The Tembe Experience

Zebra

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:33:20 +0000

Zebras make good subjectas for photography & a fine meal for a lion. Zebras can defend themselves by viscous bites and razor sharp hooves.

Bright eyed

Wild dogs

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:35:04 +0000

Wild dogs are beautiful animals. It is as if God had hand painted each of them . Wild dogs are extremely social animals with a very strict hierarchy (pecking order). Here a female is pregnant, one can clearly see this in the image with her belly well rounded. she would be looking for a den shortly.

Wild dogs cover vasts tracks of land and extremely difficult to monitor. Collars on some of the dogs assist in locating them benefitting science and protecting the dogs.

Painted dogs?

Elephant in water

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:31:36 +0000

Elephants really enjoy froliking in water especially on hot and humid days. Elephants can swim remarkable well using their trunks as periscopes if needed.

Just Chilling

Elephant

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 20:33:24 +0000

Elephants enjoy a good dust coating, this predominantly protects the hide from insects. They pick the soil up with their trunk after using a foot to push the sand onto it. Sand pits are frequented as most of the herd use the same pit.

Dust bath

Hyhena

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:43:05 +0000

As domesticated as they look, hyhenas are very dangerous animals. Capable of crushing bones with strong jaws, hyhena provide a necessary function in the wild. Predominantly scavengers, it is however not beyond hyhenas to hunt small or injured game. The ongoing feud between lions and hyhenas is an indicator of the tennaciousness of these animals.

Hyhena not your average dog

Elephant bull

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:37:42 +0000

Nduna – the second largest Tusker in Southern Africa. A magnificent large bodied elephant bull that resides at the Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa. Nduna has his askaris (younger bull followers) which he mentors and keeps in check. A truly beautiful elephant with a huge set of tusks.

He frequents the Mashelesela water hole where our webcam is situated – the best viewing times are between 10:00 – 14:00 local South African time.

Large Tusker

Crocodile

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 19:16:56 +0000

A fully grown croc averages in length of 4-5 meters. Exceptionally large animals get to 6 meters and can weigh in excess of 1000Kg. Crocs are opportunistic hunters and clean waterways from carrion. Crocs are masters of camouflage and will surprise a drinking animal by a lightening attack. The animal is often dragged into the water and drowns. Other crocs often feed from a caught animal. Biting into the flesh and spinning their bodies to tear off the meat. Crocs are capable of crossing vast tracts of land in search of a waterway lake or dam.

This image was taken by Peet Janse van Rensburg.

Deadly encounter

Burchell’s Coucal

Mon, 24 May 2010 20:01:38 +0000

The Rain bird, as its colloquilly termed, is a beatiful bird of approx 40cm in length, They have red eyes and brown throats. Found close to the ground they forage on small animals and insects.

The sound of their call, is a beautiful liquid gurgle rising and falling like water pouring from a bottle.

Rhinos

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:26:38 +0000

Differentiating between black & white rhino is relatively easy when you compare the two next to each other. The white rhino is physically larger than the black rhino. The easiest tell tale is the shape of the mouth. The white rhino had a broad wide lip. This is used to eat grass and when one sees a white rhino it is inevitably eating – head down. The black rhino is a leaf eater, the shape of the mouth/lip differs in that it is narrow. There is not a different in colour viz black and white. Rhinos are a dull to dark grey in colour and often are the colour of the surrounding soil, due to the mud baths and sand rolling.

Black rhino are by far the more aggressive of the two. The eyesight is not very good and will likely charge first if it feels threatened in anyway.Rhinos are nimble on their feet despite their size and can easily outrun a human.

Narrow Lip

Broad Lip

Ostrich Chick

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:31:49 +0000

Ostrich chicks are hardy birds. A hen ostrich will lay between 10-15 eggs which will incubate after approx 42 days. A shallow depression in the ground is used as a nest and maintained by both male and female ostriches. Adult ostriches can readily defend their nests, chicks and themselves.

Well camoflaged