h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Today I again went to the Polokwane Game Reserve, this time with my friends Jannie and Karolien Becker and their lovely children Agna, Annemien and Jannes! It was a very fruitful excursion. Right upon entry we saw an Impala, and not far from that, a Sable Antelope! It was a magnificent bull, a bit too far away to photograph but close enough to see well. I had brought my binoculars, and Jannie and his family also brought theirs, so the kids could get a good view. From there we just kept seeing animals! But we were also looking at birds and trees. They were especially interested in the various kinds of thorn trees. Most trees with ‘thorn’ in their name are Acacias, and we saw plenty of those, but I also showed them how to identify Spike Thorns (Gymnosporia) and Buffalo Thorns (Ziziphus) which are not at all related to Acacias or to each other.

The kids were quite interested in the plants, and as I told them the scientific names their mom made them repeat them after me! I've always thought kids could more easily remember those than most people realise. I never had trouble remembering scientific names either as a kid or as an adult.

While we took note of plants and birds, of course we also were interested in the spectacular things most people want to see - large mammals! And we were very lucky with those. Right at the pond near the entrance we saw the rhinos coming to drink! There were seven, among them a cow with a young calf. I snapped them with just the shallow pond between us! Here are the photos:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/RhinoDrinking1_zps43a20693.jpg

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/RhinoFinishedDrinking_zpse35f8e62.jpg

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/RhinosDrinking1b_zps9c6c30ca.jpg

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/RhinoMomandBaby1_zps782a656e.jpg

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/RhinoMomandBaby2_zpsd16594dd.jpg

It was so nice we decided to plonk ourselves down right there and have a picnic with the rhinos. A kind Dutch gentleman who had stopped to look at them took this photo of us:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/OnsenRenosters1b_zps239de1bd.jpg

That's: Karolien, Jannes, Agna, Jannie (seated), me (standing) and Annemien.

There were many birds also coming to drink at the pond, and also two young warthogs! They were quite scared of the rhinos, who seemed to enjoy intimidating them, mock-charging their way and sending them scurrying. But they must have been very hungry since they kept coming back. The rhinos calmed down and the pigs managed to get a good drink each, and one even stretched out for a while on the bank!

And not much later an entire herd of eland came to drink as well! They were about a dozen cows and a single huge bull. Elands are the largest antelopes in Africa. These went right into the pond to drink, not just standing on the bank! It might have helped them cool down as well. Unfortunately I couldn't get good photos of them.

We might have spent the whole day there at the pond but wanted to see more of the reserve so we drove on. And our luck held out! We saw a herd of female and young Sable Antelope; several Kudu cows; a Gemsbok; red hartebeests; blue wildebeests; tsessebes; blesboks; impalas, including a bachelor herd; and nyalas - a magnificent bull, several cows and youngsters, and this young bull:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Nyala1b_zps8bf02288.jpg

He was munching on some fresh greenage growing beside a concrete bridge over a small stream (which was dry ... the rains hadn't started here yet).

We also saw giraffes and zebras.

As for birds, we saw many, including ostriches! I couldn't devote myself fully to bird watching but I did point out interesting ones to my friends and the children. Of note were the titbabblers (actually a kind of warbler) that were singing all over the place, and we found a Sabota Lark who was singing on top of a bush, using phrases copied from the songs of other birds to pad his repertoire!

The list:

1. Swainson's Francolin, partridge with bright red around eye and on throat.
2. Crested Francolin, small cryptically coloured partridge.
3. Helmeted Guineafowl, including a flock coming down to drink with the rhinos.
4. Crested Plover, including a baby! It looks like a cotton ball on toothpicks.
5. Blacksmith Plover at the pond.
6. Wood sandpiper at the pond.
7. Cape Turtle Dove. I explained to them how this is one of several collared dove species.
8. Redeyed Dove, another collared dove ... larger than the turtle dove and with a red eye ring.
9. Grey Lourie or Go-Away Bird.
10. Sabota Lark, mentioned above.
11. Forktailed Drongo.
12. Pied Crow.
13. Blackeyed Bulbul.
14. Titbabbler, mentioned above. Grey warbler with black-streaked throat and reddish-brown undertail coverts.
15. Neddicky, tiny brown cisticola.
16. Rattling Cisticola, the main cisticola species in this region.
17. Magpie Shrike, large long-tailed black-and-white shrike with beautiful whistling call.
18. Fiscal Shrike.
19. Black-crowned Tchagra, a bush shrike.
20. Threestreaked Tchagra, smaller than the above.
21. Cape Glossy Starling.
22. Greyheaded Sparrow.
23. Whitebrowed Sparrow-weaver.
24. Redbilled Quelea.
25. Bronze Mannikin, a tiny waxbill.
26. Redheaded Finch.
27. Blackcheeked Waxbill.
28. Blue Waxbill.
29. Melba Finch.

That leaves us quite a lot to see in future trips!

We also saw insects: pond skimmers, a kind of diving beetle, dragonflies, and a tiny caterpillar dangling on a long silk thread - all of these at the pond.

Beautiful pictures, Willem! Thanks for letting us share in the outing. I am amazed.

Terrific pics, Willem. Great outing those rhino pictures were really good. Too close though unless you had a terrific telephoto lens. Thanks so much for sharing.

Hi Dmitri and Elektra, glad you liked the piccies, thanks for your comments! I have been much closer to rhinos than that ... I've touched one once in fact.

You are brave, my friend. I've been close to a one-ton bull, but he was on the other side of the gate. I'd be leery of even a friendly-looking rhino.