A Cederberg Survey

As regular readers of my blog will know I'm fortunate to be able to spend a fair bit of time in the wilds of Southern Africa with my camera traps. Over the last few years I've visited many fabulous sites, rich in biodiversity, but seldom get to spend long at any one of them.

So I've been looking for a site that is reasonably close to home where I can leave out a few cameras for many seasons - and possibly even a few years. I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for - in fact, I have no idea what I'm looking for. I just like the idea of surveying a location that's wild and remote enough that my cameras are unlikely to be spotted by anyone. I'm keen to produce a video rather than a snapshot - if you will excuse the metaphor.

One such place is the Cederberg mountains where I've recently spent a few days. My local readers will know the Cederberg as a wonderful place for hiking and exploring. It is criss-crossed by hiking trails and the odd 'jeep track' but there remain many remote valleys that almost never get visited. But the vegetation has a low carrying capacity and the term 'abundant' would not be used to describe its wildlife. So its certainly not  'big 5' territory but I'm always more interested in the smaller animals: call them the secret seventeen.

The owners and managers of a wonderful place called Mount Ceder ( www.mountceder.co.za ) have agreed to let me leave my cameras on their vast property. I've done a bit of scouting around and I think I've found, with their guidance, a few great spots for cameras. So they're installed and, hopefully, clicking away (to the extent that camera-traps ever click away) as you read this.

During my few days there I didn't get too many images but there were a few that I liked:

A one-horned Grey Rhebuck ram (Pelea capreolus) who seemed totally oblivious to my camera. These guys are fairly common in the Cederberg but one generally only sees them bounding away with their characteristic rocking-horse motion - their white tails flashing prominently.

An African Wild Cat (Felis silvestris) - and again not a particularly uncommon species. However, what is interesting to me is that it was out at midday. There could be plenty of reasons for this but I wonder whether the remoteness of the location could make them more diurnal.

The only primate in the region, the Savanna Baboon (Papio cynocephalus ursinus). Do their babies suck their thumbs too?

One of my favorites, the Caracal (Caracal caracal) - also not often seen during the day. I've been lucky with images of these beautiful cats recently but I particularly like this one. Those eyes are mean!

So I'm hopeful that this new site will produce something interesting. And I'm looking forward to getting back there on a regular basis to check the cameras and swap out the cards.

A New Site

I'm embarrassed that I haven't posted anything for a while. It's not that my interest has waned - it's just that I don't feel inspired by images that I've been recording. I figure that if I'm not excited by the same-old-same-old pics that I've been getting, then there is no reason why my followers should be.
However, I've recently been allowed into an access-controlled nature conservancy which I think is going to be rewarding. Here are some of my first photos:

 A male Grey Rhebuck (Pelea capreolus) with female in the background. These antelope are fairly common in these parts but one usually sees then dashing away with their white tails flashing as warning signs.

 A Common Eland (Tragelaphus oryx) which is the world's heaviest antelope, weighing up to 900kg. Even though they have something of a cow-like appearance, and attitude, they are great jumpers and can clear a 2m fence. Perhaps that is why they are not farmed for their meat (which is apparently of high quality) more often - although many people have tried.

 Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra zebra) - distinguished from the more common Plains Zebra by the lack of stripes on it's belly. It was once widespread in the mountainous areas of the southern tip of Africa but now is largely restricted to nature reserves.

A couple of young Red Hartebeest (Acelaphus buselaphus). This species was also widely distributed in the old days but, again, is now largely confined to protected areas.

However this was my favorite image:

The Secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius). If there is a "big 5" of the African bird world this guy has to be on the list. They are very successful snake killers and do this by dancing around the unfortunate serpent and striking it with downward blows of their feet. Sadly their status is listed as near-threatened and it would be a sad day if one never again saw them striding across the African grasslands.

However, what excited me most about my first images were these:

Notwithstanding the fuzzy images there is no doubting that there is a leopard (or leopards) patrolling the area. It's time to set up the Cuddebacks along this jeep track to see if I can capture some more impressive shots.