Kruger Park, 12th-16th December 2009
Note 2
The shrill, ear-splitting call of cicadas is well known to anyone who has experienced the African bush in summer. Close-up, the noise is horrendous, and hard to bear. Many years ago, when I was carrying out geological exploration work in East Africa, my wife and I were unwise enough to camp under a tree which hosted a particularly loud and annoying cicada. The only thing that would shut it up was if you rushed out of the caravan and shook, kicked and pummelled the tree. This would stop the racket, and in the blessed silence that followed we would lie back for a well-deserved snooze. Then, just when you were dropping off, it would start again.
“zzzzzzzzzzzzz!”
You would sit bolt upright, filled with insecticidal urges you never knew you possessed.
“Was that that bloody cicada?”
“zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!” “zzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!
You bet it was, and off it would go again
“ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!”
So here in photo the first is the Kruger Park variety, which insisted in joining us for our braaivleis at Letaba Camp.
We encountered (second photo) this young male impala on the S47 Letaba River Road. We might have been driving a big fierce motor car, but this youngster was not fazed one bit. For all you “Lord of the Rings” fans out there, I was reminded irresistibly of Gandalf confronting the Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm........
“You cannot pass!”
That expressed the sentiments of this bold young impala exactly. We faced each other in a sort of Mexican stand-off for some minutes before he condescended to grant us right of way.
The third photograph shows a Spotted Hyena scent-marking. All three hyenas (Striped, Brown, Spotted) and the Aardwolf do this. The hyena seeks out a long grass stem and then walks forward, straddling the stem, until the hyena can evert its anal pouch and paste a whitish secretion on the stem. Brown hyenas actually paste two types of secretion together, a longer-lasting white secretion, and a shorter-term dark secretion. It is thought that other hyenas can gain information from the pasting which tells them that the territory is held, the identity of the holder, and how along ago the paster passed that way. If you look at the photograph, you can clearly see the anal pouch in contact with the stem.
Photograph 4 shows a fabulous fig tree
Ficus sycomorus growing on the bank of the Sweni River. All figs are pollinated by tiny, species-specific wasps, and if you’re not familiar with how a fig does this, look it up. It is one of the most incredible stories in botany. A fig this size would provide food through its fruit for uncounted birds (especially green pigeons), monkeys, baboons, bush-babies etc. and are also favoured by predators like
Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl which is partial to a bush-baby or two.
Photo 5 shows another kind of fig, probably
Ficus ingens, the Red-leaved Rock Fig. The new leaves in Spring are a beautiful coppery-red colour. There are two trees on the rock. The left-hand, larger fig has got well-developed roots, but has suffered some form of accident, in that its youthful trunk had been smashed. A new flush of leaves at the base of the damaged trunk suggests that the tree is trying again, and will probably establish a second trunk.
The fig on the right shows three fine roots, and a small flush of leaves. This is a younger tree.
The story here is typical of Rock Figs. Twice in the past, a passing bird, perhaps a
Green Pigeon or a
Trumpeter Hornbill which had been feeding on ripe Rock Figs, defecated on this rock. Seeds contained in the droppings germinated, and sent a long, fine root filament down to the ground. Once this filament had rooted, the young fig could then commence growing. Other root filaments would emerge, seeking out the ground either over the surface of the rock, or via cracks and fractures within the rock. The fig on the left has already developed some quite substantial roots. It is probable that this tree reached the ground via a crack in the rock. As the tree grows, the roots in that crack will expand, and, in the fullness of time, may even split the rock. The tiny fig on the right seems relatively peripheral, and its root system may simply spread over the rock surface. Close inspection of the photograph will show, however, that its youthful roots have already been favouring any cracks they could possibly exploit.
Best wishes,
Dave
