Roxanne Reid's Blog, page 38

Tatasberg camp, Richtersveld: de-clutter your mind

By Roxanne Reid
Have you ever felt like dropping out of the rat race andfindingspace to unmuddle your mind? The Tatasberg wilderness camp in the/Ai/Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park is a perfect place to do justthat. On our way from Sendelingsdrif, where we entered the park, to Tatasberg,we found the route up Halfmens Pass easybutcorrugated.Further on,the Akkedis Pass wound steeply fromside toside like a lizard,taking usslowly over rocky patchesto 566m.

Three klipspringers bolted awayf...

World's first live-tweeting badger

By Roxanne Reid
Are you following the world's first live-tweeting honey badger (ratel) on Twitter?Watch the video to find out this clever project. The Johannesburg Zoo is using innovative technology to transform the cheeky badger, named BG,into its 'official SocialMedia spokesanimal'.

Specially designed sensors in BG's high-tech enclosure allow him to tweet his thoughts and actions by remote control.

I've been following him for a month now, and have discovered he's cheeky, very opinionated...

Why Moringa is my favourite Etosha waterhole

By Roxanne Reid
Notmany people know about Halali. It’s the poor relation of Okaukuejo and Namutoni camps in Namibia’s Etosha National Park. But it’s definitely my favourite. Here’s why. Piggyin the middle between its more famous Etosha cousins, Halali appeals to me mostlybecause when you visit outside school holidays, as we do, it’s virtually yourpersonal campsite. A few Overlanders chockfull of over-excited foreigners willstop for lunch but by nightfall there’ll be just nine or ten campsi...

How elephants react to the roar of a lion (video)

By Roxanne Reid
Today is World Elephant Day. So here's a question: how do elephants reveal their anxieties and react when under threat? To find out, watch this video in which they respond to the recorded roaring of lions. Researchers in Kenya's Amboseli National Park were testing the decision-makingskills of older females. Recognising the roar of three male lions, the matriach
in this video bunched her herd into a tight group to ward off a possible attack.

We all know by now that elephants...

Botswana visitors to Kgalagadi: don’t use Nossob facilities

Here’s a reminder to visitors passing through Nossob camp in theKgalagadi Transfrontier Park on the way to any of the camps in Botswana: you’re not entitledto draw water from Nossob! Yes, this is a transfrontier park, which means you can crosscountry borders inside the park without a passport. But SANParks is responsiblefor water provisioning on the South African side (including Nossob) andBotswana’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) is responsible forprovisioning camps in...

Virunga under threat from oil exploration (video)

The Virunga National Park in the DRC is under threat from oil exploration. In a campaign tagged #SOSVirunga, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has made a video showcasing why allowing this would be a huge mistake. The video starts with a punch: 'Virunga:Africa's most beautiful and diverse ... oil field?' It goes on to hint at the wonders that could be lost if oil exploration were togo ahead - the forests, monkeys, gorillas, birds and other wildlife, the people surviving by fishing, and so fort...

Why you have to visit the Richtersveld wilderness

In my blog Strange bedfellows in the Richtersveld I mouthed off about how ugly the entranceto this wilderness area is when you approach Sendelingsdrif from Alexander Bay. Now I’m going to tell you why you just have to make the journey anyway. The truth is that once you pass the turnoff to the Hand of Godand the Oena Mine, about 30km from the entrance gate, the scenery becomesawesome. This is mountain desert, one of the most arid regions in the country.(It gets only 40-150mm of rain a yea...

Lioness steals leopard's kill at Kruger Park (video)

Would you fight a lion for your lunch? Of course not. What about a leopard? Would it bare teeth and claws and launch a counterattack, or just give up gracefully? Watch this video and find out. A video of a lioness stealing a kill from a leopard is doing the rounds onYouTube. It was taken on the S114(Renosterkoppies) near Skukuza camp inthe Kruger National Park,South Africa, on a tour with Outlook Safaris. Leopards can be incredibly fierce, but it would seem that they know how to pick thei...

Where to stay in the Richtersveld

The route via Alexander Bay to Sendelingsdrif gateis certainly the quickest way to get to the South African side of the /Ai/Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, but it’s not very attractive (thanks to diamond mining operations that have scarred the landscape). Luckily, there’s a morescenic alternative. If you take the R385 west from Steinkopf (about 60km north ofSpringbok on the N7), you’ll pass a couple of turnoffs to your right. They lead to the small settlements of Eksteenfontein, Lekk...

How your photos can help with leopard research

Meira Leopards may not need ID photos for a passport, but a project initiated by Dr MatthewSchurch is determined to identify leopards through photos anyway. At first the focus is on the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and Augrabies Falls National Park. I asked him the how, what and why, and to share some of his ID photos. Howdid your interest in leopard identification begin?
After my first trip to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park I triedto identify my only leopard sighting against some known l...