… the ostrich!

This is a typical African bird, and, despite being hunted to near extinction in the 18th century, is back from the brink and can be seen regularly in the Kruger Park. It is one of a very few animals we don’t have on our safari reserve (yet). We visit the Kruger Park several times each week, and we see them on these occasions almost every time.

A little bit of background information about the ostrich!

First of all, it is the fastest land runner of all birds, and cannot fly at all. It runs up to speeds of 70 km/h and can outrun pretty much any of its predators, with the exception of the cheetah which is quite specialized in hunting ostrich. That said, an ostrich bird can run at this speed for extended periods of time (I have myself witnessed an ostrich running along our car on a straight road for minutes on end, and almost outrunning us!), and so the cheetah has a relatively small window of opportunity to bring down an ostrich. They are also very tough animals and are known to have even killed lions with strong kicks using their long and powerful legs. When seeing humans they usually run away, as they correctly identify humans as predators.

Ostrich farming started in the 19th century, in the Cape region, for various reasons. Its meat is similar to beef, very rich in protein, iron and calcium, but with very low cholesterol and fat levels. A very healthy diet indeed! Its skin can be turned into one of the toughest leathers and the feathers are used for dusters and decorative purposes. One ostrich egg is as large as 24 chicken eggs, so that makes for big omelets. 😉

Ostriches are truly giant animals, and their heads can tower up to 2.8m, ie. an entire meter above a fully grown man’s head. They are very impressive!

Interesting fact: when the “Jurassic Park” film was produced the computer animators used the typical ostrich way of running as a template to animate the dinosaurs’ movements. This is very evident when one watches the movie a second time and pays attention. The same is also true for the modelling of the dinosaurs’ feet in the film. Take a look at an ostrich’s feet when you see one of these giant birds while you are on an African safari with us.

Here a couple of photos that Pierre took a few days ago in the Kruger Park. I hope to seeing you soon here at the Vuyani Safari Lodge, and we can show you the real thing!

 

 

 

Usually when confronted with the question “So what are the Big5 animals?”, most people will guess that the elephant is one of them, and also the lion, and often the rhino, but, surprisingly enough, the buffalo is not often recalled. And that despite it being by far the most common of the Big5! One can see herds of hundreds roaming the Kruger Park, and they can be seen all over Africa.

The reason why it is part of the Big5 is because the very term “Big5” is a hunter term, ie. it means that it is a dangerous animal to hunt. But in no way does “Big5” mean that they are the largest of African animals, or the rarest. Far from it!

So, buffalos: what about them? Many guests and even rangers often think of them as something little more interesting than cows, but this is misleading. The buffalo is in no way an ancestor to modern cattle animals. It is also only distantly related to other bovine species. Because of their highly unpredictable and erratic behavior, buffalos have never been domesticated, hence their inclusion also into the group of the Big5. They are dangerous to humans! Over 200 people each year are killed in Africa by buffalos, making it one of the most dangerous animals to roam the African plains, right up there with the hippos and the crocodiles.

Now buffalos are very tough and heavy animals, weighing up to an astonishing 900kg in some cases. The males also have a very unique feature which is the fused bases of the horns, a base so tough that even rifle bullets will not penetrate it. The distance between the tips of the horns can measure up to a meter!

While buffalos often graze in large herds, counting up to hundreds of members, one also often spots older bulls out on their own. These are the most dangerous types! They can be very grumpy and aggressive, and one should keep a healthy distance to these guys.

See below a photo that Andre took a few days ago in the Kruger. That guy was one of those grumpy old types! Not to be messed with indeed.

 

 

 

 

I had the pleasure of meeting Rosmore and his family personally at the lodge, and it was a real pleasure hosting them here! They had travelled all the way from Pennsylvania to visit their son Rosmore, who is currently serving in the US military in West Africa. Rosmore told me that he liked it there, but that he had been disappointed by the fact that there is little to no large African wildlife game to be seen there, so he had travelled to South Africa to finally see it. Very cool of him to invite his parents to to come along on his African safari trip, and they all had a throughly good time over here.

Rosmore left me a memory chip with all the photos he took, and as I went through them I realized they had seen quasi all there is to be seen here in terms of famous wildlife. See for yourselves below! Rosmore took a good bunch of truly brilliant photos, and I am very grateful to him that I can share them with our fans. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Amongst the many more famous African animals, such as lions, leopards, giraffes, elephants, zebras and dozens of others we often forget to think and talk about the hundreds of different species of birds that inhabit our safari game reserve. In many cases these are at least as interesting (if not more so), and often more endangered than some of the larger mammals that our guests love to see.

Mike, who’s one of our rangers, took some beautiful shots of some birds that he saw last week while out on safari with our guests.

So let’s introduce some of them!

First up, the African Gray Hornbill.

This is a widespread and common bird in much of sub-Saharan Africa and even into Arabia. It is omnivorous, taking insects, fruit and reptiles and is usually seen feeding in trees. Here Mike’s shot!

 

 

Next up a beautiful Woodland Kingfisher. This bird is aggressively territorial, attacking intruders including humans. It has a striking display where the wings are spread widely to show white linings. It is seen regularly here, and is in my eyes one of the prettiest birds to be seen on our reserve. I often see them near one of our many lakes.

 

Now to a relatively rare bird, the stunning Bateleur eagle. It is estimated that only a few tens of thousands are still in the wild. We see them on a daily basis, and for any birder this is a delight. “Bateleur” in French means “Street Performer” which includes tight-rope walking. The name describes the bird’s characteristic habit of rocking its wings from side to side when in flight, so it looks very similar. This is very noticeable when we observe them in flight here too.

In 2009, the Bateleur was placed on the Near-Threatened IUAN Red List Category. Decline of the species is suspected to have been moderately rapid over the past three generations. We are pleased that our reserve is a sanctuary for this incredibly beautiful species!
See for yourselves. Many thanks to Mike for this shot. Well done!

 

Last up a well known bird, the White Stork. This bird breeds in Europe, and then spends its winter in the Southern hemisphere, and so as such we have them on visit here from November to March typically. Great sighting here from Mike, and absolutely beautiful shot.