Tag: white

Rugged

The white rhinoceros is the second-largest land mammal after the elephant. Adult males can reach 1,85 m in height and tip the scales at a massive 3,6 tonnes. Females are considerably smaller but can still weigh in at an impressive 1,7 tonnes. White rhinoceros are also known as the square-lipped rhinoceros due to their square (not pointed) upper lip. Their name comes from the Afrikaans word “wyd”, which means wide and refers to the animal’s muzzle. Compared to black rhinoceros, white rhinoceros have a longer skull, a less sharply defined forehead and a more pronounced shoulder hump. They have almost no hair and two horns. The front horn averages 60 cm but occasionally reaches 150 cm in length. The name rhinoceros means ‘nose horn’ and is often shortened to rhino. It comes from the Greek words rhino (nose) and ceros (horn). Rhinoceros use piles of dung to leave “messages” for other rhinoceros. Each rhinoceros’s smell is unique and identifies its owner. It can also tell a rhinoceros if the other rhinoceros is young/old/male or female. They also tell other rhinoceros that this is their territory.
Info source: https://hesc.co.za/species-hesc/white-rhino/
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The photo was taken during January 2014.

Rugged

Picture of the day, Wildlife

Sheer

Just 13km from Sabie on the R532 road towards Graskop lies Mac Mac Falls, which was named by the Scottish miners who sought their fortune by panning for gold in the 1870s gold rush; they themselves didn’t come up with the name. Apparently, President Thomas Burger was visiting the area in 1873 and was struck by how many of the miners’ names began with “Mac”. On the spot, he named the area Mac Mac – a name that has survived to this day. Mac Mac has twin falls that plunge some 70m into a gorge below. Now a national monument, the waterfall was not always split in two. Gold miners in the area for the gold rush blasted the originally single stream to try and reach the gold-bearing reef over which it drops. Mac Mac tends to revert to one fall during the dry season. Passing the local curio sellers, a steep walk along a cement pathway (with many steps) takes you to the viewing platform. The view platform at the Mac Mac Falls is restricted by palisades, but you still get a great view, just make sure your camera lens points through the palisades.
Info source: http://www.safcol.co.za/what-we-offer/ecotourism/mac-mac-falls/
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The photo was taken during August 2013 at Mac Mac Falls, Sabie, Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Sheer

Landscape, Picture of the day, Travel

Annoyed

The greater kudu of South Africa has tawny-brown to grey-brown coats with distinctive white stripes running down on its flanks. They have a white V-shaped band across the eyes and forehead with white spots on their cheeks. There are strong physical differences between males and females. The males grow long, spiral horns that can reach up to 1,8 m in length. The kudu bull’s horns reach full length at the age of six years old, and males are significantly larger than females. Bulls can weigh as much as 300 kg with a shoulder height of 1.4 m and cows weigh 210 kg with a shoulder height of 1.25 m. Kudu have long manes of hair that run on its back from head to tail and along the lower neck to the underbelly. The kudu is a browser and feeds on a variety of leaves of trees and shrubs indigenous to South Africa. It also feeds on various fruits, pods, forbs and creepers during different seasons. The kudu is also known to eat South African succulents such as spekboom and aloes. For male kudu, the rutting season occurs between April and May in South Africa. Newborn calves aged 4-6 weeks old are hidden away and nursed by their mothers who visit. Female kudus and their offspring form small groups of four to ten. Breeding throughout the year is not uncommon. A kudu herd tends to split up into two sub-groups. Young females remain with their mothers, while sexually mature males around the age of two years old form bachelor groups. Kudu males will join the female herds during mating season. No territorial spacing exists amongst bulls, but as they show age in their physical appearance, they have size-graded dominant hierarchies.
Info source: http://southafrica.co.za/kudu.html
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The photo was taken during September 2017 near Lower Sabie, Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Annoyed

Picture of the day, Wildlife