October 2008 : Kruger National Park

‘...the fact or state of requiring immediate action’ This is what is understood by the word urgency. There is a definite state of urgency amongst the animals as water levels approach alarmingly low levels. There have been days where we were sure that it would rain, only for the clouds to vanish. Animals walk further and further in order to drink and eat, they simply can not exist without precious life-giving water.

Impala’s risk life and limb, just for a sip of the glimmering liquid. Kudu are feeling the strain, and looking skinnier than ever. Yet, despite all of this, you can still feel the fight in each one of these animals. To us, an individual impala blends into the rest of the herd, but to that individual impala, survival is of utmost importance. It will use every ounce of energy and strength in order to survive. That’s the beauty of this concession. We are observers in a world that we don’t always understand. Our human nature is to care, and to protect that which in suffering, and out here, we are caught up in a daily struggle. It’s not easy, but all we can do is to pray that the rains come soon, and that it will once again nourish the grip of winter back to life.

Photos from top to bottom:
The Granophyre
Shingwenyana Crossing
Gudzani Dam
The weir, N’wanetsi River

What have the Mountain Pride been up to?
They have been on top of their game, and kill frequently, taking up to three impala in one night. They spend a lot of time waiting for thirsty animals to come to water, where they set up the ambush.

Lions love playing. It’s a form of social bonding, and strengthens relationships within the pride. They often play in the late afternoons and early evenings, as a means of stretching their muscles, and preparing for the nights hunting. Here, they were playing as usual, but the young male had a unfortunate mishap, when he rear-ended himself straight into a flaky thorn. With much effort, he finally managed to rid himself of this rather precariously placed obstruction, and carried on playing as if nothing happened.

Lions, especially sub-adults, are extremely curious. The can not ignore strange objects, especially not if they are moving. Everything needs to be thoroughly investigated. Due to all the water disappearing, all the catfish are left squirming around in little muddy puddles. All this movement was too much for the youngsters to bear, and after a lengthy attempt to catch these slippery creatures, they gave up, muddied and defeated.

The Xirhombi Pride (top 2 images)
Sadly, there are now only two of the young cubs left. One went missing, and we are not sure what happened to it. At this age, lion cubs are susceptible to many predators and circumstances. They still spend some time alone, and especially leopards and hyaena’s are a threat to their existence. We hope these two manage to stay out of trouble.

As long as what mom stays with them, very few animals would dare come close to these two remaining cubs. They spend most of their time with the rest of the pride now, and that gives them added protection.

The Southern Pride
These youngsters are growing fast, and are very active now, running and playing at every opportunity. They experience new things everyday, and everything should obviously be investigated. They are still suckling, and will be weaned within the next month or two.

The Power of Unity

A clan of at least 12 hyenas recently killed an adult Blue wildebeest - contrary to popular belief, these animals are great hunters. There are many stories about hyena being lazy, lowly, skulking scavengers. Yes, they do scavenge, but they hunt far more than what they’d scavenge. They have incredible stamina, and are able to run at a easy pace of around 30km/h, for up to 5km. They have the ability to tire prey out, and eventually catch up to the exhausted animal, which dies quickly due to stress, shock, loss of blood and exhaustion.Hyenas are strictly territorial, and strangers are not easily accepted. Females dominate the clan, with males ranking very low on the hierarchy.

The scene to the right was captured when the hyena in the front thought nobody had seen it sneaking away with a tasty morsel, it was unpleasantly surprised to find a large female with jaws capable of crushing bone firmly wrapped around its tail. It eventually made a get-away, with tail still in tact.

Dazzling Zebras

Quick facts and things to know:

* One of Africa’s most successful and adaptable grazers, utilizing short or long grass, open savanna or woodland
* Often a pioneering species, making way for short grass grazers such as wildebeest
* Extremely water-dependant
* As long as the stallion is fit, ownership of a harem is hardly ever disputed
* To found a harem, a stallion must first abduct a filly from her herd
* At night, zebra’s move very little, unless disturbed by predators
* Along with giraffe, probably the most acute vision among local herbivores
* Mother and foal first recognize each other by body scent, and only then followed by imprinting
* Greater concentration of capillaries under black stripes. Black gets hotter than white, causing lower pressure above these stripes.
* Males have sharp canine teeth to help them in fighting
* Females have a broad black band, running from below the tail to between the legs, and the male’s band is much thinner
* The characteristic zebra call, is used as a longer distance communication call
* The horse-like “prrr” sound, is usually a sign of contentment, often giving whilst grazing
* One of the few animals that role over entirely when dust-bathing
* Gastric juices in the caecum, along with huge quantities of processing forage, are responsible for the rounded belly look
* Zebra’s have no scent glands
* Can be ridden, but their back is much weaker than those of normal horses

The Heroic Stallion - When hyenas approach a herd with a young colt, the mother often hides with it behind other family members. By staying together instead of bolting and leaving the sick or young animal behind, the whole herd cooperates to protect any threatened members. However, the stallion will not hesitate to defend the herd from hyena and wild dog. This defense is so effective, that only hyenas hunting in sizable packs have much luck with zebra’s. The stallion will even go as far as searching for missing individuals from his harem. Stallions work very hard to attain new fillies, and to lose one, would be a great loss.

Water is life - without it there would be nothing. Nowhere on earth is this more obvious than in nature.

Take water out of the system, and animals start suffering. Food supplies lose nutrition, and that directly influences the animals depending on it. Here in the our concession, we are sharing this time of need with the animals.

You can see the panic in their eyes, the tension in their walk. Every time the clouds roll in, their eyes light up, and you feel the electricity among the animals, only to see the clouds replaced by the unforgiving sun.

…but that is the beauty of this area. We are not mere observers, but we experience this time of little alongside all those involved. Together with the kudu’s, we watch the new leaves develop on the bushwillows. We await the first rains with the impala ewe’s, anticipating the first of the babies. We follow the elephants along dusty dried out paths, as they once again make their way to the water which they so depend upon. Our hearts go out to all those who have made it this far.

Elephants often dig for water during these dry times. They are very fussy, and prefer clean water to dirty, stagnant water. Instead of drinking from those drying up pools, they take the effort to dig, using their very keen sense of smell, for under-ground water. The water filters through the sand, and is much cleaner than the muddy pools. Other animals will also make use of these holes, especially baboons.

Large-leaved Rock Figs Ficus abutilifolia, adorn the cliffs of the Lebombo Mountain’s. These stunning trees, with their roots clinging to the rocks like melted wax to a candle, are currently in fruit. There fruit is eaten by a wide range of animals and birds, a welcome gift in these dry and harsh times. There is something very unique about these trees though, something so small, and seemingly insignificant.

Fig tree reproduction is unique. Separate small male and two types of female flowers are found within the trees “fruit”. Figs are therefore not true fruit, but in actual fact flowers, or more specifically receptacles called syconia. Now with that out of the way, it gets even more interesting.  Each fig tree has its own specific pollinator, in the form of fig wasps. In the case of the Large-leaved Rock Fig, Ficus abutilifolia, it’s pollinated by the species Elisabethiella comptoni. These tiny wasps live for only a few days, in which they perform the amazing task of finding, and pollinating flowers hidden inside the fig.

It’s a long journey, and only a few out of thousands succeed. Its achieved by honing in on host-tree specific volatiles, a chemical released by the fig when its reproductively ready. Finding the fig, is step one done, but now she needs to find a way inside. The only way to the fig cavity, is through the tiny opening at the apex of the fig, called the ostiole. She labours her way between the tightly closed bracts, which she is adapted to do. Her body is flattened and elongated. She also has rows upon rows of teeth on the underside of her head, as well as strong teeth on her legs. These teeth assist her through the ostiole, and prevent her from slipping back. This process can be so difficult, that even her wings and antennae may break off. She then proceeds to pollinate the stigmas, and lay her egg in the ovules of some of the florets. The wasp larvae feed on the endosperm tissue within the ovary, and development may take anything from 3 to 20 weeks.
Once the wasps reach maturity, they chew their way out of the galls, all within a short period of each other. The wingless males mate with the winged females before chewing a hole through the fig wall the exterior, allowing the females to escape. These are his only two functions in life, and he dies soon afterwards.  The females either actively load up pollen from ripe anthers into special pollen pockets, or passively become covered with pollen, before exiting the fig in search of young receptive figs, and in so doing, completes the cycle.

This entry was sumbitted by Marlon du Toit
All the photographs were taken on location by Marlon du Toit, Jana van Niekerk & Deirdre Opie
Singita Kruger National Park
31 October 2008