Dragonfly - Wandering Glider

I found this dead dragonfly next to the pool. What a pity that such a pretty insect has to die. I think it is a Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens).
They are fairly common and their range extends into Asia, Australia and the Americas.

Honey Badger & Special birthday wishes

Please excuse the pictures but it is not easy to find them in the wild and these photographs were taken through the fence of a cage they were in.

Little known facts about Honey Badgers
It can bite the heads off cobras and eat the whole snake showing not only incredible courage but remarkable immunity to the toxicity of the venom.

Honey Badgers are skilled tree climbers and have to learn this behaviour from their mothers as it is not an inherited instinct.
Honey Badgers have only one cub at a time and these cubs are dependant on their mothers to learn most of their hunting skills before reaching independence.

It takes up to a year before a cub can be independent from its mother.

They are famous for their fearlessness and even the old badgers are able to fend off predators with their aggressive self-defence skills.

Their other name is “Ratel” which is Afrikaans for rattle or honeycomb. It is also the term given to the SA defence force’s most powerful armoured vehicle.

(Just look at those claws!!)

Their name sounds sweet but this is a fearless animal and yet poses no direct threat to humans.

It is considered a wolverine and can climb trees with almost the same agility as leopards.

Leopards and lions sometimes hunt honey badgers.

Today is the birthday of someone very special and this wish is for you...... have a wonderful and happy day! May you be blessed with happiness and may your world always be filled with sunshine. Think of me when the first Star Gazer blooms! LUL!

A close-up of a grasshopper

I recently found this grasshopper which had just dies and it was a great opportunity to take some close-up photographs of it which one would normally not be able to get.

Walk 18/4 - Part 3

Reaching the top of the hill I had a lovely view of the countryside. So many of the trees here are evergreen.
Oh good!! A bug!! Can you see it??

Alright, here is a close-up for you. :) It is a newly hatched stink bug. He looks just like the berries he is on and easy to miss.

Some more of the rocks which were spectacular. I was going to crop this ang tell you it was a rock face I scaled. LOL!! If I had taken out the grass behind, you would have believed me but to tell the truth, I have never gone rock climbing and would not even know where to begin. I think I will stick to my walks. :)

This one had the most interesting pattern in it and I wonder what caused it?

More beautiful colors. If they were not so big and heavy, I would have taken some of them home and made a rock garden.

Then it happened!! I was walking along, minding my own business when all of a sudden I felt this grip around my foot and ankle!! I was terrified!! Should I look down and see what it is? Should I try to shake it off and run like hell?? All these thoughts and more flashed across my mind. I glanced down and found it was only a pice of branch I had stepped on and it had caught around my ankle!! Phew!! LOL!!

An interesting beetle which I also cannot find. At first I though it may be one of the scarbs but on closer inspection, I see it is not. It is small, about 1/4 of an inch in bdy length.

The caterpillar and the laddybird/ladybug

Standing on the wall outside are a few cacti and I noticed this caterpillat and ladybird/bug on one and wondered what they would do when they met?
After what seemed like ages, the caterpillar went passed and seemed to nod "goodday" to the beetle. Or was it my imagination?

Then it went on its way. I think that the caterpillar is of a Common White Butterfly and the ladybird is young Lunate.

Then I noticed something under the ladybird and on closer inspection, it turned out to be a larvae she was hiding/protecting.

The cacti next to it was in bloom so I took a picture of it too.

What pretty flowers on something which has such ugly thorns!!

A close up of a caterpillar

After the cold week we have had, I am surprised to find anything still around. This caterpillar was crawling around on the stairs so I put him on the grass in order to get some shots of him.

Outdoor Show - Part 3

One of the game lodges had these two cute white lion cubs on display. Both are about a year old and the one slept quite peacefully in the corner of his enclosure.
The other was wide awake but not paying much attention to all the fuss us humans were making of him.

Furniture made from the wood of old railway sleepers is very popular here as we like the rugged look of it. When polished is extremely beautiful and because of its thickness, very durable. This coffee table caught my eye. Just look at the wonderful colors in it!!

I can just imagine this beautiful fireplace in a home with a cozy fire in it. Above on the wall, a wooden frams was made around a piece of slate and animals carved into it. It was really stunning. On the left of it, a hand made clock made out of wood and and old rotary saw blade. What a novel idea!!

There was the most fantastic kitchen on display made out of sleepers, complete with chairs and tables. This could be passed down through the family for the next 100 generations without ever wearing out or needing to be replaced.

Best of all was this bar!! I think a lot of good parties could be held areound this. The uprights holding the roof was carved with the heads of the various animals. Simply beautiful.

I think of all the displays, this was my favorite. It is a huge tent with sides which can be closed. It consisted of a huge and most luxurious bedroom with the bathroom behind a partition. What elegance!! I could easily stay in one of these for the rest of my life. There was an open verander in front with a small fountain and some easy garden furniture. This is my idea of living in style.

Of all the camping equipment on display, this folding bed was put on my list for purchasing. It is SO comfortable!!

Walk 18/4 - Part 2

Ahead of me I could see the path heading up this hill. Not too steep and as the path winds up and down, it will not be too bad getting to the top will it? :)
Here the aloes get there flowers in the winter and this young plant was starting to shoot out its new stem.

Nestled against a crevase, the aloe and this unknown succulent compete for the sunny spot.

What a lovely rock!! I wondered what its history was in order to get uch nice stripes in it.

Somewhere along the way a Guinea Fowl had lost its feather. It was tucked away in the grass and looked so lonely but made a pretty picture surrounded by the greenery.

What an amazing find!! The only problem is that I do not know what it it!! It is very small, about 4mm in length and was hurrying along this rock for all it was worth. I could see the nose of some kind of caterpillar sticking out at the bottom and wondered if it was some kind of bagworm as I know they disguise themselves like this?

We have many species of Euphorbia here and this one is very common with it's stems growning up to about 20 feet in height. They exude a white sap which is poison and has been used to kill fish.

It was also shooting out new flowers. Some of these flowers only bloom at night and are pollenated by moths and bats.

Eyes

I was trying to capture the reflection in animals eyes so please enlarge the first three pictures by clicking on them to see it properly.

A giraffe.....
A beautiful cheetah....

Spotted Hyaena.....

Forest Cobra......

Some animals were too small like this snake but it made an interesting picture anyway so I thought I would include it.

A Rattle Snake with it slitted eyes.....

A Caracal...... They have such beautiful ones.

A Wilddog.......