Kruger National Park - The other side - Part 4

I wonder if this white rhino thought I could not see him?
This was an odd fungus I found growing at the bottom of a tree.

Wet weather also brings out the termites so you have to watch where you walk as you can twist and ankle in one of these.

The rainy weather always brings out a lot of snails some as big as my hand.

A tiny little tortoise was trying to get across the road and althought his little legs were pumping hard, he could not outdistance my arms reach fast enough. I put him safely on the other side so that another car more interested in big came did not come and ride him over. :)

There are tree frog eggs over every puddle of water. With the storm we had that night, this had disintergrated when I went past the next morning. When the frogs are mating, a liquid is secreted by the female and turned into foam by rubbing their legs together. As the frogs get older (about 5 days) and heavier they fall through the foam into the water.

During the summer, jumping spiders make these huge nests in the shrubs and trees. Each ball is about as big as two men's fists put together and each contain thousands upon thousands of tiny spiders. The baboons love eating these.

Kruger National Park - The other side - Part 3

Another typical rainy day with small hills in the distance. The grass is now only starting to shoot out because of the late rains.
When I was still working there as a guide, we used to call this the "toilet roll tree". LOL!! It is a Weeping Wattle and its leaves are so soft, you can use it for toilet paper if you do not have any but PLEASE do not confuse it with the Sweet Thorn which looks VERY similar but has tiny thorns on. That would be OUCH if used!! LOL!!

Elephants like a varied diet and will often strip the bark off trees. Some trees survive this treatment and others not.

Because of the drought, the animals are in very poor condition right now with many of their coats mangy. I think the rain came just in time to stop many of them dying of hunger. Male Impala's have a brown spot between their horns and near the bottom of their back legs which looks like tufts of brown hair but is in actual fact a gland which they use in marking their territory.

This young kudu looks at me to see if I am a threat.

With all the new leaves shooting out, the animals are having a feast!!

This burnt out old tree stump looks quite dead but when viewing it from the other side, there is new growth on it....just goes to show, the fit WILL survive!!

PS. Can you believe it, three posts and not a bug in sight!! LOL!!)

Saturday's walk around the nursery - Part 4

This has to be one of the handiest plants to have around. Your very own Mosquito repelent. The plant is a Pelargonium citrosum van Leenii. So check out your local nursery and see if you have it. They do get lovely flowers on too.
A very unusual Philodendron named Rojo Congo which has almost black stems and leaves.

It was early in the morning and they had just given the roses water.

This one looks and feels like velvet and has the most beautiful perfume.

I wonder if the worm comes free with it? :)

Kruger National Park - The other side - Part 2

These are definitely NOT my best pictures as I do not have a very good lens for birds but it will give you an idea of some of the species we have here.

Brownheaded Parrot - they are fruit eaters and can be found in flocks up 50 in number.
Juvenile Fish Eagle - they take over 5 years to attain their adult plumage, moulting 7 times in the process.

White-faced Whistling Duck - food includes molluscs, insect larvae and seeds

Egyptian Goose - extremely noisy birds mainly found in breeding pairs

Common Sandpiper - when feeding, it constantly bobs its body up and down.

Birds of Pilansberg - Part 2

The grass is still high and the dew clings to it in the early morning light.
In the centre is a huge dam. Because of the water, the birds and animals are plentiful.

The Grey Lourie peeps curiously at me through the branches. A noisy bird which gives warning to the animals if danger approaches and sounds like it is saying "go-away". Living in trees, in pairs or small groups. They usually mingle in groups of 3-20, occasionally up to 60 beside water hole, jumping, climbing agilely about in trees while raising and lowering crest.

The male is easily distinguished from other francolins by the plane reddish-brown head contrasting with the barred underparts. The female can be distinguished from other francolins (Shelley's francolin in particular) by the white eye stripe and lack of chestnut stripes on breast and flanks.

The Coqui francolin is arguably the smallest francolins in southern Africa, averaging 260 g and 240 g in weight for male and female respectively. The only other francolin species that can compete with it in terms of low weight is Hartlaub's francolin, which averages 270 g and 230 g for male and female respectively.

Stopping at a watering hole to drink my coffee, I watched the baby hippo which was part of this group.

The Lesser Striped Swallow is a common summer migrant to the warmer areas of the region. It is usually seen in pairs or small groups, and is most often seen close to the nest sites on a house or culvert, or some other man-made structure. The Lesser Striped Swallow eats mainly aerial insects, but also some seeds.

Fork-tailed Drongo - It is usually seen singly or in pairs, and is a conspicuous bird, as it usually perches in the open, using fence poles, telephone wires or dead trees as a hawking perch It sallies out to catch flying insects, chasing bees and butterflies with a fast strong flight. It is a bold and aggressive bird, and will harass raptors and other birds that are much larger than it, including owls and sparrow hawks, as well as cats.

Kruger National Park -The other side - Part 1

As I did the travelogue on Kruger National Park not too long ago, on my trip this time I tried to find something different to show you “the other side” of things. It rained almost all the time and there were few opportunities to do photography, but it was relaxing nevertheless and I think maybe I managed to put together something of interest to show you. Bugs…..sorry, but no post is going to be complete without a few thrown in somewhere (LOL!!), so bear with me as I make my way through my days spent there. I will post it in chapters as it is too long to do in one.

Starting off my journey, I made an early start as it is a fairly long trip and left at 3:30am. By 4:30 it is starting to get light outside and after a heavy storm the previous night, the clouds were starting to dissipate……
or so I thought….5 minutes after taking the first picture, this is what I was riding through with the road hardly being visible… At this time of year (November) many of the babies are being born in the wild. This baby Vervet Monkey is a few weeks old and stays close to mother.

Babies weigh a few ounces when born and all the females in the troop will gather around to handle and care for it.

Vervets are mainly vegetarians, feeding on flowers, seeds, seed pods, berries and fruit.

When the Black Monkey Orange is almost ripe, you will always see them gorging themselves on the fruit.

This is a small tree no more than 6 metres (about 18 feet) in height.
The fruit is edible and about the size of a tennis ball or slightly larger.

They are a blue/green when young and turn yellow when mature.

Our local people will collect and dry these pods, then carve designs on them to sell at the local craft market.