Newsletters Archives - Page 3 of 13 - Kruger Park Safaris with Viva Safaris

May 2024

01 Jun 2024

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Many wild African animals were first seen and recorded by early European settlers in the areas around Cape Town. As a result, many animals that occur through vast areas of Africa were named using the word “Cape”. As a young boy living in Hillbrow, I remember the prevalence of the...

April 2024

02 May 2024

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In last month’s newsletter, Nyarai posted a photo of an elephant inside Tremisana Lodge. A concerned prospective tourist asked about the potential danger. We established that the elephant did not break through our electric fence but walked through the back gate that had been...

March 2024

02 Apr 2024

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Some 30 years ago, I gave a talk at the University of the Witwatersrand to graduate students who were about to go on their first Mathematics teaching practical. Teaching can be both very rewarding and extremely punishing. I tried to encourage these student teachers to look...

February 2024

01 Mar 2024

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Viva Safaris has always attempted to engender in our tourists an awareness of good conservation practice. If you have the time, please look at the Home Page of https://www.vivasafaris.com. A much younger version of yours truly appears on the video entitled “Kruger Park Safaris...

December 2023 / January 2024

02 Feb 2024

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The Pel’s Fishing Owl, Scotopelia Peli, is a ‘top trophy” sighting as it is mainly nocturnal. It is a large light brown owl with rufous flecks on its plumage. It is found almost exclusively on large rivers that afford it nesting sites as well as prey. I was thrilled in early...

November 2023

30 Nov 2023

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My oldest grandchild, Seanna, turns 14 on 28 December and is at that stage of her cognitive development that manifests in her asking many questions. Her favourite is a one-worder : “why?” Yesterday, we were watching a TV news report of the terrible suffering presently experienced...

At Nsemana Dam in KNP, this leopard crossed right in front of us, heading south.

October 2023

31 Oct 2023

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The monkeys at our lodges are a source of entertainment for all guests, most of the time. The playful antics and family relations including scenes of both love and aggression are similar to those of us humans. It gets even more similar when naughty monkeys steal. When our guests...

Hippo in Olifants River on Rome 1 property

September 2023

01 Oct 2023

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The issue of hunting has recently come to the fore when an elephant was shot multiple times before it died. At Viva Safaris we believe that there should be a total ban on all hunting in the private reserves adjoining Kruger Park. On Olifants West Reserve, on which Tremisana Lodge...

August 2023

01 Sep 2023

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The African Water Monitor, Varanus Niloticus, is common throughout the Kruger Park. If viewed from the back while swimming, it is sometimes mistaken for a small crocodile.In fact, it is well-known as a poacher of crocodile eggs. In South Africa, the Water Monitor is also known as...

July 2023

31 Jul 2023

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On the occasions that I went to toy shops to buy plastic African animals for my children (and more recently for my grandchildren), I never once found a toy pangolin or a caracal or a honey badger. Of course, the favourite toy animals were lions, elephants, rhino, buffalos and, of...