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Has anyone advice on seeing a honey badger around Berg en Dal? We have been trying for years with no luck, only seeing one near Lower Sabie. We are off next week for the whole week. I can't wait!

Dear Bushbaby
I have seen honey badgers on the Skukuza - Berg-en-Dal - road. Perhaps some of our other visitors have seen these interesting creatures around Berg-en-Dal itself.

I have also seen honey badgers just outside Skukuza on the Lower-Sabie road (about 2km east of Skukuza)as well as near the high water bridge on the Skukuza-Lower Sabie road. I have also seen them (in and) around Satara on a few occasions.

I hope that you will see one of these interesting creatures during your visit. I hope that you will have a super stay in our beautiful Kruger National Park! Enjoy it!

Suppose it is the luck of the draw where you see them. I have only seen them on the Nwanetsi tar road near Satara (May 2003 +- 6:30 am) and on the gravel road from Olifants to Letaba (Aug 2004 +- 13:30 pm).

A possible tell-tale sign that a badger could be around is when you can spot a pale chanting-goshawk. They like picking up the escapees from a badger rampage.

They are very fierce creatures, difficult to grip because of a loose skin and with their sharp claws and teeth they will rip, tear, bite anything to smithereens!

There has been an observation of a leopard killing a badger. It took the good part of 2 hours and the leopard looked like it was hit by a truck!

It is said that most animals will avoid crossing roads with the badger. There also has been a case of a badger castrating a full grown buffalo!

It is also unbelievebly immune against snake bite as a tv program showed one being hit by a cobra and after killing and eating the cobra went down for a couple of hours, returning to normal as if it went for a afternoon dose.

There are definetly some truth in the saying: "so taai soos 'n ratel"!

Strong little bugger, commonly mistaken with a White Tail Mongoose.

I would not take one of them on. Imagine taking on a bee hive and going through so many stings...

Not even my wife has such a sweet tooth.

Glad to see you all have the ratel bug! In 10 years Dearly Beloved and I have seen 1! 1, I tell you!!! Well maybe 1 1/2 as I had the plastic beading and bumper of my car chewed and scratched while staying at Balule (Gate gaurd said badger was the only thing small enough yet strong enough to get in and do the damage) But I digress, I love the posture and swagger, almost daring anything to take it on. Did I mention we have spent 10's of thousands of rand in the last decade trying to spot these almost mythical creatures!

A pic of a honeybadger lying under my combi eating chicken at Lower Sabie. It knocked the dustbin over three times to get at raw chicken that I had put in the bin.

Saw another one 1 km west of the turn-off to Lake Panic from H1-1. Lovely to see them around in Kruger.

Yes, Ratels they are a force to be reckoned with(see why the then SADF named their armoured cars that). Have heard of them defending dwindling water supplies at waterholes in Chobe, from elephants inter alia ...

In Kruger I have only seen one, near Sweni crossing on that long gravel rd north of Lindanda plains. It was cruising about during a solar eclipse - was an eerie atmosphere.

Have seen many in other places - good places I can suggest to find them are Etosha and Hwange National Parks in Namibia and Zimbabwe. On foot experiences with them - they seem shy and retiring- touch wood...

w

The best example of conservation of a mammal carnivore EVER to my knowledge was to do with honey badgers. Western Cape badgers were being persecuted - owing to them breaking into hives. Badger researchers, Begg couple stepped in, decided to introduce stilted hives out of reach, and got whole honey industry to convert to this. As they contacted the major retailers of quality food products, Woolworths, to only accept honey from apiaries that adopted to raise their hive boxes. They have since boycotted all that dont adopt this procedure, and honey badgers have won, so far. It is now familiar to all the 'honey badger friendly' honey on honey jars. - Guess most know this story in SA already -

The point I am making is that that is REAL conservation entailing driving in traffic and meeting the head of woolworths in TOWN not in the bush, and meeting staunch & menacing farmers. Lots of animal research is just glamourous in a landrover following snowy the lion, Jona the gorilla or pinky the elephant and what not, and adds little bits of information that supposedly endorses their conservation - ..whatever. We already know without anymore research HOW to conserve large mammals in protected areas. It is outside where more needs to be done..

People are still in mindset to have to do charismatic animal research, and supposedly impress colleagues, the public ?, I dont know ? The writing is on the wall for single species, large, charismatic animal studies..

Not quite, there always are conflicting interests, see this article about another species on the brink of extinction.
Helped with the left hand, and destroyed with the right hand....

as "luck" would have it, there is a free chapter on Ratels taken from the Richard Estes book The Behaviour Guide to African Mammals. The course is the updated version of the book... look herefor more details, under the free lesson for Behaviour Guide to Mammals of the RSA Lowveld.

there are another 18 or so free bits from other subjects as well for those interested.

Saw a documentary on Kalahari/Kghalagadi badgers last night, well only half of it atleast.

It was the one about the badger that got hit by a "puffy" and ate some of the snake untill the venom set in. He laid still for 2 hours looking like dying and then recovered and finsihed the snake too.

Interesting thing is he grabbed a mouse from the snake and ate that before he went with great tenacity after the snake.

An old female was caught by a leopard and after an hour's fight was all but dead.

Another one climbed into a tree after a 1.5m cape cobra the cobra tried to escape but fell out of the tree and the badger comically reversed climbed down the tree and completely devoured the snake. They always start at the head and work their way down. The one thing with badgers is that they don't stop after eating one snake, they just go on to find the next.

It was so funny to see how the mother and cub interacted. He realy is raised to be tough some day. It was extremely funny how the little one when eyed by a jackal turn very aggresively onto the jackal. The little one could barely walk. He was so angry at the jackal that he fell head over tail while growling at the intruder into his den.

I have now decided that this little animal must be the fiercest competitor alive on earth. It is my favourite animal and I wish that I can have the chance one day to help with research on them.

They give the true meanings to being tenacious tough and as hard to kill the devil himself.

I love these little creatures, I also loved that video. If I remember correctly he passed out because he actually got bitten by the snake. I can just imagine what goes on in his little head...

Hmmmmm, Nyummie puffadder
must eat
must eat quickly
g e t t i n g s l e e e e e p y
******
******
Where was I?
Oh yea
Hmmmmm, Nyummie puffadder
must eat
must eat quickly


or maybe he was a drug addict getting his weekly fix of venom and then having a celebratory dinner

They are so tough it's incredible. I will face a musth bull elephant before one of them any day