Off to the Kalahari !

Hi Everyone

After a quiet time we are on the roll again!

Will be in the Kalahari at Tswalu for two weeks starting next Monday – hope to get some good pictures!!

The past month or so kept us behind our desks catching up on admin.

We also had an exiting time exploring video and filming possibilities. What an eye-opener!!!  If you ever thought that making video programs or TV documentaries are easy, think again. I only now realise how “easy” photography is comparing to film making.

After putting in approximately 30 hours of production time, we have completed our first 4 minute pilot program. If we pass the scrutineering phase, we will definitely start producing short 2 – 5 minutes clips whenever we visit a “wild” place again.

Did I say that we are thinking of re-producing our Kalahari book? – on film? …

If you start saving 26 seconds a day from today, we may just have another extra day in 2016…

Have a good week.

Still here

Hi Everyone

Watch this space – we have been quiet for a while but new exciting stuff coming up…

Stay put.

Still here

Hi Everyone

Watch this space – we have been quite for a while but new exciting stuff coming up…

Stay put.

Little Cat Diary

Hi Everyone

Last night we went out an hour later to search for the Blackfooted cat. As we approached the location as indicated by the tracking device, it was like ringing Pavlov’s bell – she came running through the grass towards us!

Ewann gave her the first mouse and off she went! We found the burrow where she was hiding the kittens almost two hundred meters away.

She took another four mice into the burrow to feed the little ones. After the seventh mouse, she didn’t come out again.

Since the previous night, she has moved the kittens almost a kilometre away. But fortunately, she stays in the area which is now her territory!

Tomorrow we will return home but will be back there again to catch up on the kittens’ progress.

Have a good day!

Little ones everywhere !!

Hi Everyone

Almost all animal species that we spotted at Telperion have little ones – some recently born and others already steady on the hoof. The warthoggies (from pinklets to piglets) are all over the grassland running and hopping. We also saw a lost Blesbuck lamb running up and down the plains searching for someone to adopt him. He eventually ended up at four other (lost?) blesbuck lambs.

Below are a few of the little ones we encountered:

Tonight we will be visiting the Blackfooted cats again. Hope to see one of the kittens again.

Until tomorrow!

Blackfooted kittens !!

Greetings from Telperion at Ezemvelo!

We arrived at Ezemvelo this morning. At the office we received news from Maroti Tau that one of the Blackfooted cats that was released here during June-August 2011, gave birth to two kittens! (See our posting of 3 June 2011 for info on their release).

Late this afternoon we hopped onto the gamedrive vehicle and with the help of a tracking device, the mother was soon found.

1.  Below is Maroti and Ewann with the telemetric tracking device:

2.  We found the mother in an old springhare hole.

3.   The mother is being fed every second day – she is on a diet of five to seven mice at a time. Below is Nicoleen serving dinner!

4.   And another one!

5.   And then the BONUS!! I was able to take this picture of one of the kittens deep down in the den:

Enough excitement for one day! Speak again tomorrow…

TELPERION

Good day Everyone!

Last week we spent a day at Telperion (a Diamond Route property). As we drove through the reserve, Nicoleen counted a total of 34 warthog piglets and numerous newborn from Impala, Blue wildebeest, Zebra, Waterbuck, Baboon and Kudu. And where were our cameras? Don’t ask.

We will be back there this coming week and hope to catch the piglets before they turn into pigs. Then there is the elusive leopard that was spotted again a month or so ago. Hope to get a glimpse of him/her – one never knows!

And before I forget – I took the picture below after a rainy spell at Welgevonden. The millipede drowned in a puddle and the beetles were having a feast! I’m not sure which beetles these are but they have a longish snout with which they dug into the millipede’s sides sucking him dry. Will ask Duncan MacFadyen (our expert entomologist) to ID them.

Speak to you again from Telperion – have a nice week!

2012 – 366 days!

Hi Everyone!!

Welcome back to our blog – we hope you are having a prosperous new year so far!

Fortunately this year has one extra day – we will need every minute for our plans to fit into 366 days:

1.  Our Diamond Route book project is picking up speed. We have started with the design and layout and sorting of photos. Now the pictures start coming alive!

2.  The Welgevonden project delivered some excellent pictures and we will soon start compiling those into a book. The title though is still a mystery (Ursula, you have any suggestions?)

3.  We will be hosting our Photography Workshops at new exiting venues. The Diamond Route has granted us permission to run workshops at selected nature reserves. More on this to follow…

This year will see us venture into the video production arena. Although not completely new to us, it is still a Big Bite and a challenge we are looking forward to!

Enough written.

Next blog coming soon…

Come rain or sunshine…

Hi Everyone!!

After braving some violent weather at Welgevonden yesterday, we decided to tour the country and visit the town of Prince Albert.

To get to Prince Albert we had two choices: either take the tame road via De Rust and Klaarstroom, or tackle the mighty Swartberg Pass. And yes – you guessed it – we opted for the wild one!

As we entered the pass from Oudtshoorn’s side, it started to rain. The rain only stopped when we passed the halfway mark (the “TOP”). The temperature here was 17 degree Celsius.

At the junction to Gamkaskloof (“the Hell”) the mist cleared and the sun broke through.

Once we reached Prince Albert, the temperature in the shade was a happy 36 degree Celsius. After a cup of coffee at “The Coffee Shop” we flipped a coin to decide which way to return to Oudtshoorn. Heads it was and we returned via the tame route…

Hopefully more excitement is on its way!

Starry clouds

Welcome back!!

We returned to Fancourt late this afternoon and joined in for a pleasant evening of Carols by candlelight. We were first entertained by the Keiskamma Music Academy to traditional flute music. By this time it was already dark and overcast with a soft drizzle. Not deterred by the weather, approximately 200 Chinese lanterns were lit and set off from the clubhouse terrace.

Although it was not easy to take pictures in these conditions, I manage to capture some of the lanterns before they disappeared into the clouds.

Tomorrow will be our last round at Fancourt and we will be travelling back to Oudtshoorn and De Rust afterwards.

Our next posting will be from Welgevonden – see you then!