Death…Where Does the Fault Lie?

Sad News...

Two sad snippets of news out of our Africa this week, have gone unnoticed by the world at large.  Neither story will have any impact on global economy or world politics and would have been largely ignored by mainstream media, unless they were picked up to be manipulated for the awwww factor. But both of these events perfectly illustrate why humans who care, have to intervene; becoming the buffers between a wild and ancient world and the mechanically enlightened murderers of the twenty-first century.

Another Baby Elephant Calf

Kunda was only three weeks old when he was discovered, stressed and terrified, on a busy trucking highway in north-western Zimbabwe. Somehow he had become separated from his mother and his herd (very unusual - maybe poachers got his mother) and was facing certain death; His rescuers lost the three-week battle to keep him alive on Thursday, last week. In his brief stay in captivity, his wonderful character enchanted all those involved in his care. Read the full story here... 

Rhinos in the Veld

Rhino Poaching Increases... 

Rhino poaching is on the rise; in South Africa, the WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) stated government statistics showed 448 rhinos were lost to poaching in 2011 over the figure of 333, the all time high the year before. With South Africa losing twenty-one rhinos to poachers in the first fifteen days of 2012, rhino losses will set a new record this year.

At the Lion and Rhino Nature Reserve in the Cradle of Humankind, Spencer, the old bull rhino, was just the latest in the herd to have his horn removed; a necessary anti-poaching measure to save these threatened animals. He died of unknown causes, while undergoing this commonplace procedure on Friday, last week. Spencer will be autopsied to try to establish the cause of his death. 

You can read more about this loss here...

I say, Spencer was a "technical death by poacher", maybe so was Kunda. Who knows? What would you say is the true figure of death by poacher? Is it really four hundred and forty-eight Rhino? I personally don't think so. This is a point for review, on all animals poached. 

Much of the death, cost and suffering with far-reaching consequences, I lay at the  poachers' door. So many times, vets and conservationists are blamed for the deaths of animals, when in fact the poacher issue is never considered. 

So much unsaid is "technical death by poacher"!

“One must not give up on trying to help orphaned and vulnerable wildlife, despite the heartbreaks.”

                       

           Conservation expert: Gordon Putterill

A Walk on the Wild Side…The Wrap-up!

What went wrong?

What the Rivers Look Like

Quite simply, nothing! A beautiful day and an experience not to forget…One of the reasons that we hadn’t gone to The Kruger National Park long before; was the very incorrect perception that it would be like an overcrowded zoo. Growing up around wildlife in a natural setting, you feel that maybe the public facilities of a National Park can’t hold any appeal…Way wrong!

Emerald Spotted Wood Dove

The remarkable atmosphere is really the stage for the animal characters. The heavy, gentle, heat with its resultant stillness is one aspect but how? Every bush, shrub, tree or patch of grass is alive with, well…life!  Birds, snakes, lizards, dung beetles, caterpillars, termites and more and more again; how is it that they are all so motionless?  There are birds everywhere, but even their calls are subdued…until the heat starts to fade and in the slightly cooler air, everything leaves somnolence behind.

Lilac Breasted Roller

These are a couple of extra photo’s that I couldn’t squeeze in attractively during the week.

All this wild-ness is only a short drive from the very busy provincial capital (Nelspruit) and a couple of hours from Johannesburg! Africa, more than any other place, has this juxtaposition where nomadic pastoral lifestyle meets the 21^st century… In Kenya, you can watch jets landing at Nairobi Airport from a Land Rover while viewing wildlife in the adjacent game reserve and similar contrasts occur all over the continent.

Southern Carmine Bee-eaters

If you are reading this from cold and snowy Europe, stay warm, stay safe. I hope you've enjoyed this series. Wherever you may be, have a great weekend.

Thanks to Wikipedia for the last two photo's.

A Walk on the Wild Side - Kruger National Park... Part IV

Later, that afternoon…

A Cape Buffalo

Heading back toward civilization, we saw our first cluster of Cape buffalo – about fifteen in all. 

Looking Down on Us All

 
And just after the buffalo, some kudu and giraffe; the sultry heat was gradually being replaced by the cool of late afternoon, bringing more game into the open. 

Kudu

Then, crossing a causeway over a stream with small boulders on either side; a turtle catching the last rays of the sun on a rock.  He was so close I could have reached out of the car door and ’turtlenapped’ him if I’d been so inclined.  Since he was the size of a melon with thick scaly legs and an even longer, leathery neck ending in a very business-like beak, which should protect him, but sadly many of them are taken out of the Park each year. This was the African Helmeted Turtle, occurring all over Africa from the Cape Province to Ghana in West Africa.

African Helmeted Turtle

Tired and thoroughly happy with our day, we headed for the nearest gate and home.  We had made a large loop through the park, like a giant “C” and driven through several ecosystems seeing a good number of animals.  As it was getting late and the sun had almost set, the day was effectively over…We had about twenty minutes to leave the Park and didn’t anticipate any more excitement…

Zebra

The zebra were standing completely still, only the twitching of an ear and the occasional flick of a tail, giving them away under the thorn trees.  Good thing they were on M’s side as I would have missed them completely!

Leopard - Another Time, Another Place

Not even fifteen minutes later, we were out of the Park at the Paul Kruger Gate and heading home via Hazyview, the banana growing capital of South Africa’s Lowveld. We had seen all of the big five (bar one) – only the leopard was missing. Of course, you will have to allow us the White Rhino (that we saw) instead of the much more dangerous, threatened Black Rhino (that we didn’t see)… We had spent the most amazing day and it’s hard to believe that all this was in our “backyard”.  

Tomorrow, the wrap-up and and a few more pictures...

A Walk on the Wild Side - Kruger National Park... Part III

Today, we cross the bridge over the Sand and Sabie Rivers in early afternoon…

Hippos in the River

These rivers are wide for the dry African bush, at least 200 meters across. While the Sabi River was full of water, the Sand River, just above the confluence, was mostly empty, with pools. The bridge crosses both rivers as they merge and is great viewpoint for hippo and birds such as the Giant Kingfisher. 

Giant Kingfisher

After we had left the bridge, we headed toward the western border of the Park.  Driving along the banks of the Sand River, we saw lion almost parallel to the carcass that we had seen from the bridge. They were lazing around under some trees, mostly sleeping but others were watching us warily. 

Young Male Lion

The pride consisted of females and young males whose manes were just beginning to show. Unfortunately, they were difficult to see, lying as they were, in dappled shade with the sunlight reflecting off the white sand of the riverbed behind them.

Butterflies and Lions

Not long after the Lion, we were forced to a stop by a group of frisky Impala playing “cross- the-road”; back and forth, having a whale of a time, totally ignoring the car and their spellbound audience.

Pretty Boy?

I would have thought that the animals in general would be a lot more afraid of people and vehicles than they proved to be. After all, they are completely wild and the Park can be a very dangerous place if you wander away from your vehicle. Last year, a game ranger, taking tourists on a night drive, went to the back of the jeep to check something in the road and just disappeared! Later investigations discovered that he had been taken by a Leopard... Even the professionals can forget to be cautious.

Later in the day, we are treated to more great views; join me for Part IV tomorrow...

A Walk on the Wild Side - Kruger National Park... Part II

Here we are again; deep in the heart of the Kruger National Park... Late morning and in the heat, a thick and languid stillness has settled over the reserve... 

Monkeys near Skukuza

We stopped to eat at Skukuza Camp (a village really) about noon and after lunch, took the drive that goes along the banks of the Sand and Sabie rivers to the confluence.  Here we saw a troop of monkeys and with them were Impala and Kudu, before we even got to the river. The drowsy heat appeared to be affecting the animals also and they watched us through half closed eyes, as we watched them.

Along the river banks there were lots of Impala and with one group, a lone Bushbuck (shy and hard to spot).

Bushbuck

Out in the river, on a long sandbank were groups of Marabou Storks. Looking like aging country clerics in rusty black vestments, they tottered about on incredibly spindly legs, swiveling their bald heads, with the enormous beaks, toward the slightest movements. They are huge birds. Apart from their size, they have very strong beaks and even vultures treat them with respect. 

Marabou Stork

The next ahhhh moment was provided by a group of seven Elephants, an adult bull and 2 big cows with 2 juvenile females and 2 babies. We watched them, mesmerized, for a long time (everyone coming down the road stopped) as they ambled along the riverbank and played in the water. I think all the gawping vehicles finally got to them, because they suddenly wheeled away from the water and crossing the road, they oozed into the bush; seeing animals that large just melt out of sight is awesome… After that, we’d have been very happy but there were more treats in store! 

Elephants - Sabie River

Since we had turned onto the road along the river’s edge, we had been traveling toward a ragged gathering of vultures, circling in the far distance. Crossing the bridge we saw, down on the dry portion of the riverbed, the carcass of something hidden by a mass of the scavengers. Life and death are all part of the reality; one animal dies so that many may live. Although the spot was too far away to see any details, it appeared that the vultures had succeeded in chasing off the last of the carnivores. This tapestry of feathers just fitted the scene so perfectly. 

Vultures

All around us, various buck were calmly nibbling on green shoots growing where the water had pooled. In the dry landscape, the river was edged with bright green and in the still water, oddly molded sand islands rise above the surface. Huge trees on the inner banks hang over the reed edged pools and palms sweep the sand. Rounded boulders dot the water at the turns and bends. It is so beautiful, it’s hard to describe without sinking into the quicksand of clichés... 

Africa at her best! 



Part III tomorrow...

A Walk on the Wild Side - Kruger National Park...

Join us this week and share this experience; the day we first discovered South Africa’s most famous and oldest nature reserve...

Bridge over the Crocodile River into the Park

Although M and I have spent a lot of time in the bush, much of it in Timbavati, bordering the Kruger Park, where M’s family had farms; we had never actually been into the Kruger (as locals know it).  We were living near Nelspruit, Mpumalanga in 2002 (when this happened­) and were about to leave for a doctor’s appointment in Johannesburg when his (the doc's) office called to cancel – there had been some emergency… Suddenly, on this beautiful, early August morning, there was a whole day in front of us and giddy with the prospect, we decided to play hooky!

Kruger Park Grassland

We first drove to Malelane (the closest town to Nelspruit on route to Mozambique) to look around and stopped at an inn to have coffee, on their deck, jutting out over the Crocodile River.  There were Hippos in the river and crocs sunning themselves on the far bank which is the southern border of the Kruger Park. Just down the road, there’s a bridge over the river leading to the Malelane Gate and into the Park and on the spur of the moment, we went to find out more.  

Hippos

Day-visitors are welcome and the distances between gates are not as long as we thought; so in we went and spent the whole day driving all over and seeing plenty of wildlife. The park is huge, the size of a small country, and runs North and South along the border with Mozambique on the east. There are access gates in and out of the park every hundred (or so) kilometers and it is easily possible to go in one gate and then out the next in a single day. We arrived at the Malelane Gate in the morning and left by the Paul Kruger Gate that evening, before 6 o’clock.

Very Big, Very Ugly

It wasn’t the best time for game, according to the people at the gate, as the summer rains had not yet begun and the veld was very dry; but the dry winter season is the best time to visit this region for various reasons. Daytime temperatures are milder and although Malaria isn’t prevalent this far south, it is even less of a threat in the dry. Viewing wildlife in the lush, thick growth of summer is difficult; animals are easier to spot in thinner vegetation and tend to frequent rivers and waterholes.

White Rhino in Kruger

Join me tomorrow for Part II...

Africa's Own, The Benguela Dolphin…

Sometimes, walking along the windswept beach, watching the rhythm of the waves, you’ll catch the flash and glimmer of creatures playing in the swell. But stop for a moment, really look and the image resolves into a group of exceptionally small *Killer Whales!?! No, can’t be *Killer Whales – these are much too small… maybe porpoises? But the markings are black and white? 

...Welcome to this post. Please go to Wildmoz to see all our new articles on wildlife as they appear. We are also publishing all our African Folktales in their full version in e-books for readers, PDFs, etc. as well as in ... Welcome to this post. Please go to Wildmoz to see all our new articles on wildlife as they appear. We are also publishing all our African Folktales in their full version in e-books for readers, PDFs, etc. as well as in hard copies. 

Keep a look out for these wonderful little stories for children and adults alike at Wildmoz.com. Collect for yourself a set of twelve, in the format of your choice, as and when they are available...

The Benguela Dolphin