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Can somebody tell me if the Ostrich accurred naturaly in the Kruger Park or were they there when the park was proclaimed




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44 days till Etosha
55 days till Krugers

I am only going on what my book says. I have Sinclair's Birds of SA.

"Feral stock found on farms virtually throughout the region. The only genuine wild ostriches occur in northern Nambia and the Kalahari. All others are a mixture of races introduced from North Africa for domestic stock purposes."

That is interesting! In that case I'm pleased to say I've seen Ostriches in the Kalahari and don't feel bad adding them to my list of birds

Are ostriches relatively common in KNP? Where are they usually found? (I'm guessing the central part, based on what I've read about the park ecology.) My wife and I are making our first trip to the Kruger in August.

We will also be in Etosha for a few days, so if we miss ostriches in Kruger, hopefully we'll see some in Etosha. I've always wanted to see one in the wild.

I have seen them between Croc Bridge and Lower Sabie and in the Satara vicinity. They are not too common but their size makes them easy to spot.

We've had the best luck with Ostriches north of Satara. It sounds like you guys have a brilliant trip lined up!

Hi,
Seen them always between timbavati and satara

The H10 between LS and Nkumbe lookout is almost a dead ringer to seeing a taxi in JHB to find ostrich.

Yes i agree with WTM about the H10 (also the turn off to Mlondozi picnic spot).
Another road we always find them is on the tarr road to Nwanetsi picnic spot (sorry don't know the route no )
We see ostriches on every trip to Kruger.

We saw a large group on the way to Nwanetsi Picnic Spot (Satara area) - All females.


bwana

On my first trip to Kruger I spotted plenty of ostrich in the region above mopani to shingwedzi. But unfortunately on my last visit which was 2 yrs ago i didn't see any at all! Most of my time on this trip was spent around the letaba area never wandering further south than tshokwane. (due to a dodgy steak from the previous night's braai hindering my progress without a nature call! )

I would tick an Ostrich in Kruger as I would think the ones you see now were all born there and therefore should be considered wild. The point of introduction is tricky. If they were still in their holding pens then don't tick them. Rhino were introduced to Kruger but I count them as one of the big five.
The Ostriches found at Oudtshoorn are all on farms and therefore semi tame and should not be tickable but a bird found in a Game/Nature reserve should be considered wild after a period of time even if it was introduced.
My own opinion.

I have found ostrich much esier to find north of Satara. Having said that, I took 3 'birding fanatics' for 2 weeks into the Kruger in December a couple of years ago - and failed to see one anywhere (we travelled south to north and backagain)!.

Kenneth Newman's Birds of the Kruger National Park from 1987 (sadly no longer in print) suggests that the few hundred birds within the Park are actually likely to be the last remnant of the South African race - and any others seen elsewhere would be interbred.

Richard

Sorry but can someone tell me what is happening here,was snapping him when he did a p- or a p- did not want that so when it was over the next shot was this which was only seen on download.

Taken in West Coast National Park