Today is Heritage day in South Africa, and you'll find most South Africans around a fire of some sort to celebrate. Always celebrate your heritage!
Have you ever seen an elephant drink water from a dry river bed? Yup, completely dry, and he just went there, dug a hole, and proceeded to drink water for at least 15 minutes!
#elephants #aaadventuressa #cometothekaroo #dryriverbed #waterinthekaroo #privatetours #personalizedtours #visitsouthafrica #lovesouthafrica #myafricansafari #africanwildlife
It may be quite common in our area, but the Pied Avocet is rather unusual looking with that long curved beak. They are said to enjoy πΆπ±π¦π―π₯πͺπ―π¨ π₯πΆπ€π¬ π΄π΅πΊππ¦ π΅π° π§π¦π¦π₯, as can be clearly seen!
We were only quick enough to get the Bustard flying out of the frame, unfortunately not the Kori Bustard, one of the smaller ones, could it be a Ludwigs?
The Kori Bustard is the largest flying bird, native to Africa. The wingspan of this Bustard can reach up to 9 feet (275cm), and they weigh up to 41 pounds (19kg).
One day we'll get one of them flying on a video too!
A look inside the Owl house in Nieu Bethesda. Helen Martins was a really interesting person! She had such a difficult life, but she still managed to create this magical world that we can glimpse into, so many years later.
And we're on about the elephants again... the boys were a little grumpy I'd say!
Time to visit another Park, perhaps our favourite Mountain Zebra National Park? No, think the next one will be more towards Graaff-Reinet. Can't wait to get some different shots of the Valley of Desolation.
Have you seen the signs at Addo, asking you to be mindful of the dung beetles? It's frightening to see how many people drive over the dung in the road,, not considering the possibility that there may be a Flightless dung beetle doing what he does best.
Watch out please, this is a wild park, they don't sweep the roads to get rid of the dung, it requires us as visitors to be vigilant to keep these guys alive.
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Love these birds, and it's amazing how still they stand, hoping that you won't notice them. They are difficult to see in the veld, until you notice them, then you can't unsee them.
Did you know that there are a few collective nouns for giraffe? Or is it just that guides decide to make them up, based on behavior. Whilst it is correct to refer to a group of giraffe as a herd, what's the fun in that?
The most commonly used term is a "journey of giraffe", and it does seem to be the most fitting. But should it be a "tower" if they're standing still, or perhaps a "kaleidoscope" based on their patterns?
Whichever way you look at it, these are magnificent gentle animals, as long as you observe them without interference. Get between a mother and her calf, and that will be a whole other story!
Sometimes when you have really good animal sightings in a Park, you forget that you've been sitting in a vehicle for a couple of hours. It's important to take a break, and stretch out those limbs so that you're ready for the rest of the day's viewing.
We've had the opportunity to visit elephants quite a bit recently. The experience just never gets old. They are such majestic gentle giants! They do cause quite a bit of destruction when you look at the vegetation, but a lot of that is actually good, as it helps some trees and plants to multiply and survive in the harsher climates.
Such wonderful synergy in nature. Watching these egrets following the elephants around, so that they can chomp up whatever is disturbed by their grazing. We've seen a lot more egrets around than usual, must have something to do with the great rains that we've had recently.
