South Africa
South Africa is the most southern country in Africa. Covering 1.2 million square kilometers (463,000 square miles). Around 10% of the country is protected for wildlife, and this is a very famous place to go on safari. Indeed, the Kruger national park – South Africas largest reserve (and part of the greater Limpopo Transfrontier park) is the place where I did by field guide training, and this is a place that is well worth visiting.
It is one of the best destinations for African safari – both the Kruger national park and the next door sabi sands private reserve are some of the best known in the world.
However, this is not all that teh country is best known for. There is beautiful cities, stunning coastlines, and pretty much every habitat has fascinating wildlife.
We already have a number of destinations listed, but hope to expand rapidly over the next few years.
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South Africa is already a well known tourism destination, never the less, there are still plenty of places which you can visit and get off the beaten track. While these can be found in the public parks (and I prefer to find these in public) these can often be easier to find in the private reserves that litter the country.
Links to areas to visit will appear below.
3 of the 20 Cheetah translocated from South Africa to India have died in recent weeks, does this confirm doubters?
The Indian cheetah was lost from India back in 1952. Hosting Tigers, Lions, Leopards, and Snow Leopards within its borders, it was a mark of pride when the cheetah reintroduction was announced. It is certainly true that cheetah once roamed India, and as the only cat to be lost in theory I would agree that …
Translocating Cheetah from South Africa to India : update
I wrote back in November about plans to move African cheetah from South Africa to India. Should you wish to read this original article, I have linked it below. https://seeanimalswild.com/2021/11/17/south-african-cheetah-to-be-introduced-into-india/ There has been an update. The first batch of cheetah will be moved to Kuno reserve, in August, 5-6 Cheetah will be moved to Kuno …
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Bees killed 63 endangered penguins in south Africa
Around the planet, humans kill vast numbers of wildlife and we have pushed many to extinction. Something we need to remember, is that we are not the only dangerous thing on earth. We need to allow each species to be able to cope with natural deaths that occur from elsewhere. This event from a few …
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Shell has started to use seismic tests around South Africa looking for Oil
Despite a desperate attempt to halt this exploration, Shell has started seismic exploration of the ocean floor off the coast of South Africa. Why does this matter? Currently, this sea is an incredibly biodiverse and healthy ecosystem. Importantly, these seas are home to a slowly recovering population of Southern right whales, Seismic tests require incredibly …
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South African cheetah to be introduced into India
There is an impressive wealth of cats living in India. From the Indian tiger (known throughout the world) to the Asiatic lions last home- the gir forests of west india (the asiatic lion once roamed across Asia, throughout southern Europe, across northern and western Africa – therefore there are probably more “Asiatic” lion in Africa …
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Cheetah population in South Africa has almost doubled in 9 years-how?
Cheetah are one of those species that have done rather badly over the last century. Back in 1900 there was around 100,000 cheetahs across Africa, now there is 7100. Many people would argue that all species have suffered similar losses, but this isn’t true. For instance African lions numbered around 200,000 in 1900. They number …
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Where have South Africa’s great white sharks disappeared to?
South Africa is home to a large number of wonderful wildlife. One of the things that was most well known for its great white sharks. Big draw as being the shark boats which go out with a cage attached to the side and then tourists are able to get into the cage so as to …
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Rhino poaching Falls for the fifth consecutive year in South Africa
The fact that the rhino poaching of South Africa has fallen for 5 years in a row is something to celebrate. However, despite this there is a lot that we still need to be concerned about. In 2019 594 Rhinos were killed within the Kruger National Park by poachers. In 2015 a little over 1300 …
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The rise of rhino poaching within South Africa
In 2006 there were 36 rhinos poached within South Africa. This is important, as South Africa has the vast majority of remaining Southern White Rhinos living within its borders (over 90%). In 2007 only 13 were killed, and it was thought that the poaching problems for the rhino was largely over. Unfortunately was is not …
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Black Mamba (South Africa)
Image by John Blythe We spent a month volunteering at Umhloti Lodge about 20 miles from Kruger. This is a nature reserve, and although none of the big five live here permanently, there are certainly visiting Leopards. However at the centre of the reserve is a Chimpanzee sanctuary (the location of the Animal Planet series …
In modern day Africa Bonobos live south of the Congo river, and Chimpanzees live to the north – has that always been so?
Chimpanzees and bonobos look very similar to the untrained eye. Indeed, in the past it was not uncommon for them to be housed together, at least until the keeper saw the bonobo getting beaten over and over again.
Southern African countries Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola and Namibia are calling for an end to the ban on ivory sales
This group of Southern African countries are once again raising the prospect of them selling the ivory that they have accumulated over the years. In the majority of African countries that have wild elephants it is standard practice when Game Wardens come across dead elephants to remove the tusks. This is because it has been …
African wild dogs live at low densities naturally, what happens if climate change makes survival harder?
African wild dog, fill a similar niche in Africa that the wolf does in much of the northern hemisphere. Hunting as a pack, and running greater prey down until exhaustion means either collapse or a greatly weakened animal allowing the kill to take place. Because they live at low densities, it is only the largest …
One of the four remaining viable west African Lion habitat has been badly treated but perhaps it is now on the mend.
West African lions are heavily endangered with just 400 members remaining. While the west African population of the Asiatic lion is less at risk than the Gir forest population – being spread over 4 unconnected sites, it would be impossible for an epidemic to wipe out the whole population, or indeed some sort of freak …
The Asiatic cheetah species is not closely related to the African one as previously thought
11 years ago a DNA assessment was done on the Iranian cheetah. This cheetah population is the last Asian cheetah population remaining. It was thought that all cheetah went through a bottleneck 10,000 years ago, meaning that all cheetah were closely related. However this is not as all encompassing as we thought.
The website was hacked! nothing lost, and wildlife tourism to Africa can return
Hello everyone! We survive So, the website was hacked. Nothing was stolen, from what I was told they were just able to delete the website. Thankfully we back up, so we have survived. We have added a significant extra layer of protection which should make it impossible for the same problem to arise (it had …
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Why are so many African countries on the government’s Covid red list
Out of the 54 countries in Africa 20 currently listed on the British government’s red list. This list is a list of countries that you cannot travel to without then spending 10 days in quarantine. All well and good you might say, after all the government’s main concern is the health of its citizens. The …
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Will climate change kill the forests of Africa?
There are many threats facing the great apes of Africa, from habitat destruction and fragmentation, to hunting for bush meat. Unfortunately, it is now thought that Chimpanzees gorillas and Bonobos face a still greater threat (assuming humans avoid killing off what remains of their population) the loss of about 94% of their remaining habitat due …
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A place where the African Lion lives alone
The stereotypical image of wild lions, is generally that of a group lying on there back in the middle of the open plains, snoozing. However, this is not necessarily the most common way that lions would have lived. We have to bear in mind that this would not have been the standard behaviour everywhere. Lion …
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Africa’s second great migration
While the great Serengeti migration is known about by most people, there is a second almost as impressive migration that occurs on the African continent. Unfortunately, this migration occurs in a far less stable place. Indeed, it is only in recent years that this region of Africa has emerged from violence that raged on and …