The last in the Big 5 series is the Cape Buffalo. Buffalo are normally found in big herds while old bulls lead a solitary life. Buffalo are grazers and mostly found in the open. The buffalo in the Addo Elephant National Park is, or was, a bit different. Due to the fact that they were so extensively hunted in the late 1800's and early 1900's, they turned nocturnal. They only came out during the evenings and spent their days in…
My personal favorite of the Big 5 is the leopard. Quick but silent, strong but stealthy, the perfect killing machine. If it is leopards you want to see the best place to go would be up north towards Kruger Park. The leopards in the Eastern Cape is smaller and shyer than their northern cousins and are rarely seen in our game reserves. One or two of the game reserves may turn up a leopard sighting every now and then, with…
The other day while working in the garden I found this tiny little (baby) praying mantis. Here he is sitting on the knuckles of my fingers. The mantis is a predator of other insects. The females chews off the head of the male during mating (I am so glad I'm not a mantis) and than lay her eggs in a frothy egg case from which the young hatch. The young looks like big ants with a large up curving abdomen.…
Staying on the Big 5 series, today's animal is probably the one that most tourists would like to see in the wild. The lion is always referred to as the king of the jungle. Groups are normally made up of female and young with a dominant male hanging around. Other males would live in small groups and from time to time a male would challenge the dominant male for his position. The hunting in the groups are done by the…
A couple of baby ostriches at one of the ostrich farms just outside Oudtshoorn
Today I feature the rhino in my Big 5 series. There are two kinds of rhino. The White Rhino (pictured above) as well as the Black Rhino. The difference between the two has nothing to do with colour. Black rhinos are generally smaller and more aggressive than their cousins. They are browsers and generally live in the bush. White rhinos are grazers and is just about always found in the open. The Dutch called them the Wide mouth rhino and…
Flowers growing next to the old toll house on the Montagu Pass near George I am currently on the Garden Route on a business trip (with a borrowed camera in hand as mine is still in for repairs) so I am hoping to get some opportunities to take a couple of nice pics of the area to post in the near future.
Port Elizabeth is situated in Big 5 country. Addo Elephant National Park as well as a host of private game reserves boasting the Big 5 are all situated within an hour to ninety minutes from the city. The Big 5 was named so as they were the five animals that were the most dangerous to hunt. I decided to do a series on the Big 5 and post a picture of each of them over the next couple of days.…
I have posted about the Pier Street Mosque before and in that picture a big stone is visible in the foreground. Unbeknown to probably the majority of Port Elizabethans, the open area next to the mosque is the Bartholomeus Dias Park. In front of the stone is a marble plaque with information about Diaz's journey while the stone acts as a monument..GPS: 33°57'57.23"S, 25°37'41.12"E
The rocks at Eersterivier form a lot of interesting little coves and other features. This gully runs along the western side of the village and had lots of kids in it at low tide trying to catch fish with their nets. Next to is was the most amazing deep gully where we swam for most of the day. In between the rocks we found this stunning spot to swim. At its deepest it takes you just below the shoulders. The…