Thanda Afrika Safaris

29/11/2022

21/10/2021

Tears of the Msasa...! Two Msasa trees grew on either side of the Bulawayo - Victoria Falls Rd (approx 234km peg from Vic Falls to Byo). These beautiful trees had their canopies touching each other & were "believed to be the only such 'wild' trees whose branches touch each other over a major highway in Zimbabwe." (Verify) They were never an obstacle to traffic (including heavy 'abnormal load' trucks. Even the massive boat that was destined for Namibia 'sailed' through with ease). However those branches that touched above the road have since been chopped off. The Msasa or Zebrawood - (Brachystegia Spiciformis) is the first tree to turn green in early September each year! (Followed closely by the Pod Mahogany - Afzelia Quanzensis) Their beauty makes driving on the Bulawayo - Vic Falls road a joy.... if you love the "outdoors" as you see them dotted here & there among the 'grey' trees that still haven't 'figured out' that the rains are about to come!

Thanda Afrika - Love Afrika www.thandaafricasafaris.com

25/07/2021

Tiny fishing birds displaying their beauty. Both are found in major water bodies, the image of the Half-collared Kingfisher was shot on the Zambezi River while the Malachite Kingfisher was shot in Botswana's Okavango Delta. The Malachite is more timid than the Half Collared beauty presenting a photographic nightmare, easily taking to flight with amazing rapid wing beats when approached. It's so tiny, you may easily miss it's next perch especially on reeds or papyrus grass - Keep Well & Stay Safe!

12/05/2020

(Loxodonta Africana) have horns; today I correct that! They have tusks which are modified incisors that keep growing outward and forward. Elephants can be right or left tusked; the one worn out more is the predominantly used one. “Loxo” means bow “donta” means “toothed”. Doesn’t “donta” sound like “dental, dentist”? Warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) & hippos (Hippopotamus amphibious) have tusks too. In elephants, they are used to rind off the tree bark, digging, fighting. Elephants chew using rasps like molars used for grinding bark & twigs, which explains why dung is fibrous after eating twigs & bark. They have six sets of molars each set lasting between 10 -12years. With that, you can calculate the average lifespan of the jumbo beast, if he doesn’t die of disease or killed somehow. Once the sets are all used up they feed on soft grass found only in the marshes, however that reduces nutritious intake from twigs, bark or leaves. In warthog that’s mainly for defence & in hippo it’s to chase off other males in territorial fights. “Impondo zendlovu” & “Nyanga yenzou” both local phrases suggest that elephants have horns – Nope, look carefully, these “horns” protrude from the mouth! Visit www.thandaafricasafaris.com, Thanda Afrika – Love Afrika!

21/04/2020

Flying things around home.......! The Foxxy Charaxes (Jasius Saturnus) would not allow me to take a shot of his upper wings where his colours are more defined and brighter because he preferred to perch high on the branches. He still looked beautiful under wing, I think his under wing markings are more beautiful than the upper wing markings! The Veined Swallowtail (Papilio leonidas)(Last image)kept dive bombing him off his perch but would still come back and perch there for a while before being disturbed again. To get shots of butterflies you need to be where they come, if you approach them when they are already there, they take off. Stay At Home & Be Safe! www.thandaafricasafaris.com, Thanda Afrika – Love Afrika!

21/04/2020

I thought we be different today.......! I spent close to an hour chasing butterflies. It’s a nightmare, the sun, the heat and stinging ‘things’ in the grass. I had a field day with the Veined Swallowtail (Papilio leonidas) and the Foxxy Charaxes (Jasius Saturnus) On the last image. The fight for territory was fun. The Swallowtail never wanted to see the Foxxy guy who kept coming back to the same spot. The Swallowtail also would come so very close to me with wings open & caught me with the wrong lens. He also had territorial ‘issues’ with other butterflies of the same family as his, the Papilionidae. I learnt to be still to be able to capture these shots. These are slow flying butterflies though getting them with wings open was virtually impossible. Stay At Home & Be Safe! www.thandaafricasafaris.com, Thanda Afrika – Love Afrika!

09/04/2020

A newly hatched Croc catches the midday sun light on the dead stems the papyrus grass (Cyperus papyrus). His s*x is determined by the temperature during incubation - if the temp° is between 26° & 30° it’s a ‘girl’ & a temp° range of 31° & 36° is for ‘boys’ …. Who says girls are hot? Unlike humans, crocs are born with teeth – razor sharp. They have 66 teeth … I personally counted them, or maybe I didn’t! So you happen to be a little older than all your teeth! Crocs are well adapted to living in water as evidenced by the way the head is designed, nose, eyes and ears can remain above the surface (image2) while the rest of the body is submerged …… Image 3 shows a croc walking with its body raised, quite a number of theories why it does that am sure my friends in the same field will add their input to this effect, otherwise my knowledge is limited here though I once heard that it does this when the ground is hot among other reasons, I cannot confirm…….Enough of the Croc so that this page does not become monotonous, will bring(crocs) again months from now, next we will look at the Giraffe so that we have a glimpse of how it is up there even if we are home……. So Just Stay At Home & Be Safe! - www.thandaafricasafaris.com, Thanda Afrika – Love Afrika!

06/04/2020

This is my territory……! I took these images of this Flat Dog a month apart, this is the same croc and on the same log. (Image A shot in Aug ’19 and image B & C in Sept ‘19) When the captain slowed down the boat I exclaimed ‘…anyone smell a crocodile?’ they fell for it & am not apologising! This guy is ectothermic meaning he relies on the sun for warming up his cold-blooded body and he has to bask in the sun for hour on end to absorb as much heat as possible that is why he has a definite spot to come & get heated up. The lower the body temperature slows his digestion explaining why these pre-historic creatures can stay for long periods without a meal. They can spend up to an hour under water, to achieve this, they lower their heartbeat, this process is called ‘Bradycardia’ meaning an abnormally slow heart action, this way oxygen is then concentrated on vital organs like the brain, heart and lungs. Crocs have a valve at the back of the throat and their nose seal up as they submerge…. Next we will be discussing breeding and predators of eggs and young ones – stay home and tuned! Questions welcome! Crocs found in many major rivers and ponds – The Zambezi, The Okavango or Chobe National Park and more……. You name the place we take you there! For more of our packaged tours in southern Afrika’ visit www.thandaafricasafaris.com, Thanda Afrika – Love Afrika!

05/04/2020

Photography within the confining perimeters……. I took this shot on day 1 of the forbidding lockdown. This small beetle is a Lunate Ladybird, (Cheilomenes Lunata, so very common in most gardens and well treed woodlands, preying on aphids (plant lice), so don’t kill ‘em, they are a biological control of the sap sucking aphids, the guys that you find on most vegetable leaves & can weaken and damage the plant on which they feed on – so do away with pesticides, the ladybug comes in handy, however some species are a pest, for example the Asian invasive Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) recently discovered in the Western Cape displaces the native ladybird species while its kind multiplies rapidly. So identification is key, these guys are almost similar in their markings!

13/03/2020

Poison Critter ....... this guy is called a Blister Beetle (Family Meloidae), he carries within him a dose of Cantharidin Acid, a poisonous substance affecting kidneys of herbivores once eaten by mistake as they munch the leaves or grasses. Has a blistering effect on humans if secretion gets in contact with skin. However on the romantic side, cantharidin is said to have been used as an aphrodisiac in Spain - don't ask me to explain further, I am not a Spaniard - all I think is, it was toxic love! The yellow & black markings tell it all - keep away - there are so many variations (about 7500 species across the globe) of these guys, some are red & black others iridescent dark blue or completely black - most of them secrete the acidic Cantharidin as a defensive mechanism to would be predators - just keep away!