Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Black-maned lion

Our road trip to see the sights of South Africa didn't get off to a very good start. Our mis­sion state­ment was to see as much of South Africa as we could in the three weeks we had set aside for our pur­pose. We star­ted driv­ing up the east coast of South Africa from Cape Town. After get­ting severely lost on our way to a friend's hol­i­day house in Coffee Bay we though the worst was over. But after a few bliss­ful days rest we were back onto the road with Johannesburg as our des­tin­a­tion and soon hit major car trouble, which had us stay­ing over at a small inland town while wait­ing for repairs.

Not the ideal start to our South African road trip ... Continued

Kruger National Park photographs

Two months ago, I embarked on a 2 week road trip of South Africa, includ­ing a week in our most fam­ous game reserve: the Kruger National Park. This was my first visit, and my mind still boggles at the sheer size of the Kruger park and the mag­ni­fi­cence of its untouched wil­der­ness. I am not a pro­fes­sional pho­to­grapher, but I hope you’ll enjoy this col­lec­tion of pho­to­graphs that I took. We were lucky enough to see the Big 5 twice dur­ing our stay, but it is some of the “other” wild­life pho­tos that most inspires me and reminds me of the won­der­ful hol­i­day we had within our beau­ti­ful coun­try. Continued

Birds Eye View by Noula Bouwer (photograph)

Todays pho­to­graph was sent to us by Noula Bouwer as is entiled "Bird's Eye View". A great pho­to­graph of a gir­affe, Noula has sub­mit­ted a num­ber of really great pho­to­graphs to our cur­rent pho­to­graphy com­pet­i­tion. You can see more of her entries at November Photography Competition. Giraffe are non-territorial, social anim­als that travel in large herds that are not organ­ized in any way. They live in the savan­nas of Africa, where they roam freely among the tall trees, arid land, dense forests and open plains ... Continued

Game Drive photograph by Justin Cohen

South Africa is a wild­life para­dise offer­ing ump­teen num­bers of national parks and game reserves. Although each game reserve offers its own dimen­sion to game view­ing, one com­mon factor ties them all together: the regal big five of the South African wild world — Elephant, Leopard, Rhino, Lion and Buffalo. Game Viewing in South Africa is done either in closed vehicles (mostly in the National Parks), in open safari vehicles in the Private Game reserves and both day and night game view­ing is avail­able in private reserves ... Continued

Vervet Monkey — mother and baby by Trudi Naude

Submitted to our November Photography Competion by Trudi Naude, this pho­to­graph of a ver­vet mon­key (Cercopithecus Aethiops) and her baby is entitled "Hold on tight". Different types of ver­vets vary in col­our, but gen­er­ally the body is a green­ish olive or sil­very grey. The face, ears, hands, feet and tip of the tail are black, but an obvi­ous white band on the fore­head blends in with the short whiskers ... Continued

Eagle in Flight — photographs by Dror Orbach

These two pho­to­graphs caught my eye when we received them as I think they are quite spec­tac­u­lar. Taken dur­ing a hol­i­day to South Africa last year, they were sent to us by Dror Orbach from Israel. Dror has quite the eye for tak­ing great wild­life pho­to­graphs ... Continued

Dwarf Chameleon photograph by Jennifer Peers

This amaz­ing close up of a dwarf chameleon was sent to us by Jennifer Peers as an entry for our November Photography Competition. Jennifer has sub­mit­ted some of the most beau­ti­ful pho­to­graphs (see pre­vi­ous fea­tured photo here). According to the Wikipedia entry for Cape Dwarf Chameleon (Bradypodion pumi­lum), it is nat­ive to the Western Cape where it is restric­ted to the region around Cape Town. Continued

Bashful and Beautiful — Waterbuck by Dror Orbach

Todays pho­to­graph of a female Waterbuck was sent to us by Dror Orbach from Israel, taken on a visit to South Africa in 2008. The water­buck is not aquatic nor much at home in water, but it does take refuge there to escape pred­at­ors. The water­buck is a large, robust ante­lope with large, roun­ded ears and white patches above the eyes, around the nose and mouth and on the throat. Only the males have horns, which are prom­in­ently ringed and as long as 40 inches. Continued

Meerkat photo by Jennifer Peers

One of the first entries received for our November Photography Competition is this great shot of a Meerkat (also known as sur­ic­ate) sub­mit­ted by Jennifer Peers — thanks so much for shar­ing this with us Jennifer, its very spe­cial! Meerkat adults take it in turns to stand on guard find­ing a con­veni­ent spot where they can watch for pred­at­ors, such as eagles. If danger is sighted, the "guard" gives a warn­ing bark, and the meerkats flee to the safety of their bur­rows. While sentries keep watch, other meerkats take care of the young ... Continued

Jukani Wildlife – home of the cats

Bengal Tiger

I can’t say I have ever seen lions, chee­tahs, leo­pard, cara­cal and tigers all ‘in one sit­ting’, and I have def­in­itely not ever seen Bengal tigers, jag­uar, pumas or ser­val cats, other than in pic­tures! Well at Jukani Wildlife Park you get to see them all, admit­tedly with a bit of coax­ing from the guide and her meat bucket!

Jukani lies just out­side Mossel Bay, with indic­at­ing signs off the N2 en route to Cape Town. On enter­ing the Park, hav­ing paid an admis­sion fee of R280 for two adults and two chil­dren, it is clear that the facil­ity is well main­tained and each enclos­ure appears to be of a suit­able size for the creatures it houses. All of Jukani’s anim­als are wild, though many have been bred in cap­tiv­ity. The park exists to pre­serve the dif­fer­ent spe­cies, and in some cases has taken in anim­als that have been abused and mis­treated. Continued