Category:

Voices of Botswana: honey badger vs black mamba

27/10/2016

By Roxanne Reid
The honey badger, also known as a ratel, is a relatively small animal. It weighs only about 12kg but has long claws curved like knives, powerful jaws for crushing, and a giant-sized attitude. I’ve seen documentaries in which it stands its ground against much bigger animals like lions and leopards, or is bitten by a puff adder without long-term effect.

10 Comments

Desert Horse Campsite and Namibia’s wild horses

20/4/2016

5 Comments

Desert Horse Campsite, Klein Aus Vista, Namibia

By Roxanne Reid
The landscape around the little town of Aus in southern Namibia was hot, parched and dusty. Klein Aus Vista’s Desert Horse Campsite, on the fringe of the Namib Desert and the Gondwana Sperrgebiet Rand Park, was our stopover for a couple of nights. We were there to see Namibia’s wild horses, but what we found at sunset were rocky koppies washed in ginger light.

5 Comments

Visit Cape Town penguins at Boulders Beach

24/2/2016

4 Comments

Cape Town penguins, Boulders Beach, Simon's Town

By Roxanne Reid
A favourite thing to do on any visit to South Africa is to visit Cape Town penguins at Boulders Beach, Simon’s Town. The best place is from the boardwalk between Seaforth and Boulders, where you can get fairly close as they waddle around in their dinner jackets, without disturbing them.

4 Comments

Lions at a kill, Mountain Zebra National Park

20/1/2016

10 Comments

By Roxanne Reid
In April 2013, 130 years after they had last roamed free in the area, lions were introduced to the Mountain Zebra National Park near Cradock in the Eastern Cape Karoo. On a recent visit we were lucky enough to see these lions at a kill on the Kranskop Loop.

10 Comments

Road trip in and around South Africa's national parks

17/11/2015

4 Comments

By Roxanne Reid
‘This is a delicious book. It evokes things we love about the country around us. It conjures up places that soothe the soul. Its huge fault is that ... well, people are going to read it. And then where will all our best-kept secrets be?’ So said author and TV presenter Denis Beckett in his foreword of A Walk in the Park, which takes readers on a road trip in and around South Africa's national parks. Now an updated 2nd edition e-book has been published.

4 Comments

Tracking leopards at Okonjima Nature Reserve

14/10/2015

2 Comments

Leopard, Okonjima Nature Reserve, Namibia

By Roxanne Reid
We’ve tracked cheetahs in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, lions near Mapungubwe National Park and desert-adapted rhino in Kunene. But this was our first time tracking leopards at Okonjima Nature Reserve in Namibia and our expectations were not high.

2 Comments

Prepoceros rhinoceros: some facts about rhinos

16/9/2015

0 Comments

By Roxanne Reid
The rhino is a homely beast,
For human eyes he's not a feast.
Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,
I'll stare at something less prepoceros. (Ogden Nash)

0 Comments

The hunting hornbills of Kruger National Park

3/6/2015

2 Comments

By Roxanne Reid
A big thrill when you’re exploring the savanna and open grasslands of the north and north-east of southern Africa is to come upon a small family of Southern ground hornbills. It’s special because they’re classed as ‘vulnerable’ in the Red Data Book of endangered and threatened species, but also because they’re so entertaining. Case in point: the hunting hornbills of Kruger National Park.

2 Comments

Monitor lizards wrestling in the Kruger Park (video)

23/3/2015

0 Comments

By Roxanne Reid
A couple of weeks ago, South African photographer and travel writer Villiers Steyn uploaded a video on to You Tube showing two monitor lizards wrestling in the Kruger Park. This is Fight Club meets WrestleMania so it’s no surprise that the clip has already had more than 80,000 views. Here’s what went down.

0 Comments

How YOU can help to reduce roadkill

21/1/2015

2 Comments

By Roxanne Reid
Ever been excited as you approach a game reserve somewhere in South Africa, only to be horrified at how many animals you see splattered and dead on the road? Here’s how you can help reduce roadkill by becoming part of a citizen science research project.

2 Comments