Tag Archives: animals

Turtle among the lilies

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Turtle among the lilies

I wonder how many visitors to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens know that there are turtles hovering in the ponds, keeping a beady eye on passersby. Shortly after I took this photo Mandrake (the turtle in question) swam to the side of the pond, giving chase as I slowly, and then slightly more rapidly, backed away.

As it turns out Mandrake wasn't really after me, or my pointy camera. He headed straight past me towards the pathway - for what purpose I'm not sure. It seemed as though even he was perplexed when he reached it! I understand that peak turtle breeding season is coming to a close, so perhaps he (or perhaps she) was just trying to look as fierce as a turtle is able to look.

For a moment I quivered. :P

Ostrich concubines?

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Ostriches

The male ostrich (in the lower left corner) appears to be one lucky guy. I know this because female ostriches are easily distinguishable from males due to their comparatively dull appearance. Quite a contrast to the human species, don't you think?

In case you've never had ostrich meat for dinner, you may be interested to know that it's fairly close in appearance and taste to beef - although a little darker in colour. Ostrich is one of the healthier meat options since it reportedly contains 40% less fat than beef!

The Western Cape actually has quite a few ostrich farms. There is, in fact, a flock of them housed just one kilometre from where we live. I spotted this particular group, not too far away, wandering along one of the hills behind Durbanville - what a life.

Egyptian geese

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Egyptian geese at Kenridge Dam
We went down to Kenridge Dam this evening for a mini-outing, just before sunset. We haven't been to this particular dam for quite some time, and I was stunned to see how tall the reeds have become and how much of the dam is now being taken up by them. They must be covering at least three-quarters of the dam already - I can't imagine that this is good for the dam's eco-system. These Egyptian geese looked quite happy waddling around on the banks though, so I'm guessing it's not affecting them too much (yet).

Perdeberg has lost their zebra

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Walking Zebra

You might recall us mentioning the Perdeberg Winery in a few of our previous posts. Well, late last year we received a letter asking us to help out in the search for Perdeberg's missing zebra.

Apparently, so the story goes, Merlot the zebra vanished from the winery on 6 December. The next day a ransom note was found, in which the kidnapper demanded one case of wine a week for 12 weeks, or else Merlot stays missing for good.

The kidnapper promised to send through a clue leading to a new drop-off location each week, and apparently he's insisted that the public must get involved in solving these weekly clues. If you solve the week's clue correctly, you'll stand a chance of receiving a free case of Perdeberg wine yourself, plus there are discount vouchers and other promotional items up for grabs too.

So go and read all about Perdeberg's missing zebra, and make sure you get your answer to this week's clue in by 1pm on Friday to be in line to win.

Unfortunately for our international visitors, the competition is only open to South African residents. On another note, can anyone confirm what species of zebra this is? It appears to be a Burchell's zebra, but I'm not too well-versed in zebra identification, so I can't be 100% sure.