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IMHO

there is alot we dont know or see, ie. the illegals crossing through knp.

i'm sure alot are taken by lions n crocs....but we'll never know figures so its always open for debate

or taken by the tokoloshe.....

we'll never know, those tokoloshes are small n quick

here is the tokoloshe, looks like he's running in orpen camp.

ie. people stay away from tamboti. just ask BB

You can slap a mozzie or drink a tablet, or put on tabard. If you stay out of the water hippos and crocks shouldn't be a prob. Give ellies and buffs their space, don't forget a black rhino. An injured or wounded bushbuck or warthog can kill or seriously harm you as certain as a lion can. Except if you're a ranger (or an illegal) and walking in the veld everyday, you shouldn't be too worried about getting ambushed by either lion or leopard. Never trust a baboon, and never leave children unattended where baboons are. They can rip your throat out in a flash, or give a serious bite. But most of these animals you can usually see from a distance, and should you be safe in your car. Except if you want to stroke it through your open window of course... The thing that will kill you are the unseen, unthought-of animal/reptile/insect. Like the Parabuthus transvaalicus, a very dangerous scorpion that causes a lot of fatalities in Zimbabwe, but that is resident in Kruger as well. (Do you wear shoes when you walk around in camp, especially at night?). Have you ever stepped on a Puff adder? Next time you walk from your tent to the ablutions at night, take a torch, and shine the light on the ground where you're going to walk, not into someone else’s tent. They're trying to sleep...And don’t sent your 5year old on his own. You’re in Kruger, and 5 year old toddlers don’t watch where they’re walking. You step on it, you are dead. Ever encountered a black mamba on the move or that’s agitated? I was a sharpshooter in days gone by, but even I will only guarantee myself a hit should I use a shotgun when a mamba is moving with purpose or getting aggressive. It's deceptively fast, and aggressive, and don't like people or any other animal in its breathing space. And when it strikes, nothing stops it from striking more than once. You're a goner. And the fence doesn’t stop either of them from entering… Whenever I’m in the bush, including Kruger, and that’s quite often, my first concern is where I'm stepping, and when encountering or seeing black mamba, even when armed, I'll give it a very, very wide berth…

But the status quo remains, anything in Kruger can kill you if you don’t follow the rules, just like anywhere else in the world. The squirrel or monkey you’re feeding might accidentally bite you on the finger, (its so cute when they eat out of your hand), and it might accidentally be carrying rabies. You’ll never know, that’s why you shouldn’t feed them. It’s not only for their safety, but yours to. Stay within the rules, and use your common sense that the dear Lord gave you for a reason, as simple as that.

Very well said Dan!!! I can only hope that people follow your advice.

Couldn't have put it any better Dan.
Well said.

Good Stuff Dan!

A couple of points:
On snakes.

OK, first the mamba. It is very dangerous to generalise with ("black") mambas. They seem to differ in temperament by region. I don't have much experience with them, but my understanding is that the Northern TVL mambas are particularly aggressive. One friend of mine managed to survive an inspection by a large mamba while hunting, by "freezing". When it had left him, he exhaled and relaxed, and immediately it was back at him, having spotted the slight movement. (Mambas have unusually good vision for snakes.) But he passed muster that time too. His rifle was totally useless in that situation. My point is that freezing is not as easy as people think it is. The slightest tremor or blink might kill you. It is a tactic of last resort, like when the snake simply pops out of nowhere and your only other option is to scream for the antivenin. (good luck!)

The other case that springs to mind is when another friend was walking cheerfully through the dusk with a couple of branches over his shoulders (never mind why! He is an entomologist!) and suddenly a stick across the pathway rears up at an angle of about 45 degrees: large mamba! He made what turned out to be a bad choice. He froze.

Trouble was, the mamba had seen him and he was in its territory. It wasn't happy. It stared at him and suddenly lashed out at him, then vanished. It had hit him in his chest pocket -- in which he had been carrying a packet of cigarettes! He still has the packet, including fang marks, and the fags, with venom stains! It is the only case I personally know of, where smoking did anyone's health much good!

Now, in retrospect, he had done the wrong thing. My bet is that if he had quickly and quietly retreated backward, the snake would have ignored him. All it wanted was its own space, and its rearing, mamba-style at an angle, instead of erect like a cobra, was mamba-talk for "Go away!"

With mambas the best trick is to leave quietly. If you are more than several steps away a person in good health can outrun a mamba; the highest speed I have heard of was 20 KPH, and they don't have much endurance, so you can sprint if you like. But it shouldn't be necessary if you have time to retreat quietly.

Possibly apart from a mamba, there is no snake that is a threat if you see it first. Forget about all the "freezing" or panicking, or shooting. Just step away (not run!), watching where you put your feet (which is what you should have done in the first place. It can't catch you and doesn't want to, even a spitter reared up ready to spit. (If you are not wearing glasses, put your hand over your eyes while stepping away from a rearing cobra-like snake. That's all.)

It is unusual for a puffy to strike if you don't step on it or sometimes if you step right in front of it suddenly, probably kicking twigs or gravel at it.

BTW, bees can be a very nasty problem if you get yourself into a position where you irritate a hive where you can't move in a hurry, such as up a tree, up a cliff, in a swamp, or worst of all, in a thicket. You could find that a totally inoffensive little hive, totally inconspicuous, with only a few workers to-ing and fro-ing every few seconds suddenly erupts into a swarm of kamikazi killers. You can do something about a mamba, usually, but it is very hard to talk reason to a mob! But if you have learned to think ahead when you go into places where you can only move slowly, and know the (slight) smell, (slight) sound, and (inconspicuous) sight of bee activity, they generally aren't even interested in you.

And if the victim is the kind of trash that will deliberately tease any animal, I hope that a rabid squirrel does bite first!


Apart from doing silly things, such as you mentioned, the most dangerous thing in the wild, whether a park or not, is to drop your awareness; I don't mean dropping your guard; the wild is pretty safe in most ways most of the time, I mean losing your consciousness of what is going on around you, even small things. Everything short of germs you can safely avoid if you know it is there and are prepared, and being aware makes the difference between treading on a puffy or zipping blindly through the countryside in your vehicle when tick-hunting for the big five or on the other hand making a really life-changing, enjoyable experience with small medium and large creatures around you all the time.

Hi Jon Richfield

From me and Dan, amen!!!!!!!!

Dan is even alergic to bees after he has been attacted by a mob of bees, while trying to rescue the neighbor's rabbit, and they didn't want to negotiate. Dan ended in hospital, but the rabbit was fine .

Much thanks for praise from sources of such a standard!



Yer welllll... I know the feeling of wanting to help, but though (or perhaps because) I am an entomologist, I would have made sympathetic noises diminuendo, while increasing my separation from the scene. I love bees, but as a small child I learned that they are not good listeners.

I hope that Dan keeps his antihistamines handy; not even the best veldcraft can protect you from the occasional bee that literally bumps into you while you are minding your own business, and decides that it was your fault. It doesn't happen often, but trust me, it happens, especially with Apis mellifera scutellata, the subspecies you find most often north of the SW Cape!

Either that or desensitisation, if an allergist thinks it is practical.

Go well both,

Cheers,

Jon

Hi JR (How's that for Jon Richfield )

Last time I'll rescue rabbit in need. The cage for the rabbits were right next to a Wendy house. The bees moved into the Wendy but got disturbed by something so they started to stitch the rabbits. The neighbor’s wife came yelling that the rabbits are being killed. I thought that nighttime would have been the best time to deal with this but I understood the urgency of the rabbits situation. So I gave a bit of a smokescreen with newspaper and it worked for about 2 minutes. But the rabbits were so spooked that they didn't wanted to be picked up and kept scuttling away. Then the wind turned, and that’s when they decided that I was a bigger and better target. I was covered in bees in a flash, all of them a bit peed-off by then. The emergency room was the next stop. I never in my life thought that I can swell so quickly so out of proportion, and the throat was the first to close down… Almost saw my ass without a mirror that day..... And let me tell you if you think one sting burns like hell, try over fifty. Never was allergic to them before, now I can't even look at one without starting to show symptoms....Life really is a bee... And don't worry, the meds are allways with me!

Well Dan, on the one hand I admire your guts and apologise for assuming that you had been reckless, rather than resourceful and unlucky, (also llucky actually!) On the other I am sorry that you got left with that allergy!
In our retirement village rabbits are definitely in bad odour. Some twee residents imported a few pairs,and no one had any firearms to get rid of them. It took a long time, and they bred and bred! (Oh for a caracal!) Anyway, we are fairly sure that the coast now is clear. I am hoping to import at least a breeding population of either one or both our local hare spp. Couldn't risk it with the rabbits about. But catching Lagomorphs is not easy, as you discovered with your stung rabbits! I am asking around the local conservation departments. It seems to be easier to get elands than hares and grysbokkies!

Oh well, wish us luck!

All the best,

Jon

forestgump wrote
I would rather be treated for a mozzie bite than a hippo bite..




this is a scream !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A scream indeed, but you get more of a choice about being bitten by hippos, screaming or silently. Mozzies give less warning. The annual death toll from Hippo bite is more like handfuls, whereas mozzies not only kill millions, but the death from Yellow fever, breakbone fever, or even malaria looks like less fun than a quick chomp from a hippo.
Even in the KNP alone, I bet you that malaria takes more lives than hippos do. This may change when we have a malaria vaccine to match our yellow fever vaccines, but just at present...

Anyway, just because one kills more than the other, doesn't mean that the other is on the tour guides' five-star list of musts!

In a report in the media today, travel section, it is asked “What is the most dangerous animal in Africa?” According to this article of the million-plus people that malaria kills and the hundreds of millions more sickened by it annually, 90% are from Africa. (I think a very small % relates to Kruger). But this may indicate that the mosquito may be the most dangerous animal in Africa and therefore also in Kruger.