Put on your hiking boots we going for a walk

So often we all get caught up in the hype of the famous Big 5, to the point where we miss out on all the small things that the bigger animals rely on in order to be here, so in this blog I would like to take you on a virtual bush walk exploring some of the many smaller aspects of the bush.
Before we get started it is important to note that this environment is so complex that should one aspect be taken out of it the entire ecosystem will feel the affect of that loss, everything is equally important in its function out here. The bush is an amazing place with many wonders so lets begin and i hope you enjoy my walk in pictures.

The funnel-shaped ant trap of the Antlion, this is a larvae of an insect that looks similar to a dragonfly called a Lacewing. The larvae is a carnivorous and uses these traps to catch its food. The Antlion itself is a tiny lil guy with huge biting mouth parts that it uses to grab and devour any thing that ends up in its sand trap.

 

Here we have some elephant dung, as you can see the digestive system of an elephant is really bad and leaves, twigs and sometimes even whole fruit can be found in the dung, for this reason elephant are almost continuously eating and only sleep for about 10-15 mins a day. Now its believed that by smoking elephant dung you can get rid of a headache and the burning of elephant dung will keep away insects, so if you ever find yourself stuck out in the bush with a headache and a bug problem here is your solution.

The seed pods of the famous Marula fruit bares a striking resemblance to E.T the extra terrestrial. The Marula fruit is loved by elephants, monkeys and baboons and these seed pods can often be found in their droppings. The fruit itself is said to make the animals drunk after fermenting in the sun and then eaten, however I do not believe this too be true and it is only us humans who get drunk from the amazing cream liqueur made from this fruit.

While on the subject of Marulas, here is the Marula tree, it huge horizontal limbs make the perfect resting spot for leopards so when looking for leopards searching the branches of these trees is a great start. The interesting thing about the Marula is there are female and male trees, only the female tree bears fruit while the male tree has flowers. The fruiting season is in February and often herds of elephants can be seen running from tree to tree to devour the fruit.

It is common knowledge that hyena have extremely strong jaws able to crush bones, this is especially evident in the amount of calcium in their droppings turning them white as they age. The same can be seen in your dogs at home once you have given them bones to chew on.

Well used game paths like this often lead to water, should you ever find yourself lost out in the bush following these paths could turn out to be a life saver. These paths are started by animals like rhino that are creatures of habit and over time become busy animal highways as it is the route of less resistance and preferred by pretty much any animal that comes along and a road to much needed water.

Probably one of the most important trees that you will come across out here, the weeping wattle tree. It gets its name from insects called Spittle bugs that feed on the flowers of the tree and lay their eggs in a frothy saliva, when this occurs the tree seems to be weeping as this saliva drips from the tree. Now back to why this tree is so important to us....its other name is the Toilet paper tree, it has leaves that are softer than the softest toilet paper and each little twig that you add to your handful serves as another ply, show me a twinsaver that beats that. However when looking for this tree in your time of need be careful not to confuse it with one of the acacia trees which has similar leaves but also the presence of thorns which could end badly when used as toilet paper.

This is a velvet mite, part of the arachnid family which makes up ticks and spiders. They are harmless to humans unlike their tick cousins and are actually parasitic to insects when they are young and feed on plant matter as adults. These furry little beauties are usually buried underground but after a bit of rain come out in huge numbers and with that add a bit more color to the changing seasons.

The Magic guarri like its name suggests is considered to have magical powers and lucky by the local tribes, by carrying a branch around with you you will be brought good luck, i have tried and tested this theory and must admit on many occasions it has worked and quiet game drives have miraculously turned into productive ones. The scientific name of the guarri is Euclea divinorum  coming from the age old practice of divining water using a fork from the bush. As can be seen in the bottom picture it can also be used as a make shift toothbrush should you find the need to brush your teeth whilst out in the bush. It is an ever green bush and the branches with its green leaves are effective fire beaters as well as a comfortable mattress to sleep on.

Tracking animals is a big part of our job here and often it is used to find the animals we see on our safaris, in the pictures you can see the difference between an old track and a fresh track, the older track has got softer edges, other animals have walked over the track and there is the presence of leaves and grass that has been blown by the wind into the track itself, the fresh track has very crisp edges and nothing is in the track. I am often amazed at how great our trackers are by being able to spot these kind of things as we drive along on the vehicle, apart from animal tracks there are a few other signs to look out for when following animals, like grass that has been pushed down where animals have walked, droppings and sometimes the smell of certain animals where they have scent marked. It is an art that can only be learnt through years of experience and we take our hats off to our unbelievable trackers.

What we seeing here is an impala midden, a few territorial animals will make use of these middens to mark their boundaries, what it does is act like a billboard advertising a dominant animals presence, you often find them along well used game paths or roads where animals move on a frequent basis. The way it works is a big pile of dung will give off quite a smell as well as having a visual presence, if there is a male who is just passing through a certain territory he will go to the toilet next to the midden this is saying "I come in peace", if it is a male who wants to challenge for dominance he will go to the toilet on top of the midden this is saying "I want your land and I want your girls". Territorial males will have a few middens throughout their territory that he will frequently use. Other examples of animals that use middens are civet cats and rhinos.

Termite mounds have to be one of the most interesting things out here, not only do they get really big but the workings of a mound is so intricate. The termites we find out here are not wood eating termites like you find in the States, but rather fungus eating ones, and what makes it even more special is that the termites grow their own fungus deep within their mounds using decaying plant matter and a humid environment they create inside. The mounds are kept at a constant temperature of 28 degrees celsius, this is done my maintaining a few vent holes in the mound. Due to this comfortable temperature a whole host of other animals and reptiles call termite mounds home by making burrows in the mound as can be seen in the picture. A lot of trees and plants need that 28 degrees in order to have their seed germinate and you will often see these trees growing out of the termite mound itself. What we see of the mound is actually only a small part of it, the rest is all under ground and resembles an iceburg in structure, the main purpose of the mound is to protect the queen who is found in her chamber way below the surface.

Well that concludes my virtual bush walk, I hope that you enjoyed discovering some of the smaller wonders of the African bush with me, there is so much to see out here and almost where ever you look there is something of interest to be investigated and I would be here for weeks explaining each and everything we encounter on our walk in the wild.

Photographed and written by : Greg McCall-Peat