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Tag: South Africa

12 January 2014

I should be packing for South Africa

Elephant Addo Elephant National Park South Africa

Think I need a trunk?

Do you pack days or weeks before you travel?  Maybe you never unpack.  I’m a procrastinator, but I have my lists which have been growing for months.

Procrastinator in rehab

After reading these blog posts about being and not being a procrastinator the monkey dragged me back to the dark playground where we played tug-a-war for a while.  If you are not a procrastinator you’ll just have to read it to understand the metaphors.

Packing

Suitcases

To roll or not?  Maybe packing cubes?  Naw, just get it all in the suitcase and worry about it later.  Right?  I’ve done this before and it does get a little easier each time.  Add the few small things forgotten last time and leave more behind.  South Africa is a modern country so I can buy most things I need like toiletries, camping gear and more.

I’m taking a small rolling carryon for all the electronics and camera gear, and a big—half empty—roller for the rest to be checked in.  Plus of course the oversized purse.

Taking the big full-time laptop means backing up and removing a lot of data/images.  Better safe than sorry.  After double and triple checking two external hard drives for successful backup I still struggled with deleting three years of photos from the main hard drive.  Sure opened up a lot of space.

Broken bedroom slide on RV

On top of packing for the trip I also have to pack up my RV home so repairs can be done while I’m gone which includes making sure the slides go in and out.  Water damaged a board under the bed slideout so all the hydraulics have to be moved to replace and repair it.  Sure glad this job can be done while I’m not home.

 

Seems like I’ve done a lot of nothing in the last 2 1/2 months but sit on my butt at the computer.  Guess that’s why I haven’t really written anything about what I’ve been doing lately.

Thanks for the suggestions on changing the blog.  Although I’m not sure I can do anything about enlarging the font like Yogi suggested or changing the order in the archives as Erin asked.  Is anybody except John having problems with the header falling off the page on their iPad?  I have the site set to responsive which is suppose to make it work on all devices.  And yes Sherry, I’ll try to tell more personal stories, when I have something to tell.  If you think of something else always feel free to let me know.  I look at it so often it could just be shit.

Flightless dung beetle Addo Elephant National Park South Africa

OK, I’m packing!

 

 

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12 August 2013

Elephants in Kruger National Park

Elephant Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

“I want to see an oliphant,” said Samwise to Frodo.

Elephant shaking head in threat display Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

I believe the elephant is my favorite animal in all of South Africa. They are huge and stately.

Elephant dung Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

Joan said never drive over the elephant dung, it is full of thorns. Although elephants spend about 16 hours a day eating 300-600 pounds (140–270 kilograms) of leaves, bark, fruit, shrubs, grasses and herbs they only digest about 40% of what they eat.

Elephant Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

African elephants are the largest land animal alive today. Males stand 10-13 feet (3.2-4 meters) at the shoulder and weigh 7700-26000 pounds (3500-12000 kilograms). The female is smaller, standing about 9.8 feet (3 meters) at the shoulder. They typically live for 50 to 70 years.

Elephants live in a structured social order and the social lives of male and female elephants are very different. The females spend their entire lives in tightly knit family groups made up of mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunts. These groups are led by the eldest female, or matriarch. When a group gets too big, a few of the elder daughters will break off and form their own small group.

Elephants Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

A female will usually be ready to breed around the age of thirteen, when she comes into estrus, or heat, and attracts a male through scent and audible signals. Because the female can usually outrun the male, she does not have to mate with every male that approaches her. Yet the mating season is short and females are only able to conceive for a few days each year. After a twenty-two-month pregnancy, the mother gives birth to a calf that weighs about 250 pounds (115 kg) and stands over 2.5 feet (75 cm) tall. Elephants have a very long development and a new calf is usually the center of attention for herd members.

Elephant Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

The life of the adult male is very different. As he gets older, he begins to spend more time at the edge of the herd, gradually going off on his own for hours or days at a time. Eventually, days become weeks, and somewhere around the age of fourteen, the mature male, or bull, sets out from his natal group for good. While males do live primarily solitary lives, they will occasionally form loose associations with other males. These groups are called bachelor herds.

Elephant shaking head in threat display Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

The dominance battles between males can look very fierce, but typically they inflict very little injury. Most of the bouts are in the form of aggressive displays and bluffs like spreading its ears out wide to look more massive and imposing. Ordinarily, the smaller, younger, and less confident animal will back off before any real damage can be done.

Elephant skeleton Elephant Museum Letaba Rest Camp Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

Elephant Museum Letaba Rest Camp

 With a mass just over 11 pounds (5 kilograms), elephant brains are larger than those of any other land animal. A wide variety of behaviors associated with intelligence have been attributed to elephants. Gender can be determined by the shape of the skull, males have rounded foreheads while females look rather square.

Elephant heart Elephant Museum Letaba Rest Camp Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

Elephant heart Elephant Museum Letaba Rest Camp

An adult heart can weigh between 26-61 pounds (12-28 kilograms) making up about 0.5% of the total body weight, which is similar to the relative weight of a human heart.

Tailless Elephant Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

Tailless male

Elephants make a number of sounds when communicating. The famous trumpet call made when the animal blows through its nostrils and used during excitement like startlement, a cry for help or rage. Plus they produce a low-frequency rumbling which can travel in the air and through the ground up to 6 miles (10 kilometers). They have an exceptional sense of hearing but not only through the ears. The trunk is very sensitive to vibrations as are their feet. Elephants are observed listening by putting trunks on the ground and carefully positioning their feet.

Elephant Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

The proboscis, or trunk, is a fusion of the nose and upper lip, elongated and specialized to become the elephant’s most important and versatile appendage. African elephants are equipped with two fingerlike projections at the tip of their trunk. The elephant’s trunk is sensitive enough to pick up a single blade of grass, yet strong enough to rip the branches off a tree. They will graze on grass or reach up into trees to grasp leaves, fruit, or entire branches. If the desired food item is too high up, the elephant will wrap its trunk around the tree or branch and shake its food loose or sometimes simply knock the tree down altogether.

The trunk is also used for drinking. Elephants suck water up into the trunk—up to 15 quarts (14 liters) at a time—and then blow it into their mouth. Elephants also suck up water to spray on their body during bathing. On top of this watery coating, the animal will then spray dirt and mud, which dries off and acts as a protective sunscreen. Wallowing also aids the skin in regulating body temperatures. Elephants have difficulty in releasing heat through the skin because, in proportion to their body size, they have very little of it.

Elephants Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

This appendage also plays a key role in many social interactions. Familiar elephants will greet each other by entwining their trunks, much like a handshake. They also use them while play-wrestling, caressing during courtship and mother-child interactions, and for dominance displays.

Elephant Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

The large flapping ears of an elephant are also very important for temperature regulation. Elephant ears are made of a very thin layer of skin stretched over cartilage and a rich network of blood vessels. On hot days, elephants will flap their ears constantly, creating a slight breeze. This breeze cools the surface blood vessels, and then the cooler blood gets circulated to the rest of the animal’s body. The hot blood entering the ears can be cooled as much as 10 F (12.22 C) before returning to the body.

Elephant foot skeleton Elephant Museum Letaba Rest Camp Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

Although they appear to be flat-footed, they are in fact digitigrade meaning they walk on the toes. Their weight rests on the tip of each toe and a fibrous cushion of cartilage under the heel that acts like a shock absorber.  The feet of an elephant are nearly round. Under the elephant’s weight the foot swells, but it gets smaller when the weight is removed. They can attain a speed of about 18mph (30kph). 

Elephants Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

Both male and female African elephants have large tusks that can reach over 10 feet (3 meters) in length and weigh over 200 pounds (90 kilograms) and grow continuously at about 7 inches (18 cm) a year.

Gaelyn by Mafunyane skull & tusks Elephant Museum Letaba Rest Camp Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

57 year old Mufunyane

Tusks are used to dig for water, salt, and roots; to debark trees to eat the bark; to dig into baobab trees to get at the pulp inside; and to move trees and branches when clearing a path. In addition, they are used for marking trees to establish territory and occasionally as weapons.

Tailless Elephant Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

Like humans being right or left handed, elephants are right or left tusked so uneven wear can be seen on the dominant tusk. Yet unlike most mammals, which grow baby teeth and then replace them with a permanent set of adult teeth, elephants have cycles of tooth rotation throughout their entire life. Molars are replaced five times in an average elephant’s lifetime moving horizontally, like a conveyor belt. New teeth grow in at the back of the mouth, pushing older teeth toward the front, where they wear down with use and the remains fall out. Eventually, when the last teeth fall out, the elephant will be unable to eat and will die of starvation.

Elephant Kruger Nationa Park Mpumalanga South Africa

Healthy adults have no natural predators although lions may take calves or weak individuals. They are, however, threatened by human intrusion and poaching. The South African elephant population more than doubled, rising from 8,000 to over 20,000, in the thirteen years after a 1995 ban on the trade in elephant ivory.

Ivory display Elephant Museum Letaba Rest Camp Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa    

The elephant’s tusk is both its blessing and its curse because of human’s desire for ivory and their senseless slaughter to get it. The visible, ivory part of the tusk is made of dentine with an outer layer of enamel. Elephant ivory is unique when viewed in cross-section revealing criss-cross lines that form a series of diamond shapes. Elephant ivory has been used for making many things including billiard balls, piano keys, jewelry and carvings.

Elephants Kruger National Park Mpumalanga South Africa

Another threat to elephant’s survival in general is the ongoing cultivation of their habitats with increasing risk of conflicts of interest with human cohabitants. Even official reserves like Kruger National Park with fences may restrict migration, or have to deal with over crowding. Yet these special places may be the last hope for the magnificent elephant in this changing world.

This post was originally published after my first visit to South Africa in 2010.  It was also the first time I’d seen these majestic creatures in the wild.  I returned to South Africa during 2013 and thankfully saw elephants again.  Yet I  worry that the greed for ivory will diminish the species to extinction.  To honor World Elephant Day I am reposting this amazing experience.

World Elephant Day 2013 logo

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19 July 2013

Foto Friday Fun 16

This week’s Foto Friday Fun includes 11 images chosen by readers picking a number out of my photo archives.  Seems this week’s favorite number choice was 4444, three times, which takes us mostly to South Africa.

Rhododendrons St Patricks on the Hill Hogsback South Africa

Sherry chose #4046.  While visiting Hogsback in South Africa I toured through Saint Patricks on the Hill.  Not only is the tiny chapel very sweet but the gardens also offered a real treat.  These rhododendrons were just part of the spectacular plants and colors seen.

Unidentified duck from Abrahamskraal birdhide West Coast National Park South Africa

Diane chose #4 356 wishing for four of her favorite Porsches.  Being she is originally from South Africa she might know the name of this duck seen from the Abrahamskraal birdhide at West Coast National Park.  Can you help me out on this one Diane?

Vermilion Cliffs & Navajo Mt seen thru 2006 Warm Fire Kaibab National Forest Arizona

Barb chose #128, “my street number growing up.”  Sure glad this was nobody’s street number in 2006 during the Warm Fire on the Kaibab National Forest.  Yet years later growth appears and the skeletal trees form a sculptural beauty with their silhouettes in front of the Vermilion Cliffs and Navajo Mountain over 60 miles away.

Music light show at Boardwalk Port Elizabeth South Africa

Elaine chose #4444, “just because it’s a nice number.”  A very nice part of my visit to Port Elizabeth in South Africa included dinner at the Boardwalk with a marvelous light show  accompanied by music.

Sign for ocean & lagoon ecology of West Coast National Park South Africa

Erin also chose #4444, “just because.”  And because I start at 01 every month while labeling photos there are multiple choices.  This may not be the most exciting photo I took while visiting West Coast National Park in South Africa but I always take photos of signs to help me remember information later.

Sunset over Weaver Mts near Kirkland Arizona

MaryBeth chose #5000, “because that’s how many weeds I have pulled out of the garden.”  Unfortunately there aren’t many weeds left around the Weaver Mountains after the Yarnell Hill Fire.  But they will grow back and nobody will have to pick them.

Giant fern Inside large greenhouse Stellenbosch Botanical Garden South Africa

Lu-Gerda chose #4795, “just a random number.”  This image is only 1 of 4 of a panorama taken of a giant fern inside a greenhouse at the Stellenbosch Botanical Garden in South Africa.  This fern must have been over 25 feet tall as just this lower trunk was taller than I am.

Ring-tailed Lemur at Monkeyland Plattenberg Bay South Africa

Bibi also chose #4444, “because once-upon-a-time, I read 4 was my lucky number.”  Well multiple 4’s seem to be lucky this week.  She really liked last week’s kudus so hope she also enjoys this Ring-tailed Lemur seen at Monkeyland in Plattenberg Bay, South Africa.

Outdoor common area Wild Spirit Backpackers Lodge Nature's Valley South Africa

Freya chose #4713.  She is dreaming of visiting South Africa so I hope she won’t miss an opportunity to stay at Wild Spirit Backpackers Lodge in Nature’s Valley.  This outdoor common area provides plenty of space to hang out around a fire and listen to music or just visit with other guests.

Cape Recife Lighthouse Port Elizabeth South Africa

Firefly chose #4397.  How very appropriate because he’s the one who showed me the Cape Recife Lighthouse during our wonderful tour of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I only wish it hadn’t been so windy because then we could have spent some time walking the nearby beach.

Sand dunes along the Atlantic Ocean West Coast National Park Langebaan South Africa

Melissa chose #4555 because 4444 was already taken.  This is the third image this week from West Coast National Park, South Africa which offers incredible diversity like these snowy white sand dunes along the Atlantic, wetlands, wildlife and cultural history.

Antique hand painted B&W photo

My choice this week is a photo of a photo that I am so glad I took because the original burned in my storage shed.  This hand painted B&W is of my Mother, Grandmother and Aunt in 1935.  Guess I should have it printed and framed once again.

 

Thank you for playing along with Foto Friday Fun. I really enjoy digging through my archives and pulling the stories from my memories.  For next week leave a number between 1000 and 4000 in a comment and maybe see your chosen image next week.

Which one is your favorite from this week?

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Hi, I’m Gaelyn, the Geogypsy

I retired after 29 summer seasons as a Park Ranger, traveling solo for 40+ years. My passions include travel, connecting to nature, photography, and sharing stories.

I started exploring US National Parks in 1977 and 20 years later became a seasonal Park Ranger.  I’ve lived full-time in a RV for 30 years working summers and playing winters.  I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow old, other than grow up.

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