I was sad to leave the small Mkhambathi Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape. It's truly a special place, and it's facing a fast-changing future, with threats of mining and unchecked development, especially the proposed N2 extension. On my way out of the reserve towards the Drakensberg, where I will be spending three weeks from today, I stopped by Tony Abbott in the nearby town of Port Edward. Tony is a retired
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I think I have found what I’m looking for. Mkhambathi Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape is one of the most photogenic, pristine and priceless places I have been on my Year in the Wild. There is so much to admire about this relatively small 7000 hectare reserve on the northern Wild Coast of South Africa. Excuse all the superlatives which you'll come across in this blog..but this place deserves them.
The
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There seem to be several rules to tracking black rhino in the dense thicket of Great Fish Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape.
Firstly, make sure there is a big enough tree to climb in case you’re charged, which black rhino are inclined to do.
Secondly, make sure that you are with someone who knows what they’re doing. Without an expert to guide you, the dense vegetation is going to make your life hell. You can’t see more than a few metres in front of you, literally - which means, of
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Before my current visit, I had never been to the Great Fish Nature Reserve in the middle of the Eastern Cape. I really had no idea what to expect, and none of my colleagues or friends had been there. Exactly because of this, I was intrigued by the prospect of going somewhere "new" and "unknown."
I had done some research, and the Eastern Cape Parks website stated: “The reserve offers a wonderful
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I have just left Addo, but my second last night was spent at the highly recommended Narina Bush Camp in the southern part of the Zuurberg Mountains. It's a small tented camp alongside a river deep in a kloof. It was only me and intern ranger Mfuneko Fezi, and we sat round the fire listening to the Knysna Loeries croaking to each other. Mfuneko is a graduate of the innovative Umzi Wethu program in Port Elizabeth, which trains local youth in
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Addo Elephant National Park is most famous for its conservation of the last remaining wild elephants in the Eastern Cape. A few hundred years ago there were thousands of the earth’s largest land mammal in this area of South Africa, as well as plenty of other wildlife like lions, leopards, rhinos, buffaloes and springbok. But rapid colonial expansion after 1820 meant most of this diverse landscape was transformed into dairy farms and citrus fruit estates.
The elephants had a penchant for
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