26 February 2010, Tala Game Reserve, South Africa

Some images from my third and last 'safari' into game reserves and parks of South Africa. No lions or elephants, leopards or cheetahs in this one. But a profusion of antelopes, zebras, birds, hippos and rhinos. A whole elegant 'tower' of giraffes swayed by, and observed us curiously with their huge, lash fringed eyes, chewing their cud and browsing delicately on trees and shrubs. All giraffes have two 'free-floating' fuzzy hornlets, which are not attached to their skulls, the males have an extra prominent bump on their foreheads.

Herds of Kudus, Springbok, Blessboks and Wildebeest (gnus) grased serenely on the hillsides. It had rained a little after a long draught, and there was just a hint of green amongst the trees and bushes.

The largest of all antelopes, the Eland, which reaches a couple of tons in weight was lead by a prime specimen, which looked more like a Brahmin bull with long horns, instead of an antelope.

The difference between Antelopes and other deer is, that antelope never lose their horns, but deer and their relatives lose them each season.

There were a couple of Nyalas, another large antelope with impressive horns reaching more than 6 feet of length. The male looks shaggy haired and almost black, and the female (bare headed) wears a cinnamon brown coat, both male and female are decorated with a few light coloured vertical stripes - very attractive.

Zebras are always a joy to watch. Mother zebras take their newborn away from the herd for the first couple of weeks after giving birth, to give the kid time to learn the unique stripe pattern of its mother, so it learns which one amongst all the striped girls is the one with the food supply.

How can one differentiate male and female zebras, without inspecting the underside of their bellies? The rear end stripes of a female fade out in a way, around their tail region. The male wears a 'g-string', a strongly coloured stripe arrangement which surrounds and slips under his tail like a very tiny panty.

We got up very close to a mother White Rhinoceros accompanied by her four year old son. They looked rather intimidating, with nothing but a bit of canvas between us (in a jeep) and their double horns a few yards away. But, they must have felt quite bored with us. The youngster, three years beyond nursing age, tried to suckle his mother, which is a little complicated with his large horns protruding from his nose. So mother accommodated her 'mama's boy' offspring, laid down on her side to facilitate nursing, and son laid down as well and suckled his way into rhino heaven. The guide was mortified and surprised - she had never seen anything like it. There is no male around the reserve at this time, so females are not pregnant and may prolong their mothering business in this unusual way.

The hippos in one of the water holes showed nothing buth the very tip of their nostrils, keeping cool under water until dusk. Then they come out and wander around and graze, sometimes walking miles to another waterhole where they may spend the next hot day. They main and kill more humans than the other 'big five' combined, i.e. lion, leopard, rhino and water buffalo. The buffalo is no mean foe either, very strong, very quick and absolutely unpredictable. He may look at you, chewing his cud, and then he may freak out and trample you to death. Apparently they don't stop their attack, until the victim has been turned to mush.

The waterhole in this game reserve gave hundreds of geese, ducks, ibis, herons, kormorants, song birds and even turtles a safe and beautiful home. Some trees bore hundreds of weaver bird nests.

There is a bush with pale yellow, somewhat fuzzy transluscent blooms/fruit by the name of Milkweed. The local name for it, however, is Old Man's Balls.

As we have descended to barroom humor anyway, here is another piece of trivia: Ostriches are one bird, where the male actually has a penis...

Well, enough of biology lessons....

 

24 February 2010, Port Elizabet, South Africa

I had booked a day safari to Addo Elephant Park for my time in Port Elizabeth.

Addo Elephant Park is a far flung National Park at the East Cape region, it encompasses mountain ranges and valleys, dry riverbeds, watering holes and brush land.

As elephants had been hunted and killed as pests to farms and plantations from their initial number in this region of about 400,000 pachiderms down to about 12, someone realized that they may be gone altogether if they are not protected. Thus - elephant protection parks in many regions of not only South Africa but most of the continent. Addo Elephant Park now has herds and families numbering approximaley 400 Eatern Cape Elephants, one ot three African species. The area is large enough to give lion, zebra, kudu, rhinoceros, leopards and cheetahs a safe refuge as well. The park is protected - as much as that is possible with such a large expanse - to keep poaching at bay. But, rhino horn and elephant trunks being as valuable on the Asian market as they are, incentives to hunt illegally are high. Word has it, that a prominent Pretoria business man uses helicopters to descend onto the hapless rhinos by night, kill the animals, extract their horns and make gazillions on his immoral and illegal trade. Game wardens keep number and location of any rhinos in their parks a well kept secret, at least that what is said.

Some elephant trivia...

Elephants have six set of teeth, which are ground down by feeding and move forward in an elephant's jaw until they fall out. Then the next tooth behind it takes it place. Once all the rows of teeth have been 'consumed', the elphant can no longer chew well and through lack of nutrition becomes weaker. So weak in fact, that he can no longer lift his trunk to drink water. He then wades into a water hole to drink through his mouth, however being weakened, he soon falls over and drowns.

Elephants never forget. Elephants were fed reject citrus fruit by surrounding farmers, who delivered them in the back of their cars and trucks. The elephants learned and remembered. They tought their young, that car trunks stand for desert. Some elephants got so bold as to overturn cars and break open their trunks to get at any possible fruit. The only thing they had not learned was, which cars were loaded with them and which ones weren't, resulting in a few unneccessary wrecks and disconcerted owners.

Elephant disdain wildlife proof electric fences - anyway the oldfashioned ones. One elephant learned that he could get his trunk between electrical wires to avoid being shocked. Then he would tear out support posts, thus breaking the wires and cutting the annoying current. And - out he went - unshocked. The park had to remove him as it was feared that the other elephants would learn the same trick and they would all disappear over the horizon into the many inviting vineyards and farms.

Elephant have fun...telephone poles located inside the park all are wrapped in strings of electric wire up to about elephant trunk reach. Elephants love to tear them out and play toss the Kaber with them.

Male elephant teenagers turn rogue and kill rhinos and other animals for fun, UNLESS they have an older bull teaching them good manners. Matriarchs don't have any influence, they only mind older males. The parks sometimes have to ship youngsters into parks with older guys, so the kids grow up knowing their place.

Elephants suffer emotional trauma if moved solo, so every time an elephant needs to be relocated, two or three have to go with him. They fret when their friends are left behind, and fall into depression and become dangerous to themselves and others.

Some elephants have no trunks. In order to re introduce the trunk gene to the 'toothless ones', tusked animals are introduced to herds without trunks.

Elephants are curious. One of the jeeps became an item of interest to a dominant bull of gigantic proportions. He ambled up to the jeep in question, wich was blocked from leaving by other wildlife watching private vehicles. First he eyed the occupants by putting his eye close to the jeep's open side, then he used is trunk to reach into the jeep to explore the terrified occupants. The game warden, driving the jeep turned chalk white, despite his black skin, but could do nothing else but tell his passengers to keep their limbs close to their bodies and keep their mouths shut. No harm done to this jeep. BUT, one of the private little Hondas stupidly driving between old daddy and his harem did not get away quite that easily. The Honda returned to base with his rear window demolished by a bit of trunk making a point.

Our jeep had a 'nice lady' aboard who keept waving bananas at the 'cute little things'. First of all it is strictly forbidden to take any fruit from the ship into the country (fruit fly contamination danger) and secondly, she had no clue that she was not in Disney Land where all Jumbos are sweetiepies and fly around with feathers in their trunk.

Another gentlemen asked the driver to stop close to a pride of Lyons, so he could get out of the jeep and get a close up. Well, he had to use his best zoom setting...

Another lady kept miaoing and moaning, and whining 'here kitty kitty'...the Lyons luckily ignored her.

Addo National Park visit was very satisfying, especially as we had the good luck of seeing so many Lyons (mostly sleeping, as they hunt only at night). The breathtaking scenery made up for the fact, that most of the Elephant herd had decided to effectively hide amongst the trees when our jeep made the rounds. I glimpsed quite a few ochre coloured massive backs meandering through the bush, but only one elephant met us at the waterhole. However, he also investigated out jeep from close up, but we must have looked too boring for closer inspection.

Luckily he did not sniff out the hidden banana, which Disney World lady carried in her purse...

 

 

22-23 February 2010 Capetown, South Africa

South Africa provides a study in contrasts. On the surface it feels like Toronto, Sydney or Los Angeles with it's exclusive suburbs, vibrant harbourfront, cosmopolitan atmosphere, elegant shops and restaurants, beautifully attired people, late model cars, well kept streets and colonial and modern architecture and an almost finished World Cup Soccer stadium.

The underbelly is a little different with black townships rife with crime, a downtown that is unsafe for black or white at night, tight security around housing divisions and apartment blocks, car guards watching over parked cars, electrical and razor wire on top of garden walls, spikes and glas shards embedded around and above entry gates, an open air prison where it is unclear whether prisoners are inside or outside the private fortresses.

Depressing remnants of infamous District Six, where black inhabitants were unceremoniously thrown out of their houses during Apartheid. The houses were razed with the exception of a few churches standing desolately in abandoned acreages, with nothing but the odd tin and cardboard lean-to housing black homeless people.

Here it is said, that 'crime pays'. For every hundred serious crimes commited, the understaffed South African justice system MAY prosecute four, good odds for anyone who choses crime as a career.

Schooling, Health, Infrastructure are almost on the verge of being disfunctional. The question seems to be 'how dismal will the future of South Africa look like' if a miraculous change does not happen soon?

The rural areas of the Southern and Eastern Cape area are famous for their beauty, mediterranean climate, favourable growing conditions and peaceful daily life. Wine grows profusely in most of the valleys, but the beauty is marred by acres and acres of shanty towns made of any imaginable material that could possibly be used to construct a habitation. There the seasonal wine harvest workers live (and die). The Koisan tribes, native to the area, flock to rural employment when the city life becomes unbearable, and so do the thousands of economic refugees from surrounding countries. That makes for an oversupply of labour for a short harvest season, and some very tense and sometimes fatal problems between local workers and newcomers.

In June/July 2010 the Soccer World Cup will bring thousands of visitors to South Africa, which has built or renovated nine world class venues for the occasion. Ninetythousand people will crowd into a new arena in Johannesburg to watch the Finals. More than three and a half million tickets are being sold - somehow - over internet and otherwise, the logistics are staggering.

Many new roads and overpasses are being constructed to handle the expected massive traffic - but they pass right through and over some of the worst shanty towns in existence.

Instead of two classes of people before Apartheit with differences in Power, Justice and Privilege, now South Africa has three classes of people with slightly different rights. There is the very small ruling black class and more of the totally disenfranchised black people. The white people have become more wealthy but much less powerful; and a miniscule black middleclass is hesitantly emerging from the brew.

All is topped off by a serious braindrain from South African Universities, the impact of HIV/AIDS which officially affects 40-50% of the population, and an unemployment rate of about 50%. Life expectancy hovers around forty years.

Difficult times for a prosperous and potentially globally powerful nation...

The location of Cape Town rivals Hong Kong, San Francisco, Vancouver and Sidney for natural beauty. Table Mountain with its almost ever present 'table cloth' of snowy white clouds makes an ever changing background, seals frolic in the harbour filled with commercial and pleasure crafts, and Victoria and Albert Waterfront are absolutely delightful.

The city has frequent natural air-conditioning provided by the 'Cape Doctor', wicked South Easterlies who blast over the city from table mountain with consistent winds of 40 - 50 knots. These winds blow pollution out to sea and the table cloth clouds down the slopes of table mountain. Along the scenic coast line between Cape Town and Cape of Good Hood the Twelve Apostles, really consisting of seventeen rugged peaks, guard the rear of fabulous beaches and breath taking surf crashing into numerous rocky cliffs.

The Benguela Current flowing north in the Atlantic Ocean and the Aghula Current flowing south in the Indian Ocean meet off Cape of Good Hope and keep waters cold year round. I turns swimming into a feat of courage for bathers and navigation into a challenge for marine traffic rounding the Cape. But, surfers are happy polulating the expansive white sandy beaches, and so are the glitterati frequenting the trendy restaurants, bistros and bars located in exclusibe beach resorts.

Despite, and maybe because, of the many different faces of Cape Town, it is one of my best loved stays on the journey.

A world of contrast for me, experiencing the joys of meeting wild animals up close in Aquila Game Reserve and learning and knowing about the evocative character of the country and one of its most attractive cities: Cape Town.

22 Feb 2010 - Why I like South Africa

My first Safari in South Africa, a game drive at the Aquila Game Reserve.

Hard to imagine not to like sitting in a reinforced open jeep and approaching these magnificient animals, hoping that none of them has a sudden bout of irritation.