Gentle Giants

 My original plan for today was to write a joint post covering both hippos and rhinos but the news out of Africa, recently released, that 2014 was the worst year in many for poaching of these incredible gentle giants, made me change my mind. So this post is dedicated to the magnificent white rhinos of South Africa.

The white rhino differs from the black rhino not in color, but in size and the shape of its head. One train of thought is that the early English visitors to Africa misunderstood the Dutch name for the animals that included the word "wijd"or wide, referring to the shape of the animal's mouth. The name white rhinoceros stuck and so when a second species was discovered it was named black rhino in order to distinguish the two.

There are two classifications of white rhinos: Southern and Northern. Northern white rhinos are on the very brink of extinction with only a handful left. More bad news this week reported the death of one of the last two remaining fertile males, making continuation of the species almost impossible.

The southern white rhinos have had much more success but are under constant threat from poachers after their horns. The horns, which are made of keratin - basically the same material as human fingernails - sell on the black market for a higher price than gold!

On our first evening game drive we left the small group of lions at dusk. As we headed up a hill to make our way back to camp we suddenly spotted a mother and baby white rhinoceros feeding on the grass of the plains. The low light combined with their constant movement meant getting a sharp image was a challenge but I did capture a few, including one (top) that has both animals in the shot. The second shot, to the right, shows just the baby as it scrounged around for the best grass. It was easy to see how these animals could fall prey to poachers as they seemed totally unconcerned by our close proximity.

Mama stayed fairly close to her baby most of the time.

 It was tough to get a shot with the animal's head out of the grass but eventually mama did raise up for just a second.

This red-billed oxpecker started  working at the rhinos nose and slowly made its way up the head and onto the animal's back, picking off insects as it went.

 On day three we came across this massive, mud-coated male rhino (above) at a watering hole. The guide explained that the animal was exercising another method of insect - particularly tick - extraction. If you look at his sides you can see streaks where he has rubbed against a stump, knocking off mud and with it, the ticks that were clinging to his thick hide. The guide took us to a mud covered stump where he was able to pick out several fat ticks, still wriggling.

 On our way back to camp for lunch we came across this duo lounging in a dried up mud hole. This image is actually huge as it is a two shot panorama. I can't wait to print it as a large canvas!

Cats - 2

 My second cat post from Africa showcases the leopards of Londolozi. There were several surprises about the game drives but the biggest was probably in realizing just how close we could get to these wild animals as long as we were in a jeep and didn't make any sudden moves.

There are many, many game lodges in South Africa and we were lucky enough to be positioned in Tree Camp, part of the Londolozi complex bordering Kruger National Park. Books have been written about the leopards of the area. I can't begin to describe the thrill of witnessing these beautiful cats in their natural environment.

We saw three separate leopards while we were there. Two are pictured in this post. The female in the first three images was spectacular in her coloring and markings. She was in the process of hunting and was not about to let our presence upset her goal.

 I actually love this shot, above, even though her face is partially hidden. It is amazing to see how she seems to disappear into the environment.

We came across the male captured in the last five photos totally by chance on day three. He was sitting quietly in the brush near a trail and it was only due to the very sharp sight of our tracker that we saw him at all.

According to our guide, he was patrolling the border between his territory and that of another big cat and for that reason he spent a lot of time marking his territory as he went along. At one point the herd of elephants we had been watching earlier charged him and he turned around and headed back directly towards us. As he came alongside the jeep he lifted his tail and marked a bush on which our rear tire was sitting and exactly where Ken was sitting as quietly as possible. Not many people can claim they have been marked by a wild leopard!

 Some of my personal favorite photos of these cats are ones that I know will not necessarily appeal to most people. In the shot below you can see him rubbing his head against a tree stump - so similar to what I have witnessed from our house cat many times!

Cats - 1

 There are always compromises when you are out on a game drive. There is only so much time and the areas covered are huge. You are trying hard to stay away from other groups in the area and yet everyone wants to see everything there is to see. I was a little disappointed that we did not get to view the female lions with their cubs that others in nearby camps saw but on the other hand, we had two amazing opportunities to see a group of four male lions - brothers, according to our guide.

Apparently the four are pretty mature and they have been hunting together since birth. Both times we observed the animals there were three who spent most of the time sleeping while the largest animal in the group was more active. Most of their hunting is done at night and just like house cats, they spend a considerable portion of each 24 hour period resting and sleeping. In the first photo above you can see two of the brothers doing what cats do. The animal in front is obviously very relaxed and oblivious to our presence.

 The largest, most active brother was battle scarred, especially on his nose. When we saw him the first evening he was relaxed but aware.

 When we came across the group in a totally different area the next morning, the three were again snoozing while the larger lion seemed to stand guard. Blood from his night-time kill was obvious on the hair of his chin and as we watched he did another very cat-like thing - he threw up a "hairball" that we discovered contained a considerable amount of bone and fur, probably from his prey.

 It was a little unnerving to see the big cat lick his lips as he looked our way but I don't think it had anything to do with us. And the pose below may look fierce but in reality it was just a great big yawn!

Gone Fishing

 Changing direction just a little bit to show off a couple of the many, many birds of southern Africa. Today I am featuring the African Fish Eagle - closest relative to our American Bald Eagle - and three of the ten varieties of kingfisher in the area.  In total we saw five different kingfishers but I was not able to capture the other two.

 The African Fish Eagle is actually a little prettier than our bald eagle with his reddish brown plumage. The top photo was taken in Sabi Sands and the bottom shot was in Botswana's Okavango Delta. In the second shot this bird landed in the middle of a rookery full of storks, egrets, herons and ibis. The uproar was amazing but the eagle did not go after any of the baby birds before flying away.

This was one of the most beautiful kingfishers we saw - the Brown Hooded Kingfisher.

 The three shots above are all of Africa's biggest species of these birds: the Giant Kingfisher. At 44 cm these birds are more than double the size of all the other kingfishers. We were lucky enough to come across a pond that had a number of the birds fishing successfully, including the mother/offspring pair seen in the middle shot.

The last member of the kingfisher family pictured is the pied kingfisher. This one was sitting in the papyrus plants as we went by in our boat.

Ellies!

 Everybody who travels to Africa has one animal that they want to see above all others. For me, those were the elephants. And so this is one of the most photo-intense posts I have ever done as I just couldn't get enough of these marvelous, majestic creatures.

Like all animals, the babies are the ones that fascinate the most. The older, larger elephants seemed prepared to ignore us humans for the most part (although we had an experience in Botswana that I will save for a later post) but the babies were curious and always ready to flex their muscles. We watched two separate events where a group of elephants chased off predators - a hyena and a leopard - even though they were in absolutely no danger. Our guide said that the big animals like to make sure the smaller creatures understand at all times who is boss and that seemed to be exactly what the babies were trying to impress on us.

 Our first couple of days in Sabi Sand Game Reserve we saw quite a few elephants in small groups and lots in the distance. But on our third day we were parked near a watering hole watching a huge white rhinoceros when suddenly a large family group of "ellies"(as called by our guide) surrounded us as they came in to drink. It is impossible to describe the wonder at their presence as they came within feet of the vehicle in which we were sitting.

 Once the animals got their fill of water they seemed to want to play. We were mock-charged by a couple of the youngsters, swinging their trunks and flapping their ears as they came toward us.

 The "teenagers" in the group seemed to find pleasure in playing with the water. They would suck it up and then spray it out - on the ground, in the air and at their fellow pachyderms.

 To think that these amazing animals are being slaughtered for their ivory is almost too painful to bear.

 The last three photos tell a slightly different story. I mentioned that the elephants are king of the jungle but we witnessed one surprising exception. In the first image below you will see a small bird on the ground to the lower left of the elephants. This is a blacksmith lapwing. In the bottom photo you will see the bird defending its nest (with three eggs), directly below it on the ground. If you look closely you should be able to see the barbs on the leading edge of the wings. Two different guides told us stories of lapwings taking out a hyena by going for its eyes and also chasing a leopard. In this case this bird went after one of the elephants when it stepped too close to the nest and guess what? The elephant backed away very, very quickly and went around the nest!

Day 1 - Monkeys!

 I feel incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to travel to South Africa and Botswana with a great group of people. Ken and I arrived in Johannesburg November 1. We spent one night in the city and then boarded a small plane for 3 nights at Londolozi, an incredibly well run camp in Sabi Sands Nature Reserve bordering Kruger National Park. We had a little time once we arrived to settle in and rest before the game drive that evening so we decided to walk the grounds of the camp to get our bearings.

About a 1/4 mile from our lodge we ran into a good sized group of vervit monkeys - mostly females caring for their young. I took dozens of photos of the animals and I am so glad I did as we saw very few monkeys for the rest of our trip.

This mother seemed especially calm with her very young baby in her lap.

 I love the photo, above. It is just such a perfect portrait of mother and baby at peace with the world!

 The youngsters all seemed more curious about our presence than the adults did.

 This young fellow, right, seemed a little older than the first baby we saw and he was being very active doing things that babies do - in this case, chewing on everything in sight!

 The little one above seemed quite shy. He wanted to get a look at us but only from his mother's lap.

 This trio was taking advantage of a good sitting spot to nurse and groom all at the same time.