Category: ‘Wildlife Nature’

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Cousins Ina and Andries live near Groningen in the very top of Holland. We live close to Amsterdam. When we go camping, we often meet in the middle.

Okay, not so much in the middle. We choose a quiet little spot in Vierhuizen. Less crowded than other campings nearby …

The proximity to Lauwersmeer National Park (Lauwer lake) makes it fabulous for cycling. Another drawcard to the area is the ferry to Schiermonnikoog. Read the rest »

Picture it, day 10 of a tough two weeks in Egypt: tanning, swimming, eating far too much at the buffet, another beer, more sun, more tanning, more swimming… how much of this can you take??!! Time for a snorkel off the coast…  The day starts of with the usual routine - hurry-up and wait…

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‘Our Story’ written by André Craye

Since its official opening in April 2009, Bushbabies Monkey Sanctuary, located on the northern slopes of the Magaliesberg in Hartbeespoort, has widened its spectrum of primates to over 70 free-released specimens.

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En-route to a delivery near Rotterdam this morning, I took my favourite scenic route through the Oostvaarderplassen wildlife nature reserve.

There’s a viewpoint overlooking a huge plain that always reminds us of Africa. Occassionally we see herds of Heck Cows and at other times herds of Red Deer.

But we’ve heard of a herd of horses that lived in the region, and on occassion have seen a horse (or two) here and there …  Read the rest »

March 2008. It was hot! About 32 degrees and no wind at all. The region we were driving through was dry and dusty. We were on route to Shingwedzi camp and it was around 3 pm. We needed to keep going at a steady pace if we were going to make camp before the gates close…

On the Old Main Road loop there was nobody else on the road. We had spotted a couple of elephants at the waterhole and were baking in the heat. The road was dirt and the shrub quite thick and close. This made spotting quite difficult and the sun was keeping the wildlife in the shade - or so we thought… Read the rest »

There are 2 species of Rhinoceros in Southern Africa, the White Rhino and the Black Rhino. Although they are the same colour, the black Rhinoceros is far smaller, while the White Rhino has a pronounced hump. Another significant difference is that Black Rhino is far more aggressive than the White Rhino. They will charge with little or no provocation and really live up to their reputation and classification as dangerous game. White rhino on the other hand tend to be quite docile under most circumstances and should not be aggressive unless given a reason to be so. Read the rest »

The only extant (living) species in the Order Proboscidae are the elephants. The order, however, includes a number of other now extinct species. The earliest record of a member in this group was a small pig-like creature called Moertherium. It lived in a swamp area in what is now modern day Egypt some 50 million years ago. There were a number of other species like it who in turn evolved into the Woolly Mammoths and Imperial Mammoths. Read the rest »

The lion has been one of the most talked about animals on the African plains, and not surprisingly has been the main topic of conversation around camp fires for thousands of years. The lion is the greatest of all the African cats, the largest in the world being the Asian tiger, and fortunately these cats never share the same habitat.

The lion’s most distinctive feature is the mane of the males. These manes are generally a tan colour, graduating to black. Adult male lions reach 120 cm (3.9 ft) tall at the shoulder and weigh up to a massive 200 Kg (440 lb.), the heaviest recorded being 260 Kg (572 lb.). The female are predictably smaller, averaging 10 cm (2.5 in.) smaller and 70 Kg (154 lb.) lighter. Read the rest »

Rob and Janet Cuthbertson (from Leopard Walk Lodge) work very closely with their local Zulu communities. They believe that low-impact tourism is an excellent way to provide much-needed employment in the area and to preserve the magnificent beauty of Zululand.

During our stay with them, they organised a guided canoeing trip for us with Temba, a Zulu guide who is perhaps the epitome of responsible eco-tourism. Not only has Temba set up his own tour operating company, he is also encouraging his community to become more involved in eco-tourism. Read the rest »

In the hot, baking sun we drudged ourselves, albeit rather willingly, behind two armed game rangers from Orpen Camp in the Kruger National Park. Our guides, Carol and Thomas, had fetched us in their open game-drive vehicle from the ablution facilities at Tamboti Tented Camp where we were staying. After introducing themselves and giving us a briefing of the walk, we headed out into the bumpy bushveld. Read the rest »

On my birthday, Marcel and I headed out to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve, about 40-min drive from Leopard Walk Lodge where we were staying. We arrived nice and early as the gates opened, and after signing in, we were rewarded with a lovely sighting of warthogs right at the gates. What a fab start to the game drive! The sun was shining and the wildlife obliging.

The office manager had shown us various routes we could take, so with map in hand, we headed out, eagerly taking in the helpful spotting tips and great overview of the animals we might catch a glimpse of. Read the rest »

The words Big Five conjure up mental images of the wild African bush where lion, rhino, elephant, hippopotamus and buffalo roam free. Being able to see all of the Big Five on any safari is a major privilege.

However, if you have a game ranger with serious savvy he may also point out the Little Five. Read the rest »

In February 2007, Janet Cuthbertson from Suni-Ridge Org. ZA (013-525 NPO) contacted us asking if we’d promote Leopard Walk Lodge in Zululand, KwaZulu Natal. At the end of the e-mail, there were a few paragraphs about how they rehabilated an old pineapple farm and gave it back to nature, forming a wildlife reserve.

Among other things, they also mentioned False Bay School, which Janet established in 1992. I was so impressed by their achievements, that I offered to build a pro-bono website for Suni-Ridge. Read the rest »

According to the Shona People, leopards that remain in the hills leading a natural existence are to be disregarded. However sometimes one of these great cats will come into the kraal and sit down, and will remain impervious to any attempts made to dislodge it.

These leopards are really spirits, and a medium must be sought to communicate with them. Their visit may be a warning, or just to observe that all is well with the tribe. Only mediums are able to speak with them. The leopard will proclaim its identity to the medium, state the purpose of its visit and then vanish. Read the rest »

The Kawaza School Fund is a private fund started by Robin Pope Safaris in 1988 to assist in improvements at Kawaza Basic School, one of the local schools in the Nsefu Chiefdom. They sent us this article in the beginning of January 2008.

Huge improvements have been made at Kawaza since this time and the school is almost unrecognizable from the first photos that were taken. Over the past 5 years other schools have been added to the list of schools that Kawaza School Fund assists. Read the rest »

The term buffalo must not be confused with the colloquial use of the term in other parts of the world. American bison are frequently and incorrectly referred to as buffalo. The African species is not closely related to either the North American bison or the Asian water buffalo.

Africa actually has two forms of buffalo: a small version endemic to West African forest known as the Red Buffalo (a subspecies very little is known about) and the savanna species, also called the Black Buffalo or the Cape Buffalo. Read the rest »

As usual, elephants are on the agenda at the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP14), which will be held in The Hague, the Netherlands, from 3 to 15 June 2007. The 55th meeting of the CITES Standing Committe will be held on the 2nd of June 2007.

This is a video message asking the members to let elephants keep their ivory. Dame Daphne Sheldrick shares her views on the ivory trade and the effects of poaching. As can be read in the African Elephant facts courtesy of Wildlife Campus, you can see that South Africa is in favour of culling and utilising all the ivory collected. Read the rest »

Dr. Laurie Marker, Executive Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, held a talk on the 6th of May in Holland about cheetahs and what the CCF is doing to prevent these magnificent animals from becoming extinct. With her permission, I filmed the talk and made this video to promote their invaluable work. Read the rest »

The plan was simple. We wanted to see as much of the coastline of South Africa as possible, as we were emigrating to Europe. Having shipped our belongings, we closed the door of the house for the last time and handed over the keys to the new tenants. There was now no turning back and we had three weeks until our flight from Johannesburg International Airport.

Armed with our trusty white VW Golf (no aircon), a handful of maps, a bag of clothes and some cash, we decided to head west. Firstly because we had never been that way to the coast before and also following our instinct to “Go west, young man”… Here follows our diary of the trip. Read the rest »