Trailcam Safari

I've recently returned from taking a party of guests into 'Big 5' country for an African safari experience as well as some camera-trapping - obviously!
We had a great time. The lodge was wonderful, the game viewing was sublime and our guide knew just when to back away from boisterous elephants. There were plenty of 'aaah sweeeet' moments with baby animals and also a few heart-stopping minutes when a large bull elephant gate-crashed our sundowner drinks. But it is experiences like these that make for a great safari.

Here are a few photos to illustrate what I mean:

......and his Dad:

One of the many elephants that caused some discomfort on the back of the open game-viewing vehicle....

.......and some that didn't:

This cheetah sadly didn't stay for too long......

......but this young Plains Zebra (Equus quagga) did:

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CAMERA-TRAPPING?.. I hear you all ask.

 Sadly, the images weren't quite of the same quality. Nevertheless my camera-traps certainly attracted the interest of a few mammals:

A curious Kudu bull (Tragelaphus strepsiceros).......

....and an African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer) giving my camera a sniff:

A Waterbuck cow (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) drinking at the lodge's waterhole....

.... a Klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus) that passed by during the early hours........

and a beast that was just too close:

Overall, I think my guests had a wonderful safari that they will never forget. I, too, had  memorable trip - but for other reasons. That will be the subject of another post!

Camera-trapping Workshop

I  recently ran a camera-trapping workshop in the Waterberg region of South Africa. The wildlife reserve I used had a good variety of mammals but no lions, elephants or buffalo. So it was safe to walk around and set up our cameras as long as we kept a look out for the resident rhinos and hippos.

The management of the reserve had pointed out the carcasses of a wildebeest and a couple of impala that had been struck by lightning - which seemed like a good place to start. We also chose a couple of water-holes, rhino middens and interesting looking spots in some riverine vegetation. But we had less than 48 hours to get some good images so luck did need to be on our side.

Our first evening was very windy and cold which is seldom good for camera trapping. The results from the cameras confirmed this and the results were disappointing. However the following night was way better so we were cautiously optimistic that we might have bagged something interesting. This is what we got:

An African Hawk-Eagle (Aquila spilogaster) on a piece of the carcass. I've always known them as competent hunters so was surprised to see them scavenging a carcass.

But I wasn't surprised to see these two around the carcass:

A Brown Hyaena (Parahyaena brunnea) who enjoys nothing more than some ripe wildebeest and an African Civet (Civettictis civetta) who didn't hang around too long.

An then we were fortunate to get:

A Caracal (Caracal caracal) who seemed to find the camera's flash a bit much........

......an Eland (Tragelaphus oryx) who wandered past on one of the few occasions when the sun shone.....

....and a Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) with its characteristic 'toilet-seat' marking on its rear end.

I'd also spent the night before the workshop on the reserve and had picked up this Large Spotted Genet (I'm not sure if it is Genetta maculata or Genetta tigrina )

We also got unexciting images of giraffe, warthog, kudu, impala, zebra, jackal, wildebeest, bushbuck, baboon and vervet monkey. So I guess that wasn't bad for a weekend of 'trapping'.

Thanks to the management of Jembisa as well as my 'students'. I had a lot of fun!