago), often encountered while taking a night-time stroll through many of the rest camps in the Kruger National Park.

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“Up” is this week’s WordPress photo challenge

Chelmsford Nature Reserve, March 2013

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Tall grass and thick mist – a wonderful long-weekend retreat!

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We recently spent a very relaxing long weekend at one of our favourite small wild places, the beautiful and little-known Chelmsford Nature Reserve in the north-west of Kwazulu-Natal Province.

Moon over Chelmsford

Chelmsford scenery

Mist rising from Chelmsford Dam

Looking westwards accross Ntshingwayo Dam towards the Drakensberg

The reserve must have received good rainfall during the summer, as almost the entire area was covered in tall, green grass, which made it difficult to get good sightings (and photographs) of Chelmsford’s star attraction: the oribi, a small and endangered species of antelope.

Chelmsford Oribi

We spent three nights in our comfortable chalet, one of only eight at the Leokop Camp on the bank of the Ntshingwayo Dam. The reserve also offers shady campsites at the dam’s edge, and it is easy to see why so many people enjoy pitching a tent or unhitching their caravan in such an idyllic setting.

Tranquility at Leokop

Leokop Camp

Sandford Camping Area

The reserve doesn’t have any dangerous large animals, allowing visitors to walk or cycle around among the game to their hearts’ content. Plains zebra, blesbok, springbok and black wildebeest were plentiful, and we also had numerous, if fleeting, sightings of smaller animals like the oribi, cape fox, and a number of mongooses.

Blesbok

Plains Zebra

Chelmsford is also a renowned bird-watching destination, and during our stay we ticked of more than 70 feathered species including a variety of raptors.

Ant-eating Chat

Yelow-billed Ducks

Bokmakierie

Fish Eagle

Wagtail

Egyptian Geese

Blacksmith Lapwing

Surrounding a large body of water and with the mornings here in South Africa turning rather chilly now, it wasn’t surprising to find the reserve blanketed in thick fog every morning.

The sun struggling to break through the heavy fog

Spirit Trees

Another misty scene

Zebras in the mist

Blesbok

We’ve always found a visit to Chelmsford to be well worth our while and we will definitely return as often as we possibly can – a resolution our latest visit reaffirmed.

Dewy spider’s web

Dewdrops on spider’s web

Have a look at an earlier blogpost of ours on Chelmsford here, if you’d like to read more of our impressions of this wonderful nature reserve. During our visit, we tried to post a daily photo as well, which you may not have seen yet: 21/03/2013, 22/03/2013 and 23/03/2013.

Colour

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The Bateleur is a medium-sized, and very colourful, eagle. This one was photographed south of Satara, in the Kruger National Park.

Bateleur, Kuger National Park

WordPress’ theme for this week’s photo challenge is colour – have a look at all the entries here.

Overlooked

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This caracal was hiding next to the road in the Oribi Gorge, in Kwazulu-Natal Province – had it’s eyes not reflected in our headlights as we rounded a bend, it would have gone totally unnoticed.

Caracal hiding in the Oribi Gorge

We’re participating in the online adventure travel and photography magazine LetsBeWild.com‘s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s challenge is “Overlooked“

Distant

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A pair of hadeda ibis wading on a boulder protruding from the Treur River, as it rushes towards the Bourke’s Luck Potholes in the Blyde River Canyon, South Africa (where we were fortunate to spend the Easter Weekend).

Hadeda’s on the Treur River, Bourke’s Luck Potholes

We’re participating in the online adventure travel and photography magazine LetsBeWild.com‘s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s challenge is “Distant“.

Reflections

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We took these photos this past weekend at Chelmsford Nature Reserve, in Kwazulu-Natal Province, where we were enjoying a quick getaway.

Do you see the reflection in the Anteating Chat’s eye? Have a closer look – that’s our vehicle from which it was photographed:

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Cars themselves come with factory-fitted reflective devices that can be put to good use in a nature reserve

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The Ntshingwayo Dam is at the centre of the Chelmsford Nature Reserve, and of course water is an excellent reflective surface:

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We’re participating in the online adventure travel and photography magazine LetsBeWild.com‘s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s challenge is “Reflections“.

Chelmsford 23/03/2013

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Our time at Chelmsford has come to an end far too quickly (as always) and we’ll be heading back to Pretoria tomorrow.

Today’s photo, of the sunrise over Chelmsford this morning, was taken by Joubert (aged 3!)

Chelmsford 22/03/2013

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A misty start to the early morning, ideal for hiking. Later the sun managed to burn off all the fog and we enjoyed a gloriously sunny afternoon.

Chelmsford 21/03/2013

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We’re spending a long weekend at Chelmsford Nature Reserve, in Kwazulu-Natal Province. We’ll try to post a daily picture while we are here and a full report as soon as possible after we return to the city. It’s so nice to be surrounded by nature’s peace and quiet again!