I am back!

No posts in a while...

It has been a rough, busy year.

For some reason I just did not get to any photo's, to any posts...and I feel guilty about that.

I love the bush, I love being there, and being with animals... enjoying them with my family is one of the biggest privileges in my life.

So.. please forgive me for being absent.

I promise, more is to come!

This photo was taken by my Husband..

Personally I think this is the best Giraffe in motion picture I have ever seen.

MAPUNGUBWE NATIONAL PARK

The Lost City: Visit Mapungubwe Hill, where a far developed African civilisation prospered between 1200 and 1270 AD. The area was already inhabited by a growing Iron Age community from 900 AD and became rich through trade with faraway places like Egypt, India and China. This is the place where archeologists excavated the famous golden rhino and other evidence of a wealthy African kingdom.

Wildlife and Mystic Scenery: Sandstone formations, mopane woodlands and unique riverine forest and baobab trees form the astounding scenic backdrop for a rich variety of animal life. Elephant, giraffe, white rhino, eland, gemsbok and numerous other antelope species occur naturally in the area. Lucky visitors might spot predators like lions, leopards and hyenas. Birders can tick off 400 species, including kori bustard, tropical boubou and pel’s fishing owl.

Joining Nations: The Iron Age civilization of Mapungubwe was not limited by the Limpopo river and animals have always been able to wander around in the area of present-day South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. This is why South Africa signed a memorandum of understanding with Botswana and Zimbabwe on June 22nd setting out principles for the Limpopo-Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA)

ELEPHANT FEET

• The elephant´s foot is formed in such a way that it is essentially walking on tiptoe, with a tough and fatty part of connective tissue for the sole
• This spongy "shock absorber" helps an elephant to move silently
• The sole of the foot is ridged and pitted; this contributes to the sure- footedness of the elephant for a large variety of terrain.
• An elephants five toes are buried inside the flesh of the foot.
• Not all toes have toenails.
• The circumference of the forefoot is approximately equal to half the the shoulder height!

The African Buffalo are gregarious animals and form herds of 15-300 individuals, although there have been sightings of 800 and more in a herd.

You might also see bachelor herds of 4-20 male African Buffalo.

When there are large herds of African Buffalo, the male African Buffalo will always be in the front and at the back of each herd to protect the calves and females of the herd.

When the African Buffalo is injured by a predator, it is regarded as one of the most dangerous animals on the Earth ....

The African Buffalo, often called the Cape Buffalo, is a very large grazing mammal and can be very dangerous when wounded or cornered.

The life expectancy of the buffalo is 15-23 years.

The African Buffalo is not found in any areas with an annual rainfall of less than 250mm. They utilize open woodland with some dense undergrowth normally near permanent watercourses

MADALA TOWNSHIP

A child and her dog

MOBILE AFRICA

SOCCER FEVER....

My soon husband to be together with Godfrey Matlala, Emakhazeni Local Municipality Official, and some of the local children at a soccer match in Siyathuthuka

SOCCER FEVER....

Choices...

A very hungry hyena went out on the Tanzanian plains to hunt for food. He came to a branch in the bush road where the two paths veered off in different directions. He saw two goats caught in the thickets at the far end of the two different paths. With his mouth watering in anticipation, he decided that his left leg would follow the left path and his right leg the right path. As the two paths continued to veer in different directions he tried to follow them both at once. Finally he split in two. As the well-known African proverb says: Two roads overcame the hyena.

(Story and proverb found in many African languages)

At first glance zebras in a herd might all look alike, but their stripe patterns are as distinctive as fingerprints are in man. Scientists can identify individual zebras by comparing patterns, stripe widths, color and scars.

Zebras, horses and wild asses are all equids, long-lived animals that move quickly for their large size and have teeth built for grinding and cropping grass. Zebras have horselike bodies, but their manes are made of short, erect hair, their tails are tufted at the tip and their coats are striped.

Three species of zebra still occur in Africa, two of which are found in East Africa. The most numerous and widespread species in the east is Burchell's, also known as the common or plains zebra. The other is Grevy's zebra, named for Jules Grevy, a president of France in the 1880s who received one from Abyssinia as a gift, and now found mostly in northern Kenya. (The third species, Equus zebra, is the mountain zebra, found in southern and southwestern Africa.)

The Nyala bull is large, but slenderly built with a very narrow body. It has a white chevron between the eyes with 2-3 white spots on its cheek. The sides of its body has white stripes and there are 2-3 white spots on its thigh. The Nyala bull has a long mane of shaggy black hair under the neck continuing along its underside.
Nyala are almost exclusively browsers except when grass is young and green. They feed on fruits, pods, twigs and leaves.

Habitat is normally dense bush near water.

BLUE WILDEBEEST IN TEMBE ELEPHANT PARK

Blue wildebeest are much larger and heavier than the Black Wildebeest and their horns curve to the side outwards and then up, unlike the horns of Black Wildebeest that curve downward, forward and then upwards from the front. Blue Wildebeest have a black mane and tail (Black Wildebeest have whitish tails and manes)

The African Harrier-Hawk is a Southern African bird that belongs to the Accipitridae bird family group which includes birds such as Raptors, Old Vultures, Osprey.

The description for the African Harrier-Hawk (Latin name Polyboroides typus) can be found in the 7th Edition of the Roberts Birds of Southern Africa. The Polyboroides typus can be quickly identified by its unique Roberts identification number of 169 and the detailed description of this bird is on page 505. You will find a picture of the African Harrier-Hawk on page 433.

NOTE: The reference for the information following is "Roberts Birds of Southern Africa", 7th Edition*. This edition contained a number of taxonomic changes as well as changes to English names used traditionally and in earlier editions of most bird books in South Africa. The following paragraph notes such changes if any.

This bird is known as Gymnogene in the Roberts 6th Edition. There have been no changes in the Latin name for the African Harrier-Hawk between the Roberts 6th and Roberts 7th Edition

The African Harrier-Hawk is known in Afrikaans as Kaalwangvalk.

Drinking together

The cut-off point with regards to cow / bull and ram / ewe is the Nyala. A male Nyala is a bull and a female is a ewe. Anything larger is bull/cow and anything smaller is ram/ewe.

Swimming together

This crocodile was together with a lot of water turtles, observing the road for possible bites from bypassing cars.

It may look like the croc is making ready to feast on the turtle, but that is not the case.

Crocodiles can stay underwater for up to one hour.

The reptiles have three eyelids.

They can swim up to 30km/h.

Crocodiles replace their teeth up to 50 times in a lifetime.

Crocodiles are cold blooded. To stay warm they lie in the sun, to cool down they lie in the shade with their mouth open, or under water.

Crocodiles can go for months without eating because they do not use much energy.

An elephant counteracts with mud and sand baths which cool, protect and get rid of unwanted insects.

Caring for the young

Usually only one calf is born to a pregnant female. An orphaned calf will usually be adopted by one of the family's lactating females or suckled by various females. Elephants are very attentive mothers, and because most elephant behavior has to be learned, they keep their offspring with them for many years. Tusks erupt at 16 months but do not show externally until 30 months. The calf suckles with its mouth (the trunk is held over its head); when its tusks are 5 or 6 inches long, they begin to disturb the mother and she weans it. Once weaned usually at age 4 or 5, the calf still remains in the maternal group.

Not so bushy...

On a sunny day, this is about what it looks like on the mountains and in the valleys of Mpumalanga high veld

The Hunt

An apparently hunger young female hyena spotted a possible prey.

The hyena is Africa's most common large carnivore. Over the years hyenas and humans have come into close contact in Africa and, in earlier times, in Asia and in Europe, often leading to mutual predation. In ancient Egypt hyenas were domesticated, fattened and eaten, and in turn humans have on occasion become food for hyenas. Reputed to be cowardly and timid, the hyena can be bold and dangerous, attacking animals and humans.

BIRD IN FLIGHT

Just in time to catch this fabulous bird.

BALANCING ACT

This photo was taken on a bridge in the Kruger National Park.