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Aardvark 2007, near Kimberley

I first visited South Africa in 2002 for a 2 week mammal trip. I went back for another 10 days in 2007, a few more days - just to Plettenberg Bay - in 2008, and spent 2 weeks working there in 2009 (and squeezed in a couple of weekends for mammal watching). See my 2007 Trip Report and 2009 Trip Report for more details of those trips.

I like South Africa. The crime problems I’ve heard so much about aren’t apparent out of the cities (or perhaps I am just blissfully naive); the national parks in the south were stunning and quite different to the more traditional bushscapes of the Kruger, and southern Africa generally. The desert is glorious; the food can be delicious and is always cheap and there is excellent wine. It is a much easier and cheaper country to travel round than the few other places in Africa I’ve been. Some good mammals too.

In June 2002 I spent only a couple of weeks in South Africa. But I crammed heaps in. After 2 nights in Pilanesburg (near Pretoria), I flew to spend 3 nights with friends in the Kruger. From there, I flew down to Cape Town, hired a small car and drove 6,000 km in 8 days. Budget Rentacar were surprised when they took the odometer reading. After cage diving with White Pointer Sharks (Great Whites) at Gaansbai, those 8 days were spent north of the Cape on an Aardvark finding expedition. Aardvarks are seldom seen in the places I visited. But ‘seldom’ is pretty good when it comes to Aardvarks. Indeed I came frustratingly close to seeing one – leaving Addo NP the night before they saw one, to arrive in the Karoo NP the night after they had see one. I had to wait until 2007 to finally see one.

White Rhino, KwaZulu-Natal

Eastern Cape
Addo Elephant National Park, 2 nights July 2002 - Not the greatest national park in the world, but some good species here like Suricate (common), Zorilla (one seen during a night drive) and Black Rhino. Also saw Elephant, Cape Porcupine (the guide was putting effort into finding me an Aardvark, and got much more excited about the 2 porcupines we  found. An unusual sighting here apparently and more unusual than Aardvarks he proudly told me - d'oh), Hartebeest, Cape Genet, Yellow Mongoose.

Cape Mountain Zebra National Park, 4 hours July 2002 – I stopped here to see Black Wildebeest which were pretty easy to find. Also saw Bontebok and Mountain Zebra. The park is reputedly good for Caracal.

De Hoop Reserve, 1 night June 2002 – a fabulous little nature reserve, with stunning coastal scenery, a heap of Right Whales in the winter and some nice mammals. The accommodation was excellent too. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Yellow Mongoose, Mountain Zebra, Rhebok, Common Vlei Rat, African Clawless Otter (a family at both dusk and dawn below the small 'cliffs' near the Tierhoek picnic site. Prolonged viewing sometimes from only 10m above the animals. This is a regular spot for them), Four-striped Grass Mouse, Zorilla, Southern Right Whale, Bontebok (Blesbok), Chacma Baboon, Eland, Cape Hare.

Hermanus,  2 nights, June 2002 - the Fernkloof Nature Reserve here is worth a look and a bush walk. Saw Cape Gray Mongoose and Egyptian Mongoose there during the day time and spotlit a Cape Grysbok in the scrubland outside the park. Southern Right Whales were cruising off the beach and Cape Serotines were flying around the streetlights outside the restaurant near the harbour (I recommend their Cajun Squid).

Gemsbok

Karoo National Park, 2 nights July 2002 – rumoured to be an Aardvark hotspot, I arrived here the night after one had been seen (‘the first in months’). I took the regular night drive then chartered a second longer private one (a very cheap option). During my 2 nights and 1 day stay I saw Mountain Reedbuck, Aardwolf (the Karoo is one of the best spots for seeing these), Gemsbok, Springbok, ‘Quagga’ (not genetically a Quagga but the closest approximation on the planet - selective breeding of Zebras in the Karoo is well on the way to producing something that looks very like the extinct desert Zebra), Rhebok, Bat-eared Fox, Cape Hare.

Plettenberg Bay

Plettenberg Bay, 2 boat trips July 2002, – the bay is famous for its whale watching. Bryde’s Whales are resident there and seen on 70% of trips (but neither of the trips I took in 2002). Did see Bottlenose and Humpbacked Dolphins though as well as South African/ Australian Fur Seals. In November 2007 I returned and saw the same species plus Humpback Whales. Bryde's Whales were around but not the day I was out. In April 2008 I saw lots of Bryde's Whales plus the first Southern Right Whale of the year.

South African Fur Seal

Bryde's Whale

Tsitsikamma National Park, 1 night July 2002 Storm's River - Cape Horseshoe Bats roost in the cave at the end of the Mouth Trail. Blue Duiker and Clawless Otters are often reported here. In November 2007 I spent two nights in Nature's Valley, a section of the park near Plettenberg Bay: Bushbuck and Chacma Baboons were common here and I saw a Bushpig plus what was probably a Blue Duiker. During a quick stop at Storm's River I saw a Small Grey Mongoose.

North West
Pilanesburg, 3 nights June 2002 – I dipped on Brown Hyena and Caracal which are both often reported from here and the reason I visited. It’s a nice national park, although many of the animals were introduced in the late 1970s it feels genuinely wild now. Leopard, Wild Cat, White Rhinoceros, Rock Hyrax, Black Rhinoceros, Scrub Hare, Elephant, Common Slender Mongoose, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Eland, Hippo, Mountain Reedbuck, Greater Kudu, Waterbuck, Topi (Tsessebe), Steenbok, Warthog, Chacma Baboon, Burchell's Zebra, Giraffe. In August 2009 I returned looking again for Brown Hyenas and saw one, along with three Caracals, most of the stuff I saw in 2002 (other than Leopard, Wild Cat, Eland and Mountain Reedbuck) plus Red Hartebeest, Klipspringer, Springbok, Common Reedbuck, Grey Duiker, Jameson's Red Rock Hare, Vervet Monkeys, Tree Squirrels, Black-backed Jackal, Cheetah and Lions.

Spotted-Necked Otter Habitat, near Lesotho

Kwazulu-Natal
Greater St Lucia Wetland Park , 2 nights November 2007 - Greater (Thick-tailed) Bushbaby, Suni (False Bay only), Red Duiker,Vervet Monkey , Red Squirrel, Large-spotted Genet (either Cape or Rusty-spotted, they overlap about here I think), White Rhinoceros, Bushpig, Buffalo, Nyala (false Bay only), Kudu, Bushbuck, Burchell's Zebra, Leopard, Slender Mongoose (False Bay only), Banded Mongoose, Warthog, Oribi, Waterbuck, Reedbuck, Blue Wildebeest and Wahlberg's Epauletted Fruit Bat. Blue/Sykes (Samango) Monkeys (Cercopithecus albogularis) are common at Cape Vidal here. I missed them in 2007 but saw them when I spent a night there in August 2009, along with a few of the species I had seen in 2007.

Pietermaritzburg area - 1 night August 2009. Adam Riley from Rockjumper was good enough to give me a bed for a night and take me looking for mammals. He found me a fleeting glimpse of the back half of a Greater Cane Rat (in a nearby cane farm surprisingly) but problems with the spotlight put an end to our quest for a Natal Red Rock Rabbit. We also saw a Feline Genet, Porcupine, Grey Duikers and a Black-backed Jackal along the highway. The next day I had an abortive attempt for Spot-necked Otters and Slogget's Ice Rats. More details in the August 2009 trip report.

Wild Dog, Thanda

Thanda Private Game Reserve - 2 nights August 2009. Simply fabulous accommodation and great game viewing with Wild Dog, Cheetah, Lion, Black-backed Jackal, Elephant, White Rhino, Warthog, Nyala, Red Duiker, Water Buck, Greater Kudu, Impala, Steenbok, Buffalo, Blue Wildebeest, Giraffe, Zebra and Vervet Monkey.

Limpopo
Kruger, 2 nights at Mopani camp and 2 at Skukuza June 2002 - Leopard, Lion, Elephant, African Civet, Smith's Bush Squirrel, Vervet Monkey, White Rhinoceros, Namaqua Rock Rat, and Peter's and Whalberg's Epauletted Fruit Bat (these small pteropus are resident at Skukuza camp where they roost under the eaves near the shop and look pretty much identical to the naked eye to Wahlberg's Epauletted Fruit Bats, and I got conflicting views on what species they are but by 2008 they were being studied and a sign near the roost says they are a mixed colony), Scrub Hare, Hippopotamus, Giraffe, African Buffalo, Brown Greater Galago (spotlit in Skukuza camp).

Aardwolf, Kimberley

Northern Cape
Kimberley Area (Marrick Safari Camp and Benfontein Farm), 4 nights November 2007 - Aardvark (yay!), Aardwolf, Rock Elephant Shrew, Smith's Red Rock Rabbit, Black-footed Cat, Yellow Mongoose, Suricate, Cape Porcupine, Scrub Hare, Spring Hare, Grey Duiker, Steenbok, Cape Ground Squirrel, Steenbok, Large-eared Mouse, Cape Short-tailed Gerbil, Bushveld Gerbil, Namaqua Rock Mouse, Four-striped Mouse, Bat-eared Fox, Black-backed Jackal, Feline (Small-spotted) Genet, Warthog plus several species of reintroduced antelope in the game farms.

West Coast National Park

Western Cape
West Coast National Park, 1 morning July 2002 and 2 nights November 2007. In 2002 I stopped in at this scenic park to try to see the Caracal that had been recently reported as hanging around. I also wanted to look for the endemic Heaviside’s Dolphin (regular but not every day). Saw neither, but did see antelope, some Rock Hyrax, as well as Four-striped Grass Mice.

In November 2007 I returned for 2 nights and saw Caracals, Four-striped Grass Mice, Heaviside's Dolphins (off Yzerfontein), Dusky Dolphins and Cape Fur Seals (Saldhana), Southern Right Whales, Bush Karoo Rats, Large-spotted (Cape) Genet, Cape Porcupine, Red Hartebeest, Grey Duiker, Steenbok, Cape Hare, Springbok, Gemsbok, Bontebok, Rock Hyraxes, Cape Mountain Zebra and one possible Water Mongoose.

My More Detailed Trip Reports
August 2009: 5 days and 40 or so species including Brown Hyena, Caracal and a Greater Cane Rat.

November 2007: 10 days and 62 species including Aardvark, Caracal, Heaviside's Dolphin and Suni.

Other People's Trip Reports
Namibia and Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park 2010: Steve Babbs, 1 month & 42 species including Caracal, Honey Badger and Black Mongoose.

Western Cape 2010: Matt and Maureen Steer, the second installment of a round the world wildlife trip. Some nice species including Spotted-necked Otter.

Northern Cape 2010: Matt and Maureen Steer, the first installment of a round the world wildlife trip. Some nice species including Black-footed Cat and a Honey Badger.

South Africa 2010: Richard Webb, 2 weeks & 60 species including Black-footed Cat, Cape Fox, Aardvark, Cape Dune Mole Rat and Spotted-necked Otter.

South Africa 2009: Alain Guillemont, 12 days & 41 species including an Aardvark, a Caracal and Heaviside's Dolphins.

Southern Africa 2009 (Botswana, Namibia and South Africa): Coke Smith, 7 weeks and 118 species and subspecies including Caracal and Aardvark.

Kruger & Sabi Sands, Just Cats Tour 2, 2008: Leon Marais (Lawson's Wildlife Tours), 37 mammals including lots of cat sightings, Honey Badgers and a Cane Rat.

Kruger & Sabi Sands, Just Cats Tour 1, 2008: Leon Marais (Lawson's Wildlife Tours), 39 mammals including 33 cat sightings.

Kruger National Park, 2007: Derek Shingles, 2 weeks and plenty of mammals including both Rhinos.

South Africa (general): Trevor Hardaker's website has some great pictures of many South African Mammals as well as info on where they were taken.

Sabi Sands Leopards: Phil Perry's site has some fabulous pictures, focusing on leopards in the Sabi Sands reserve.

Kruger National Park, 2006: Leon Marais (Lawson's Wildlife Tours), 1 week and 34 mammals.

South-west Africa, 2005: Don Roberson, 1 month and lots of mammals (including an Aardvark).

South Africa, 2004: Richard Webb, 1 month & 80 mammals (including Blue Duiker, Brown Hyena, Caracal and another Aardvark).

Around the World (South Africa), 2003: Richard Webb, 3 weeks & 57 mammals.

Mkuze, 2003: Richard Webb, 3 days & 20 + mammals (including a Red Duiker).

South Africa 2002: Stefan Lithner, 1 month & 60 mammals.

The Kalahari and the Cape, 2002: Richard Webb, 2 weeks & 40 or so mammals (including a Brown Hyena and a Caracal).

South Africa, 2000: Richard Webb, 2 weeks & 40 mammals (including a Pangolin).

South Africa and Namibia, 1999: Richard Webb, 3 weeks & 50+ mammals (including an Aardvark).

South Africa and Lesotho, 1996: Steve Anyon-Smith, 3 weeks & 45 mammals.