It seems that these little primates are becoming big fans of the night vision camera!
I was standing right in the window with a normal video camera for this one! They’re getting brave!
Tag Archive for hluhluwe accommodation
More bushbabies!
Category: Accommodation near game reserve, Activities, Bushwire, Hluhluwe Accommodation, Just for fun, KwaZulu Natal, KZN, Our animals /
Tags: accommodation near game reserve, african safari, bush accommodation, bush baby, Bush lodge, bush lodge in South Africa, bushbaby, cute animals, Extreme nature tour, hluhluwe, hluhluwe accommodation, hluhluwe-imfolozi, KwaZulu Natal, nagapie, nature tour, south africa, south africa accommodation, south african accommodation, south african animals, south african safari, stay in south africa, umkhumbi lodge, zululand
Here come the bushbabies!
Whilst the bushbabies love to hang out in our sandforest here in Hluhluwe, they tend to run off at the sight of humans.
But now winter is coming and they have suddenly got very confident…
Be prepared for regular updates from these cheeky little monkeys!!
Category: African Safari, Bushwire, Our animals /
Tags: accommodation near game reserve, accommodation near Mozambique, african safari, bush accommodation, bush baby, Bush lodge, bush lodge in South Africa, bushbaby, game lodge, gamelodge, hluhluwe, hluhluwe accommodation, hluhluwe-imfolozi, KwaZulu Natal, nagapie, nocturnal, primate, see bushbaby, south africa, south africa accommodation, south african accommodation, south african animals, stay in south africa, sweet tooth, umkhumbi lodge, zululand
We are at Indaba 2012
Indaba is the place to be to learn about the tourist market, and it’s been a great couple of days so far! Great to catch up with friends old and new and get some serious business done.
Why does this matter to you?
All the new businesses popping up over South Africa allow us to make your holiday even better with the unique experiences that will stay with you forever!
We are here to promote not just the KwaZulu Natal but our new educational family holidays!
But don’t worry, the kids won’t realise they are learning! Let your budding botanist bloom and nuture your nature lover as we show you our Africa.
Join us for an experience, not just an African Safari.
Details soon!
Bye bye Kiboko!
As always we had lots of fun with our group of 11 Kiboko guests. There wasn’t a quiet moment!
Roars of laughter are frequent from the Kiboko table
Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip everyone!
Category: New friends /
Tags: african group holiday, african safari, guest, hluhluwe accommodation, New friends, south africa, south africa tour, tour bus, tour group
Vervet Monkey
The Vervet Monkeys are running wild today at Umkhumbi Lodge!!
There is always one shy little monkey
Playful as always they are running up and down the branches, munching on monkey apples and mangos and anything else they can find to sink their little teeth into.
*yoink* my fruit
Fruit please!!!?
But then one lazy monkey, stole a baby monkey!!! He wanted the fruit that the mother was eating, so he stole the baby and held it hostage until she gave the fruit to him. Nasty monkey!
She checks that the kidnapper has gone....
... before she cuddles her baby and makes sure it is alright
Day 8 – uMkhuze
The bird hunting continues!
A fantastic days sightings at uMkhuze, even whilst loading the car with our cameras, telescope, binoculars, bird books and most importantly breakfast we could hear the birds whistling around us.
No sooner had we pulled out of Umkhumbi Lodge gate than we see 2 Burchells Coucals sitting on a fence post, how could it possibly be a bad day after that!?
The bird list for today is:
- plover
- sandpipers
- swift
- moorhen
- lilac breasted roller
- nesting black-bellied starling pair
- white-faced whistling ducks
- 3 purple gallinule heron
- 2 heron
- bulbul
- barn swallow
- violet-back starling
- barbet
- collared dove
- 3 crested frankolin
- 2 rudds apalis
- mousebird
- crowned hornbill
- cardinal woodpecker
- tawny flanked prinia
- nobbeaked duck female
- jacan (adult and juvenile)
- glossy ibis
- sacred ibis
- emerald spotted dove
- cape dove
- gold-tailed woodpecker
- open billed stork
- red-breasted cuckoo
- broad billed roller !!
- eagle with nesting material
- dusky flycatcher
- golden breasted bunting
- nob-billed ducks
- egyptian goose
- broad billed roller
- black-bellied korhaan
- bustard
- european bee-eater
- bluecheeked bee-eater
- european bee-eater
- blue-cheeked bee eater
- red-backed shrike (again the most common bird of the day!)
- 2 blue waxbill/ cordon bleu
- broad-billed roller
- chinspot batis
- weaver
- black-shouldered kite
- purple-crested turaco/ lourie
- red-breasted swallow
- lesser striped swallow
- pie-tailed swallow
- swallow
- white-tailed swallow
- bulbul
- mystery bird
- cisticola
- red-cheeked mousebird
- stint
- canary
- unidentified bird of prey
- eagle
- cattle egret
- spurwing
- 4 red bishop
- 2 burchells coucal
- 3 trumpeter hornbill
- 5 yellow-billed hornbill
- stuffed buzzard
- woodland kingfisher
- 2 pied kingfisher
- 2 malachite kingfisher
- kingfisher
- masked weaver
- golden weaver
- pells weaver
- crested guinea fowl
- helmeted /crowned guinea fowl
- foamnest frog
- hippo
- dragonfly
- natal hinged tortoise
- forest cobra
Category: Activities, Birding, Extreme Nature Tour, Jason and Adam /
Tags: african safari, bird safari, bird sightings, birding holiday in south africa, birding safari, Extreme nature tour, game drive, hluhluwe accommodation, hluhluwe-imfolozi, KwaZulu Natal, kwazulu natal travel base, rare south african birds, safari, south african birds, twitcher holidays, twitching
Day 6 – Tembe Elephant Reserve
Time to say good bye to Kosi Bay as the boys set out at 6:30 am to head once more to their Hluhluwe accommodation at Umkhumbi Lodge.
But whilst we’re driving past Tembe Elephant Reserve, it would be wrong not to go in… wouldn’t it? 
Don’t let the name fool you, Tembe Elephant reserve is about much more than just Elephants! There are countless bird species as well as many different game animals. Although saying that, it is also fantastic for elephants, after turning a corner in the park whilst tracking down a bird they came across about 14 elephants just loitering on and to the side of the road.
They certainly had fun as they stayed in the park from gate open to gate close and arrived back at Umkhumbi Lodge just in time for a fantastic 3 course dinner under the stars.
Category: Activities, Extreme Nature Tour, Jason and Adam, New friends /
Tags: african safari, bird safari, bird sightings, birding holiday in south africa, birding safari, Extreme nature tour, game drive, hluhluwe accommodation, hluhluwe-imfolozi, KwaZulu Natal, kwazulu natal travel base, rare south african birds, safari, south african birds, twitcher holidays, twitching
Day 4 – Kosi Bay Snorkelling
Snorkelling is the plan today! Armed with our goggles, snorkels and flippers we clambered into the Land Cruiser ready for Tommy to drive us down to Kosi Bay mouth estuary. It is possible to walk down, but after a long day snorkelling driving back up the hill is much nicer! when we got down to the water the tide was extremely high, obviously we had over-estimated quite how much time we would need to stop so Jason could take pictures of Cisticolas (only joking Jason, I know they were cormorants really…! 
)
The best part about getting down to the estuary when it is still high tide is that as the water recedes across the estuary mouth, islands of sand appear littered with the small sea-life that water birdsclass as delicacies. This brings water-birds flocking (pardon the pun) for an easy snack. The sand dunes were teeming with birds such as tern as we walked around the edges of the estuary mouth in search of crabs, snakes, birds, lizards and anything thing else that moved!
As quickly as the tide rises, it drops, so we didnt have to wait for long before we could wade across the estuary mouth to the reef.
At first glance the area of water containing the reef raises a few sceptical looks and raised eyebrows from all who have yet to experience it.
The best way to view the reef is to walk to the top and float down across the reef with the current, it is lazy snorkelling, no effort needed, the best kind of snorkelling!
Jason and Adam saw (to name a few – there are so many!);
- Terns
- Cormorants
- Black Mangrove seed pod
- Shoals and shoals of un-identified baby fish
- Pink Clawed fiddler crabs
- Ring Cowrie
- Ramshorn shell
- Coneshell
- Honeycomb moray eel
- Occelated snake eel
- Bandtail cardinal
- Ninestripe cardinal
- Striped grunter
- one spot snapper
- Bream
- Mussel cracker (juvenile)
- Big eye stumpnose (juvenile)
- small scale purse mouth
- old woman (juvenile)
- emperor angelfish (juvenile)
- double sash butterfly fish (juvenile)
- Boomerang trigger fish
- Spotted toby
Check out the pictures on our Kosi Bay site!
And most importantly the lesser-spotted reef dwelling snorkel fish (losticus Jasonus).
After hours and hours of floating around in the estuary (it is surprisingly tiring, but well worth it) it was time to retreat back to Amangwane Kosi Bay for a braai (BBQ to us pommies) and bush TV (fire).
Steak and boerewors (sausage), pap n’ sous (local maize meal and sauce – tasty), potato salad (Africa style), coleslaw, fresh bread and salad. Needless to say we all went to bed on exceptionally full stomachs as it was too good to leave any!
Category: Activities, Amangwane Kosi Bay, Birding, Extreme Nature Tour, Jason and Adam, New friends, Wetland Park Group /
Tags: birding holiday in south africa, birding safari, estuary, Extreme nature tour, fish, heritage site, hluhluwe accommodation, Kosi Bay, kosi bay accommodation, KwaZulu Natal, reef, rustic holiday, snorkelling, south african birds, twitcher holidays, UNESCO
Day 3 – Kosi Bay
Amangwane at Kosi Bay is one of my favourite places, so imagine my joy when we were to go to Kosi Bay for three nights looking for more birds to tick off of Jason and Adams substantial birdlist!
Part of the beauty of Kosi Bay is that it is not too far from <a href=”www.umkhumbilodge.co.za”>Hluhluwe</a> where Umkhumbi Lodge is based. This means that you do not have to set out at stupid o’clock in the morning to reach your destination. Taking advantage of this the two boys went for a mornings drive around False Bay where despite the unusual wind (thought to be because of cyclone Funso) they still managed to get some sighting;
- dabchick
- white breasted cormorant
- greater flamingo
- african white backed-vulture
- woolynecked stork
- little egret
- hadeda ibis
- white headed vulture
- black winged stilt
water dikkop
swift (greater crested) tern
brown-hooded kingfisher
Then it was time to drive to kosi bay, this provided even more sightings to tick off the list. On the way we spotted;
- pied kingfisher
- yellow billed kite
- palm nut vulture
- brimstone canary
And of course countless Cisticola, sunbirds, swallows (all of which were flying too quickly across the road and into thethick bush for us to ID whilst in a car (this is despite Jasons well practiced braking skills…).
We arrived at Kosi Bay early enough to deposit our gear in our en-suite reed chalets and have a drink or two before heading to the viewpoint to see what other creatures we could find (of both the winged and wingless varieties.)
The boys relax and chat at the viewpoint
Here you go Jason, the moths you wanted a picture of
The viewpoint is spectacular, with beautiful sunsets and even more magnificent sunrises. And we arrive there – after an interpretive walk with Tommy informing us about the different plants and trees and identifying the countless tracks in the sand that we point out to him – to the beginnings of an African sunset. If you have not yet seen one, it is impossible to describe the colours as the sun rays play on the clouds, even long after the sun has hidden behind the mountains and hills.
Tommy identifies the tracks in the sand.
The boys try and identify the birds sitting on the fishtraps
Category: Amangwane Kosi Bay, Birding, Extreme Nature Tour, Jason and Adam, New friends, Wetland Park Group /
Tags: birding holiday in south africa, birding safari, Extreme nature tour, heritage site, hluhluwe accommodation, Kosi Bay, kosi bay accommodation, KwaZulu Natal, rustic holiday, south african birds, twitcher holidays, UNESCO
