A Trip to Turfloop Nature Reserve
Today I took the two visiting students from Germany, Jessika and Anja, to the Turfloop Nature Reserve. Actually I've never been to the reserve before! It is just a short distance from the University of Limpopo. At any rate, Jessika and Anja had a party last night that lasted until about one o' clock, so to give them some time to sleep, I picked them up at eleven this morning. It was just a short drive to the reserve. The nature reserve is based around the Turfloop Dam. At any rate, the reserve is rather primitive, the roads are in dismal condition. We had a guy called William with us as a guide, otherwise we wouldn't have known where to go, the roads are totally overgrown with grass and trees. The thorns scratching along the side of the car made horrible screeching noises. At any rate, apart from this the trip was fine fun! We went specifically to try and find giraffes ... Jessika and Anja have been here quite some time now, but haven't seen any giraffes yet. Well, today we were in luck! We saw about twenty giraffes, and from quite close up! They treated us to some action as well ... running around in their marvellous slow-mo stiff-legged way, and chewing the cud with bulging cheecks! We encountered several groups of giraffes several times. Just for the giraffes, the trip was totally worth the trouble. Anja and Jessika especially enjoyed contacting the giraffes 'in the wild', out of the car, and from fairly close, and without any separating fences. I have lots of giraffe pictures, the best ones I will put up on my Webshots page.
Apart from the giraffes, we also saw wildebeests, impalas and ostriches. There were also lots of other birds, but we didn't go specifically for bird watching since the German girls aren't that interested in them.
Nevertheless, I did see a kind of bird I've never seen before. On the dam, when we drove in, there swam a couple of Great Crested Grebes (Podiceps cristatus)! This species is patchily distributed here in South Africa, mostly to the south and west of Polokwane. This is pretty much their northernmost occurence in the country! At any rate I'm very happy to have seen them.
I will certainly return to this reserve soon! This time I want to hike through it, and see what plants I can find. Though again today wasn't a plant-watching trip, we did come across some interesting kinds. We saw a number of different handsome aloe species, some of which were flowering (Aloe cryptopoda, Aloe wickensii, Aloe greatheadii, Aloe marlothii). Other succulents included Sjambok Bush (Kleinia longiflora), Meal Tacky (Kalanchoe thyrsiflora), Nenta Bush (Kalanchoe rotundifolia), Pig's Ears (Cotyledon barbeyi), and Mother In Law's Tongue (Sanseviera aethiopica). When I go on my own I'm really going to search the place thoroughly; I especially want to try and find some Carrion Flowers (Stapeliads). I'm also going to do some serious bird watching and start making a bird list as well.
Apart from the giraffes, we also saw wildebeests, impalas and ostriches. There were also lots of other birds, but we didn't go specifically for bird watching since the German girls aren't that interested in them.
Nevertheless, I did see a kind of bird I've never seen before. On the dam, when we drove in, there swam a couple of Great Crested Grebes (Podiceps cristatus)! This species is patchily distributed here in South Africa, mostly to the south and west of Polokwane. This is pretty much their northernmost occurence in the country! At any rate I'm very happy to have seen them.
I will certainly return to this reserve soon! This time I want to hike through it, and see what plants I can find. Though again today wasn't a plant-watching trip, we did come across some interesting kinds. We saw a number of different handsome aloe species, some of which were flowering (Aloe cryptopoda, Aloe wickensii, Aloe greatheadii, Aloe marlothii). Other succulents included Sjambok Bush (Kleinia longiflora), Meal Tacky (Kalanchoe thyrsiflora), Nenta Bush (Kalanchoe rotundifolia), Pig's Ears (Cotyledon barbeyi), and Mother In Law's Tongue (Sanseviera aethiopica). When I go on my own I'm really going to search the place thoroughly; I especially want to try and find some Carrion Flowers (Stapeliads). I'm also going to do some serious bird watching and start making a bird list as well.