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[Lesego]

Did you Know? African Rhinos have a symbiotic relationship with oxpeckers, also called "tick birds". In Swahili, the oxpecker is called "askari wa kifaru", which means "the ***'s guard". The oxpecker eats ticks and other insects it finds on the *** and creates a commotion when it sense danger.

Happy Monday every one

[Rooies]

What I do NOT know is why you don't find Oxpeckers on Elephants.

[Grantmissy]

Hi Lesego – very interesting .

What I do NOT know is why you don't find Oxpeckers on Elephants.

Me neither . Interesting question.

[Rooies]

The heaviest crocodile was caught in Venda near the northern tip of Kruger and weighed in at 905,7kg. It measured 5,5m.

[Grantmissy]

The heaviest crocodile was caught in Venda near the northern tip of Kruger and weighed in at 905,7kg. It measured 5,5m.

Hi Rooies, do you perhaps know what they did with the crocodile? It would be interesting to know. It is a big crocodile indeed.

[Rooies]

The heaviest crocodile was caught in Venda near the northern tip of Kruger and weighed in at 905,7kg. It measured 5,5m.

Hi Rooies, do you perhaps know what they did with the crocodile? It would be interesting to know. It is a big crocodile indeed.

Unfortunately my source do not elaborate on this.

[picnic]

Did you know? that there where once wild dogs in KTP.

[Rooies]

Did you know that the first Culling was done during 1961 (and I am not talking about the indiscriminate shooting of predators during the early years) The Letaba river stopped flowing and the rangers then decided to shoot 104 hippos to prevent them from dying a slow death because of starvation..

[Grantmissy]

Hi Picnic I see from the link that you provided that wild dogs were seen until the 1960's and 1970's in KTP. At least now we know that they once lived there. But I find it rather sad to say "yes they used to be seen in KTP but that was a long time ago". Rooies do you perhaps know in which year was the biggest drought that Kruger has experienced since they started recording weather data? I suppose in the earlier years they did not record the weather patterns. Periods of drought is always hard to witness in Kruger but I guess that is the way nature is sometimes there is a time of plenty and sometimes there is a time of brutal hardship.

[Rooies]

@Grantmissy. I have to go through all my Kruger books to find something on the driest year. But what I can mention is that at a reserve which borders Kruger, they had something like 427mm in less than 2 days, whilst the average rainfall is about 370mm per year. This was during January this year.

[Grantmissy]

Thanks Rooies . On the SANPARKS decade- by- decade history topic it is said that in 1992 Kruger experienced the most severe drought yet recorded. Related to the issue of the weather in Kruger - the first borehole was sunk at Skukuza in 1912 and the first concrete dam was built at Ntomeni Spruit in 1931. In 1984 Cyclones Demoina and Imboa struck the Park and rivers were in flood, not sure if it was as severe as the recent 2012 flooding and those in 2000. I wonder if any forum members experienced those 1984 cyclones and floods in Kruger?

[ndloti]

What I do NOT know is why you don't find Oxpeckers on Elephants.

I assume due to the thickness of the elephants skin ... ?

[Joep Stevens]

Dear Grantmissy,

Very interesting topic you're debating here and I find it quite intriguing. I would concur that 1992 was one of the driest in recorded history and what made it so bad was that it was across the whole Park. I remember the trauma of the huge crocodiles of the Luvhuvhu River at Pafuri succumbing to the searing heat, after having tried to survive in hollows in the banks to escape the heat and lacking water. And so there were many such incidents. Yes, I recall the Demoina hitting the lowveld. It impacted more seriously on the north of KZN, Swaziland and the southern extreme of the lowveld area of SA. The De Kaap River and Crocodile were in full flood. I recall some of the causeways on the Lower Sabie Road having been washed away. However, I am convinced that 18 January 2012 floods were more severe. What prevented the 2012 floods from being worse than 2000 floods was the fact that Sabie River and Crocodile Rivers were not as high as in 2000. Many others, such as Sand, Olifants, Nwaswitsontso, Timbavati and Biyamiti were higher than in 2000.

Warm regards.

JOEP

[Rooies]

At Joep. I bought a video made by National Geographic about the drought in the north during those years. Very dramatic footage. It shows a baboon that was so thirsty that it ignored the crocs in the almost dry pools. A croc caught him.

[Meandering Mouse]

I find the sadest loss from floods is the trees. Hundreds of years of history disappear down the river. It is a loss that has an untold impact on the eco system.

These are cave paintings from one of the lesser used sites in Kruger. This picture was taken by my daughter in 2003, before the digital revolution took hold. It was on a walk with Bruce Brydon.



It was explained to us that these sites were often considered sacred and the earliest forms of worship. These were possibly the sites of Shaman activity.

Karen Armstrong, in her book, "The Case for God", looks at the history of religion and writes of these early sites.

For anyone interested in the history of religion, Karen Armstrong is possibly the most readable and very knowledgable.