Three Small Dry South African Parks; three visits that were far too brief!

As my more assiduous readers may recall - and I understand that there are a few of those! - in 2019, not long before COVID profoundly altered travel, we made a very special trip to East and South Africa to celebrate a new stage in our life. We were guided (excellently) in Kenya and Tanzania but hired a car and did our own thing in western South Africa. I've reported on aspects of the odyssey here of course, but today I want to share with you three much more modest little reserves in the arid north-west of South Africa. As suggested in the title, we had very little time in each of them and they all deserved more, but even those brief visits were memorable. Maybe more time, another time?

This country is arid, with dunes to the east and vast piles of tumbled granites to the west. Some of it reminds me strongly of parts of inland Australia. We loved it, but were restricted by time and by our little 2WD hire car. Here are three little reserves, two of which were quite unexpected, in which we spent a total of just two nights and all of which we'd happily return to for longer.

From east  to west (the order in which we visited them) W = Witsand Nature Reserve,
G = Geogap Nature Reserve, B = Brandrivier private reserve and farm.

Witsand was completely spur of the moment. We were in Upington for a couple of nights and not especially enjoying it. It is a busy industrial frontier town and at the time cold and rainy. Our search for the 'River Park' ended in a housing estate, and we then and there decided to forfeit the second night of our rather strange accommodation and book a cabin at Witsand Nature Reserve, supposedly only 100k away. Well, that turned out to be only to the little town of Grooblershoop, with another hundred after that. Our GPS - for which we paid almost as much per day as for the car - was incompetent and unreliable throughout the trip, and our excellent Essential Birding Guide to Western South Africa was well out of date for this one (not its fault as I'd bought it 14 years previously). It was a frustrating and stressful trip and we'd pretty much given up on finding the reserve when we stumbled across a sign for the first time after some 70k of signless dirt (encouraged only by a friendly farmer), and arrived late in the afternoon, hours after we'd hoped. As we drove along the park boundary a pair of magnificent Kudu effortlessly hurdled the high fence, followed by a very athletic female who performed a side-twisting leap between the top two wires.and from then on it was all very good.

As the name suggests, this is a sandy landcape, dominated by hardy arid-adapted
plants, and especially by Camelthorn Vachellia (fomerly Acacia) erioloba.

Sunset, above and below; in my opinion nowhere does sunsets quite like the deserts.

Early morning view from the dunes, across the white sands which give the reserve its name
to the distant red sands of the Kalahari Desert.

Rocky hills supported tough succulents.

Euphorbia dregeana, a common and distinctive smooth succulent, found only
in this part of the world.

Perhaps this country is not to everyone's taste, but it definitely was to ours. The accommodation comprised a big living room and kitchen, and bedrooms and bathroom off an open verandah, with braai (barbeque to us) and busy bird bath outside. It was much bigger than we needed, but nothing smaller was available and we enjoyed it. Unfortunately, though unavoidably, we'd already booked our next accommodation (at the superb Augrabies Falls NP) so could only stay a night at Witsand. From the verandah and lounge room windows we watched a family of Yellow Mongooses (including a confusing grey one) and a parade of birds.

Acacia Pied Barbet Tricholaema leucomelas above
and Fiscal Flycatcher Melaenornis silens below at the water bath.
Both common species in this part of the world, and not considerate
of the photographer's needs re the sun, but a pleasure nonetheless.

Familiar Chats Oenanthe familiaris are indeed familiar around dwellings,
chasing insects and generally ignoring us. This one was no exception.

At the foot of the dune, where the photo above of the distant Kalahari was taken, was a hide with another watering point but we failed to see anything there, which was surprising given the general dryness (drought as well as the usual nature of the area) but perhaps recent showers were responsible. However there was plenty of activity around the carpark and on the dunes, including a magnificent Gemsbok which climbed the dune from the other side while we were there.

Gemsbok Oryx gazella, a very large and generally superb arid land
antelope from dry South Africa and Namibia. It is the largest of six
closely related species, weighing up to 250kg. This one showed a mild
interest in us, but not nearly as much as we showed it!

Other less dramatic animals also shared our early morning dune walk.

Kalahari Scrub Robin Cercotricha paena, a flycatcher unrelated to either
Old World or Australian robins.

Cape Glossy Starlings Lamprotornis nitens are widespread and common but nonetheless
stunners, and we never tired of them. This one caught the morning sun beautifully.

Unfortunately I was unable to lay lens on the ever-busy Dusky Sunbird Cinnyris fuscus
which was feeding on the mistletoe, but the flowering plant is worth admiring in its own right.

And in the carpark was an excellent example of one of the most amazing bird nests in the world, the huge colonial structures of the whizzing little Sociable Weavers Philetairus socius, which I also find hard to get an acceptable photo of.

These little weavers build the largest nest of any bird, containing up to a hundred families.

Other animals were easy to see along the reserve tracks...

Springboks Antidorcas marsupialis of course are the animal emblem of South Africa, but
are only found in the arid west of the country and north into the Kalahari. This one looks
quite sleek on very little forage.

Scrub Hares Lepus saxatilis are restricted to southern Africa

Steenboks Raphicerus campestris are more widespread, extending to East Africa. They are
a small antelope, standing no more than 60cm high. By now the light had almost gone!

... and around the Visitors' Centre.

The White-browed Sparrow Weaver Plocepasser mahali is a handsome weaver
which, like other weavers, nests colonially (but, unlike the Sociable Weaver, in separate nests).

The Crimson-breasted Shrike (or Boubou) Laniarius atrococcineus is a truly spectacular
bird and the national bird of Namibia. Indeed we were so excited to see it as
we were leaving the park that I managed to leave my faithful field guide on
the roof of the car, and didn't notice its absence until I needed it later that day at Augrabies Falls!
Luckily I was able to replace it with a newer edition later at Springbok.

Even the drive out provided a couple of worthwhile stops on nearby roads.

Namaqua Sandgrouse Pterocles namaqua. I'm a big fan of the desert-loving sandgrouse,
and these gorgeously patterned birds were a delight.

Striped Ground Squirrel Euxerus erythropus, which was sun-basking by its burrow
and popped back after we pulled up to admire it. This one is found over virtually
the entire continent, and was our last animal sighting for Witsand.

Had we known about Witsand earlier we'd have booked a couple of nights there in our original planning, but  such discoveries are what travel is about and our evening and morning there were well worth the angst of getting there!

From Witsand we drove to Augrabies Falls and after an excellent stay there drove another 300k further west to the delightfully named and busy town of Springbok in Namaqualand. I'd visited the nearby Goegap Nature Reserve on my previous visit in 2005, and wanted to show Lou this wonderful semi-desert rocky landscape. We had only a couple of hours before it closed but time enough to do the 13k all-vehicle loop (and how I'd love to do the longer 4WD circuit one day). The 15,000 hectare reserve was proclaimed and fenced in the 1960s, and some of the original wildlife was reintroduced.

Spring in Namaqualand is famous for its flowers, but we were there in June - and in drought. Some aloes provided colour though. 

Typical Goegap landscape - it's always dry of course, but not this dry.

I'm not sure of the identity of this aloe, but it looked magnficent among the Goegap rocks.

The real highlights however were both mammals. Just after we entered the reserve a couple of little heads appeared above a bush in an especially open sandy area; I assumed they were spurfowl but then, to our delight, three Meerkats Suricata suricatta burst into a gallop across the sand with tails in the air and vanished into a culvert under the road. They were the only ones we saw for the trip and we were thrilled.

The other mammal highlight was much bigger and more relaxed about us, and equally exciting.

Mountain Zebras Equus zebra are zebras of the hot dry rocky mountains, surviving in isolated
scattered populations mostly in Namibia. There are less than 3000 left in the wild. This was
the third zebra species (of three altogether) that we saw for our trip, which pleased us greatly.
These differ from the far more common Plains Zebra most obviously in the unstriped belly.

From here it was a short drive south along the highway to our Air BnB at Brandrivier. We were originally going to just stay in Springbok, but this promising-looking accommodation on private property popped up during our search and we crossed our fingers and booked it - good choice!

The walls are canvas, but you wouldn't call it a tent! It is set high above the highway which goes through the pass below. You can hear trucks sometimes, but they feel pretty remote. The magnificent verandah looks out over the valley one way, and up into the rocky hill behind. There's an excellent gas barbeque on the verandah and an outside shower among the rocks (plus a good indoor bathroom). Solar panels provide lights and there's a fridge. It certainly warranted more than a one-night stay!

Looking over the valley - the highway runs in front of the hills - above and below.

View of the rocks behind (and the barbeque).

From the balcony we watched the local wildlife.

The engaging furry-tailed Dassie Rats Petromus typicus loafed on the ledges and hid in the
rock crevices just behind the cabin. They are ancient Africans, the only member of their entire
family, found in arid rocky sites from here north through western Namibia to Angola.

This one fooled me for a while, until I discovered that the Mountain Wheatear
Myrmecocichla monticola, which I know as a black and white bird, also
comes in grey!

Layard's Warbler Curruca layardi, an Old World warbler which is relatively uncommon,
though quite widespread. I'm not sure if it was searching the flowering shrub
for insects or fruits - either is possible.

This is the lovely flower of the shrub above. I assume that it's in the Mytaceae family,
but beyond that I have idea - any assistance welcomed!

And the activity didn't end with nightfall, even in the cabin. Unfortunately I have no way of identifying either of these little residents, so if you can do so I'd be glad to hear from you.

This little chap came out to clean up the barbeque even before it cooled,
and before I had a chance to do so. I'm pretty sure it's not a House Mouse,
but I don't what the options are there.

Meet Bibron's Thick-toed Gecko Chondrodactylus bibronii (thanks to Roman below for pointing me
in the right direction). This beauty appeared after dark on the window frame,
though we don't know where it was lurking prior to that. It's a big gecko and apparently
relatively common across southern Africa.

So, three very different little reserves, each a treasure. This is one occasion when I'd be a bit surprised (pleasantly of course!) if anyone reading this has visited any of these reserves. If I'm wrong please let me know of your experience there. Otherwise, if you get the chance to visit any or all of them, try and give yourself more time in each of them than we did on this occasion - they, and you, richly deserve it. 

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 26 MAY

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"I Thought There Was Only One!"; of zebras, ostriches and more

The year is winding down, but there seems so much to do still. Accordingly this will be a fairly low-key post, based on a comment I heard with regard to our African adventure earlier this year, both while there from our companions on the East African tour, and since getting home. "But I thought there was only one zebra (ostrich, giraffe etc)!"

Fair enough too; we usually just refer to such animals in one-word terms, strongly implying that this is exactly the case. 'Zebras' for instance; even if we're aware of the more formal name of Plains or Common Zebra we usually tend to just go for friendly informal 'zebra'.

Plains Zebras Equus quagga, looking Africa-postcardish in the magnificent Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania
(one of the most satisfying days of my natural history life by the way).  And you might like to entertain yourself
by thinking of how many other names there are with a 'q' in both genus and species name.

This is quite understandable; almost any zebra that you're likely to see either in captivity or in the wild in Africa will probably belong to this species. This post is intended as an introduction to a few often unsuspected animals, not an in-depth study, but a couple of questions probably need to be asked about this one. Why 'zebra', and why the stripes? Unfortunately if you really wanted to know the definitive answer to either of these questions, you've come to the wrong place. My trusty old big Oxford Dictionary reports that it appeared in English for the first time in 1600, in a work translated from Portuguese. It suggests that the word originated in a Congolese language and appeared in similar forms around the same time in Italian, French and Spanish too. However I understand that other sources suggest a possible Latin origin, though the nexus seems pretty vague. I'm inclined to go with the Oxford, based on a long relationship.

Plains Zebra and foal (and bonus Yellow-billed Oxpecker), Tarangire NP, Tanzania.
The foal's stripes will darken age.

And the stripes? There is an array of suggestions, the most popular of which relate to camouflage, either referring to broken shadows or the 'dazzling' effect of swirling patterns of fleeing animals. Social aspects have been mooted, wherein stripes stimulate a zebra to groom other zebras, or the unique patterns of individuals assist in recognition. A couple of more recent suggestions, both evidence-based, are interesting. One shows that biting flies, which rely on homing in on polarised light, are confused by the stripey patterns. Another demonstrates that black stripes can be up to 10 degrees C hotter than adjacent white ones, which sets up small air convection currents which in turn assist in evaporative cooling. Have fun working your way through all those options!

We do know about the quagga part of the name though. This is a Khoekhoe word (once referred to as Hottentot) from South Africa, referring to an abundant sub-species which was hunted to extinction by 1880. Only one photograph exists (from an animal in London Zoo), plus 20-odd skins. Curiously the Quagga lacked stripes over most of the back half of its body. Which brings us to the point of this post; there isn't just one 'zebra' and this isn't just true at the subspecies level. Before we look at the other two zebra species, let's see what differentiates the Plains Zebra from them.

Plains Zebra, Lake Mburo NP, Uganda.
The key factor is the stripes (unsurprisingly!); in the Plains Zebra they run right under the belly,
and body stripes are much wider than those of either of the other two. There are no small transverse stripes
across the rump and top of the tail, and no stripe along the spine.

While the Plains Zebra is found in much of eastern Africa, and across northern Namibia to the Atlantic, the Mountain Zebra Equus zebra is limited to scattered mountain populations in southern South Africa and western Namibia. In the 1930s there were perhaps only 100 left, but numbers have increased with sustained conservation programs.

Mountain Zebra, Goegap NR, South Africa. They seem to like it rocky, hot and dry;
Goegap, near Springbok in the north-east of the country, meets these requirements well!
Notice the white belly and narrow body stripes, which suddenly get dramatically wider on the hips.
The little stripes across the spine above the tail and on it, and the obvious throat dewlap are also distinctive.

The third zebra species lives in the opposite corner of the continent, scattered in a few reserves in northern Kenya and Ethiopia, while it has has been extirpated in Djibouti, South Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia. Grevy's Zebra E. grevyi is the largest living wild horse, and rangier than the other zebras. This was the hippotigris ('tiger horse') which appeared in Roman arenas and parades. It is listed as Endangered, though populations seems to have stabilised.

Grevy's Zebra, Buffalo Springs NR, northern Kenya.
It has narrow body stripes and white belly like the Mountain Zebra, but no broad bands on the hips,
and a dark stripe down the spine bordered by a white strip on either side, plus noticeably bigger ears.

But ostriches? Surely there's only one ostrich?! No, there are actually two. The Common Ostrich Struthio camelus has two quite separate big ranges, across southern Africa, up from northern South Africa, and across a huge swathe of the Sahel from the Red Sea to the Atlantic with a 'tongue' of occupation down through Kenya and Tanzania.

Common Ostriches, Tarangire NP, Tanzania. The two ostriches are the world's largest birds;
a male can be nearly three metres tall and weigh over 150kg. Females and immature birds are
very similar.

The Somali Ostrich S. molybdophanes was described as a separate species back in 1883 but this was rapidly rejected, and until this millennium it was regarded as a sub-species of Common Ostrich. Only in 2014 was it reinstated as a full species, based on various physical and genetic characters, and the fact that the two live side by side in Ethiopia.

Somali Ostriches, Shaba NR, northern Kenya. The most obvious distinction from Common Ostrich
is in the blue-grey (not pinkish) legs and necks. The male is also 'very' black, as opposed to sort of 'off black'.

There are other differences too. 

Male Common Ostrich (Lake Nakuru NP, Kenya) above; male Somali Ostrich (Shaba NR, Kenya) below.
The Common has mostly dark irises, and a smooth crown with bristly hairs;
Somali has pale irises and a bare crown with a little horny protrusion.

Add caption

At Shaba we encountered another Horn of Africa relative of a widespread and well-known species too. The Common Warthog Phacochoerus africanus is a familiar pig across much of sub-Saharan Africa.

Common Warthog, Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. It really is a remarkable creature.

In northern Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia is a closely related warthog, an arid land specialist, the Desert Warthog P. aethiopicus. It's been known for a long time, but it's not a part of the world that most nature-watchers tend to visit.

Desert Warthogs, Shaba NR, Kenya. They are very similar to Common Warthogs, but have very
different dentition, lacking incisors entirely and with muscles that allow considerable side to side movement.
Presumably this assists with mastication of hard tubers and roots.

And finally I mentioned giraffes. No, it's OK, there really is only one Giraffe species Giraffa camelopardalis. Well, so far anyway; a number of reputable recent studies strongly suggest there are more. The eminent - and sadly recently late - Colin Groves in a 2011 publication believed there were eight species! We'll stick with the orthodoxy for today though, which generally recognises eight subspecies. Here are some of them; they are really quite distinctive.

Cape Giraffe G. c. giraffa, Augrabies Falls NP, northern South Africa.
The spots are dark and not as angular as others, and extend to about the knees.
From north and north-eastern South Africa and into Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Masai Giraffe G. c. tippelskirchi, Serengeti NP, Tanzania.
The spots here are very 'splintered' and go right down to the hoofs. Tanazania and southern Kenya.

Reticulated Giraffe. G. c. reticulata, Shaba NR, northern Kenya. Arguably the most striking giraffe,
with big angular chestnut spots on a white background.
An arid land giraffe, from north-eastern Kenya and adjacent Ethiopia and Somalia.

Rothschild's Giraffe. G. c. rothschildi, Lake Nakuro NP, Kenya.
Its large dark spots often contain paler lines, which can be seen on the male on the left
(though you may have to click on the photo to enlarge it).
From a small area here in south-western Kenya, plus northern Uganda and adjacent South Sudan.

As I said, these very different giraffes are still regarded as the one species, but I have a feeling that that may not be the case for much longer. 

Well, not for the first time that's probably more than I meant to say, but I hope you've found something to interest you here. If nothing else you may have met some special animals whose existence you may not hitherto have known about. Either way they're worth considering.

Enjoy the last days of 2019, and may 2020 bring you lots of natural history adventuring! I'll be back once more before the end of the year, for my annual year's highlights, via one photo per month.

NEXT POSTING TUESDAY 31 DECEMBER
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