Blogging at SANParks (yes there is more to parking!)

Popped out quickly yesterday for a visit to the WCNP, specifically Geelbek’s bird hide. The quickly part being due to a pushing tide. Heading off to the park, I worried the wind would be blowing too hard, but on arrival in Langebaan, it wasn’t unpleasant at all. On route to Geelbek we stopped to place a teeny tiny tortoise out of harms way…harms way in this case being a constant stream of ladies in large 4×4’s, not all sticking to the speed limit, sadly enough

The tide was moving in fast at the hide, pushing the Curlew Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstone ever closer to the hide until they took off, almost in unison, to another shoreline. A lone Grey Plover stood to one side of the hide in the shallows and  an immature Grey Heron posed statue-like in deeper waters. A Caspian Tern hovered and dove several times into the lagoon before managing to catch lunch.

On the way back a Southern Black Korhaan crossed the road and a pair of Black Harriers flew overhead. Of course ostriches were ever present as were Karoo Scrub-robins.

My birding withdrawal jitters over, I am now ready to face a busy week!

Jay

p.s. if anyone knows of a REALLy good guide(book) to waders, please let me know…..

We do have lots of activities we offer to the guests visiting the different camps, but Olifants has the most.  Just to tell you a little bit more about what you might expect on the different guided expeditions:

As all of you know with the animal sightings, it is to be at the right place, at the right time, so unfortunately the guides guess is just as good as yours of what animals are going to be find on the activities.

The Morning and Sunset drives offered I would suggest, because you do have a longer time period while it is still light and it helps to see further and chances to spot more animals.  The Night drives are a different experience and only animals that are close to the road can be picked up with the spotlights.

Unfortunately the walks and drives can not be compared because it is 2 different experiences.

On the walks the guides cover more the small things which you normally don’t focus on, while driving.  Normally you see less animals on the walks because while driving you cover a much bigger distance and the animals behavior is completely different from a vehicle than on foot.  (Quoted from Berg en Dal Sightings- Then we found an amazing sighting of one of the Bark Spiders that was busy taking down its web. I knew they do it, but seen it for the first time. You see that is what makes the walks soooo special, the small things you will never see out of the vehicle.)

Then  Olifants Rest Camp has the Morning and Afternoon Mountain Bikes, River walk and Astronomy (Star Gazing) which the other camps unfortunately don’t have.

The Sighting which is normally guaranteed on the Mountain bikes are the Hippo’s, where you stop to have a break and view them while enjoying your drinks and snacks.

For the bird lovers and especially the water birds the River walks are concentrating on this and also to give you a closer look at the Hippo’s and Crocodiles.

It is a much shorter walk than the Morning and Afternoon Walks, but still a nice experience.

Then my favorite was to do the Astronomy, it is just amazing to see the night skies from a View point like Nwamanzi where the Astronomy is held if the weather allows it.

With this activity you can learn more about the constellations (star signs), different planets, Clusters, Nebula’s and our other 2 Galaxies you can only see from the Southern Hemisphere.  Ai how do I miss this activity now!!!

We also offer the Bush Braais and Bush Breakfasts, these ones includes a drive before you enjoy your meal prepared by the Restaurant below the African Night Skies (Bush Braai), and listening at all the guides experiences in the bush.

The time period and costs of all the activities differ, but can be gained from the camps.

I have noticed that the Steppe Buzzards and Yellow-billed Kites have for the most part departed our shores, well at least here on the West Coast anyway I did spot a Mountain Buzzard the weekend before last, almost got rear ended as I slammed on breaks when I spotted the gorgeous bird sitting on a pole. I keep meaning to get a sign for the back of my car “DANGEROUS driver: brakes suddenly for ALL birds.”

The bird got logged on the sightings list for SABAP2, yeah, finally got round to doing a pentad…and of course the birds did what birds do…..hid from sight lol! The Red-capped, Large-billed and Cape Long-billedLark which are usually present at one particular spot were mere fleeting glimpses, too fleeting to log with certainty. But I will repeat this pentad come winter and hopefully the birds will play with this time!

And to the migratory birds seeya come summer

Jay

Some duties which a Guide sometimes needs to fulfil is to go and catch snakes out of the guests bungalow.  On the 2nd of January about 22:20 I had a call from my Duty Manager to say there is a snake at number 36, so I went out and identified it as a Brown House Snake.  It is a constrictor that grabs its prey and suffocate it to death.  So it is not venomous at all and picked it up and showed the guests the 2 creamish colour lines on the side of its eyes with the brown skin colour.  That is the easiest way to identify it.  Say good night to the guests and off I went, and thought, sjoe luckily that was a easy one!!

 Just got back in my room, here is the cellphone ringing again, another snake at 91,  and it was the same bungalow where I caught a puffadder in the afternoon.  Got there and see but hey it is the same guys as in 36.  They showed me where the snake is, and there it was, a small Earthworm size black, brown in colour with not a clear distinction between the tail and the head and couldn’t identify it, but looked like a Blind mole Snake which is also not venomous.  It went into a little hole between the 2 bricks and asked for low warm water to pour it down the hole.  It came sailing out and I picked it up with my hands and talked to the guests, saying I am going to sleep now, because tomorrow I am waking up early again.  And the snake catcher in my one hand and this harmless little earthworm in the other I jumped over the small wall, instead of walking around it.  Suddenly I just felt lots of burning pain and knew the thing had bitten me, but not scared at all, because the blind mole snake is not venomous.  Climbed into my bakkie and the pain got so bad, that my whole thumb went numb and I couldn’t hold onto the snake anymore and it fell out of my hand inside my bakkie.  Climbed out showed the guests it bit me and said hope it is not venomous.  Called my Duty Manager, explained what happened, and got to my room starting paging through my snake book of Johan Marais- A Guide to the Snakes in Southern Africa.

 In the mean while I let my mom know, which was a big mistake, because immediately the maternal care kicked in and called my friend where I had a braai before I was called out.  My friend said quickly rush to me and my dad will take you to the Doctor.  At that time my whole hand was burning and Identified it as a Southern Stiletto Snake, which says in nice Red letters: DANGEROUS, which means hospital care is needed.

 To make a long story short, eventually after about an hour and 10 minutes after the snake bite I arrived at the hospital, my whole arm is dead, all my glands were swollen of its neurotoxic venom and my throat was completely dry.  Luckily the casualty personnel was quick and the drip was in my right arm, feeding antibiotics through. 

 I went into ICU for 2 and a half days for observation, and got morfien twice for the pain.  They discharged me on the Saturday afternoon and was booked off until the 21st of January.  Luckily with all the prayers and thoughts of everyone I recovered well and didn’t loose any fingers or anything!!!

 The big lesson I learned out of this whole situation is not to judge a snake on its size, colour, or thickness, but to handle all snakes as if they are venomous!!!

There is a Steppe Buzzard in my neighbourhood, very exciting as this is the first one I have seen this close to home. Of course it perched just far away enough that I need binocs …and a huge lens if I wanted a decent photo! It reminded me of that massive lens we saw in Kruger (now in December). We were on our way out the park and it was raining cats and dogs…kind of reflected how I felt, even though rain is always so welcome that time of year. Sightings were scarce, but suddenly the rain stopped for a while and we saw White-winged Widowbird at every turn.
And then we came upon a car standing parked with absolutely the biggest lens I have ever laid eyes on (nogals with a camouflage pattern) sticking out the window. He had the lens trained on the widowbird, but we, and every car that passed, was far more fascinated by the sight of the gigantic lens! Well now if I had that lens I could have posted a nice close-up pic of my buzzard.

 Jay 

The grocery cupboard is empty this morning and I decide to go shopping, but at a store over the Berg River, then I can squeeze some birding in too! I also pop in at my parents and casually mention that someone on the SANParks forums had seen an Allen’s Gallinule at Lake Panic (Kruger National Park).
“What does it look like?” asks my dad. I search for a quick explanation…
” It’s like an African Jacana but purple with a red bill.”
” I saw it,” he says. I eye him silently… he is a novice birder after all and…well…he runs off and comes back with his PDA and pushes it under my nose. True as bob, there it is in technicolour! Nice pic too.
” Your mom took it with her new camera,” he says truimphantly, “but you know what else we saw…” he runs off again and comes back with his new video camera (yeah it was just xmas wasn’t it?). He show me footage of a Piet-my-vrou singing it’s heart out…aso taken at Lake panic…on the same day….and it was just him and my mom there that day. They had Lake Panic to themselves, added two birds to their lists which I don’t have, and I was back home while they had remained in Kruger…talk about adding insult to injury!

Well anyone heading to Lake Panic, the bird is nesting there so you are sure to see it. But for heaven’s sake don’t tell me!!! okay I am (half) joking…

Jay

Yup, back in the real world and writing because I feel guilty; I should be telling all about the incredible bird sightings in KNP, but the moment the brain heard I was going home it zapped me with a good dose of flu! So once my nose returns to it’s normal shade and my eyes stop watering, I solemnly vow to ramble on about all the raptor sightings, the rain bringing out the unusual crew…and the biggest camera lens I have EVER laid my eyes on!

Jay

Tomorrow I am off to birder’s paradise aka Kruger National Park….I have packed my new Robert’s ( a pressie from Gwen ) and all the photography toys…and checked the weather report….some rain by Tuesday, which is cool (literally too) and which always brings the birds out; cooler weather than usual for about a week. So here’s hoping this treasure hunt will be a great one. Which brings me to a little thought that has been niggling since yesterday after receiving a certain sms from a certain someone concerning my seeming blaseness about keeping a bird count; true, I am guilty of this, the birds are ticked off for each trip in a separate tick list. It needs reconciling. An idiosyncracy most probabaly yes, but also a great and easy way to keep tabs on what birds were seen each trip if one is somewhat challenged in the file keeping department.

But all I really care about RIGHT now is climbing on a plane and heading for the birder’s paradise….. ( I have left a meticulously written list of instructions for my house sitter concerning keeping the bird baths filled.)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!

Jay

I saw a Yellow-breasted Pipit on this lat trip to KNP…how I saw it was kinda quaint; driving along on a tar stretch down south ( yup, I can’t remeber exactly where because I am directionally challenged). The little bird stepped into the road and ever so sedately walked across the road. I was thoroughly bemused, firstly by it walking in front of a car and secondly it was almost as though it was parading past me so that I could ID it good and proper. So I made a wish after that…something along the lines of “please can I see all LBJ’s in the same way…” and then reconsidered. I am too much into the “treasure hunt” aspect of birding. I don’t want the treasure strewn in my direct line of vision, I WANT to search LOL! In a few days I am off to KNP again, and I am hoping all sorts of treasure lies hidden in the veld for me to find!

Jay

Many people often ask aren’t you scared working with all these dangerous animals, yes when I started working in the Park you are quite cautious, especially for the big hairy ones, but after a while you do start to know their behaviour and start to feel more comfortable, but the secret is, not to get too comfortable with the bush, because you might know 99% of all the animals behaviour, but for that outstanding % they do stay wild and unreadable.  But as time goes by and doing all the activities you start realising this.  As with my Rhino experiences the past 2 months, where they didn’t want to come off the road, Quoted- ”Then something very strange, and already an hour late, 5 White Rhino’s 500 metres from the Berg en Dal Gate in the road. I tried to push them forward but then the cow got upset and tried to chase us back. In the mean while a bull came on the scene and there was no ways that they want to allow us to pass, they were complaining with each other, most probably the mother who tried to protect the calf. The guests didn’t want me to drive forward, so I tried clapping hands, hitting on the side of the vehicle, throwing rocks at them but everything was a loss case.

I had to call Stephen 22:40 to come and help me chasing them off the road, but that was a mission as well. They were just plain “harde gat” (difficult) and eventually we arrived in the camp 23:10 instead of 21:00. It was definitely a drive which I will never forget. And hopefully for the scared guests as well.”
Or where they are sooo curious they don’t want to leave us alone, Quoted- ”This morning on the walk we found 5 white Rhino’s, with our first sighting the 2 cows just didn’t want to leave us alone, they kept on walking with us.”

Yes, so the saying is true: you are never too knowledgable or too old to learn something new.

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