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Talking of ellies mudding themselves, saw this guy at the Maloutswa bird hide in Mapungubwe enjoying a good mud bath.

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Was watching kudu and warthog at the hide when the ellie showed up. Only myself and another gentleman in the hide.

Here is the before mud bath photo.


Interesting to see that he loosened the mud with is right front foot to dirty the water before spraying it unto him a job he seemed to enjoy a lot making huge splashes


Trunk spraying did not seem to give the desired effect and he went over to the rolling technique.
This is just before he got up and left.

This photo was taken a few years back during a census:

(Image by Dr. Ian White)

Hehe

Now, that´s the famous Mapungubwe Zonkey (Equus mapungubwensis)!

It has been living in the eastern section of the park for a couple of years already and is seen every once in a while. Last year I was priviledged to sit in the chopper with dr. Ian Whyte during the 2006 game count and we saw the animal as well. Just as on the picture is was happily running with the zebbies, totally undiscriminated by its striped friends.

The animal is obviously sterile, so no need for an outcry in the evolution-is-over-we-have-to-keep-our-animal´s-genes-pure scene

That is a very interesting animal!!

These animals are listed on the site:
Common:
-Eland
-Blue Wildebeest
-Waterbuck
-Bushbuck
-Duiker
-Giraffe
-Warthog
-Elephant
-Kudu
-Zebra
-Impala
-Klipspringer
-Steenbok
-Gemsbok
-Bushpig
-Baboon
-Leopard
-Aardvark

Rare:
-Red hartebeest
-Lion
-Cheetah
-Wild dog
-White Rhino
-Hyaena (brown and spotted)

Seeing this list reminds me I had an awesome sighting of two Bat-eared Foxes in the Western Section of Mapungubwe! The park must be the most eastern part of their distribution, as it is for Gemsbok. I wonder when the Sociable Weavers will move in.

As for the rare animals: White Rhinos are to be found in the Eastern section, as are Red Hartbeest - which are much easier to find since a new group was introduced from the former Vaalbos NP. Lion sightings are increasing in both sections and both Hyaenas are also regularly seen and - much more often - heard. The predators have moved in from Botswana and some are now resident. More and more reports about free roaming Wild Dogs are coming from the area and sightings from the park itself have been reported. The Wild Dog tours in the neighboring Venetia Reserve can be quite thrilling. Cheetahs are seen, but very very seldom.

Hey Joel, wow bat-eared foxes! When did you see them?

27th of December last year, so regarded it as a belated Xmas present. Bat-eared foxes are known to show themselves only on or around public holidays... No, really

That interesting... Have you seen them before?

Has anybody else seen in them in this park?

I have only seen them once, which empirically proves that they come out of hiding around public holidays... I know they are sometimes seen in the larger area, but there aren´t many reports from within Mapungubwe itself. That´s why I was extra chuffed! (And I missed them during my Kgalagadi trip )

I also have to add that I now remember that a Kruger guide told me about the occasional sighting in KNP! By rangers that is, hardly by tourists. There´s even a thread on this topic, also featuring a certain WAC

Just to add a little to the animal list.

Guides were telling us that there are 4 rhino's in the park. 3 of them are always together and one loner. Our guide had only ever seen the loner a few times, never the trio. Strange.

On our day of leaving we saw a mixed herd of red hartebeest(7) and gemsbok(9) next to the Den Staat road in the eastern section.
We also saw a beautiful Sable bull about 300m from the main gate in the eastern section. Don't see that on the list?

Heard hyana and jackal every night. Heard lion on the first night.
Our only predator sighting for the weekend was an African Wild Cat on the river loop in the western section.

Oops, I forgot. We also saw a Black-backed Jackal on the first afternoon, on the way to the hide.

Hi Johann - so glad you enjoyed Maps.


I also only saw one once, they hide very well but the signs & tracks are all over the show. One even eluded Dr. Ian Whyte during last years game count!


So glad this tough guy is still alive! Four were released last year as part of
this interesting project. I have been helping the German volunteer who was monitoring the animals. At first the four boys seemd to settle fine, but then the Mapungubwe leopards noticed how unexperienced the sable were and the cats took out 3. Good for them, but not for the project. The director of the project recently told me that they will breed for a few more years with the sable in Graspan or Mokala NP - and when there´s a bigger herd they´ll do another introduction in a area with predators, hopefully again Mapungubwe.

I´m impressed the remaining sable is surviving, probably a lot wiser by now. Let´s all speak a few friendly words to it whenever we see it.

wow so we were extremely lucky to see him

Thanks Joel very interesting indeed

{I'm going away for a few days but will send 1 or 2 pics to Johann to post}

Can´t wait. Those pix will definitely make my day!

We didn't get any great shots unfortunately. We were driving at about 80km/h on the main Alldays/Mussina road. I saw him, had to brake, make sure no cars behind us and then reverse about 50m. By that time he was moving off into the mopanie bush. At least we got to see him.
Notice that he's got a collar.