Mountain Zebra Foal Born In Cape Point National Park
I read today with great interest that a Mountain Zebra foal was born in the park on Tuesday (19th July).
More accurately the new arrival is a Cape Mountain Zebra [Equus zebra zebra], one of two species of mountain zebras (the other being the Hartmann's Mountain Zebra [Equus zebra hartmannea]). If you are ever confronted b...
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Wildlife
Egyptian Geese are from Egypt-right?
At this time of year I am delighted and annoyed by the arrival of hordes of Egyptian Geese that descend onto Fish Hoek sports field.
Delighted- because they are beautiful, interesting and funny birds.
Annoyed- it isn't the birds' fault, they turn grass into guano, and they haven't been supplied with enclosed toilets yet, which was an issue raised at the last election, but...
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What To Do If You Find A Snake In Your House Or Garden
Living in Cape Point means being surrounded by nature. Some people embrace this, and some fight it (though why they would move into an area such as this and then complain that there are things living amonst them amazes me.) The layout of the area means that quite a lot of people have boundary fences that border onto fybos areas. This may mean that you have fantastic views o...
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A Bit of Light Relief- Bird On A Wire
After all the ranting of last week I thought it was time for some light relief. I was sat working on the computer (by which I mean staring out the window watching it rain) when the local guinea fowl came bustling through the garden.
They do this on a daily occassion, despite the presence of two labradors, for which I am truly pleased because for some reason there antics alwa...
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African Penguins at Boulders Beach
The season is changing, there is a definite nip in the air, and rain squalls seem to be the flavour of the moment. What better thing to do in such weather than take a family trip to Boulders Beach to see the African Penguins (well, if you are a from the north of England, rain showers and temperatures in the low teens is considered to be a corker of a bank holiday- head to t...
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Stranded At Cape Point- What To Do If You Break Down In A Nature Reserve
A recent family trip to Cape Point Nature Reserve nearly ended in disaster, simply because we didn’t know what to do when we had car trouble. So I thought that I would write a post so that in a similar situation you can avoid the same problems.
My sister visited me recently. It was her first visit to Cape Town and so naturally we were keen to show her all the great places in...
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Snake Season
During my evening walk with the dogs we came across two snakes in the dunes below Peer's Cave which is two more than is normally the case. This suggests that snakes are out and about and much more active than usually, which is not unusual in spring and autumn.
The first snake was just at the side of the path, and was discovered by a very suprised labrador who jumped three fe...
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Baboons: Practical tips for living in harmony with our simian neighbors- part 2
As promised, this time I will look at things that you can do outside the home to reduce the likelihood of a Baboon troop wrecking your garden.
First of all you need to realize why the baboons are visiting your garden. They are primarily looking for food, and it is a good time to raise an often over looked issue here: the food source may not be in your property, it may be in ...
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Seals In Kalk Bay Harbour
For as long as I have been in the area there have been seals in Kalk Bay Harbour. I cannot remember ever going there and there not being at least one seal cavorting around the moored boats, taking advantage of the fishermen’s waste.
In the past, since there have been such low numbers I always assumed that the seals were either old hands looking for a free meal, sick anim...
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Baboons: Practical tips for living in harmony with our simian neighbors- part 1
Further to my recent post regarding walking with baboons I realized that it is easy for someone to support these animals if that person doesn’t have to actually deal with them (no baboons in Fish Hoek!)
Well, I am not going to be moving to Glencairn or Simons Town anytime soon so I thought that I would do the next best thing and look into tactics for combating these potent...
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