South Africa 2009 - Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal
A trip through Eastern Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal provinces
Next to our camp in Summerstrand/Port Elizabeth there was huge grass field maintained within an open park. Every morning there was plenty of wildlife; Bostrychia hagedash; the Hadeda Ibis.
Before I went on the long distance trip up to KwaZulu-Natal Province towards the border with Swaziland I made some day trips around our base which was located in Port Elizabeth. These trips served for acclimatization and familiarization with the local conditions and flora & fauna.
Butterfly in a dried stream bed in Grootwinterhoekberge, Eastern Cape.
A trip to a mountain range called Grootwinterhoekberge located NW of Port Elizabeth. Along the road R75 there were groups of Cercopithecus aethiops; vernacular name: Vervet Monkey.
Picture shows a juvenile.
The Darlington Lake lies partially within the confines of the Addo Elephant National Park. The Sunday River flows through the lake. The predominating biome is thicket. One is able to see vast expanses speckled with cacti clusters.
The Great Fish River at Fort Brown is the first biotope on the South African excursion; coded EZ-ZA 01-09.
Photograph shows a bank in a meander of the river.
The Great Fish River at Fort Brown is the first biotope on the South African excursion; coded EZ-ZA 01-09.
Photograph on the left shows a bank in a meander of the river; photograph on the right shows a fishermen of a group of 5 young men fishing the entire night resulting in a catch of 8 specimen of Clarias theodorae.
The night’s catch of Clarias theodorae; head in close up. This demersal fish mainly feeds upon mollusks. Its jaws are able to crush shells of aquatic snails, etc...
Biotope EZ-ZA 02-09 is the Koonap River at Black Bear Taxidermy Farm.
This barb is probably a juvenile of a large growing Labeobarbus species.
From Grahamstown we went up the R67 northwards to Fort Beaufort.
From Fort Beaufort southwards we surpassed Jim Knotts National Reserve where we found this splendid specimen of Geochelone pardalis crawling its way through the dry savanna; vernacular name: Leopard Tortoise.
On the road R67 westward view - grassland to dry savanna biome.
I did not find an approach to the lake situated in the foreground left.
We headed R72 southwards back to Port Elizabeth. Between Bell and Port Alfred there is a huge bridge spanning over the Great Fish River. We had a walk along the southern bank of the rivers mouth. It is called Great Fish Point. This biotope is coded EZ-ZA 03-09.
Spotted Grunters, scientific name: Pomadasys commersonnii, are important food fish along the Wild Coast of South Africa. They easily take sandprawns as ground bait.
The mullet Liza richardsonii was abundant in the surface waters of EZ-ZA 03-09.
An excellent bait and interesting crustacean; the sandprawn, Callianassa kraussi.
