Photo update

Before I leave for the States, I thought I’ll leave you with some photos. Enjoy.

 

Simon Vegter

Wild Wings Safaris

www.wild-wings.co.za

 

Annual sightings update

I’ve given you the monthly updates throughout the year, but here is the annual update of what happened throughout 2009. It’s been an absolutely fantastic year. We’ll have to see if 2010 will be even better.

 

Total tours: 44                      Total days: 163

	Elephant	Rhino	Buffalo	Lion	Leopard	Cheetah	Wilddog	Hyena	Jackal
Tour	44	43	44	43	26	17	13	35	13
Day	142	98	114	105	31	18	14	63	17
Sights	Y	288	Y	180	46	20	18	95	24
Nr	Y	502	Y	675	52	39	112	198	33

 

 

Big 5 tours - 26

Big 5 days – 25

Black Rhinos - 19

 

 

 

 

Simon Vegter

Wild Wings Safaris

www.wild-wings.co.za

 

December update

This update is early, but that’s because I’m going on leave and won’t be doing any more tours this year. You’ll only hear from me again in the new year. Thankfully, my last few tours have been absolutely amazing with plenty of awesome sightings. I’m looking forward to more of that next year. To all of you, Merry Christmas and have a game-rich 2010.

                             

Total tours: 2        Total days: 7

	Day	Elephant	Rhino	Buffalo	Lion	Leopard	Cheetah	Wilddog	Hyena	Jackal
	Tour	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	0
	Day	4	7	5	6	3	3	1	6	0
	Sights	Y	20	Y	7	4	4	1	9	0
	Nr	Y	29	Y	23	5	7	7	22	0

 

 

Simon Vegter

Wild Wings Safaris

www.wild-wings.co.za

 

Spotted Cats

To see one of the spotted cats is always a challenge. Leopard and Cheetah, although large cats, can be very difficult and rewarding to see. They are absolutely stunning. Leopards are highly elusive and masters of camouflage. Cheetahs prefer the open grasslands and can melt into the vegetation. With a mere 200 individuals, they are sparsely distributed. We were fortunate in seeing both these two spotted cats on one day. But more so, in adding a third spotted cat on that same day. This cat is the serval (see photo), one of the smaller cats. It also prefers open grasslands where it hunts rodents. It stands quite tall on its legs to move and see through and over the grass. With its relatively large ears it can pinpoint the location of the rustling rodent and pounce on it. This was only the second time this year to have seen one. It’s amazing that we have seen all three spotted cats on one day. Not to mention the lions that were lying on the road that morning. What a fabulous day.

 

Simon Vegter

Wild Wings Safaris

www.wild-wings.co.za

 

November update

Here’s the update for November. Unfortunately I did not spend enough time in the Kruger. One of my safaris was cancelled at last minute and I also did some tours in and around Johannesburg, which kept out of the bush.

                             

Total tours: 2        Total days: 7

	Day	Elephant	Rhino	Buffalo	Lion	Leopard	Cheetah	Wilddog	Hyena	Jackal
	Tour	2	2	2	2	1	1	0	2	1
	Day	6	5	5	6	1	1	0	3	1
	Sights	Y	18	Y	9	1	1	0	4	1
	Nr	Y	24	Y	62	1	1	0	5	1

 

 

Simon Vegter

Wild Wings Safaris

www.wild-wings.co.za

 

Photo update

Here are a few photos from one of the guests from a previous safari (see “The week of the first rains”). I never managed to get a photo of the adult albino elephant, but here it is now. Note the yellow tail hair and eyelashes. Also, I thought their photo of the cheetah on the sign is pretty amazing. It gives you an idea of how close it actually was to the vehicle. Thanks Duane for sending them to me. They’re great.

 

Simon Vegter

Wild Wings Safaris

www.wild-wings.co.za

 

Displaying Korhaan

The birds are in full swing with the oncoming breeding season. Nest building is done on earnest. Males are trying to obtain territories, and more importantly, females. This is done with attractive plumage and calling. One spectacular display came from a Redcrested Korhaan. The red crest is normally not noticeable and hardly ever seen. This was only my second time to see one display like that. I find it quite interesting that a bird is named after something hardly seen, but considering that they are often named after dead specimens in museums, perhaps the crest seemed like one of the more obvious features. Little did they know in museums that in the wild it’s very special to see.

 

Simon Vegter

Wild Wings Safaris

www.wild-wings.co.za

 

October update

This has been another amazing month with the big 5 on all safaris. This month I’ve had an incredible amount of lions. During one safari I’ve seen 65 individuals – the most I’ve seen on one safari, beating the previous record of 46 set last year. Looking at these statistics, one can see why it’s generally believed to be the best time of the year to come for game viewing.

 

Total tours: 4        Total days: 16

	Day	Elephant	Rhino	Buffalo	Lion	Leopard	Cheetah	Wilddog	Hyena	Jackal
	Tour	4	4	4	4	4	1	1	4	2
	Day	16	12	14	13	6	1	1	11	3
	Sights	Y	39	Y	30	7	2	1	21	5
	Nr	Y	66	Y	118	8	3	4	44	9

 

 

Simon Vegter

Wild Wings Safaris

www.wild-wings.co.za

 

The week of the first rain

If asked what the best time of the year is to come to the park, I always say it’s the week of the first rain. It has been consistently so over the last few years, and this year it did not disappoint either. It varies from year to year. For the last two years it was somewhere in the beginning of November, but this year it was during the latter part of October. During the last few days we had many lion sightings, cheetahs twice, leopard twice, and black rhino three times. We encountered two separate black rhinos on a morning walk. Fortunately they were at a distance, but we did manage closer views of white rhinos during the walk. While watching three lions sleeping, I noticed a perculiar bird-like sound on the other side of the vehicle and an immediate response from the lions made me look, only to find a cheetah on a termite mound. He was calling for his brother and seemed quite desperate. We followed it for a while as it was searching and chirping. It crossed the road in front of us and suddenly climbed onto a signpost right next to the vehicle. We could hardly have been any closer. Eventually we had to leave him behind in his desperate search. We’ve seen several amazing elephant herds, but one was of particular interest as it contained two albino elephants. One was a calf, but more interestingly, there was also an adult albino female present. Most albino records are of calves, but few occur of adults. The calf was of a different mother though. This was also the time when I saw my fist side-striped jackal for the year. It is the rarer of the two jackal species. Another amazing sighting was of some lions feeding on wildebeest. Initially there were 5 lions but were later joined but 2 others with some aggression as they tried to join in the feast. As the morning continued, hyenas and jackal appeared for their share of the meat. One brave jackal neared very closely to the lions to retrieve a piece of stomach lining. Being successful at it, he thought he could eat it in peace, but did not anticipate the approaching hyena. He was duly chased. Initially he thought he could hold on to the meat but was forced to drop it as the hyena came dangerously close. By this time the vultures have also picked up on the opportunity of a meal and were descending to stay near for when the lions actually left. We observed this spectacle for three hours. All these great sightings were complimented with a civet, genet and honey badger on a night drive. To have such luck in such a short space of time can pretty much only happen during the week of the first rain. Unfortunately, now I have to wait an entire year before it can happen again. However, I’m sure that there will be many amazing trips to fill the gap in between.

Simon Vegter

Wild Wings Safaris

www.wild-wings.co.za