Blyde River Canyon

Saturday, 6th November 2010

Pete and Helena arose at 5am and went for an early morning walk around the Estate.  They were lucky enough to witness 'Dung Beetle Wars'!  A large dung beetle had his beautifully formed dung ball hijacked by a small dung beetle and the interaction between the 2 was hilarious.

A small brown dun beetle tries to steel a dung ball from a much larger one

After breakfast we drove up to the Blyde River Dam which was worth it for the view.  We decided against the boat trip as it was costly and very touristy.

Carole and Helena at the Dam

Instead, we opted for the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre which proved to be an excellent choice.  After a short talk on how humans keep or rescue wild animals which may create long term problems for those animals, we were introduced to a tame male cheetah. 

The centre endeavours to re-release all the animals it rescues, but some are too badly injured or too tame. In those cases, where they can and where the animals can serve an enducational purpose, they are permanently housed at the centre.  A tour round showed us Honey Badgers which lived a youngsters in someones house until they trashed it - as one of the most aggressive creatures in Africa, it was astonishing that people would even contemplate keeping them as pets!  There was a number of eagles with one wing, injured by hitting power lines when diving after prey.  Everywhere, there were tales of man's intervention or existance, spoiling the lives of the beautiful creatures contained permanently within the centre.  The final spectactle was feeding of the vultures to save them from eating poisoned meat put down by farmers.

At 5.30pm, back at the lodge, Anna a neighbour, took us to see bushbabies; we were lucky enough to see both the lesser and the greater bushbabies which was an absolute joy.