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My South Africa Adventure; From Cape Town via Garden Route to Zululand
Topic Started: Nov 9 2016, 01:36 PM (5,053 Views)
DRAGON-unit911
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The Stalker

Nice photos dude! I really love that oyester cather and penguin pics!
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Dylan
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Looks fantastic. Those caves. What was the ostrich like?
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Uolym
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It seems like this was a real adventure! So happy you could live it! :)
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Jony
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Thanks for your comments, guys.

@Dylan: Ostrich tastes a bit like beef but it also has taste of its own. But I liked it ;)


Day 4: Wilderness National Park, Knysna and Sedgefield

This day we did a canoeing and hiking tour through the Wilderness National Park which is part of the big Garden Route National Park since 2009. On our canoeing trip we could spot cormorants, kingfishers and even an African darter. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of these creatures because I stored my camera in dry and save place. ;)
But I have some pics of the hiking tour. There weren't any animals that we could spot though, but the landscape alone and all the bird voices have been worth it.
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After returning to the boat camp, we drove to Kynsna where we spent some hours at the beuatiful little waterfront.
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Our second to last stop was the Knysna bay, which is home to the endemic and endangered Knysna seahorse. The Two Oceans Aquarium keeps and breeds this species by the way.
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View to the Indian Ocean.
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Our lost stop was Sedgefiled where our overnight accomodation was situated. At the beach we could watch this beautiful sunset.
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That's all for now. Next time we will explore the Tsitsikamma Mountains where we will see some animals again. So, stay tuned and see you soon! :)
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Ranma
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You're really shining as a photographer! I love all the shots you took of the bay, the harbor, the forests, and especially the animals! Great work, and hope you have a good rest of your trip!
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Jony
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Thank you for your comment, Wyman. bUt I'm already back home ;)


Day 5: Tsitsikamma National Park

This day we did a hiking tour through the Tsitsikamma Mountains which belong to the Widlerness National Park. As a tourist you can use different hiking trails.

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But be careful! In this area lives the last population of elephants in South Africa which can survive in a non-fenced area. There are at least five cows and probably also some calves and bulls of these so called Knysna Elephants left. It's very difficult to see them though because they are hiding well in the dense forests.

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While it's nearly impossible to see the elephants, their closest relatives are just everywhere. They even wait for the tourists at the parking lot. xD
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But do not come too close to these little animals since they will show you their little tusks. :P
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The following pictures were made during the hiking tour. ;)
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Cape Wagtail (Motacilla capensis)
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More Cape Hyrax! :P
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Sombre Greenbul (Andropadus importunus)
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That's all for today. The next update will have more animals in it, that day was one of my highlights of the Garden Route tour.
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What did we visit? You'll find out next time. ;)
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Dylan
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That looks incredible. So many hyraxs
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Zoo Tycooner FR
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#Lithopédion

Awesome photos. :)

Tsitsikamma is like FULL of hyraxes , I even touched one there haha

When I was there , there was like a Blue Duiker forest or something like that , have you ever visited it or passed near by ?
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Jony
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Thanks for your encouraging comments.

@ZTFR: Nope, I didn't or at leats I dodn't know. Never heard of this blue duiker forest before. Are there really blue duikers around there?


Day 6: Addo Elephant National Park

Thsi day we drove to Addo Elephant national Park, a Big 5 Game Reserve located in the Eastern Cape Province. It was my first time ever to see big African land mamals in the wild. This was a special day for me, of course.
We started very early at 6 am with a morning game drive. But because of the heavy fog, we couldn't see anthing but Greater Kudus (Strepsiceros strepsiceros). The following pictures show how difficult it was to see something.
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Luckily we did a second game drive later. There we have seen a lot more.
But at first, these signs warn the visitors not to drive over dung bettels or elephant dung because these bugs are very important for a healthy ecosystem in Africa. There are different species of dung beetles, one is even endemic to Addo.
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That'Äs the waterhole that we have seen in the moring when it was foggy. ;)
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Egyptian Geese (Alopochen aegyptiacus)
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Balcksmith Lapwing (Vanellus armatus)
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Cape Weaver (Ploceus capensis)
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Then we spotted the first bigger animals.
South African Ostrich (Struthio camelus australis)
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Ostrich, Burchell's Zebra (Equus quagga burchelli) and Leopard Tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis)
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Burchell's Zebras
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Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus)
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Greater Kudu without fog.
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There are also smaller animals like Yellow Mongoose (Cynictis penicillata) (lI'm sorry for these bad pictures but tehy were too far away :/ )
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More Leopard Tortoise who sometimes walk over the street and cause traffic jams. :P
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There are also Meerkats (Suricata suricatta). Again I'm sorry for the bad picture.. :/
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The zoological highlight were Red Hartebeests (Alcelaphus caama) which are very rare in captivity.
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Now, we already have seen a lot but something is missing, but what? Oh, right..elephants of course!
It took soem time but there he was, my first wild African Elephant (Loxodonta africana). :music: A young bull walked along the street approx. 5 metres away. :)
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Then we even spotted a big breeding herd. :)
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Two very young calves played in a mud hole. :$
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A cow with an even younger calf crossed the road. :$
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The next picture shows how calm the elephants were. They didn't care about the cars and walked only a few metres away from them.
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There were ven more elephnats on the other side. Did you notice that most of the cows don't have tusks? That's because of the small gene pool. In 1931 (that wa sthe year in which Addo was established) there were just 11 Addo elephants left. More or less all of the 400 elephants in Addo Elephant National Park are descendants of the 11 from 1931.
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Finally, we have seen some adult bulls.
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That's all for today. The enxt update will be a bit more boring again, but after this the updates will remain "faunally" and more exciting.
So, stay tuned and see you soon. :)
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Dylan
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You are so lucky to see animals most of us only see in zoos. Those Leopard tortoises can be slow.
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Zoo Tycooner FR
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#Lithopédion

Never heard of Elephant Ado National Park before , you've been so lucky to see wild red hartebeests , only wild individuals of this species I saw were in Etosha National Park . :)

I'm sure there's a Blue Duiker trail or something like that, near the Storms River's bridge . In a kind of lush forest .
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Priya
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Lion Lover

Awesome pictures.I loved the elephant calves playing pic a lot
Edited by Priya, Nov 24 2016, 04:31 AM.
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Jony
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Thanks for your great comments once again! ;)

@ZTFR: Oh, okay. I know what you mean. I think I walked through this forest but didn't know that it's called blue duiker trail. Maybe I missed a sign ;)


Day 8: Hermanus und Betty's Bay
(I skip one update for some reasons, it wasn't that exciting anyways ;) )

The second to last stop on our way back to Cape Town was Hermanus, known as the Whale Capital.
But on the way to Hermanus we spotted the Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradisea), the national bird of South Africa! :)
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Then we arrived in Hermanus. This little town, located at the Atlantic Ocean, is known as the Whale Capital because escpecially Southern right whales, bryde's whales and humpback whales, sometimes also orcas, can be seen in the bay of Hermanus between May and November. That's why Hermanus is popular with tourists. We couldn't see any from Hermanus but we wanted to do a whale watching tour anyways. ;)
At first some pics of this little town.
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That's the Hermanus Bay.
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Our whale watching tour started at this pier.
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After one hour we could spot some Southern Right Whales (Eubalaena australis). c: There were two females with their calves.
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After abut 30 minutes we had to return but it was definetely a great experience to come so close to such big animals. :)
Our last stop of the Garden Route tour was Betty's Bay, very small town close to Cape Town. A few decades ago, a colony of African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) settled at Stony Point, a small old harbour. Today Stony Point is home to one of the largest remaining wild colonies of African penguins. This area is a small nature reserve, but a small wooden path allows tourists to watch the penguins. To support the breeding of the penguins, small artificial caves were built.
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There's one penguin.
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Ok, there are a few more. :D
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Okay, okay, there are a lot! :P
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Penguin with two very small chicks :$
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No day without Cape hyraxes! d:
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There are some more species than just penguins (and Cape hyraxes...): White-breasted Cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus).
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Cape Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capensis)
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Cape cormorants and white-breasted cormorant
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A very big colony of cormorants, containing Cape cormorants, white-breasted cormorants and the endangered Bank Cormorants (Phalacrocorax neglectus) (you can see them on the upper left side of the picture, they are completely black). There are also Crowned Cormorants (Microcarbo coronatus), but I couldn't spot them.
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Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus)
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Young kelp gull (?)
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Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
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Finally, a funny pic: nesting hyraxes. :P
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That's all from the beautiful Garden Route tour. We were dropped of in Cape Town where I slept for another day to fly to Richards Bay in Zululand the next day. There did wildlife volunteering for 8 weeks. What did I see? And what did I do exactly? You will find out in the enxt updates. I can already say: it was amazing!
So, stay tuned and see you soon. :)
Edited by Jony, Nov 25 2016, 10:00 AM.
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Dylan
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Very cool. Lots of birds.
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TheToastinator
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A piece of toast and a terminator.

I really enjoyed all the photos of the wildlife. How close were you to the Right whales?
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