. . . aaaand we’re into our second day of the 4.5-day trip through Kruger National Park. First, if you wondered what the accommodations were like, this is my bungalow (yep, two beds for one person) at Shingwedzi Rest Camp. Full bathroom with shower and plenty of hot water, good light, a decent and inexpensive restaurant, and a fridge in the room. Who needs luxury lodges when, right outside the camp gates, lies a world of wildlife?
And so we’re back in the car, with the redoubtable Isaac looking for game. Here are the beautiful but largely ignored impalas. They’re ignored for the same reason that the virtues of Coca-Cola and onions are ignored: they’re simply too common to be truly appreciated. But, as Rosemary notes, “Impalas are the life-blood of the park; they bring life to many animals (via the cats and other creatures.” Alas, they are indeed the Buffet of Kruger, but they are beautiful and interesting in their own right. Here’s a group of them (only the males have horns)
A male and two female impala. Look at those beautiful faces! They also show countershading: darker coloration on top with whitish bellies. This is likely a form of camouflage in which light falling from above makes the animal look more uniformly colored than if it were one color all over, making it less visible to predators.
I swear that Isaac has incredible vision. When we passed a giraffe, he mentioned that it must have survived a lion attack because there were scratch marks on its side. I asked Isaac to go back so I could see and photograph the scratches and, sure enough, here they are. This is one lucky giraffe!
Giraffe crossing!
A passel of giraffe—four to be exact. Actually, the technical term for a group of giraffe is called a “tower” when they’re at rest and a “journey” when they’re moving. That makes sense—at least more sense than a “murder of crows.”
A singleton giraffe:
Zebras are skittish, and while I have some good pictures to come, on Day 2 I mostly photographs their rumps. But their rumps have a beauty all their own
If you’ve read this website regularly over the past few years, you’ll know that the best going explanation for why zebras have stripes is because black and white stripes seem to fend off biting flies, which can carry disease. There’s now substantial experimental evidence to support the “fly hypothesis.” Just do a search for “zebra flies” on this website.
Note the gray stripes between the black ones on the rump.
A close-up of the tail:
A Black-backed jackal (Lupulella mesomelas) lapping up some water. This is a territorial, monogamous, and very vocal omnivore. They hunt, too; as Wikipedia notes:
In South Africa, black-backed jackals frequently prey on antelopes (primarily impala and springbok and occasionally duiker, reedbuck, and steenbok), carrion, hares, hoofed livestock, insects, and rodents. They also prey on small carnivores, such as mongooses, polecats, and wildcats.
Once again the impala can’t catch a break.
We’d usually set out, sans coffee, at about 6 a.m. to catch the flurry of wildlife activity that occurs in the cool early morning. At around 9 a.m. Isaac would find us a rest stop where we were allowed to get out of the car and eat. Rosemary had planned well and brought her own food from the grocery store, but Isaac and I subsisted on what he brought for us all: instant coffee, milk, sugar, hot water (which he made every morning on the hot plate in his bungalow) and RUSKS.
Rusks are dry biscuits, and there are many versions in South Africa. Ours were hard and slightly sweet: perfect for dipping in coffee. Two cups of java and three rusks to dunk in them, and I was a new man (though still an old one). Here’s Isaac laying out breakfast at a rest stop. The rusks are in the ting to his right.
About half of my breakfast: a cup of instant joe and two rusks.
This rest stop was a lovely one, with an open picnic area with a thatched roof, all built around a lovely tree (I think it’s a fig):
A Southern red-billed hornbill, (Tockus rufirostris), certainly one of the most common birds not just in Kruger, but in the surrounding areas. They were brazen at picnic areas and restaurants, knowing that they might find a crumb (I didn’t feed them):
A lovely albeit leafless baobab tree, containing (as is often the case) the nests of the red-billed buffalo weaver (Bubalornis niger).
A breeding group of elephants (females and juveniles) having a long drink of water. Elephants prefer clean over muddy water (other animals aren’t so picky). Their favorite tipple that I’ve seen was the unchlorinated but fresh water in our swimming pool at Manyeleti. Note the babies!
A colorful saddle-billed stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis), a denizen of sub-Saharan Africa that’s regarded as endangered in South Africa. Some information on its diet from Wikipedia:
The saddle-billed stork searches for prey by stabbing the bill into the water, catching prey by contact, and in the same way into mud and vegetation.It also hunts by visual detection. In one study with 255 minutes of observation, 71% of successful catches were due to visual foraging, and 29% due to tactile foraging. They usually feeds [sic] on aquatic prey such as fish lungfish (Protopterus spp.) and catfish (Clarias spp.), up to 1.3 kg (2.9 lb) in weight. It swallow the fish head first and then drink some water [sic]. In case of large fish prey, they are often taken to the shore where pectoral fins may be clipped off before the fish is swallowed head first. Saddle-billed storks opportunistically catch other prey such as frogs, snails, small mammals, birds, snakes, and insects such as grasshoppers, termites, and water beetles. In an unusual case, the saddle-billed stork killed and consumed a red-billed Duck (Anas erythrorhyncha) and a spitting cobra (Naja mossambica). An unsuccessful attack on the slender mongoose (Galerella sanguinea) has been reported.
A baobab tree in the gathering dusk:
And a hippo. Enlarge the photo by clicking on it and you’ll see its skin is pitted with scars and scratches. Male hippos have a tendency to fight with each other (to get females, of course), leading me to believe that this one is a man hippo (hippos, like all animals, have just two sexes).
The area of Kruger that encompasses one crossing to Mozambique. I got out to have my photo taken at a border but didn’t realize that this is a sensitive area and that the army/police could grab and question me. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, but I was duly chastised and chastened.
A further view into the border area. I don’t think this is Mozambique because the border is in the middle of a river.
A vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), the only primate we saw besides humans and chacma baboons. Fun vervet fact from Wikipedia:
Vervet monkeys have four confirmed predators: leopards, eagles, pythons, and baboons. The sighting of each predator elicits an acoustically distinct alarm call. As infants, vervets learn to make the variety of calls from observation alone, without explicit tutelage.
Here’s a short video of vervet alarm calls, and there are others on the internet as well, like the second half of this video.
Two kinds of animal-themed booze I found in a rest camp shop. Both mammals are found in Africa. See my Manyeleti posts for some good photos of African Wild Dogs.
Isaac and I had a running joke about dagga boys, the lonely, exorcised African buffalo that make me sad. Isaac learned not to point them out to me as “dagga boys” but as “single buffalo”. But he and I were both fond of “dagga burgers”, the name of hamburgers in the camp restaurants. They come with onion rings on top, a real bonus. Here’s Isaac about to chow down on a dagga burger (I had one, too):
The tufts on this giraffe’s horns shown below show that it’s a female.
Both male and female Giraffes have ‘horns’ which are actually called ‘ossicones’. These Ossicones are formed from ossified cartilage and are covered in skin. The male has larger ossicones which they use for sparring, causing all the fur to rub off leaving grey bald spots on top of them. The females however don’t fight so their ossicones are thinner and you can see the fur standing up on them.
Male giraffe fight for females, of course, and do so by bashing their necks and heads together. This can occur with such ferocity that it can kill a giraffe. Even these gentle giants have their dark side. . . . .:
The “toilet-seat” ring of white on the rump of this antelope tells you that it’s a waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus). This is a male, for only one sex has horns.
Once again my vote for the most beautiful African bird goes to the lilac-breasted roller (Coracias caudatus). I have much better pictures in installments to come, but aren’t the colors gorgeous? (My friend Martim, an evolutionary ornithologist, gives his nod for beauty to the African Paradise Flycatcher; have a look at the link.)
Finally, a group of elephants managed to dig down to water in a dry river bed and drank greedily. Nearby, a herd of African buffalo waited patiently for the elephants to finish drinking, which tells you who’s dominant at a water source. We waited around to see if the buffalo would get their drink, but the elephants were thirsty (there was a warthog waiting, too), and so we left.
Next: Day 3, of course.
So so great… a whole other level to Why Evolution Is True
I agree. PCC(E) has many adventures, but I’d vote that this one tops them all!
What a wonderful adventure.
Everyone okay in Dobrzyn? I hope Hili isn’t in the doghouse…
I think Matthew either forgot to post early this a.m. or was busy doing something else. Today’s Hili is up now, just abo e this post.
Thank you. I did see it. Matthew has a life outside of WEIT, after all. Frankly, after the events of yesterday, I was concerned about Hili’s parents. I’m Scots-Irish with not a single relative ever touched by antisemitism, but cannot stop thinking about those 6 young Israelis. How might Malgorzata and Andrzej feel today? Plus, it gave me the opportunity to throw in a bad joke.
As far as I know from talking to them, both Andrzej and Malgorzata are deeply depressed at the deaths of those hostages. Although Andrzej isn’t of Jewish ancestry (both of them are atheists), Malgorzata is and not only lost many relatives in the Holocaust, but also was expelled from Poland into Russia during WWII (where her father, put in a gulag, was forced to fight for Russia and was killed). And then, after returning to Poland after the war, latent antisemitism in Poland made the government expel her (to Sweden; Andrzej followed a few years thereaafter). They’re now back in their natal country, but you can see how they’d be deeply affected by attacks on Jews by Hamas.
I’m getting a lot of vicarious enjoyment from your travelogues, so thanks!
I’d buy that gin, if only because I find African wild dogs surprisingly beautiful.
I have a question about why humans are not allowed outside of vehicles except at designated areas. Is it for the safety of the humans or the animals (or both) or something else? Since the rest stops don’t appear to be surrounded by animal-proof fences, I suspect that it’s not for the safety of humans.
I expect it is for safety. Compromised slightly by the necessity to have rest stops.
It’s for the safety of both, but mainly to keep the park pristine and the animals from being freaked out. Further, you don’t want to get attacked by a lion or buffalo, and the picnic stops are pretty far from where you’d find them (lions are pretty scared of humans anyway). I never saw a scrap of trash in the park except for the piece of paper that that angry bull elephant found and put it his trunk to “throw” at us. (LOL; it went about two feet.)
It would pretty much ruin everything if people could get out of their cars whenever they wanted, and one of the things that would be ruined would be the lives of injured people as well. People can be pretty stupid around wild animals: think of all those people attacked by bison in the western U.S.
Thanks for the answer! I’d give a lot to have seen that disgruntled bull elephant.
Great stories and photos! A couple of small points though….I believe your photo labeled Yellow-billed Stork is actually a Saddle-billed Stork. And your photo labeled Northern Red-billed Hornbill is actually a Southern Red-billed Hornbill…the red-billed hornbills were split into 5 separate species at some point in the past. My wife and I spent 5 wonderful days in Kruger in 2003 and your travelogue brings it all back…thanks!
Yep, you’re right on both counts. Thanks for the corrections. Do realize that I didn’t write down the species as they were told to me (I should have), and so there will be some errors slipping in. These are two of them. Readers shouldn’t hesitate to correct me.
I’ve fixed both listings–thanks!
Incredible! Thank you for the tour –
Hippos? Two sexes? Who’d have thunk it? (I had to laugh when I read that hippos come in two sexes.)
Great set of pictures and commentary!
This has been a stunning series of posts, and I wasn’t going to comment until the sequence was complete. But, based on today’s wonderful showing, I do have a question: if black-and-white stripes are so successful in deterring biting flies from zebras, why haven’t more species evolved them? Or have they, and I am just displaying my ignorance?
Good question and I have no answer. One possible reason is simply that the genetic variation producing such a pattern never appeared (as mutations) in other species. There are many similar questions that could be asked, for example why haven’t elephants evolved longer necks, like giraffes, so they can browse higher in the trees?
Jerry, please tell me that you know what dagga is…
I was told repeatedly this:
And from Wikipedia:
BUT, Wikipedia also has an entry on “dagga” that says this:
They’re called “dagga boys”, I was told, because they often have skin conditions and roll in the mud to mitigate them. I’m pretty sure the “mud” usage refers to the tendency of expelled buffalo males to roll in the mud (which they do), not to smoke weed!
These posts of yours are great. Close as I’ll ever get to being there. Enjoying your adventures – so thank you for taking the time to share them. I look at every photo twice.
Agree. I’ll never get there but it’s great to look at the photos.
Thanks for the great photos. I’m glad you’re enjoying your rusks. When I was a child, they were given to babies to worry away at when they were teething. That’s probably frowned on now.
I learned some new things from this post, and I read it to Fr. Dr. Blancke, so she learned something as well.
Re countershading: I was fascinated to learn a few years ago that even dinosaurs relied on countershading to defend from predators (this was *in addition* to other defensive measures such as armored skin and spikes – which brings home what a scary place the world was back then).
https://blog.everythingdinosaur.com/blog/_archives/2017/08/04/amazing-armoured-dinosaur-fossil-reveals-countershading.html
Thanks a million for the wonderful pix and explanations. Brings back memories of my and my wife’s great tour of the Serengeti region in 2012. (You posted some of our bird pix.) We also were both bowled over by the colors of the lilac-breasted roller. We saw lots of the same animals you are seeing.
I worry about the effect of these tours on the animals. But then I am aware the glass is still half full and think we might as well see them now while can. Especially if that inspires us to try and do something about it, such as by supporting local animal protection groups. There is, for instance, serious danger of construction of a highway across the Serengeti.
Thanks again. Keep enjoying!
I’m not worried that much about Kruger, as you aren’t allowed to leave your car and there’s a vigorous conservation program. It’s not clear to me how allowing humans to see the animals under the present condition is harming the animals or the ecosystem. If anything destroys the park and its denizens, it would be global warming, not the tourists.
Or poachers.
Indeed, though poachers are largely after rhinos, pangolins, and, less often, elephants. I was addressing your comment :”I worry about the effect of these tours on the animals,” but the tours don’t have anything to do with poaching. And remember, the tourists pay conservation fees (substantial in the case of a foreigner like me), and that brings in a lot of money to preserve these parks. Doing so requires a substantial investment in personnel and time.