Conservation Updates

For a month or more the plight of the Kariega Park rhinos has been much on my mind. They even cropped up in my thoughts during an early morning walk amongst the rock-pools at the beach.

Some years ago this coastline was plagued by as ruthless a...

Aged 15 I was riding my bicycle through a quiet, leafy Pretoria suburb when a traffic-cop pulled me over: “You didn’t stop at that stop-sign,” he said. I explained that I was travelling slowly and could see and hear without stopping that there was...

It’s that time of the year again when, walking through the coastal bush or forests, one’s nostrils are assailed by a sweetish, fetid waft that results in most visitors inspecting the soles of their shoes. Those of us that live here are of course...

As I write this I can hear coming from the garden the lovely liquid notes of a Coucal’s call. This handsome bird with its striking black, brown and white plumage is a bush-dweller and is seldom seen although often heard. Its food consists of...

The small group made their way with swinging strides up the path. In the lead was Justine, the Kariega Volunteer Co-ordinator, bright-eyed, brown-skinned and blonde-haired. Following in her footsteps were George and Mary Anne from Bainbridge...

The term “brand image” is a comparatively recent concept, although the idea of linking a product to animals for example, is as old as the hills. I have noticed of late advertisements for cement associated with elephants, car tyres with lynx and...

Having successfully raised two sturdy (and loud-mouthed) chicks last summer, the Hadedas are back in the Coral tree preparing a new nest site. Further down in the same tree a pair of olive woodpeckers is rat-tat-tatting away, excavating a hole in...

When last we were at Kariega a couple of hippos had taken up residence in the dam close to Reception and as a result we were unable to walk the Wildebeest Trail; the hippopotamus despite its bulk being capable of moving pretty quickly out of water...

The restaurant at the Main Lodge is surrounded on three sides by the twisted branches of trees punctuated by the great green candelabras of the tall euphorbias and in winter by the scarlet-flowered aloes. These thickets are the remnants of a...