Loskop Dam Nature Preserve

The Loskop Damn Nature Reserve is located about 40 km from Santi's. It is a natural dam that has been enhanced. As we came down the road the view of the dam was spectacular! My camera was having a bad color day unfortunately (I believe "someone" had changed a few settings on it... (I am not going to mention any names here!) The range of color I saw here was much more vivid than the pictures show. That is about the only disappointment for the day though. Right now with all of the rain there is much more spill off than normal and the brush had grown much higher than normal.



Cara was my escort and guide for the day. Being that she showed up in her little "Volkswagen" I assumed that the roads through the preserve were in good shape! Silly me! To get to the preserve, we pulled off of the road onto a dirt road and drove over the little bridge over the Olifants River (olifants means elephants). Of course we had to stop and pay admission at the Welcome Center but once we pulled away from the nicely paved Welcome Center the roads were a little less kept. I realize it is a nature preserve and this has been a very wet winter for the area but what made me laugh was Cara's little "4 wheel drive" Volkswagen! OK it's not a 4 wheel drive car to begin with, it is a small economy car that is low to the ground. I told Cara that it may not be a good idea to kill her little car and she said it was no problem, she's taken the car on these roads before... So off on the adventure we went!

Loskop Dam Nature Preserve has a rhino breeding program with the park. Like so many other places, as man encroaches on the animal habitat, the animals are the ones to suffer. There is a wide variety of wild life in the park but the 2 biggest attractions are the rhinos and the giraffes. I was kind of iffy on meeting a rhino in the middle of the road but I thought the giraffes would be a sure thing! Cara and I were talking about it and she said they are not as easy to spot as people would think. Not to mention how many square miles and how few roads there are in the preserve.

Just as we entered the park Cara spotted a group of 3 warthogs. They were a little distance from us but I managed to get a single shot of them before they scattered away. I found it interesting they were as close as they were to the Welcome Center. Cara said that her mother loved the warthogs but I couldn't see the attraction! Hahaha! She thinks they are cute. Maybe I just wasn't close enough to them? We didn't run across any more so at this point I'm still kind of neutral about them. Cara was anxious to show me the animals and she sat and did a sing/song of "here bucky bucky". I asked her if that worked and she just laughed and said no. We did discuss a few thing about how to spot an animal in the bush (yeah, this information being given to a city girl who thinks it awesome to see a deer here and there!). I thought the landscape was beautiful and enjoyed being a passenger for a change. I'm usually the driver when I travel so it felt a little strange not only to be the passenger but to be in "drivers" seat at the same time! The first impala we came across, of course Cara found and she still had to almost slap me upside of my head before I saw it! Once I saw it, it was as plain as the nose on my face! So I thought, OK this is easy enough, I can do this.. NOT! We stopped at one point because Cara had spotted a dung beetle and she wanted to show it to me. The first one we came across had been hurt, but she was rolling a little ball of, ah... well, just as her name implies, dung. The dung beetle is about 1 inch long and wide around and this bug had a ball rolled up to about the size of a large marble. I thought it was impressive but Cara explained how much bigger those balls can grow! I thought, OK golf ball size! If you scroll through the photos at Picasa you will see how sadly mistaken I was! Although the name of the beetle is not very appealing, it doesn't its job in the ecology of the area. Nothing is wasted in the wild remember. I don't think I would want one as a pet but I was fascinated to see how she rolled up this ball that ended up being several times larger than she is. Again I was astounded at the size of the ball and Cara chuckled and said they ever get bigger!

Within a few inches of where we were discussing the dung beetle Cara found a worm much like the centipede. This kid (if you look at the Picasa album) is a very good fishing worm size bug and he has sections to his body and each section has it's own set of legs. Santi and I was just talking about what I used t call "rolly polly" bugs. I'm not sure what their actual name is but we used to play with them when I was young. You would tap the bug and it would roll up into a ball and try to roll away from you. In the case of this worm, it's too long to curl up into a ball, but Santi said that it coils much like a snake. Cara and I didn't touch the worm, I just took a photo of him. Santi tells me that he is harmless, much like our "rolly polly" bugs but as a TOURIST here, I'll enjoy nature from a distance for now!

All along the road there was just an explosion of colors! Flowers and butterflies mixed in with the tall grasses that were half brown and half green. By summer the grass will all turn to a uniform brown. But for now so much of it is lush and green.

One of the most recognized trees in Africa is probably the "thorn tree". Aptly named for its large barbed thorns. Santi tells me there are many different varieties of these trees and some of the thorns can get quite large. While we took a ride to the country today (next blog) Santi was sharing her knowledge of the indigenous foliage in South Africa. The "thorn tree" is the smallish tree that is flat on the top, this is the tree in so many photos of the beautiful African sunsets. I saw one of Elsa's photos the other day and I hope to capture my own very soon! The girls all agree that I need to be out of the city to hope to find that shot. Next week at Kruger National Park I hope to have the opportunity along with seeing the South African sky at night. I'm told they see different stars here than we do at home. I'm excited to see that, but again, this is better done next week. I wonder if my night time setting will capture any part of it? Only time will tell!

At one point where we stopped so Cara could get the binoculars out, I spotted, up in a tree, the Southern Yellow Billed Hornbill bird! I consider this a major find for me, I knew that South Africa had a gorgeous variety of birds, all very colorful and very different from what I've seen, but I never expected to see this guy. He was up in a tree and sitting so perfectly still that he didn't look real. Again, I direct you to the album at Picasa. I look at him in the photos and I still find it hard to believe he was alive, but just to prove it to myself, if no one else, there is a second shot of him when he turned his head. He looks like something that was fabricated in Hollywood! I stood there for quite some time just watching him sit and not move. I can appreciate how Cara felt when I found him, it's like when I got to show Santi and Betsi the Mississippi river! Betsi sat outside for quite some time just watching the river flow by. I'm sure I had pretty much the same look in my eyes as Betsi did!

As time rolled by, Cara was getting more anxious about finding the rhinos and giraffes. Both Liese and Santi called while we were on our photo safari and they all kept asking about the big kids! I know, from my own tour guide experiences, how it feels when nature just doesn't cooperate! I kept telling them that I thought they were more disappointed than I was. I had seen elephants and giraffes in the zoo, so it wasn't like I had never seen them at all. They assure me that I will see plenty at the Kruger National Park, as I said, they are more worried than I am. I was perfectly thrilled with my little bird! The scenery is so similar yet so alien in places, it's amazing.

Cara said that most times when she goes out there, it's by chance that you see what you do see. As I said, this is considered a small preserve that still covers many miles and there are lots of places for the kids to hide! She had said that many times as you drive through the park something will just appear on the road in front of you. This is the part about me being iffy on the rhinos... that's one big kid, so I was always on the alert. As we pulled around a corner of the road we saw an impala crossing the road ahead of us, so we rolled Cara's little "4 wheel drive" to a stop and just watched. We were afraid to get too close to them as they would scatter. Seeing first a couple, I was kind of excited, but as we sat there a herd of them crossed the road. Some of the youngsters would stop and look at us sitting in the car and they would stare. How interesting we must appear to them as well! For Cara, seeing an impala crossing the road is the equivalent of most of us from the cities seeing deer on the side of the road. I know that deer are more common is some areas as others, but for me, bring raised in the city, even seeing a deer is exciting for me!

I've been to the zoo many times and I've seen impalas in their little enclosure so before I actually saw one, I thought, OK good, no big deal. How wrong I was! I was in awe of these dainty little creatures in their natural habitat! I couldn't take my eyes off of them, and of course, the rules in park basically are that this is their home, we are only guests, so they are always given the right of way. It took several minutes for most of the herd to cross the road but it seemed like only a split second to me!

We saw many more of the herd as we passed by them in the brush near the road. They didn't seem to shocked to see us, but Cara said that this park doesn't have many visitors so they are more skittish than the ones in the more popular parks. The thing to remember here, just as at home, is that they are called "wild animals" for a reason! Although the impala is a very docile breed, the males with their horns can do some damage. We saw a few bucks but they were a little camera shy! The birds on the preserve are just so beautiful and colorful.. and FAST, it's just amazing for me to see it all!

Off of one of the roads is a coast line from the dam. There is a variety of birds and insects (and probably animals although not when I was there) around the water. One that I couldn't get a decent photos of (fast little brat) was a kingfisher. They were not only fast but at a distance but they hover in the air and wait until they see a fish in the water then dive bomb into the water. You can hear the splash they make and then several seconds later you see him come up out of the water several yards from where he goes in. (How many times can I use the words "awesome", "beautiful", "amazing" etc in this blog??? I'm running out of words! LOL) Near the waters edge I saw several different dragonflies and was able to get pictures of a couple of them. There is one there that you see the dark brown body and then close to the outside edge of wings are little "furry" of the same brown as the body. When this guy is flying it looks like 3 flying together, one in the center (the body) with 2 smaller ones on either side! I've never seen anything like him (duhhhh).

Leaving that area, there was a rustle in the trees that caught my attention since the breeze that was blowing wasn't enough for the way the trees were moving. Looking closely we saw a group of monkeys. I still have to look up their variety and change the caption on the photo in the album. Cara and I sat and watched them play in the trees for 10 or 15 minutes. Monkeys here are like squirrels at home. Very common and nothing to write home about, except for me! I love to watch the critters at play. Peter saw the photos and said they looked like the rest of my family... Peter has quite a sense of humor!

One the way out of the preserve we got a glimpse of another impala in the bushes, she stood there and kept perfectly still while I snapped a few shots of her. I thought at that point we were done with the animals, but once we got close to the Welcome Center, we stopped the car when we saw a baboon cross the road! Now, here is where I show my ignorance, I thought the baboons were farther north on the continent of Africa! Then there were several more crossing the road. Since we don't play with the animals here and the baboon is known for his bad attitude, I had to shoot the photos from inside of the car windshield. Keep in mind that we had been traveling dirt roads that became dusty during our little adventure! Once they crossed the road, we continued on our way to leave the preserve and there is a picnic area just before you leave. There were not people in the area, but there was a little girls room that I had hoped to stop at, but when we turned into the parking lot we saw a large group of baboons playing around the parking lot! The ones we had seen crossing the road were on their way to play with the large group! The large, dominate male was teaching some of the young ones manners! We were able to watch them for a short time, but before I could get the camera out of the case they noticed us and ran for the bush. Needless to say, I decided that I didn't need the ladies room that badly!

So that was our day at the Loskop Dam Nature Preserve. The family was disappointed that we didn't see rhinos and giraffes. I thought the giraffes would be easy to spot, being as tall as the kids are, but again it's a very large area we were in. As far as the rhino goes, we did see one, several miles away with the binoculars. I did get a photo of the area it was in and I was going to post it, with a "here he is" arrow but I couldn't find the arrow in the program!