SOUTH AFRICA,

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2006

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Pilanesberg Nationalpark

On the last day of the meeting of the International Society of Hymenopterists in Sun City,
a vacation resort near Johannesburg, the conference participants were treated to
a safari in nearby Pilanesberg Nationalpark.

Landscape with Wildebeests and Impalas







Wildebeest






What could this animal be?


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After the conference, I travelled with John, Jim, Johan, and Jeremiah around
for a week to collect insects. We took Sunday off and drove through Kruger Nationalpark,
to collect vertebrates -- with our cameras.




Jim, Susanne, Jeremiah, Johan, and John

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Kruger Nationalpark




Mother and baby





I think this lion got his haircut in Greenwich Village.







Kittycat!


















Kruger landscape with pachyderm






He looks like he'd gotten into heavy rain. (wie ein begossener Pudel)
(It's the same lion as in the next picture.)






This pair of lions was mating about every 15 minutes.
But every time they did it, by the time I had booted my camera and
zoomed all the way in, they were already done with it.
Clear disadvantage of digital cameras.
So, no proof of action.

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Graskop

After leaving Kruger, we stayed for several days near a small town called Graskop,
in a hotel right at the rim of Blyde River Canyon.




Like Zion Canyon or the Grand Canyon or the Sächsische Schweiz, Blyde River Canyon has been
created by a river that once ran over a plateau and then carved its way through the rock.
This rock formation is called the Three Rondavels -- I assume this means three round rocks.





Praying mantis (Gottesanbeterin in German).
Note the beautiful antennae which are pectinate (= shaped like a comb).

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Just before a downpour.

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Jeremiah collecting wasps.

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I absolutely love this kind of light, when the sun is still shining where you stand,
but most of the sky is already grey. It looks almost surreal. The vegetation looked
a bit surreal as well, with these Aloe bushes thrown in.


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Ohrigstad Nature Reserve







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Sheba Mountain



There is some rainforest left on one side of Sheba mountain.
It was strange to have this little patch of rainforest right
in the middle of savannah and plantations.

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