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Quite right.
A kill is a kill. It does not have to be big & hairy.
I witnessed a Burchell's coucal kill a chameleon from Mantambeni hide.

Probably the one my dad saw on 22 July at the causeway.

I agree. It was said tongue in cheek. From the bridge at LS we saw a croc catching a barbel, with a goliath heron standing right next to it, picking out the bits and pieces from the kill. Great sighting! The otter from Nkhulu should have been there.....

Like I said, its great that tourists to our country get to see special and different aspects of nature. Let alone us SA citizens. We are very priveledged to have the reserves we have, right on our doorstep.

Agreed Jane.

I just think that first timers here after the 'big 5' hype, might not appreciate some rarity like the otter as much as we who go regularly do.

This a pic of the otter seen at Lower Sabie. Sorry about the poor quality - I got it off my video footage. (Have tried for days to upload the video on tinypic - unsuccessfully, so this is the best I can do!



{fixed link - BGS}

Good enough

Thanks Jane, great sighting.

Amazing Jane!

Still on my "wish list"!

We stayed in the Southern Drakensberg for this past long weekend and there were 4 CCO's swimming around in the little dam surrounding the cottage.
Does their diet include fish as well as we were told they only ate crustaceans?

Elsa, as far as I know their diet includes fish as well.

They have a taste for crabs and frogs, and less commonly eat fish. The shells of the crabs are crushed with the strong cheek teeth and everything is eaten. They also eat birds, bird's eggs and insects. (Google info)

The one I saw at Betty's Bay penguin colony caught a fish in the sea & ate it on the shore.

They most definitely eat fish as well! That is one of the things you can id them on. CCO eats from the head, small spotted from the tail. Except barbel - both eat them from the tail. They actively hunt and catch the fish. When you've got drought and fish concentrated in shallow water otters can wreak havoc, and you see half-eaten fish everywhere.

And crabs are also an indicator of which species. CCO eats everything, including the shell/carapace. Small spotted, with their smaller mouth, don't tackle big crabs, and leave the shells. So if you see crab shells it is either small spotted, or even water mongoose, while if you see lots of crab shell remnants in the dung it is most likely CCO.

Stayed in Tent 21 at Lower Sabie for one night only on 4th Sept - a fantastic view (must be a contender for best accommodation in the camp?) and we had great fun listening to a choir of hippo in good voice throughout much of the evening. In the morning, having packed up the gear and loaded the car, I went back onto the balcony for one last fond farewell to the view. Level with our tent towards the far side of the river I could see a disturbance - and seconds later 2 otters raced out of the water onto the bank being chased by a hippo!

The otters merrily skipped around and soon had a healthy lead, and ran back into the river, swimming downstream. A great sighting - but all the cameras, camcorder and binoculars were in the car!