The Cheetah Centre in South Africa was established in 1971, initially as a cheetah breeding project and the Centre has during the past 40 years bred over 800 cheetah cubs. Various conservation projects have been initiated since its inception which also inlcudes a successful African wild dog breeding programme. Visit the center on your South Africa Safari.
Mission
To ensure the long term survival of the Cheetah, African Wild Dog and other wild animals in general.
Aims
- To breed rare and endangered species (which includes the cheetah and African wild dog).
- To support scientific investigations into all aspects of these species.
- To promote public awareness - particularly amongst the younger generation - of the pressing need for wildlife preservation: to afford visitors to the Centre of the opportunity of viewing endangered species such as the cheetah and African wild dog, in natural surroundings and at close quarters.
- To continue to play a role in conservation biology by helping to maintain adequate gene pools of rare and endangered species.
- To generate income to support existing and future breeding projects at the Centre.
Where feasible, to re-establish endangered wildlife species into areas where they once occurred naturally.
Today the Centre can look back with satisfaction on a job well done in ensuring the survival of Acinonyx jubatus - the cheetah, successfully breeding the king cheetah in captivity for the first time in the world. While the cheetah breeding project was the base from which Ann launched her conservation ethic, it soon widened to include other endangered animal species, such as the African wild dog, brown hyaena, servals, suni antelope, and riverine rabbits. Many of these projects such as the suni antelope and riverine rabbits once successfully running have been handed over to other institutions to continue with.
The Centre does not receive any government funding and income generated from tours and the adoption programme is used to subsidise our conservation projects.
Come and visit the center with us on your South Africa Tour.
Hunting in Africa - Plains Game Hunting
Sunday 18 December 2011
Monday 7 November 2011
National Park of the Month - Marakele
Marakele National Park is a National Park that is part of the Waterberg Biosphere in Limpopo Province, South Africa. An exiting option to add to your South Africa Tour or South Africa Safari.
Marakele is located a few kilometres from the town of Thabazimbi and is easily reachable within 3 hours from Pretoria.
Flora and fauna
The park is accessible to all passenger vehicles, with the camp and tent sites on good roads. Also, approximately 80km of roads within the park are accessible to all vehicles, the balance requiring a four wheel drive vehicle. Marakele is home to the big five as well as sixteen species of antelopes and 250 species of birds. The Matlabas River runs through the park.
History
The area now constituting Marakele was home to several iron-age settlements which are not yet open to public viewing. Previous to its foundation as a National Park, it was home to naturalist Eugene Marais. Marakele was founded as Kransberg National Park in 1994 with the purchase of 150 square kilometres, and was shortly after renamed to its current name. By 1999, the park had expanded to 670 square kilometres.
Mauritius Honeymoons - Pretoria Accommodation
Marakele is located a few kilometres from the town of Thabazimbi and is easily reachable within 3 hours from Pretoria.
Flora and fauna
The park is accessible to all passenger vehicles, with the camp and tent sites on good roads. Also, approximately 80km of roads within the park are accessible to all vehicles, the balance requiring a four wheel drive vehicle. Marakele is home to the big five as well as sixteen species of antelopes and 250 species of birds. The Matlabas River runs through the park.
History
The area now constituting Marakele was home to several iron-age settlements which are not yet open to public viewing. Previous to its foundation as a National Park, it was home to naturalist Eugene Marais. Marakele was founded as Kransberg National Park in 1994 with the purchase of 150 square kilometres, and was shortly after renamed to its current name. By 1999, the park had expanded to 670 square kilometres.
Mauritius Honeymoons - Pretoria Accommodation
Monday 10 October 2011
City of the Month - Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa and, as the judicial capital of the nation.
Bloemfontein is popularly and poetically known as "the city of roses", owing to the abundance of these flowers and the annual rose festival held there. The city's Sesotho name is Mangaung, meaning "place of cheetahs".
Bloemfontein is situated on dry grassland at at an altitude of 1,395 metres above sea level. The city is home to 369,568 residents, while the Mangaung Local Municipality has a population of 645,455. Bloemfontein is served by Bloemfontein Airport.
Allthough historically a predominantly Afrikaner settlement, Bloemfontein was officially founded in 1846 as a fort by British army major Henry Douglas Warden as a British outpost in the Transoranje region, at that stage occupied by various groups of peoples including Cape Colony Trek Boers, Griqua and Basotho. Although modern day Bloemfontein has a reputation for its flowers in an otherwise arid region, the origin of the city's name is unclear. Popular legends include an ox named "Bloem" owned by one of the pioneer farmers that was taken by a lion near a fountain on his property, while another story names Jan Blom (1775–1858), a Korana KhoiKhoi leader who inhabited the area. Bloemfontein literally means fountain of flowers or flower spring in Dutch. With colonial policy shifts, the region changed into the Orange River Sovereignty (1848–1854) and eventually the Orange Free State Republic (1854–1902). From 1902–1910 it served as the capital of the Orange River Colony and since that time as the provincial capital of the Free State. In 1910 it became the Judicial capital of the Union of South Africa.
A railway line was built in 1890 connecting Bloemfontein to Cape Town.
The writer J. R. R. Tolkien was born in the city on 3 January 1892, though his family left South Africa following the death of his father, Arthur Tolkien, while Tolkien was still a child (1895). He recorded that his earliest memories were of "a hot country."
Second Anglo-Boer War/South African WarIn 1899, the city was the site of the Bloemfontein Conference, which failed to prevent the outbreak of the Second Boer War. The conference was a final attempt to avert a war between Britain and the South African Republic. With its failure the stage was set for war, which broke out on 11 October 1899.
The rail line from Cape Town provided a centrally located railway station, and proved critical to the British in occupying the city later.
On 13 March 1900, following the Battle of Paardeberg, British forces captured the city and built a concentration camp nearby to house Boer women and children. The National Women's Memorial, on the outskirts of the city, pays homage to the 26,370 women and children as well as 1,421 old men (Also 14,154 black people, though some sources feel that the records are unsatisfactory, and that this number could be as high as 20,000) who died in these camps in various parts of the country.
South Africa Tours - South Africa Safari - Photographic Safaris - South Africa Golf Tours - Botswana Safaris
Bloemfontein is popularly and poetically known as "the city of roses", owing to the abundance of these flowers and the annual rose festival held there. The city's Sesotho name is Mangaung, meaning "place of cheetahs".
Bloemfontein is situated on dry grassland at at an altitude of 1,395 metres above sea level. The city is home to 369,568 residents, while the Mangaung Local Municipality has a population of 645,455. Bloemfontein is served by Bloemfontein Airport.
Allthough historically a predominantly Afrikaner settlement, Bloemfontein was officially founded in 1846 as a fort by British army major Henry Douglas Warden as a British outpost in the Transoranje region, at that stage occupied by various groups of peoples including Cape Colony Trek Boers, Griqua and Basotho. Although modern day Bloemfontein has a reputation for its flowers in an otherwise arid region, the origin of the city's name is unclear. Popular legends include an ox named "Bloem" owned by one of the pioneer farmers that was taken by a lion near a fountain on his property, while another story names Jan Blom (1775–1858), a Korana KhoiKhoi leader who inhabited the area. Bloemfontein literally means fountain of flowers or flower spring in Dutch. With colonial policy shifts, the region changed into the Orange River Sovereignty (1848–1854) and eventually the Orange Free State Republic (1854–1902). From 1902–1910 it served as the capital of the Orange River Colony and since that time as the provincial capital of the Free State. In 1910 it became the Judicial capital of the Union of South Africa.
A railway line was built in 1890 connecting Bloemfontein to Cape Town.
The writer J. R. R. Tolkien was born in the city on 3 January 1892, though his family left South Africa following the death of his father, Arthur Tolkien, while Tolkien was still a child (1895). He recorded that his earliest memories were of "a hot country."
Second Anglo-Boer War/South African WarIn 1899, the city was the site of the Bloemfontein Conference, which failed to prevent the outbreak of the Second Boer War. The conference was a final attempt to avert a war between Britain and the South African Republic. With its failure the stage was set for war, which broke out on 11 October 1899.
The rail line from Cape Town provided a centrally located railway station, and proved critical to the British in occupying the city later.
On 13 March 1900, following the Battle of Paardeberg, British forces captured the city and built a concentration camp nearby to house Boer women and children. The National Women's Memorial, on the outskirts of the city, pays homage to the 26,370 women and children as well as 1,421 old men (Also 14,154 black people, though some sources feel that the records are unsatisfactory, and that this number could be as high as 20,000) who died in these camps in various parts of the country.
South Africa Tours - South Africa Safari - Photographic Safaris - South Africa Golf Tours - Botswana Safaris
Sunday 25 September 2011
National Park of the Month - Addo Elephant National Park
The original section of the park was founded in 1931,[1] in part due to the efforts of Sydney Skaife, in order to provide a sanctuary for the eleven remaining elephants in the area. The park has proved to be very successful and currently houses more than 450 elephants and a large number of other mammals.
Expansion
The original park has subsequently been expanded to include the Woody Cape Nature Reserve that extends from the Sundays River mouth towards Alexandria and a marine reserve, which includes St. Croix Island and Bird Island, an important breeding habitat for gannets and penguins, not to mention a large variety of other marine life. Bird Island is home to the world's largest breeding colony of gannets - about 120,000 birds - and also hosts the second largest breeding colony of African penguins, the largest breeding colony being St Croix island. This forms part of the plan to expand the 1,640 km² Addo National Elephant Park into a 3,600 km² Greater Addo Elephant National Park.
The expansion has meant not only that the park contains five of South Africa's seven major vegetation zones (biomes) but also that it is probably the only park in the world to house the so-called "Big 7" (elephant, rhinoceros, lion, buffalo, leopard, whale and great white shark) in their natural habitat.
South Africa Tour Packages - South Africa Safaris - wildlife photographer
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Expansion
The original park has subsequently been expanded to include the Woody Cape Nature Reserve that extends from the Sundays River mouth towards Alexandria and a marine reserve, which includes St. Croix Island and Bird Island, an important breeding habitat for gannets and penguins, not to mention a large variety of other marine life. Bird Island is home to the world's largest breeding colony of gannets - about 120,000 birds - and also hosts the second largest breeding colony of African penguins, the largest breeding colony being St Croix island. This forms part of the plan to expand the 1,640 km² Addo National Elephant Park into a 3,600 km² Greater Addo Elephant National Park.
The expansion has meant not only that the park contains five of South Africa's seven major vegetation zones (biomes) but also that it is probably the only park in the world to house the so-called "Big 7" (elephant, rhinoceros, lion, buffalo, leopard, whale and great white shark) in their natural habitat.
South Africa Tour Packages - South Africa Safaris - wildlife photographer
- golf in south africa
- botswana tour
Thursday 15 September 2011
Elephant Sanctuary - Hartebeestpoort
The Elephant Sanctuary provides a safe haven for our elephants and offers a unique platform for guest education and interaction.
All our programs are guest and elephant driven, which means the most important part of our operation is to ensure happy elephants and satisfied guests. The close encounter with elephants you experience at The Elephant Sanctuary truly is one of a kind.
All our elephants are African Elephants (Loxodonta Africana) whose trust we’ve gained through our unique reward based training. We believe in forming bonds between humans and elephants. To this end, all our elephants are exercised and stimulated daily, which provides a firm foundation for trust.
The Elephant Sanctuary is a family orientated operation catering for both young and old. We focus on education through interaction, so you will not only learn a lot about elephants, but also get to touch, feel, feed, walk trunk-in-hand and even ride these magnificent animals. Elephants are highly intelligent and delightful – when meeting them you will discover that each one has a different character, personality and temperament.
South Africa Tours
South Africa Safaris
Cape Town Tours
Victoria Falls Packages
All our programs are guest and elephant driven, which means the most important part of our operation is to ensure happy elephants and satisfied guests. The close encounter with elephants you experience at The Elephant Sanctuary truly is one of a kind.
All our elephants are African Elephants (Loxodonta Africana) whose trust we’ve gained through our unique reward based training. We believe in forming bonds between humans and elephants. To this end, all our elephants are exercised and stimulated daily, which provides a firm foundation for trust.
The Elephant Sanctuary is a family orientated operation catering for both young and old. We focus on education through interaction, so you will not only learn a lot about elephants, but also get to touch, feel, feed, walk trunk-in-hand and even ride these magnificent animals. Elephants are highly intelligent and delightful – when meeting them you will discover that each one has a different character, personality and temperament.
South Africa Tours
South Africa Safaris
Cape Town Tours
Victoria Falls Packages
Thursday 8 September 2011
City of the Month - Pretoria
Pretoria - The Capital of South Africa. Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive (administrative) and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital. Pretoria is contained within the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as one of several constituent former administrations (among which also Centurion and Soshanguve). Pretoria itself is sometimes incorrectly referred to as "Tshwane" in a controversial proposed name change, the status of which is still being decided as of 2011.
The city's original name was Pretoria Philadelphia ("Pretoria of brotherly love"). It gave its name to the Pax Praetoriana, referring to the country's relative stability.
Pretoria in South Africa is popularly known as The Jacaranda City.
The Southern Transvaal Ndebele occupied the river valley, which was to become the location of the city of Pretoria, by around 1600.[3]
During the difaqane in Natal, another band of refugees arrived in this area under the leadership of Mzilikazi. However, they were forced to abandon their villages in their flight from a regiment of Zulu raiders in 1832.
Pretoria itself was founded in 1855 by Marthinus Pretorius, a leader of the Voortrekkers, who named it after his father Andries Pretorius. The elder Pretorius had become a national hero of the Voortrekkers after his victory over the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River. Andries Pretorius also negotiated the Sand River Convention (1852), in which Britain acknowledged the independence of the Transvaal. It became the capital of the South African Republic (ZAR) on 1 May 1860. The founding of Pretoria as the capital of the South African Republic can be seen as marking the end of the Boers' settlement movements of the Great Trek.
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Victoria Falls Packages
The city's original name was Pretoria Philadelphia ("Pretoria of brotherly love"). It gave its name to the Pax Praetoriana, referring to the country's relative stability.
Pretoria in South Africa is popularly known as The Jacaranda City.
The Southern Transvaal Ndebele occupied the river valley, which was to become the location of the city of Pretoria, by around 1600.[3]
During the difaqane in Natal, another band of refugees arrived in this area under the leadership of Mzilikazi. However, they were forced to abandon their villages in their flight from a regiment of Zulu raiders in 1832.
Pretoria itself was founded in 1855 by Marthinus Pretorius, a leader of the Voortrekkers, who named it after his father Andries Pretorius. The elder Pretorius had become a national hero of the Voortrekkers after his victory over the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River. Andries Pretorius also negotiated the Sand River Convention (1852), in which Britain acknowledged the independence of the Transvaal. It became the capital of the South African Republic (ZAR) on 1 May 1860. The founding of Pretoria as the capital of the South African Republic can be seen as marking the end of the Boers' settlement movements of the Great Trek.
South Africa Tours
South Africa Safaris
Cape Town Tours
Victoria Falls Packages
Tuesday 30 August 2011
National Park of the Month - Bontebok National Park
Bontebok National Park is a species-specific national park in South Africa. It was established in 1961 to ensure the preservation of the bontebok. It is the smallest of South Africa's national parks, covering an area of 27.86 km² The park is part of the Cape Floristic Region, which is a World Heritage Site. The park is located 6 km south of Swellendam, in the foothills of the Langeberg Mountains. It is bordered to the south by the Breede River.
Other conservation at the park includes the protection of the endangered fynbos veld type and the coastal renosterveld, one of the largest remaining "renosterveld islands", which contains several plant species that are found nowhere else in the world. In total, the park has nearly 500 grasses and other plant species. Other indigenous species at the park include the clawless otter, Stanley's bustard and the blue crane. Rheboks, Cape Grysboks, duikers, red hartebeests and mountain zebras can also be found there. There are over 200 bird species.
South Africa Tours - South Africa Safaris - Photographic Safaris
Other conservation at the park includes the protection of the endangered fynbos veld type and the coastal renosterveld, one of the largest remaining "renosterveld islands", which contains several plant species that are found nowhere else in the world. In total, the park has nearly 500 grasses and other plant species. Other indigenous species at the park include the clawless otter, Stanley's bustard and the blue crane. Rheboks, Cape Grysboks, duikers, red hartebeests and mountain zebras can also be found there. There are over 200 bird species.
South Africa Tours - South Africa Safaris - Photographic Safaris
Tuesday 23 August 2011
City of the month - Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa. The city the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape, as well as the legislative capital of South Africa, where the National Parliament and many government offices are located. The city is famous for its harbour as well as its natural setting in the Cape floral kingdom, including such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. Cape Town is also Africa's most popular tourist destination.
Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was originally developed by the Dutch East India Company as a victualling station for Dutch ships sailing to Eastern Africa, India, and the Far East. Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa.
Today it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa.
Highlights in Cape Town include:
The V&A Waterfront
Table Mountain
Robben Island
Cape Town Castle
Company Gardens
Signal Hill
Camps Bay
Number of fine beaches
Cape Town is within a forty minute drive from:
Houtbay
Chapman's Peak
Cape Point
Cape Peninsula National Park
Simons Town and Boulders Beach
The Cape Winelands
South Africa Tours - South Africa Safaris - Photographic Safaris - Cape Town Tours
Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was originally developed by the Dutch East India Company as a victualling station for Dutch ships sailing to Eastern Africa, India, and the Far East. Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa.
Today it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa.
Highlights in Cape Town include:
The V&A Waterfront
Table Mountain
Robben Island
Cape Town Castle
Company Gardens
Signal Hill
Camps Bay
Number of fine beaches
Cape Town is within a forty minute drive from:
Houtbay
Chapman's Peak
Cape Point
Cape Peninsula National Park
Simons Town and Boulders Beach
The Cape Winelands
South Africa Tours - South Africa Safaris - Photographic Safaris - Cape Town Tours
Wednesday 10 August 2011
The Big Five
The phrase Big Five game was coined by white hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. The term is still used in most tourist and wildlife guides that discuss African wildlife safaris.
The African Elephant - Loxodonta africa
A very large herbivore having thick, almost hairless skin, a long, flexible, prehensile trunk, upper incisors forming long curved tusks of ivory, and large, fan-shaped ears.
Black Rhinoceros - Diceros bicornis
A large, thick-skinned herbivore having one or two upright horns on the nasal bridge. Rhinoceros may refer to both Black Rhinoceros and White rhinoceros.
Cape Buffalo - Syncerus caffer
A large horned bovid. Buffalo are sometimes reported to kill more people in Africa than any other animal, although the same claim is also made of hippos and crocodiles.[6] It is considered the most dangerous of the Big Five.
Lion - Panthera leo
A large carnivorous feline of Africa and northwest India, having a short tawny coat, a tufted tail, and, in the male, a heavy mane around the neck and shoulders.
Leopard - Panthera pardus
A large, carnivorous feline having either tawny fur with dark rosette-like markings or black fur.
The African Elephant - Loxodonta africa
A very large herbivore having thick, almost hairless skin, a long, flexible, prehensile trunk, upper incisors forming long curved tusks of ivory, and large, fan-shaped ears.
Black Rhinoceros - Diceros bicornis
A large, thick-skinned herbivore having one or two upright horns on the nasal bridge. Rhinoceros may refer to both Black Rhinoceros and White rhinoceros.
Cape Buffalo - Syncerus caffer
A large horned bovid. Buffalo are sometimes reported to kill more people in Africa than any other animal, although the same claim is also made of hippos and crocodiles.[6] It is considered the most dangerous of the Big Five.
Lion - Panthera leo
A large carnivorous feline of Africa and northwest India, having a short tawny coat, a tufted tail, and, in the male, a heavy mane around the neck and shoulders.
Leopard - Panthera pardus
A large, carnivorous feline having either tawny fur with dark rosette-like markings or black fur.
Tuesday 2 August 2011
Places I would like to visit in Southern Africa
Sossusvlei, Namibia
Sossusvlei is located in Namibia south from the capital Windhoek. It is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia. Sossusvlei is well-known for their red dunes which offer great landscape photographic opportunities. Best time will be just as the sun rises or sets providing bright red colours mixed with black of the shadows. A number of private lodges are available in the area. Namibia Wildlife Resorts offer less expensive options.
Etosha National Park, Namibia
The Etosha National is found North of Windhoek and was established in 1907. At that time it was the largest game reserve in the world. Due to political changes it is now slight less than a quarter of its original area. The Etosha Pan dominates the park. The salt pan desert is roughly 130 km long and as wide as 50 km in places. The salt pan is usually dry, but fills with water briefly in the summer, when it attracts pelicans and flamingos in particular. Perennial springs attract a variety of animals and birds throughout the year, including the endangered Black Rhinoceros and the endemic Black-faced Impala. The best time to visit Etosha is at the end of winter and early spring when most of the animals concentrate around the remaining water. As soon as the summer rain starts to fall the animals will spread out over the area.
Richtersveld
The Richtersveld is a mountainous desert landscape characterised by rugged kloofs and high mountains, situated in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province. It is full of changing scenery from flat sandy plains, to craggy sharp mountains of volcanic rock and the lushness of the Orange River, which forms the border with neighbouring Namibia. Located in South Africa's northern Namaqualand, this arid area represents a harsh landscape where water is a great scarcity and only the hardiest of life forms survive. A favourite amongst nature travellers to South Africa, the landscape is sometimes described as "martian". Though barren and desolate at first glance, closer examination reveals the area to be rich in desert life forms, with an array or unique species specially adapted for survival.
Namaqualand during flower season
Namaqualand is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa. Namaqualand is quite popular with both local and international tourists during early springtime, when for a short period this normally arid area becomes covered with a kaleidoscope of colour during the flowering season. This is known throughout South Africa as the Namaqualand daisy season, when orange and white daisies, as well as hundreds of other flowering species, spring up from a previously barren landscape. This is a great opportunity for colourful landscape photographs.
Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta in Botswana is the world's largest inland delta. It is formed where the Okavango River empties onto a swamp in an endorheic basin in the Kalahari Desert, where most of the water is lost to evaporation and transpiration instead of draining into the sea. The Okavango delta is both a permanent and seasonal home to a wide variety of wildlife which is now a popular tourist attraction.
Species include African Bush Elephant, African Buffalo, Hippopotamus, Lechwe, Topi, Blue Wildebeest, Giraffe, Nile crocodile, Lion, Cheetah, Leopard, Brown Hyena, Spotted Hyena, Greater Kudu, Sable Antelope, Black Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros, Plains Zebra, Warthog and Chacma Baboon. Notably the endangered African Wild Dog still survives within the Okavango Delta, exhibiting one of the richest pack densities in Africa. The delta also includes over 400 species of birds, including African Fish Eagle, Crested Crane, Lilac-breasted Roller, Hammerkop, Ostrich, and Sacred Ibis. The majority of the estimated 200,000 large mammals in and around the delta are not year-round residents. They leave with the summer rains to find renewed fields of grass to graze on and trees to browse, and then make their way back as winter approaches.
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Etosha National Park, Namibia
Richtersveld
Namaqualand during flower season
Okavango Delta
Species include African Bush Elephant, African Buffalo, Hippopotamus, Lechwe, Topi, Blue Wildebeest, Giraffe, Nile crocodile, Lion, Cheetah, Leopard, Brown Hyena, Spotted Hyena, Greater Kudu, Sable Antelope, Black Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros, Plains Zebra, Warthog and Chacma Baboon. Notably the endangered African Wild Dog still survives within the Okavango Delta, exhibiting one of the richest pack densities in Africa. The delta also includes over 400 species of birds, including African Fish Eagle, Crested Crane, Lilac-breasted Roller, Hammerkop, Ostrich, and Sacred Ibis. The majority of the estimated 200,000 large mammals in and around the delta are not year-round residents. They leave with the summer rains to find renewed fields of grass to graze on and trees to browse, and then make their way back as winter approaches.
South Africa Tours - South Africa Safaris - Photographic Safaris
Monday 25 July 2011
My favourite top 5 places that I have visited in Southern Africa
Southern Africa has so much to offer visitors to South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. My favourite top 5 places that I have visited in Southern Africa include:
5 – Natures Valley, South Africa
Natures Valley is a small holiday town. Well, you can not really call it a town, but it at least has a café and restaurant. With a three kilometre white sandy beach and the Tsitstikamma Forest as a back drop it is a very special holiday destination in South Africa. One can spent the morning relaxing on the beach, while exploring the forest on foot during the afternoon.
4 – Victoria Falls, Zambia
With the majestic Victoria Falls as the main attraction, this is a stop within Southern Africa one has to make. The area offers a great variety in adventure activities from quad biking, to bungee jumping, white river rafting, walks with lion or rhino and safaris on elephant. For the less adventurous there is the Flight of Angels, game drives in a number of game reserves or just relaxing at the pool.
3 – Kalahari Transfrontier Park, Botswana & South Africa
Having had the opportunity to visit the Kalahari for the first time last year October I just realised why Southern Africa is such a great area to visit. From the busy city of Pretoria, travelling through the grassy highveld one reaches the semi desert of the southern Kalahari and then the desert of the Kalahari – all these changes in a days drive. The Kalahari is an area where only the strongest will survive. It is also a great photographic destination due to the concentration of animals around the few water holes.
2 – Savuti, Botswana
During a visit to Savuti I quickly realised what “wild” Africa might have been a few hundred years ago. After setting up our tent we were received open arms – or must I say open “trunks” by an elephant bull. I think he checking in to make sure everybody is settled in for the evening. The area is known for a very special pride of lions that has the ability to hunting down young elephants when general food is limited during very bad drought seasons. With the thought of this pride walking through camp and the initial welcome by the elephant bull, I surely had a restful nights’ sleep.
1 – The Kruger National Park, South Africa
The favourite destinations for many South African who grew up with visits to the Kruger National Park during the winter school holidays. An area that offers a great diversity in wild- and birdlife, you never know what you will find around the next turn in the road. Visitors have the option of the most basic camping to the some of the most luxurious lodges in the world. Offering people of all walks of life the opportunity to experience one of the greatest places on earth.
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5 – Natures Valley, South Africa
4 – Victoria Falls, Zambia
3 – Kalahari Transfrontier Park, Botswana & South Africa
2 – Savuti, Botswana
1 – The Kruger National Park, South Africa
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Tuesday 19 July 2011
New Travel Blog
Hello to all travelers out there.
This is a new blog focusing on providing information on Southern Africa. We will gladly answer any questions you may have on the area and will gladly assist in making your dream holiday to Africa come true. The focus on South Africa Tours , South Africa Safaris, Photographic Safaris and Golf Tours South Africa in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
Come and live the dream!!!!
This is a new blog focusing on providing information on Southern Africa. We will gladly answer any questions you may have on the area and will gladly assist in making your dream holiday to Africa come true. The focus on South Africa Tours , South Africa Safaris, Photographic Safaris and Golf Tours South Africa in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
Come and live the dream!!!!
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