More Baby Animals!

  Kariega Game Reserve, Eastern Cape, South Africa
December 05, 2013We had some tea and a snack, then headed out with our group around 6:00.

It was overcast, so we headed East instead of going to the beach. We saw a lot of birds this morning. This area is so diverse in the vegetation (5 types), it attracts numerous bird species. We saw a lot, but this does not even scratch the surface:

Threebanded Plover, Ringed Plover, Cape Wagtail, Longcrested Eagle (rare to spot and we saw two), Greater Striped Swallow, Lesser Striped Swallow, European Swallow, Common Fiscal Shrike, 2 Massive Secretary Birds hunting for snakes (they kick them to death, ha! take that!), Spotted-backed Weaver, Spectacled Weaver, Cape Weaver, Knysna Louri, Hamerkops, Sombre Bulbul, Yellowbilled Kite, Steppe Buzzard, Forktail Drongo, Greenspotted Dove, Redbilled Oxpecker (David was very excited, they had been eradicated from this area due to pesticides, but must be making a comeback), Pearl Breasted Swallow, Blackheaded Heron, Blackwinged Stilt, Ruff (for you Betty and JR!), Redknobbed Coot, and Cape Dabchick Black Rhino.

One of the most thrilling things that we saw this morning was a male Black Rhino. We were able to get very close and watch him graze on some grass, which is unusual because they typically browse on shrubs.

We spotted a few bontebok in the distance. They look a lot like blesbok, but are two different species.

We stopped to look at Plumbego. It is a plant that has tiny light blue or white flowers that have a sticky substance on them. It is custom for a boy to offer the flower to a girl he likes. If the flower sticks in her hair, then it was meant to be.

As we drove through a hilly grassy area we saw some Blue Wildebeest and Blesbok grazing (new animal!). The males have horns and are a dark reddish brown with white faces.

We did not find any hippos this morning in the river, but we did see two baby giraffes as we were leaving this area Zebra Fight. They are very cute and have fuzzy horns! We also saw an Eland laying in the grass behind the babies.

In one pasture we saw a herd of Blue Wildebeest enjoying some breakfast. Sounds like they are not the smartest - they tend to leap into dangerous croc infested waters when migrating, get killed, and the rest of the herd follows suit.

We spotted some White Rhinos off in the distance and drove up to get a great view of the property and a closer view of the new bull, two females and a baby. We heard about Tandi previously and met her in person today. She is unique because poachers cut off her horn and she survived. Sadly, the bull Timber did not, and died last year. The baby that we saw will be the last of his offspring. David is worried that this youngster will not become an adult. With increasing poaching (already over 800 this year in SA), the latest predictions are that White Rhinos will be extinct by 2020 Our First Kill. Wow! That is appalling!! It is so senseless too, all for remedies that have been scientifically proven to not work. Seriously!? I can't understand why there is nothing that can be done to stop it? This is not an Africa/China problem. This is something that impacts us all, the entire world will lose out on such an incredible creature.

After we returned to camp we had breakfast and I ate way too much, so we went for a kayak ride to burn some calories. I will not likely be able to wash my hair again for several days because my arms and shoulders will be too sore!

I was able to get some sun on our patio today. Bill napped and spent some time at the lodge on the internet.

Around 4:00 we headed out. We drove to the other properties because our companions have decided to stay two extra nights Baby Osterich. Everything is fully booked so they have to move tomorrow to one lodge and then to another lodge the next night.

Afterward we headed to the hippo area because another guide has confirmed that they are there!! Along the way we saw some new birds: Pied Kingfisher, African Spoonbill, Whitethroated Swallow, and a Whitebacked Heron.

We also saw some interesting trees and flowers: Sneeze Wood (when you cut this it smells like pepper), Cycad (looks like a cross between a fern and a palm) can live up to 1,000 years and grows very slowly, Prickly Pear Cactus (introduced from Mexico and they tried to eliminate it with a beetle) and lots of flower of every colour, shape and size.

We saw a pair of zebra stallions fighting and a pair of male impalas fighting. It was impressive to see a massive Eland bull, one of the largest antelopes Bush Pig.

Tonight we finally saw our first kill!! It was a Glossy Starling and it killed a baby mouse. It was repeatedly bashing the poor thing on the ground. I am sure it was already dead.

It was really neat to see a whole bunch of different babies tonight too: Blue Wildebeest running with his mommy, a baby hippo (with four others) who did a quick roll and yawn for us, three Ostrich with their parents, a Zebra who was nursing, and impalas with all of the new mommies.

On the way back to the lodge we spotted a Caracal! It was running along the road and darted into the brush before we had a chance to stop the vehicle. It is a lynx, but is very small. It may not be much bigger than a large house cat.

We were really lucky to see another animal that is hard to spot 100 metres later, a Bush Pig. I guess it is really rare to be able to see one of these, especially in the daylight.

Dolly, the Ostrich who thinks she is human, greeted us on our way back to the lodge.

Ironically, we had ostrich fillets for dinner... They were delicious!

Emma made an appearance again this evening. I really want to have my photo taken with her!!!
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