Kruger National Park Royal Kruger Lodge luxury accommodation safari game drives tiger fishing Mozambique and Swaziland trips
Come
and experience
Africa at its finest
Wildlife
A
gentle breeze ruffles the leaves of mopane and marula
trees that punctuate the dusty veld as far as the
eye can see. Alone at a waterhole, gulping the muddy
trickle that means the difference between life and
death, an impala ewe hesitates, quivers and raises
her head.
She knows that scent. Just a few airborne molecules
are enough to trigger an ancient instinct, and send
her fleeing to the sanctuary of the open veld in a
series of gravity-defying leaps. There she pauses,
ears twitching, tawny coat rippling with nervous energy.
She's safe for now. Until the lioness comes again
…
This
is the southern African savannah, a vast region of
yellow grassland and woodland stretching the endless
horizon. Encompassing Mpumalanga, parts of northern
and southern Natal, southern Mozambique, and most
of Zimbabwe, its open spaces provide ideal grazing
for antelope, and a rich hunting ground for predators
such as wild dogs, cheetahs, lions and leopards …
implacable links in the food chain on which all life
depends.
Classified
into 2 main groups, arid ("sweet") or
moist ("sour"), the savannah harbours
a huge variety of living things, all of which contribute
to a delicate balance that we are only now beginning
to understand.
Forged
in life and death, tempered by eons of wind, rain,
drought and sunshine, the ancient relationship between
plants and animals continues to work its magic on
the savannah as it has done for millions of years.
Climatic variations, feeding habits and migratory
patterns have changed the very face of this world
and every species must adapt or die.
Fire,
too, plays an important role in the savannah's never-ending
cycle of life and death. One kind of vegetation
is swept away by flames, another takes its place.
Seed pods burst in the heat and germinate in the
soot-blackened soil to give birth to new plants.
Here
the magnificent black rhinoceros, irascible as always,
pounds the earth and bulldozers its lunch to the
ground with an aplomb that can be displayed only
by a creature built like a tank.
Overhead,
a martial eagle sours effortlessly on an updraft
of warm air, its unblinking yellow eyes scanning
the ground for prey. It catches a sudden movement,
turns its head, and drops into a steep dive, plummeting
out of the sun at 100 km/h in a breathtaking aerial
attack.
It's
over in seconds. A rush of wind, an anguished squeal
and the eagle is airborne again, a dwarf mongoose
dangling limply from her razor-sharp talons. The
eagle comes to rest on a camel thorn tree, then
carefully scans the savannah, before her hooked
beak starts working at her meal.elow
her a pride of lions languishes unconcerned in the
shade of the weather-beaten tree, as a pair of spotted
hyaenas devour the remains of a zebra, snarling
viciously and squabbling as they gorge.
In
the hollowed-out trunk of a long-dead mopane tree,
a bush baby stirs sleepily in the relative safety
of its hideaway. Its huge hazel-brown eyes, dark-circled
like those of a chronic insomniac, open briefly
and close again. The night is still a long way off
and the tree cricket perched on a nearby branch
will still be there, chirping its strident love
call, when the rising moon signals the start of
the nocturnal hunt …
Wildlife
