Around the Campfire – My Backyard

Image by Jacis Photographic Guide, Anja Riise

The abundance of tiny critters in turn attracts their predators. A group of Banded mongooses has made the lodge their home and they go on patrol regularly enough for you to basically set you watch after their appearance. It’s very interesting to follow the family affairs of this group that we call the Bandits and to see the youngsters grow up. As they wander through the guides block, they take care of a lot of the creepy crawlies on their way, being one of few animals that target the poisonous millipedes. One day they seemed very interested in what was going on on my window pane and I realized they had spotted my rubber snake. I had put it there to keep the hornbills away, but now decided to show it to the band of snake killers. After an initial freight, where they all went shrieking in all directions, they soon discovered it wasn’t a real snake… and I’m sure the fact that rattle snakes don’t live in Africa made it even more difficult to fool them 😉

Image by Jacis Photographic Guide, Anja Riise

My favourite bird, the Yellow-billed hornbill is a resident species around the lodge. Unfortunately the couple that hang around outside my room has now learnt not to fear the rubber snake I had put in my window to keep them away. It took over a year, but they now keep knocking at the window all hours of the day, as they can see their own reflection in the glass. They are used enough to people to be able to get some good close-up shots, which is great. However, I think I might have to buy a rubber snake resembling a South African species soon…

Image by Jacis Photographic Guide, Anja Riise

For a while there was an absolute racket outside my door every day and at first I couldn’t make out what was going on, as there were many different bird species voicing their opinions. I thought maybe there was a snake around, but the ever present tree squirrel wasn’t joining in in the noise, which would be unusual for them. I realized it was a Levaillant’s cuckoo chick begging for food from its Arrow-marked babbler step parents, with a Crested barbet adding to the chorus. It’s really interesting to see the enormous chicks being fed by their small and unsuspecting parents and it always amazes me that they don’t suspect that something is wrong when their newly hatched is bigger than they are.

Image by Jacis Photographic Guide, Anja Riise

Another noisy bird that’s become a real character in my life is Nathan, a Natal spur fowl. He’s so used to the guides’ presence by now that he doesn’t hesitate investigating your room if you leave it open, or even jumping up into your lap if your lunch look interesting enough. While this may all seem funny and charming, his announcement of it being time to get up while it’s still pitch dark outside is less so. Especially since (for some reason) all these noisy individuals have decided that the best place to stir up trouble is on my doorstep.

Image by Jacis Photographic Guide, Anja Riise

Luckily a huge Water monitor has also taken up residency and has chosen a River bushwillow  nearby as her nightly resting place, keeping the fowls at bay during the warmer days. She seems to be the boss of the garden, having all other animals scattering as she approaches to bask on the lawn. She loves it when the grass is being watered, running up to the hose pipe, enjoying the gentle spray on hot summer days.

Guests often ask if the Elephant dung found around the lodge has been put there to fertilize the ground or to add some excitement… Truth is that at the end of the dry season, the elephants start feeling the stress of the drought and go looking for some greenery to eat around the lodges. One bull in particular has made a habit of breaking in and then slowly letting himself be herded out the main gate by us guides. Eventually the fence was moved closer to the river, making it difficult for the bull to push the fence down again. So, this behaviour was stopped, before getting out of hand and becoming a real problem for us and the guests.

Image by Jacis Photographic Guide, Anja Riise

The numerous Bushbuck around the lodge are very used to people and barely offer you a glance as you pass by. As the presence of humans most likely indicate a lack of other predators, the antelopes feel rather safe around us and even the females with tiny young will let you close enough for some nice close-up shots. The fact that someone once told me they’d seen Leopard tracks along the river path inside the camp is probably something we shouldn’t reveal to the bucks…

Image by Jacis Photographic Guide, Anja Riise

So, taking a walk through your own backyard in the bush can be a real photographic safari, with monkeys peeking down on you, frogs and lizards hiding in the foliage and snakes quickly slithering across the path in front of you. If you have your camera at the ready, you never know what you may be able to capture.