Blog - KhoiSan Karoo Conservancy

BBC Wildlife feature by Zimbabwe-born Anton Crone is the editor of African Birdlife magazine

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Safari operators deliver truckloads of tourists to within mobile-phonephoto distance of all five within a week. But ask for an aardvark, bat-eared fox, porcupine, aardwolf or black-footed cat, and your guide will ask nervously: “How long have you got?” I had three days – two nights to be precise, for that is when the critters typically appear. My expectations were not high; it is notoriously difficult to see any of them, never mind all five on one trip. Read the full article on Page 76.

Read full article here

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zimbabwe-born Anton Crone is the editor of African Birdlife magazine. He visited the Karoo courtesy of the Khoisan Karoo Conservancy: khoisankaroo.co.za.

Khoisan Karoo Conservancy featured in The Daily Maverick

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0200

read full article here

Diversity in Light – The Karoo

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200

The reserve is situated roughy 6 hours from Josie or Cape Town on the N1 near Hanover in the Northern Cape. From my home in Knysna it is about the same travel time so easily accessible and centrally situated. I booked the Stoffelrus self catering cabin for the weekend as it was a great opportunity to take my family along to enjoy a new perspective on our South African outdoors.

Even though I was there to see what photographic opportunities could be shared, I approached it as more of a Karoo Experience than a photography workshop/safari. With this said, I was still very excited to capture some fresh images and develop more of a creative side to my nature photography.

It was still very much winter and the fresh morning and evening temperatures made it even more exhilarating. Caroline and Conor made sure they were well dressed and comfortable.

So during our stay, we enjoyed real Karoo hospitality with our hosts, amazing breakfasts, special Karoo Gariep veld braai with PC out near his Hippo Pool, delicious snacks and drinks on the drive from spectacular viewpoints and traditional farm coffee and rusks on the morning drive. Part of the reserve is actually a working sheep farm so this added a great new dimension to the weekends activities.

From the photography perspective, I really enjoyed the new opportunities and perspectives that I found on the reserve. Adjusting the mindset was easy and then looking for the new fresh images became fun. Check the short gallery of highlights at the end of the post.

Landscapes – The wide-open spaces and crystal clear nights made for some great new images for my portfolio. A special outing was the trip to the Khoi etchings and settlement on the escarpment next to the Seekoei river.

Birding – Along with great photographs I personally managed to tick 16 new bird species for my list and this during the winter month of August. There were a few opportunities to get good images of these Karoo speciality birds.

Wildlife – There are also currently some antelope being re-introduced to the area and will be free coming over time. There are already Hippos and Cape Buffalo in specific areas of the property

General images – Here I managed to capture farm animals and horses. The highlight was to be able to walk around with a small herd of Nguni’s and great my own fine art images of these legendary African cattle.

The highlight of the whole weekend was the speciality night drive that PC conducts to search out his favourite Shy 5 Karoo animals. We were very fortunate to see the following on our 2 short night drives:

2 Aardvark, 2 Black footed cat, 2 mating pairs of Ardwolf, bat eared foxes, cape foxes, porcupines, spring hares and normal scrub hares. It was incredible to see and even though challenging to photograph, I managed a few keepers.

So as you can see, it is a beautiful place to enjoy nature and if you join me on one of the weekend adventures, you can see it for yourself. Maybe even tick one of the elusive shy 5 off your bucket list.

Thanks to PC and his family for the hospitality and hope that all my readers will join me to share in this magical Karoo destination

Peace and Light – Andrew

New Holme Karoo by Clive Prior

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200

We then headed off up the N1 highway for New Holme Guest Farm, arriving mid-afternoon to meet up with the Kemps who had just arrived and to be greeted by PC Ferreira. We then checked in to our rooms and some of us took a quick stroll though the homestead grounds to do a bit of birding.

Then late afternoon we piled into the open game viewing vehicle for the Sundowner birding and game viewing drive down to Hippo Pool on the Seekoei River. The highlight on the drive was a distant Aardwolf seen at 5 pm! We had drinks and snacks on the hippo viewing jetty on the river and took in the sunset while PC gave us an update on his hippo reintroduction story.

Then it was back to the homestead and a superb dinner prepared by the Ferreira family, in front of a warming fire in a huge hearth, accompanied by some fine wines of course. After dinner we set off in the freezing cold in the open viewing vehicle, huddled in blankets, for the night drive. Amongst other things we had our first sighting of an Ardvark, moving quite fast, a hundred or so meters away and a lovely pair of Blue Korhaans close to the vehicle.

The next morning after coffee and rusks, it was back into the open vehicle and out into the cold veld on a slow drive, with stops, for a few hours to do some birding before brunch.

After a wonderful champagne brunch back at the homestead followed by a rest period and a birding stroll around the homestead we headed off down to the dam to have a sunset braai.

After the braai, we headed back to the homestead for a warm by the fire and and desert (malva pudding with custard or ice-cream, or both!) before heading out again for the night drive. This drive produced the find of the trip – a close Aardvark moving parallel to the road and then crossing the road right in front of us! On the way home, we picked up a lovely Spotted Eagle-Owl on a post. It was even colder the next morning – I checked my car temperature after breakfast before we boarded the open vehicle for the morning drive – minus 4 degrees C! That before we even got into the wind chill factor driving out there on the open veld.

Then back to the homestead for another amazing champagne brunch and great fire!

On our final afternoon drive of the stay at New Holme, we headed out about 20 kms to a lovely grassy and rocky site with small koppies overlooking the Seekoei River, where there were some old Khoi etchings and artifacts as well as some Anglo-Boer war artifacts.

Then it was time to head back to a hill on PC’s property that has a wonderful 360 degree view of the wonderful Karoo landscape for our final sundowers and snacks of the trip.

We stayed on top of the hill until the last possible moment and darkness was descending before we clambered down to the vehicle carrying all the sundowner bits and pieces, before the drive back to the homestead for the final delicious dinner of our stay at New Holme. Many thanks to PC, Mariska and family, they were such tremendous hosts – we’ll be back!

On the way home, we had decided to break the journey with a stopover at the Karoo National Park for the night. After yet another lovely breakfast at New Holme, we bad farewell to PC, Mariska and family and set off just before 10 am with the car outside reading temperature still at minus 2 degrees C! We all arrived at the Bulkraal picnic spot in the Karoo NP in time for a picnic lunch before check-in to the Camp.

The BDI visits the Karoo Gariep Nature Reserve …

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0200

The Karoo Gariep Nature Reserve at the farm New Holme is a locality where the Biodiversity and Development Institute will establish research projects for international and local students. The detailed planning for this is in progress, and we hope to have our first students busy on their projects early in 2020. This trip was part of the planning process. There are massive opportunities for fascinating projects here. Even though New Holme is almost exactly half way between Cape Town and Johannesburg, our accommodation is only 8 km from the N1, and there is a good bus service along this route between the two cities. The bus stops at Hanover, 25 km away.

Besides the business, we had fun …

PC and his family are magnificent hosts. One evening we were treated to a braai at the dam. Here, PC and one of his daughters, Iané, are baking bread over the coals. The dam is a waterbird paradise, and presents its own set of research opportunities.

Even though New Holme is a nature reserve, it is a working farm; PC has greatly reduced stocking rates of sheep below what is the norm for a Karoo farm. Behind the sheep are White-breasted Cormorants, Grey Heron and African Spoonbills. All these species were BirdPixed.

Rick Nuttall, from Bloemfontein, was also visiting New Holme for the weekend. Rick is a serious contributor to the Virtual Museum. And …

… here is the Black-winged Stilt he was stalking! Rick has uploaded this photograph to the BirdPix section of the Virtual Museum; it is curated for posterity at http://vmus.adu.org.za/?vm=BirdPix-79791. The number of species with photographic records in BirdPix for the quarter degree grid cell 3024DC is currently 82. Almost all of these records were made at the Karoo Gariep Nature Reserve. You can see the list by going to http://vmus.adu.org.za/vm_locus_map.php?vm=birdpix&locus=3024DC. On the right hand edge of the table containing the list of species, you can click on “records” and see the photographs which support the inclusion of the species on the list.

The karoo comes to life at night. An after-dinner drive into the veld with PC is an unforgettable experience. He has developed the concept of the “shy five” to rival the “big five”. And even though the Karoo is an arid region, the diversity of nocturnal animals can be astounding. Possible sightings include aardwolf, Cape fox, bat-eared fox, African wildcat, aardvark, porcupine, striped polecat, African striped weasel, and both small and large spotted genets. Really lucky visitors see the tiny and rare black-footed cat.

Here is a porcupine we saw! This is curated in MammalMAP at http://vmus.adu.org.za/?vm=MammalMAP-28073

And here is Rod Green’s record of aardvark! (curated in MammalMAP at http://vmus.adu.org.za/?vm=MammalMAP-28072). Rod, photographer from Port Elizabeth, was also visiting for the weekend. He achieved this result under difficult circumstances!

In a nutshell, the Karoo Gariep Nature Reserve is a remarkable place, and highly recommended. The BDI team looks forward to working closely with PC. Through this interaction we hope to provide research training and opportunities for both international and local students. We hope also to make a substantive contribution to biodiversity conservation in the Karoo.