Last day in Manyeleti: the Big Five completed

We’re suffering from a power cut in Hoedspruit, and, as I’ve left the park and am resting here just a day before traveling on, I’ll have to type fast to get this finished before my computer loses its battery power. So here are a few things I saw on my last evening and morning game drives in Manyeleti.

Please click on all photos to enlarge them.

First, a shot I’ve wanted to get for a while: a magnificent male Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) with his spiral horns.

Finally I was able to photograph what I think is one of the most beautiful birds in Africa, the Lilac-breasted roller (Coracias caudatus). It’s widespread through SE Africa, and both males and females have these stunning colors: it’s not sexually dimorphic.

And a male impala with its curved horns:

After nearly 1.5 hours of searching, our guide/driver Dan, following rhino tracks and droppings, made a rare spotting: a large male Southern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum). It grazed peacefully as we sat silently in our vehicle nearby.

From Wikipedia:

The southern white rhinoceros is one of largest and heaviest land animals in the world. It has an immense body and large head, a short neck and broad chest. Females weigh around 1,600–1,700 kg (3,530–3,750 lb) and males around 2,000–2,300 kg (4,410–5,070 lb), with specimens of up to 3,600 kilograms (7,940 lb) considered reliable, and larger sizes up to 4,500 kg (9,920 lb) claimed but not verified.

They can weigh FOUR TONS!

Reduced to between 20 and 50 animals in South Africa in the 19th century by big-game hunting, the population has now recovered to about 18,000 individuals, and some are being bred for release into the wild.  Because of poaching to get its horns—used in traditional Chinese medicine—it’s considered “near threatened.” What a crime to kill one of these creatures to get its horns for worthless medicinal purposes!

Notice the birds (oxpeckers) cleaning the beast of parasites like ticks and fleas:

We were excited to get this rare sighting, one of the “Big Five” animals that everyone wants to tick off their mental list.

I wrote Martim for an identification of the oxpeckers, and here’s part of his reply:

Well done both for such a good view of your target lilac-breasted roller and also for seeing all the members of a bird family at the same time. And for the big five of course.

You have the two species making the family Buphagidae on the same rhino. The Yellow-billed Oxpecker (Buphagus africanus), further in the back, and the Red-billed Oxpecker (B. erythrorynchus).

Some info from Birds of the World (Cornell)

“The oxpeckers are lanky brown passerines that feed on ectoparasites and wounds found on large African mammals. Although elephants and some antelope species will not tolerate them, these birds can often be seen foraging on the other large African megafauna, using their long stiffened tails for support as woodpeckers do while climbing trees. All aspects of their lives are entangled with their mobile large-mammal habitats. Oxpeckers spend the entire day on their hosts, feeding, sunbathing, and snoozing. They even defecate off the side of their perch, and sometimes take a drink at the waterhole while still gripping their hosts’ legs. While breeding, which they often perform cooperatively, they even make their nests out of mammal hair and dung.”

Regarding beautiful birds not so difficult to see, you can now set your sights on the African Paradise-Flycatcher (male). It should be around your camp.

Well, of course I had to look up the African Paradise-Flycatcher (Terpsiphone viridis),  and here’s a photo from Wikipedia (this is the male; the species is sexually dimorphic).

Below are the stumpy two horns of this rhino. This is explained by the rangers having previously anesthetized the animals to remove its horns, making it worthless for poaching. Yes, the procedure deprives the circumcised beast of a weapon and an adaptive feature, but that’s more than compensated for by saving the animal from poaching (rhino horns are the object of most South African poaching). Unfortunately, as you see, the horns grow back, though slowly:

At the “sunupper” stop for coffee, we halted by a “dam”: a large pool of water. A herd of Blue Wildebeest came by, drank together rapidly, and then quickly moved off. I suspect they’re wary because they’re hunted by many predators. As Wikipedia notes, “They are a major prey item for lions, cheetahs, leopards, African wild dogs, hyenas, and Nile crocodiles.”

Rhino droppings. They are black—in contrast to elephant droppings, which are brown.

Dan told us that these are wildebeest tracks:

A female elephant and her baby in a matriarchal herd we came upon. This was fairly close to the lodge (about 2 miles away), so I suspect that this is our swimming pool herd. (Elephants cover a lot of distance.)

And, just at the end of our morning trip, I completed my sighting of all the “Big Five” animals by coming across an African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer).  This is an old male (probably about 20, says Dan), and the horns have grown together. From Wikipedia:

A characteristic feature of the horns of adult male African buffalo (southern and eastern populations) is that the bases come very close together, forming a shield referred to as a “boss”. From the base, the horns diverge downwards, then smoothly curve upwards and outwards and in some cases inwards and or backwards. In large bulls, the distance between the ends of the horns can reach upwards of one metre (the record being 64.5 inches 164 cm). The horns form fully when the animal reaches the age of 5 or 6 years old, but the bosses do not become “hard” until it reaches the age of 8 to 9 years old.

These older males, expelled from their herd (they are social) are called “dagga boys“, and are testy and dangerous.  I heard that a ranger was recently seriously injured but not killed by one of these; the bull had to be shot by another ranger.

Note the oxpeckers, busy cleaning and eating:

You don’t want to mess with these!

Dan pouring coffee at our stop. He’s showing his characteristic humor, and was always laughing. He was a fantastic guide, and much enhanced our trip with his ability to spot animals, his knowledge, and his affability.

Dan has worked as a guide for many years (8 at Manyeleti), and apparently has seven weeks on the job—working 7 days a week from 4 a.m. to about 10 p.m.—and then five weeks off when he can visit his family in a nearby village (he lives in the camp while working).  He told me that he was married and had TWELVE children.

Sadly, I had to leave Manyeleti after five days. It’s not cheap to stay at such a place, but I considered the dosh very well spent. Never again, I think, will I get to see a place like this—so dry and barren in winter yet so full of life.

As I waited to be picked up and driven to the gate, the herd of 23 elephants came again to the swimming pool for a drink: the matriarch, a few males, and the rest females or babies. I sat by the water and watched them, fascinated and enchanted as they entwined their trunks for bonding, occasionally bellowed, and filled their bellies with pool water, sometimes squirting it over their bodies. These are highly intelligent social animals and I need to learn more about them.

I could have watched them for hours, but I felt a tap on my back. “I thought I’d find you here”, said Dan, who was carrying my luggage. He knows that I love all of Ceiling Cat’s creatures.

The departure was abrupt, and Rosemary met me at the gate to drive me to my lodgings at Hoedspruit. I’ll be here today, where I’ll go to visit a couple of local villages to help distribute donated food (Rosemary works with them). Tomorrow I’ll begin two one-day trips to the Blyde River Canyon, reputedly one of Africa’s most beautiful sights. Then on to Kruger Park for five days. More pictures will be coming, but there may be a hiatus as I travel about.

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Jerry’s “Big Ten”:

I think the “Big Five” list, comprising the animals most difficult to kill by spear or gun, is too restrictive, so I’ve expanded it to ten animals. The first five below are the Big Five.

Jerry’s “Big Ten”:

Elephant
Rhino
Leopard
Lion
African buffalo
Giraffe
Cheetah
Kudu
Hippo
and, of course, the African Warthog, of which Ozy is one specimen.

Lagniappe photos (the power was just restored):

The herd of slephants at the pool; I was watching them when Dan gently told me it was time to leave. Note that they come in all sizes (look at the cute baby!) but only two sexes.

A panorama of the swimming pool; note that there are also elephants at the big pond in the distance. Click to enlarge:

The matriarch splashing her body with water to cool off:

The eye of the elephant:

Back in Hoedspruit, which counts as civilization though it’s small.  For dinner I ordered a quarter bunny with mutton (medium spicy) to go. Photo by Rosemary.

Onward and upward!