Notice the pellet crumbs on her nose. Often, there are lots of crumbs in the huge bags of pellets. Most of the wildlife are happy to lap up the crumbs if we place them on the tile steps. |
Big Daddy showed up and then he and Wildebeest Willie let us know pellets were expected. |
Although they're used to being around humans while we all share the rustic terrain in Marloth Park, they are still wild animals. They don't want to be touched, nor should we attempt to touch them. They aren't domesticated beings, like dogs and cats.
They fend for themselves in this wild place; mating, giving birth, raising their young and interacting with one another in ways we often find astounding as we, the proverbial observers, glean this unstoppable sense of somehow belonging to their world, if only in a minuscule way when they visit us.
They don't belong to us. This isn't a zoo. This isn't a rehab center for wildlife although at times, for the more endangered species, medical intervention may occur in specific cases. But, most of the animals here are subject to illness, injury, and recovery on their own, as they best know how.
We've named him Wildebeest Willie, now that he's quickly becoming a regular visitor. |
Recently, with the influx of tourists and unfortunately some residents, 13 animals have been killed on the roads by speeding and careless humans, not driving their vehicles with "them" in mind.
Wildebeest are notoriously shy. The more he sees us the more at ease he is hanging out in the garden. He stayed for several hours last night, unusual for a wildebeest. |
Since the holiday season began we've seen three cases where when young children ranging from five to 12 years old have been driving SUVs, the youngest on the lap of the parent and the older on their own.
When the pellets ran low, Wildebeest Willie didn't waste any time approaching the veranda. |
And even if the parent had the child on his/her lap, the adult's own response time would be greatly hindered by the situation, unable to react quickly enough to avoid hitting an animal, let alone a person walking or riding a bike. What are these people thinking?
When we didn't jump up right away, he held his ground at the edge of the veranda, waiting for us to respond. We did. |
Last night, we were so in awe of them when we experienced one of the best wildlife watching experiences since we arrived in Marloth Park on February 11th. Not only did we have no less than eight playful and funny warthogs, but we had Frank and the Mrs. (francolins) in attendance, a loud chirping bullfrog for background noise, Wildebeest Willie, and Big Daddy adding to the entertainment factor.
He seems to get along well with the warthogs, who are nightly visitors. At this point, he and Little Wart Face shared pellets together without incident. |
We hardly had time to eat our dinner when every few moments we jumped up to toss another slew of pellets, a fistful of apples or handfuls of cut carrots to our "guests." They couldn't have been more pleased. We, couldn't have been more pleased.
And when later in the evening, as the "crowd" thinned out, the bulb in our garden light burned out. Subsequently, when we usually shop for groceries on Thursdays, we were off this morning to the Obaro Hardware store in Komatipoort for another bulb (we actually purchased two) when we couldn't dare miss one evening of festivities.
They seemed to get along well. Only once, did Big Daddy tap the ends of his giant antlers on the ground to let Willie know to back off? |
That's why today's post is late by no less than four hours as a result of going to Komatipoort to purchase the bulb and, grocery shop while there. For us to miss posting by our usual time, it must be a very important situation; a drive into Kruger, a road trip, a special event or a travel day. Today, folks, it was a bulb.
Thanks for your patience and enjoy your evening listening to the sounds of nature wherever you may be.
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Photo from one year ago today, July 3, 2017:
One year ago today, we dined with our old neighbors/friends. From left to right; Doug, Jamie Tom, me, Sue, Nelleke and Dave. For more details and photos, please click here. |
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