Indholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2021-2022 i Kruger Magazine

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

SETTING the SCENE

“Whilst celebrating culture, wildlife and adventure, always expect something new out of Africa.” The African bush is lush and green, baby antelope plentiful, the welcoming sound of the woodlands kingfisher is heard everywhere, and the hospitality industry in South Africa is recovering after international travel bans have been lifted following the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – many of our regular international visitors are welcomed back with open arms. All in all, what a wonderful time to be in the Kruger Lowveld of South Africa! Whilst celebrating culture, wildlife and adventure, always expect something new out of Africa. South Africa’s first commercial 360-degree cinema is an experience not to be missed when visiting the Kruger Station at Skukuza in the Kruger National Park. Read all about this new item…

2 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

SOUTH AFRICA’S FIRST COMMERCIAL 360-DEGREE CINEMA

Brand new KNP attraction now open! Kruger 360 Cinema, situated at the Kruger Station, is like stepping into a giant pair of virtual-reality goggles! The cinema is built like a cylinder with a 360-degree wrap-around screen that gives guests an immersive viewing experience no matter which way they are facing. Viewers sit on chairs that swivel and rotate to give them the full 360-degree experience. Experience the relocation of rhino and get up close to wild animals in our double feature, Rewild and The Big 5, followed by an immersion of the skies in a space safari. It’s an experience not to be missed. The shows run every hour from 9h00 in the morning with the last show at 19h00 in the evening. Sold on this unique experience in the…

2 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

GENETS Poetry in motion

Because of the many similarities that genets share with felines (Felidae), you could be excused for believing that they were members of the cat family. Like cats, they have soft silky fur, paws which resemble those of cats, and retractable claws. Their demeanour is cat-like too – rather shy and retiring, and ultra-stealthy in their hunting techniques. Prey selection is also similar to the smaller cat species. But despite these shared characteristics, they are in fact placed in the family Viverridae which, rather surprisingly, means their closest relatives are civets and mongooses. The phylogenetic relationships between the various species of genet seem to be still a little unclear. Up to 15 species in the genus Genetta have been described, many of which have very limited distributions, which are determined by…

6 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

DOVES Symbols of peace

“Africa has been called ‘the land of doves’.” Dove and pigeon species are all placed in the family Columbidae. In total there are 310 species, and they occur on all continents except those in the polar regions. Africa has been well blessed with doves and pigeons with 33 species to be found on the continent. Indeed, Africa has been called ‘the land of doves’. These include 12 species of pigeons, four green pigeons and 17 doves (including the wood-doves). In South Africa 15 species occur, while in the Kruger National Park (KNP), there are nine. Due to limited space, the pigeons (African speckled and the African green pigeons) have been excluded from this article. There are three ‘collared’ dove species that all look rather similar. All are mainly grey in…

8 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

WEEPING BOER-BEAN

“Exceptionally rich in nectar; so much so that they ‘weep’.”General description If you have visited the Kruger National Park (KNP) in early spring (August to September), you would most probably have been impressed by a rounded, densely-branched and medium-sized tree (12-16m) growing on river and stream banks or on or close to termite mounds, generally with an abundance of dark red flowers amongst a canopy of dark green leaves. This is a weeping boer-bean, Schotia brachypetala (huilboerboon in Afrikaans, nwavilombe or uvovovo in Xitsonga, and Mulibi in Tshivenda). « Nick Zambatis was the former Manager: Biodiversity Conservation in Conservation Management: Kruger National Park. He retired in 2016. His first job in the Kruger was as a research technician based at Skukuza, which he started in 1987. “The transfer from…

4 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

KRUGER REVISITED

« Roger de la Harpe is a freelance photographer based in South Africa. He has long had a passion for conservation, natural history, wild places and indigenous cultures and has plied his trade in various regions of the African continent for 25 years. With his wife, Pat, he has published 27 coffee-table books, the most recent of which, African Icons, celebrates Africa’s most iconic features and creatures. Two previous books, In Search of the African Wild Dog and In Search of the African Lion, have a strong conservation focus. Roger and Pat also own and manage Africa Imagery, an online database of over 45 000 images of the people, wildlife and landscapes of the African continent. COVID-19 has a lot to answer for. People have died or have been very…

8 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

Is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of nearly two million hectares (20 000km²) in the province of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in the north-east of South Africa. It extends 360km from north to south and 65km from east to west. It became South Africa’s first National Park in 1926. In 1993, fences between Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) and the Kruger National Park were removed to encourage wildlife migration and the Greater Kruger National Park was born.…

1 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

MY FIRST VISIT TO KRUGER GREATER

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE Pieter Viljoen’s colour slide photos from the 80s and 90s Today I have to confess: I have an addiction. I am addicted to the beautiful Kruger National Park. Luckily a lot of the readers have the same problem! I was a young boy when I started visiting the Park with my parents in the 50s. We visited the Park every year for the July school holidays and it was always one of my favourite times of the year. The camps used to have a large communal fire in the evenings with braais available. Everybody sat in a large circle around the fire. Here new friends were made and all the sightings of the day were discussed. I could not wait for the evenings to hear…

4 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

« Dr Ian Whyte

an independent environmental consultant who retired from SANParks in 2007. He was previously engaged in full-time wildlife research in the Kruger National Park from 1970-2007. At the time of retirement, he was responsible for the coordination of all research projects pertaining to elephant, buffalo and other large herbivores and rare antelope. He is a member of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission’s African Elephant Specialist Group. He has co-authored two field guides to the birds of the Kruger National Park and in 2020, released his latest book about his life and work in the KNP.…

1 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

« Dr Ian Whyte

is an independent environmental consultant who retired from SANParks in 2007. He was previously engaged in full-time wildlife research in the Kruger National Park from 1970-2007. At the time of retirement, he was responsible for the coordination of all research projects pertaining to elephant, buffalo and other large herbivores and rare antelope. He is a member of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission’s African Elephant Specialist Group. He has co-authored two field guides to the birds of the Kruger National Park and in 2020, released his latest book about his life and work in the KNP.…

1 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

TOP 11 AMATEUR photographs SUMMER 2021

We are always amazed by the excellent shots we receive for our summer competition with the theme SELF-DRIVES, CAMPS & HIDES! This means a level playing field and the Kruger National Park surely delivers excellent sightings for our amateur photographers. Our executive team was busy beavers again this round with a lot of back-and-forth decisions on the TOP 50 entries – and again for the final TOP 10 winners. Congratulations to all our entrants. Even if you are not a winner in this round, the competition would not be a competition if you didn’t enter – and you might just be lucky in one of our future competitions. To our sponsors and participating Facebook group members – a warm thank you to all. For the members that are lucky enough…

1 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

HISTORY KNP : History of camps

« Joep Stevens is a keen historian who was introduced to the Kruger National Park by his parents in 1966. This ignited his interest in and passion for the Park. Olifants (24,005628S 31,740443E) – the camp with the best view In Issue 17 of KRUGER MAGAZINE, we featured the history of Balule. In Issue 18 we look at the history of Olifants Camp. Origin of Olifants Back in 1953 mention was already made of a replacement camp for Olifants River Camp (referred to as Balule from 1960 onwards). Gorge (also called Olifants Gorge) had logistical problems relating to water and access. The Eastern Province Herald of 6 October 1953 reports as follows under the heading “New Developments in the Kruger Park”: “A new Olifants River camp site under the magnificent…

12 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

QUAINT AND OMNIPRESENT

Duikers belong to the subfamily Cephalophinae, which accommodates a particularly large variety of species. Most are restricted to dense forests south of the Sahara Desert and in the Congo basin. In South Africa the red and blue duikers conform to this pattern, inhabiting densely wooded areas. But not the common duiker. « Salomon Joubert (Dr SCJ Joubert) started his conservation career in 1964 as a postgraduate student in the Sabi Sand Wildtuin and was appointed to the Kruger National Park as Junior Ranger at the end of 1964, stationed at the remote Klipkoppies Section on the Mozambique border (due east of Letaba). In 1967, he was granted study leave to do a BSc (Hon) (Wildlife Management) degree at Pretoria University. In November 1967, he was transferred to the Research Section…

4 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S PEN

When we announced our KRUGER BIRD CHALLENGE – which aims to fund the production and publishing of our regular Conservation Project articles – we were both excited and hopeful. Never would we have guessed that it would be so popular! The feedback on our Facebook group from those who entered is most inspiring. So, a huge thank you from us and know that every entrant’s participation will contribute to funding the current and future conservation projects we showcase in KRUGER MAGAZINE. These men and women do tremendous work, often without anyone knowing about them – we are proud to offer them a media platform! Over the past three months, we were blessed in abundance – grateful for our health, new ventures to look forward to in 2022, and that our…

1 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

Solitude at SABLE HIDE

“If I have ever seen magic, it has been in Africa.”(John Hemingway) The Kruger National Park (KNP) offers a vast selection of accommodation – rustic bush camps with no electricity for the adventurous campers with their own solar equipment, camping areas with all the amenities for those that prefer more luxury, safari tents with communal amenities (one way of making new friends), bungalows with or without kitchenettes, four- to eight-sleeper cottages, and even the larger guest houses for families and groups, complete with extras like private braai areas and DStv. But if you really want to experience a night to remember, you just have to book an overnight stay at one of the two overnight hides the KNP has to offer. One of them being Sable Hide, situated on the…

5 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

RESEARCH WITH A STING!

Elephant impact on large tree species is a contentious and complex topic, with many a scientific debate revolving around the management of elephants as environmental modifiers. Elephant impact varies in space and time, meaning that different management strategies may be required across the landscapes in which elephants occur. In the Kruger National Park (KNP), for example, the reduction of waterholes has been used to modify where elephants use the landscape at certain times of the year. However, individual trees can also be protected against elephant impact, optimally in small or water-saturated protected areas but also in larger reserves, if planned in a spatially explicit manner to preserve desired landscape features. Research into the protection of large iconic trees, which are important for seed production, buffering of climatic effects and habitat…

5 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

Mahlometela

I often get asked “what does a game ranger do”?This is best illustrated with a review of my diary of February 1996. « Ralf Kalwa is an Ecological Consultant at Malelane, a position he has held since December 2001. He established Rhengu Environmental Services in the Malelane area and is trails leader for the Lebombo Eco Trail. Prior to holding this position, Ralf was Manager: IEM: Kruger National Park from 2000-2001 and Senior Section Ranger: Kruger National Park from 1994-2000. “Every ranger in the Kruger gets a Shangaan name, given to him by his staff and fellow field rangers,” says Ralf. “Mine is Mahlometela… the man who sees everything.” Friday 2 February Patrol to the erosion donga and inspect the rehabilitation work. Stabilisation of the causeway is progressing well. On…

8 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

THE RARE HETEROCHROMIA LEOPARD

Heterochromia is the rare genetic condition where something has two different colour eyes, exactly like this beautiful young male leopard I had the privilege of seeing in the Kruger. I was cruising along on the S26 dirt road on a rather hot afternoon. This road is not known for being very productive, so I did not have high expectations and found myself greatly surprised by an exceptional sighting. Something caught my eye on a termite mound between bushes not far from the road. I stopped and when I had a better look, I realised it was a leopard. I could not believe it. Because of the particular road and area, I thought it might be a skittish leopard and was worried it would run away. I watched its behaviour and…

3 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

ANTARES BUSH CAMP & SAFARIS Umgede Underground Hide

There are only a handful of underground hides in South Africa and even fewer in the immediate vicinity of the Kruger National Park. These hides offer guests the unique and amazing opportunity to sit in the safety and comfort of a game viewing hide and photograph the animals from their level. Whether your subject is the mighty elephant, the majestic lion or just the dainty dragonflies as they rest on the lily pads, there will always be something of interest for you to photograph. With the darkness of the night slowly disappearing and the golden light of sunrise revealing the bush colours once more, the crested francolins remind everyone that it’s time to wake up and start a new day. “From inside the comfort of Umgede Hide guests are busy…

6 min

Kruger Magazine|Summer 2021-2022

FAVOURITE SPOTS

COMPETITION! All KRUGER MAGAZINE Facebook members are invited to share their favourite spots with the community. The TOP 3 winning entries are chosen by the KRUGER MAGAZINE executive team and will be announced on the KRUGER MAGAZINE Facebook group. Popular votes by members of the Facebook group will be taken into consideration in combination with engaging entries. WELOVEKRUGER sponsors our popular AUTUMN 2022 FAVOURITE SPOTS competition! Specialising in accommodation options in and around the Greater Kruger, breathtaking game drives and important and interesting information on the areas surrounding the Greater Kruger. Prizes 1 st prize – Two nights self-catering at Kruger Bush Rondavels for six guests sharing. 2 nd prize – R2 000 voucher for the www.lekkeshop.com online store. 3 rd prize – R1 000 voucher for the www.lekkeshop.com online…

5 min