Greetings and Salutations

Normally Teddy Bears appear moments before the onset of sleep, that is in a regular bedroom in suburbia. In this particular incidence no one was anywhere ready for sleep and a teddy bear appeared. At this moment my teddy bear perceptions were changed. So in my case there are two occasions when a Teddy Bear might make an appearance. The second occassion was for sentimental reasons. But the catalyst that got this particular Teddy Bear into the spotlight was a chameleon. The one being inanimate and the other animate and it was a sentimental moment that got the inanimate object gain the spotlight over and above the glamour of a chameleon in the silent darkness of the African bush.

This particular moment was greeted with great enthusiasm by all the guests on this night Safari. After a short distance into the Park, we had seen a few bush buck and kudu, I found a moderately large flap-neck chameleon. So after my usual demonstrations to the guests, a back-packer said "Wait!". Moments later, he fished out from the depth of his back a small light blue Teddy bear! Strangely everyone seemed to understand that if you did not have a gnome, then a teddy bear was just as good. Something of sentimental value. He immediately explained that he had a loved one at home, and the Teddy was his way of sending a message home. Although at this moment it seemed that his actions did not require any explanation.  A sense of I wish you where here. But since you are not, I am showing the World that I wish you were here".

Strangely enough no one seemed to ask the chameleon what it thought about having a teddy bear three times it's size shoved into it's face. Then followed by a whole series of flash photos. No longer the chameleon Papparazzi, this time it was the Teddy bear Papparazzi! I can just imagine that the chameleon got a little annoyed being 'woken' by a teddy bear that it had said 'good night' to over four hours ago. Well the chameleon paparazzi did a fine job and flashed Teddy and chameleon to their hearts content. At this point I was uncertain which was more popular, the Chameleon or the Teddy. But I was certain that when the chameleon went back to his bush to sleepout the rest of the night in peace and quiet he was most relieved.

Hasta la vista

The Knait Wrydah

Greetings and Salutations

Recently I have had the same conversation about being over 60 something, with a number of guests. Guests have told me "that I had better save for my old age". Others have said "put a little away for that hearing aid or an operation or a knee replacement". There seems lots to save for when you are over sixty something. But this is not about age and that the longer we are around, the more you have to pay for medical procedures. "Old age apparently is not for sissies". No this "more than 60 something..." has nothing to do with this. Neither has it got to do with all the festive season holiday makers that were "bust" for exceeding the speed limit and were told that they were over sixty. Neither has this got anything to do with your heart rate when you see Miss World and your heart rate is something over 60. But I would put that more like something over 80. Nothing I tell you my good friends, nothing.

This "over sixty" has got a lot to do with Kosi Bay and turtles. Especially with our recent visit. No I was not speeding, some of the guests were over 80, but Miss World was not present, respectively and collectively. This had a lot to do with turtles and nesting. Kosi Bay is great and really an excellent opportunity to experience this 'miracle of nature' by creating zero green house gases and being 100% community based. Added to this a 100% success rate. This is really good way of getting to see turtles. In fact I would say the right way to do it. So turtles in Kosi means walking. Generally not too far as there are plenty of turtles here. The community supplies all the guides, but they like involvement as well. Finally we have a 100% guarantee of turtles. So where is the 'more than 60 something' come into the equation.

On our last trip there was a possibility that hatchlings would start emerging. These hatchlings would have been laid in late October, early November and as we have discussed all turtles are laid. So as I patrolled down the Kosi beach with the community guide, I looked out for hatchling and counted the number of tracks left by emerging turtles. After the usual four km walk I counted more than 60 nests. However it would be very wrong of me to end here and not qualify and quantify when these turtles had emerged to nest. The beach is like a giant diary and usually daily strong winds clean the beach of all the turtle tracks, however there had been no strong winds for the past three days. So collectively the tracks I counted were from more than sixty something turtles that had emerged over a period of three days to nest. So you can see why it is almost impossible not to see turtles in the Kosi bay area. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Hasta la vista

The Knait Wrydah on the Beach

Greetings and Salutations

During the recent festive season I have did a few extra HIP and not HUP tours. That is since the name of the Umfolozi was changed to the Imfolozi. But nothing or little has changed about my tours. Usually we are out of bed before the sparrow can f..t! But in summer there tends to be  a slightly odorous aroma that greets your nostrils on awakening, but  a significant absence of the little feathered culprit. This is because the sun tends to rise earlier in summer. At 06h00 in winter it is still dark and you can disappear into the darkness before this little gaseous bird awakes. But this is not about sparrows and their early morning misdemeanors. This is about coffee and lions.

Anyway 05h00 is early. 06h00 is better but still early. Or oily if you are a sardine. Anyway after loading all the willing participants for a HIP trip, we headed in the direction of the sun that had set 12 hours before we started this tour. Okay, we went west. After 57 blurry kms we arrived at the HIP gate and exchanged a quantity of money that allowed us into this HIP Park. Generally on this trip most guests are fairly quiet. This I can only presume is to the lack of any significant amounts of caffeine in their blood system, or residual amounts that are so low that they have no awakening effect. After the ubiquitous gate we headed in any direction that has a picnic site. These picnic sites are great locations for coffee. Like twitchy would say in Hoodwinked "Cofffeeee, yummmeee!". On this particular occasion we somehow made it to the Mfapha hide. There was water in the plunge pool below the waterfall and a giraffee staring at the  coffee coloured water from a distance. Pastrami and cheese sandwiches with a good side portion of coffee jerked the day into a realistic and recognizable form. Slowly our systems started functioning. Life and intellect seeped back into the cranial crevices where it had been missing for the last 12 hours.

Then a another couple joined us in the Mfapha hide and we greeted them passively and continue with our caffeine invigorating ceremony. Then out the blue two more people walked into the hide and announced there were six lions a little distance away! I asked exactly/approximately how far away. He said "1.4Km away" Well the effect of this announcement was more galvanizing than 6 cups of intravenous coffee. We whizzed out of the hide, but remembering to take a good look at the individual that made this announcement and his registration. 1.4km done the road there was nothing. 1.6 and 1.2 km there was nothing. We had been "Hoodwinked", the temptation to return and remove a large quantity of air from his inferior 4X4 was really tempting, but duty called. However the residual effect of this individual "Crying Wolf" was like being on an intravenous caffeine drip. Needless to say we had great success with a giant male lion, lions in a tree and antlions. We looked for dandy lions, but without success. Cheetah too, but none of those cats with rosettes of spots.

Well, remember if you are every in a hide that has little or no space, and there is a lion announcement, ask as many questions as possible. Or just say "we have seen lions!" once they have told you the location of the lions. Tell them that their is a leopard in the opposite direction. They can then see a fictitious leopard in a tree, with an impala kill". Although after your thorough questioning, you might just get the real answer.
 
Hasta la vista

The Knait Wrydah in the day.

Greetings and Salutations,

Each night is totally different and the great aspect of a night safari is you can vary the trip. Take a different road. Look at the stars and discuss nocturnal animal communication. Never boring and I suppose it is up to the guide as to how too achieve success. Other nights it is easy. No real effort is required because there are bus loads of animals. Like I say to guests "You cannot swing a cat without hitting an animal!" Enough to go around for everyone. Usually when this is the case there are no predators about, or they are full of antelope and really not interested in hunting.

The other night we had really seen busloads of animals. So a trip filled with satisfied guests. But I did not realise "the show was not over until the fat lady sings". The singing happened close to APU (antipoaching unit), close to the road we found one of the Daga Boys that lives in this area. Normally there is a group of three or four. Since this buffalo was really close to the road we never looked further. Moments later we heard rustling and not 15 meters away there was the rest of this group of buffalo. Well, things got a little censoured after about 5 minutes. Somehow it seemed as though these, or one buffalo in particular wanted to show off. He started off with demolishing a tree, this was to clean his horns. There are desmid beetles that can damage the keratin layer over buffalo horns so he progressively removed all the bark off a small tree, thereby rubbing tannins into his horn to create some form off protection. His manicure was not over by any means. Next he rubbed his back and eventually he perform a lewd act with a tree to get to ticks that had attached themselves to his nether regions. Is this had been the old South African this buffalo would have been taken into custody for performing a lewd act in the presence of minors.
 
But the real surprise came, when halfway through his pubic performance he looked-up. In front of him were more trees... One of the guests put words in the mouth of this Buffalo that was falling in love with a Trichelia emetica or natal mahogany and commented with the buffalo staring with amorous eyes at this clump of suitably sized trees and said: "Mmm... More trees!!" We all laughed, but this did not distract the buffalo. Seems like that Arbor day is everyday if you are a buffalo and you have a nest of ticks wedged into your nether regions.

Hasta la vista

The Knait Wrydah at night.

Greetings and Salutations,
 
Each night we head out into a very dark zone north of the quiet hamlet of St. Lucia. Without the help of a collective two million candle power of spotlights, we would have no idea what we were looking at in this alien darkness. So with the help of two spotlight all that is big and small is brought into full view. But sometimes what is illuminated can prove to be quite confusing. Lights can be a great help, but in this instance they added to the confusion, especially something that was unexpected. Although anything that was usual would have not been unusual. There is logic somewhere in that.
 
To go a little back in time. When I first started guiding in the Kruger area, after a week of extensive day training we were sent out at night. As a "roof" or green guide we returned to camp having seen some of the strangest animals that occurred in areas else where except in the Kruger. Things like the Cape Fox and bontebok. But it was scary out there and our imagination played tricks on us. But we learnt from the ridicule we received from the senior rangers. This sharpened our senses and ability to identify animals. In the end we were virtually able to identify any mammal at night with the aid of a candle at 100m. So after this initiation in nocturnal visual skills we seldom if ever made a misidentification. Although all the new guides went through the same initiation when we became senior guides and it was our responsibility to train them. The wheel turned.
 
Anyway last week I thought I had regressed to the state of a green guide. We were just through the Cape Vidal gate and over the first cattle crossing, heading off into the darkness in a westerly direction when I thought I was in the Yellowstone National Park. The only correct point was that I was in a Natural World Heritage Site like Yellowstone. Yellowstone is famous for the large variety of geologic geysers. There are a whole variety of them, mud, water, steam and sludge. Some permanently erupt, others are regular like a Swiss clock and others are irregular. What we had in the spotlight was an irregular sand geyser!! Sand was spewing skywards at regular intervals! It seemed as though two millions candle power of spotlights was insufficient to illuminate the cause of this 'sand geyser'. As I blinked for a second time in an attempt to refocus my eyes - the culprit appeared. A warthog with a face full of sand. His burrow had been partially disguised by some grass. All we saw was sand erupting into the sky from behind the grass. It seemed as though the presence of our gamedrive vehicle had disturbed this "pig" to such a point that he decided to "pump ' as much sand to the surface in order to get rid of us. In his attempt to rid us, it made for a weird scenario in the middle of a very dark landscape. When pigs go weird!
 
Hasta la vista
 
The Knait Wrydah

Greetings and Salutations,
 
As the whale season winds down, so the turtle season grinds to a fairly squeaky start. Generally the first part of November is not the best time to witness turtles nesting. Although the season in Kosi Bay started really early this year. We saw our first turtle on the 18 August. There was no intention of doing so and the appearance of this turtle was totally unexpected. But we took full advantage of this rare event. Observing the delicate process of egg-laying. Now that the season has started, turtle tours are made great by the fact that there is a lot of interaction between guest and this ancient "marineress".
 
To get a full understanding of this human/turtle interaction it is necessary to briefly discuss the whole nesting process. Plus boggle your mind with a priceless comment. Witnessing a nesting turtle takes patience and an understanding that you are working with pregnant females. They appear when they are ready. IT IS NOT NEGOTIABLE. This is just the way it is. Generallly after dark the females arrive in the surf zone either two hours before or two hours after low tide. Slowly in the dark, balmy night they huff and puff their way up the beach until they seem to reach the correct nesting location (rookey). If they decide it is the wrong location they simply return to the sea. When this happens as a guide, you are left with a bunch of rather blank faced guests clicking their heels on a dark and empty beach. Remember they are pregnant females! The female turtle will find another spot somewhere along the beach. This usually take place later in the evening.
 
Once a female turtle has reached a suitable location she will prepare the site for digging an egg pot or chamber. Egg laying starts shortly thereafter, contractions are visible as she gently lifts her rear flippers a cm or two prior to depositing between one and four eggs. When the ovipositor descends - we know it is possible to get really close to the female and witness her egg-laying. The female at this stage is in an egg-trance. Something I refer to as a "genetic epidural". Once the eggs have been laid, she covers the nest hole. Carefully compacting loose sand into the chamber, thereafter flashing sand all over the nesting area to disguise the exact location of the egg chamber. Once complete she heads back to a gravity free environment - the dark warm enticing Indian Ocean. On one particular night we had seen the "full Monty". We arrived as a giant leatherback emerged and two and a quarter hours later we witnessed her departure. Most people are stunned and silenced by this ancient ritual. However, in this particular instance an American voice came from the back of my group and asked: "How would you know if that was a male or female turtle". More silence followed. No one uttered a word. We walked back up the beach recounting the recent reptilian events and "the" comment. I thought that Hollywood script writers have a remarkable ability to create stories, but this was beyond any imagination. You just had to be there! Teehee - Priceless.
 
Hasta la vista
 
THe Knait Wrydah.

Greetings and Salutations,
 
Sometimes Mother Nature can really deliver an unexpected surprise. However - a surprise is always unexpected, so what is an unexpected surprise. Well nature seldom gets to break any rules, but when rules are broken, there is a reason. Recently on 18 August I had a tour into the Kosi Bay area and the main purpose of this trip was to see the Fish Traps at the Kosi Bay Mouth. After spending a productive afternoon snorkeling amongst coral reef fish, we headed to towards Bhanga Neck to over-night at the local community camp. Since I had some of my relatives from the States with me, I thought "What the Hell", let's temp fate and try for a turtle or two. I had spoken to them so often about watching nesting turtles on the Bhanga Neck beach that I thought we may as well stay at Bhanga Neck camp to get the feel of the area and try for a turtle.
 
After arriving down a 'very' 4x4 track we set-up camp, got a fire going and did a couple of whiskeys. After dinner we had planned to do a beach walk. But after the snorkeling and 4x4 drive - somehow, the will to take a beach stroll had significantly diminished. But I decided "nothing ventured, nothing gained". So I rallied my troops and armed each person with a torch, we cut through a small path and found ourselves on a deserted beach.  The sky above us was filled with stars. Dark it was, but there was a certain sense of excitement about the balmy tropical sea breeze that whorled around us. After giving my guests a briefing on the fact that we might see a turtle and what was necessary if so, we set-off. Walking was easy. Several stops along the beach were used to examine ghost crabs, cowries and other interesting beach debris. An hour and a half we found ourselves a good two kilometers towards Mozambique. Since I was ahead, I noticed in the haze what looked like turtle track. However when you have been staring into the darkness, often you start to imagine what you are looking for. But ten meters further, what I had been looking for and what I thought was my imagination, turned out to be fresh turtle tracks.
 
The sheer excitement of this event turned me into "an over exuberant puppy". But added to the excitement was that there was only one set of tracks! This meant that the turtle was still nesting. Immediately I tried to drag every one up the beach to see the nesting female, but stopped. There is a certain amount of etiquette required when approach a nesting female and I managed to get my excitement and surprise under control. I asked my rather surprised relatives to wait near the surf zone. Then I silently slipped-up the beach to establish at what stage the turtle was during her nesting cycle. My signal was two flashes of my torch! When I arrived at the nesting turtle, I discovered that she was in her final stages of nesting - covering the egg chamber and compacting sand into place. So for the final twenty minutes of this miraculous natural process we had a private show. The loggerhead diligently went about her task of covering the next generation of turtles. After this she headed straight back into the sea. The second wave covered her and she was swallowed into the dark underworld of King Neptune. I was speechless.
 
After jabbering away for a while about the total uniqueness of this situation and how rare it was to have witnessed such an event.  We walked north - a fruitless exercise, because I realized we had seen more than what we had expected to see. Our timing was immaculate to have arrived at the precise time to see this turtle nesting. So we turned back to camp.  The balmy North Easter pushed us down the beach in dark silence, allowing us to reflect on this remarkable moment. My cousin said that he was "surprised" and never expected such luck. I commented that after twenty or so years tracking and watching turtles, I was more than surprised and "nearly fell-off the beach!!"
 
Fortunately we remembered to take a photo, as attached. But prior to departing for this leg of our northwards journey I read an interesting article on News24. Marine scientist had discovered that 2009 had the highest sea temperatures since 1998. There seemed logic here and since loggerhead are cold blooded reptiles any "unseasonal" warming of the Ocean waters would trigger the onset of nesting. Leatherback turtles on the  other hand would not feel the effects, as they are warm blooded. Makes you think?
 
But even with the so called logical explanation I was still amazed at what we had witnessed.
 
Hasta la vista
 
The Knait Writa

Tigress production in association with the Discovery channel arrived in April 09 to film a series with Austin Stevens. After chatting to Austin I discovered his passion for this area and the fact that he had grown up here brought him back to include iSimangaliso in a reptile series. In his youth he spent many blissful hours in and around lake St. Lucia. An ideal area, as he is passionate about anything cold-blooded. Most of the filming took place at Catalina Bay. Although the film crew did visit other destinations on the Western Shores. My responsibility was to fetch the film crew and transport them out of iSimangaliso after dark. The crew needed to shoot a series of camp fire sequences, not possible in the day. The Park Authority has fairly strict regulations regarding after hour activities. Therefore night drive concessionaires were contracted to assist.

Well, since I have some largish night safari vehicles I thought I would impress the whole film crew with the size of my vehicle. My philosophy in these instances was "go big or go home", out came my biggest. I nearly embarrassed myself. When I arrived to pack-up the crew I discovered that three vehicles had delivered the filming equipment. There was even a 'portable' camera crane. The three delivery vehicles were then driven out of the Park before dark and I was then responsible for getting the equipment out. Eish, in the end we just managed to fit everything on the vehicle and seven crew with Austin perched in the front seat. I nearly "went big and home" to fetch another vehicle! But we managed. The first night I delivered a canoe, but left it behind on the shore of Lake St. Lucia. This canoe was the unintentional harbinger of a futile operation.

That night all hell broke loose. The presence of a canoe was reported to anti-poaching. After Austin had "paddled" this canoe across the lake to access the Eastern shores for his adventure, the film crew abandoned the prop (canoe) and we went home to delicious dinners and warm beds. The canoe was spotted lying on the shoreline about 600m west of the Catalina Bay jetty (local knowledge). During the night word went out that poachers had arrived on the Eastern shores by canoe. APU or the anti-poaching Unit exploded into action and arrived to investigate, bristling with arms. After a lengthy search along the shoreline they found Austin's Hammock and fly sheet, and the camp fire where the film crew had filmed before we departed. Nothing else. Finally they received news that it was a false alarm, by this was near 02h00 in the morning. The following night we made sure the canoe was well concealed deep within some reeds. What surprised me was that the canoe was not used for target practice by APU. It remained unscathed.

The follow two days the canoe was put to good use. Although weather conditions proved difficult on one of the days, with strong winds making it impossible to film. So for those that grace the couch from time to time it will be possible to see Austin Stevens catching pythons, cobras and adders in iSimangaliso. This program is scheduled for the end of the year. And you will also be able to see the truant canoe. At the end of the filming, we had a good session with Austin at Braza Restaurant. The whole film crew were impressed with St. Lucia. But when you realise that Discovery Channel film crews see the best of the World, you realise they mean it.

Kian Barker

This group of antelope typifies the iSimangaliso wetland park. Here we have a group of Kobus. Kobus is the genus name of the waterbuck and it has a related cousin, the reedbuck. These two species love water, even to the point that they have ducks' feet. They do not take to the water for a paddle on a daily basis, but they require this "foot wear" to survive in the wet, water-logged conditions that they prefer. This area is South Africa's largest wetland and certain features like, for example, the Mafabeni swamp qualifies as the largest peat swamp in the Southern Hemisphere. This is clearly a good reason to find loads of hydrophilic antelope, although there are a number of other species like Puku, Red Lechwe and finally Mountain Reedbuck, that are found elsewhere. But our two species are well represented in this area.

Waterbuck

The easiest way to recognise this beauty is by the large circular marking on its rump. One guest mentioned: "it is like an unfortunate birth mark". There are a whole host of other humourous jokes relating to this characteristic waterbuck feature. Here, we have a remarkably large population of these antelope and they are great, especially in the sense that they are very co-operative when it comes to photography. They tend to stand and stare. The fact that they are grazers is also good because they are normally found out in open areas of grassland, unlike kudu that characteristically disappear behind bushes and trees just at the critical moment when you are about to click the camera trigger.

But what aquatic features enable waterbuck to be so well suited to wet conditions? They have a few unexpected abilities that are often not mentioned. Firstly, they have specialized feet, almost duck feet, or slightly webbed feet for navigating marshland. These webbed feet enable them to walk through the marshland without sinking too deeply into the mud. Their toes open out and a flap of skin between their toes traps a small balloon of mud. This prevents the animals from getting that "sinking feeling". Marshy wet areas also have a lot of blood -sucking critters, so waterbuck also have sebaceous or oil glands. These glands are presumed to produce an insect -repelling substance,which is not only repugnant to insects but also for predators. Ask any lion! Even the early hunters and pioneers avoided wasting effort on hunting these water loving antelope. If you are thinking of keeping a waterbuck as a house pet, avoid it. If the large size of this antelope does not put you off, remember that you will need plenty of Chanel 5. They smell as a result of their oily secretions.

They have a rather interesting social life. Here, they are considered the only antelope with the ability to produce twins. This is thought to be a response to the wet and dry cycles we experience in this area. In dry years more single births are seen. During wet years when there are more flooded areas, twinning is more prevalent. The male society is rather interesting. Males have a great sense of social duty and throughout the year a single male is generally seen with a group or harem of females (not the case with the Traglephids). The bachelor male waterbuck group together - play golf, drink beer, flip through the tv chanels and leave the toilet seat up - just kidding! These bachelor groups have two generally accepted functions: the first is that there is safety in numbers (not too sure why, as predators don't  like to eat them). The second function is that they are alway scrapping or rutting. These little fairly aggressive fights ensure that these animals learn fighting skills, until they reach a mature age, when they can challenge a dominant male for his harem. Sometimes they may not be successful and they become satellites or sneakers. When the dominant male is not looking, they will sneak into his harem and have their way with his females. This is nature's way to ensure a little more genetic diversity. This information is once again the tip of the iceberg about waterbuck. Taking a tour into this Park should give you access to additional information on these and many other animals.

Reedbuck - the indicator species

Many years ago, this area, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, had little or no commercial value, in the sense of tourism potential. So a plan to tame or utilize this area was put into place. This involved planting 14 000? hectares of pine trees into the wetland! You may wonder what was public opinion regarding this measure? As we needed timber, it was regarded as acceptable; just as cattle farming destroyed thousands of hectares of Rain Forest, and just as surface strip mining irreversably changes the soil composition, just as the war in Iraq was decided upon without an EIA (environmental impact assessment). But many years later, there is a need and a mind change and we then start protesting against this wanton environmental abuse. Trees are then removed and we re-invent the wheel by bringing back the natural environment and we all get excited about the eco-tourism potential of this area!

Where do reedbuck feature in this? In nature, there are animals that respond to man's often unintentional interference in nature. This was seen in the mid '50's in the Kruger Park. Wilddog and hyena were shot off as they were considered vermin. Natural fires were stopped and as a result of this, the Impala population went throught the roof. Changes in the management policies (least disturbance manage-ment) have generally reduced impala numbers and things are looking better, although the Kruger elephants are a bit of an issue - a case of time accumulated biomass. In this area here, the reedbuck played an interesting role.

When the pine tree planting commenced, it was started in the grasslands. After ten to fifteen years, the grasslands disappeared under vast swathes of exotic pine trees. The reedbuck were then displaced and moved to areas where there was grass. Since the extent of the tree planting was extensive, there was much grazing competition in the remaining grassy areas. In addition, the pines consumed vast quantities of water that dried out many of the small lakes and swamps, changing a traditional wetland into a dryland, making it more like savannah. The option used was to cull reedbuck numbers to ensure there was no over-grazing or trampling. Over an estimated period of thirty years, approximately 20 000 common reedbuck were culled and the population decreased from 14 500 to a paltry 2500 in the early 90's. It was then that eco-tourism raised it's beautiful head. At this stage it was decided to stop culling and initiate a rehabilitation programme to re-establish the original eco-system. Pine trees were being grown more successfully elsewhere and the price of pine wood was very low. Over the following years, clear felled areas were not replanted and in September 2007, the last pine trees were removed from this Park. This formed the basis of rehabilitating the Wetland.

Where are all the reedbuck? The numbers have increased, but possibly not at the rate that was expected. This has been a difficult rehabilitation to measure. Annual censuses are conducted and it is found that the reedbuck population has not increased faster than the waterbuck population. Waterbuck have a nine month pregnancy as opposed to the reedbuck that require six months. Two factors could be attributed to this difference or anomaly. Waterbuck can produce twins and reedbuck are eminently more edible than waterbuck. There are also more predators that are able to catch and consume reedbuck as opposed to waterbuck.

When next visiting the Park, you are far more likely to see waterbuck, but look carefully and you will notice reedbuck lying close to the ground in all the little swampy areas. When they feel threatened, they lie on the ground. The reedbuck near St. Lucia Village are in small groups of two's and three's, and as you pass Catalina Bay there are bigger groups of up to eight. The area around the St. Lucia gate was only recently rehabilitated, whereas the area near Catalina Bay has never been afforested, so as a result reedbuck are found in larger groups. I invite you to check them out on your next visit to iSimangalso Wetland Park.

Hornbill House is a spacious Bed & Breakfast establishment situated in the residential area of St. Lucia, within walking distance of the beach and the estuary mouth, and as the name suggests, is host to the raucous Trumpeter Hornbills which are frequent visitors. Owner, Kian Barker, can offer a wealth of information on the attractions of the area and organise tours and outings.

Guests have the use of the salt water swimming pool and the barbecue facility as well as the lounge with television and there is ample secure parking in the grounds.

A full english and continental breakfast is included in the tariff while the main street of St. Lucia offers a number of good restaurants for dining out.

Three tastefully decorated, comfortable double en-suite bedrooms (twin beds), each have their own private sitting out area overlooking the gardens are equipped with ceiling fans and each bedroom has an en-suite with a shower. Tea and coffee making facilities are available.

The St. Lucia World Heritage Site is a bird watcher's paradise and famous for a variety of tours and activities, including World Heritage Tours, Night Safaris With Chameleons, Bikes & Hikes, Zulu Cultural Tours, Big Five Safaris, Turtle Tours, Estuary Boat Cruises, Deep Sea Game Fishing, Horse Ride Safaris, Off Road Car Hire, The crocodile centre and Whale & Dolphin watching (June - Nov).