Showing posts with label hippo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hippo. Show all posts

Monday, January 13, 2020

A few more photos from our visit to South Africa last year.

Maximum temperature in the Charente today 10C, minimum 4C. 2mm of rain measured this morning but we had a dry day. 23km/h south-westerly winds with gusts up to 45 km/h.

African elephant (Loxodonta africana).
Again, I will not state exactly where animals were seen because of poaching risks.

Note those long eyelashes!!

African hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) out of the water grazing. Usually, grazing occurs during the evening or the night, but looking at the amount of grass around I guess they need more feeding hours.  Recent rains have fallen in many places in South Africa but some are still drought-stricken.

Greater kudu, female (Tragelaphus strepsiceros). Note the Red-billed oxpeckers (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) on her back

As above; see she has an oxpecker on her head.  The birds do a fabulous job of keeping the animals free from ticks and parasites.

Kudu male.  The female does not have horns.

Lion (Panthera leo)...

and lioness.

Common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus).

Waterbuck  (Kobus ellipsiprymnus)...

As above

African wild dog (Lycaon pictus)

Sometimes one has to just relax, hook your trunk over a tusk and close your eyes for a snooze

Last but not least this couple totally ignored us. Females are receptive to mating for three or four days within a widely variable reproductive cycle. During this time a pair generally mates every 20–30 minutes, with up to 50 copulations per 24 hours.



See also my



Thursday, May 11, 2017

11/05/2017 Lots on today and quite wet; so some more photos from our South African trip in February 2017

Maximum temperature 19C, minimum 9C.  19 km/h SW wind 33 km/h gusts.   2 mm measured this morning but since it has been raining on and off.
The beach at Leisure Bay on the South Coast - with thanks to Joan, she has a great site for South African Identification of animals, insects and plants.  It was wonderful to meet her after following her for so many years...

Hermit Crab...

South Coast...

African Pied Wagtail (Motacilla aguimp)...

Cape White-eye (Zosterops virens)

Vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus).

Moving away from the South Coast we stayed with friends in Empangeni in Kwa-Zulu-Natal, we were sitting on their veranda when this jenny of giraffes walked past.  Now if they were standing still, it would have been called a tower of giraffes!!

I walked down and out of the house and got this shot a bit closer.

We then went up stream to have a braai (the Afrikaans name for a barbecue), note the river in the back ground...

and we were being watched!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

22/12/2013 At the house all day so just looking around for some shots locally.

Maximum temperature 8C in Devizes and some rain.
Maximum temperature at home in the Charente 10C a little rain in the morning.