What is the best way to watch the animals at the waterhole at Tau Game Lodge? With a cup of coffee from this machine while you settle down with your binoculars, and camera to enjoy the parade of species that have feathers and fur that come to drink and eat ‘right-before-your-very-eyes’.
The mug says it all!
A time to reflect…
Don’t feel like leaving the lodge to spend time on a game drive vehicle? Not a problem, you can sit on the deck and allow the animals to ‘come’ to you.
The waterhole at Tau Game Lodge is easily accessible from the deck that runs along the front of the main public space or from the private decks at each of the suites.
This means that the constant ebb and flow of the Madikwe game species can often be seen without leaving your chair.
Fun Fact:
Are Zebra white with black stripes or black with white stripes? All the fur grows from follicles that contain the pigment-generating cells. However, in the white fur, these cells are not present. And as a result, black is the default colour and that’s why most experts describe zebras as black with white stripes. Just to complicate matters, there is also a brown ‘shadow’ stripe present in the Burchell’s zebra species.(can be clearly seen in the image above)
Did you know that the collective noun for Zebra is a ‘dazzle’? Well now you do.
Impala, Wildebeest and an Ostrich out in the open on the far side of the waterhole. This part of Madikwe seems to have more Wildebeest than Impala and it has been a long while since I have seen an ostrich in the wild.
Although the Ostrich can’t fly, they are the fastest running birds in the world and they have been, while running continuously, clocked at speeds of 48-59 kmh with a top speed of up to 69 kmh. Their powerful legs allow ostriches to cover more than 3m in a single stride.
There was an almost constant flow of various family herds of elephants during the course of the day. So much so that I will devote a blog post to their antics around the waterhole at a later date.
Suffice to say that over the 4 days we were in camp, we saw in excess of 60 animals. Admittedly this was not a scientific count, and we might well have counted individuals more than once, but it just goes to show.
To quote Kevin Kostner from the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come”. Tau built the waterhole and the animals come…every day.
Fun Fact:
Did you know that a baby elephant has to learn how to utilize its trunk?
A male waterbuck comes down to the waterhole to slake his thirst. Only the males have horns and although they have ‘water’ in their name they are not aquatic, but seek out water as a source for food and to escape predation.
FYI: Waterbuck have glands on their skin which are thought to have a water proofing quality. These glands release a musky odor which is particularly pungent in territorial bulls that can be smelt up to 500 m away.
A white rhino comes down to drink. This species was named not for its colour, but supposedly as a corruption of the Dutch word ‘wijd’ meaning wide. This theory is under scrutiny currently and as a result this particular species has been re-named the Square-lipped Rhino as opposed to the Black rhino, now referred to as the Hook-lipped Rhino..
Call them what you will, they are always an impressive sighting.
Our national animal in the late afternoon light.
Madikwe is one of the few reserves that has Springbok herds.
Did you know?
The scientific name for this antelope is Antidorcas marsupialis?
This name has nothing to do with the marsupials found in Australia and the Americas. It comes from the Latin word “marsupium,” meaning a pocket. The springbok carries a pocket along its back to hide white fur that is displayed when it runs from a predator or when it is searching for a mate.
Double or nothing?
It is said that the Wildbeest is an animal designed by a committee. Why? Well have you ever actually LOOKED closely at one?
It has the face of a horse. The horns of a buffalo. The sloping back of a hyena. The stripes of a zebra and the brain of a guinea fowl.
The Lady and the Crocodile
Oh, she sailed away on a sunny summer day,
On the back of a crocodile.
“You see,” said she, “he’s as tame as he could be,
“I’ll float him down the Nile.”
Well, the croc winked his eye as she waved to them goodbye,
Wearing a happy smile,
At the end of the ride, the lady was inside,
And the smile was on the crocodile!
Frank Churchill and lyrics by Jack Lawrence.
Mom and ‘snacklets’ as baby warthogs are sometimes called as they are often on predator menus.
Look carefully on the side of the youngsters faces and you will see white fur that mimics tusks, making them look more fearsome that they are. But it is defenses like this that might just save their lives.
Many international guests still refer to them as Pumbaa,(a Swahili word for warthog), the name given to them in the Disney movie The Lion King.
A pair of Kudu. Only the males have horns and the number of spirals are an indication of how old the animal is.
This particular male had one thing on his mind, but the female was NOT being receptive to his advances and eventually he left in search of others who might be in oestrus.
Fun facts:
Male kudu have the largest horns of any African antelope species, spiraling up to 1.8m
Kudu can leap over obstacles that are 2.5 high with ease.
And if you believe that your feet and nails look like this, then a visit to the Tau Spa is a must!
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