Long Time...

Well since my last post I have been very active doing other things and have maybe not paid as much attention to my blog as one should have. I've been up to quite a lot, including starting my studies in a Nature conservation B-tech degree at a beautiful campus called Saasveld in George which is part of South Africa's Garden route. My aim from now on is to post at least once a week, hopefully drawing up enough attention on interesting topics and maybe increasing my viewership base.

I have definitely been out and about continueing what I love which for any of you who've read my posts includes many creepy crawlies. Herping (slang for looking for amphibians and reptiles) has been happening quite a bit, which has included hiking many beautiful trails in the mountain range over looking the city of George known as the Outeniqua mountain range.

Just a photo of me looking at the city below.

The general scenery

Recent events

16/11/2010 A bit of fishing
The weather looked really good for an early morning fish today, so we got all set up and headed down to the beach with our two skis. As soon as we arrived we had a look at the surf, it didn't look too bad. How badly was I mistaken. The only concerning bit of surf  was the shore break, although we got through that quite easily... we then entered the mid break where we waited to make our assault on the back line hoping that we judged it correctly. First wave broke over the top of me but I made it through. Second wave I launched over. Third wave "oh my F@$k!" was one of the biggest waves I've ever had to face, and I'm sure you can guess the outcome, I did the only thing I could do and that was paddle as hard as I could. That obviously was not enough as I went up the side of the wave I got toppled backwards and thumped all the way too the bottom losing my ski and paddle in the process. Luckily when I came too the surface my Ski and paddle were conveniently sitting next too me and not on shore "thank god haha". Anyways I managed to flip it right and paddle my way behind back line.

We got our lines set with Shad as bait (type of fish) and headed out to the barge which is a sunken ship off Umhlanga, roughly 1.5km out. As we were paddling we were trawling our bait. My friend Keegan then got a serious bite and started wrestling in what we thought was big game fish, but turned out too be this bloody Hammerhead Shark. Which turned out to be a real nightmare in getting the hook out anyways I made a video with Keegan's phone of our slight predicament. Pay no attention too my girlish scream and laugh, as I really thought I got a heart attack because of this Dolphin that surfaced right next too me.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=500727641843

We cut the line so the shark was able to be released, unfortunately still with the hook in its mouth but that should not matter as its made with a mild steel and will eventually rust out over time.



14/11/2010 Road Cruising for Snakes
Was out with my brother and a friend tonight, doing a bit of road cruising. The weather seemed perfect at first, but seemed to go down hill as soon as we got to the areas we were planning to road cruise, the rain started pouring down. None the wiser we continued on driving for a couple of hours we got absolutely nothing, then finally at roughly 22:00pm we turned up our first snake unfortunately DOR (Dead on the road) Natal Black Snake Macrelaps microlepidotus . As a group we decided to call it a night as it was bucketing down, so myself and my brother dropped off our friend and headed home, on the way home I suggested we try one last road to cruise in Umhlanga, which was just down the road from where we lived. And thank goodness we did as soon as we hit the road I spotted a snake crossing and it was none other than a Natal Purple-Glossed Snake Amblyodipsas concolor. A rare find indeed and I have never heard of them being found there.
Anyways heres a pic showing the Natal Purple-glossed Snake we got.

Natal Purple-glossed Snake

Up and About.

Well this past weekend and much of the week has been pretty interesting, in terms of fishing we've produced some good stuff, like my friend Keegan who caught a massive Daga Salmon that was 40Kg!!. I was also recently out on the ski with the great weather we've been having, I will definitely be taking out my camera to show off our beautiful coastline. I'm also hoping to plan a Scuba Dive sometime at our most recognized dive spot Aliwal Shoal, which should be good so keep a look out for that. Good news as well this week is that I've obtained some new fishing gear so hopefully I'll start producing some good stuff especially since my Uncle in NZ reckons we've got crap fishing, hopefully I'll disprove that ;)

Keegz with his fish.

You'll see from the pictures below that we had a great Crayfish braai, myself and Keegan pulled out 2 Crays each, they were pretty reasonably sized. I also had a go at recreating Crayfish Fritters which I discovered at a place called Kaikoura in New Zealand (Kai meaning food and Koura meaning Crayfish). For my first try I reckon they weren't too bad, although I would do the recipe a little differently next time.  

The crays we caught.

Myself cooking my first crayfish fritters.

Enjoying an awesome Crayfish Braai.

I had too add some nice scenery pics due to the great weather we've been having although the temperatures have been soaring in the 30's!! which is absolutely unbearable. 

Bronze Beach looking North.

Looking North over the Hawaan and Umhlanga Forests.

Looking South towards Durban and the Umhlanga Lighthouse.

Keep a look out for the next post hopefully will not be as long a wait ;)

Shongweni Mission 31/10/2010

Sorry just posting recent hiking trips, there will be other stuff including a planned road trip down south. So lets begin myself and a couple of mates decided too hike an area further in land. We didn't find all that much in terms of species, but none the less just getting out hiking and experiencing the bush was good enough for me. We were hiking an area, that is well known for its crime, I seriously doubt though we would have any troubles as all you have to say if you come across any people is that your looking for "inyoka" which means snake in Zulu. The locals are terrified of snakes, so good that we found some haha.

Species Found:
Herald Snake Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia
Brown Water Snake Lycodonomorphus rufulus
Guttural Toad Bufo gutturalis
Red Toad Schismaderma carens
Common River Frog Afrana angolensis
Bushveld Rain Frog Breviceps adspersus
Yellow Striped Reed Frog Hyperolius semidiscus

Red-Lipped Herald Snake

Brown Water Snake

Yellow Striped Reed Frog

Bushveld Rain Frog

First Post

Well since this is my first post, I thought I'd talk about where I live. I live in a town called Umhlanga (in Zulu it means place of reeds) which is situated in a city called Durban (Zulu name Ethekwini). Durban is found on the east coast of South Africa. It has a sub-tropical climate and is very popular as a holiday destination as our motto this year promotes "Durban is the warmest place to be in 2010" for the Soccer World Cup.

Anyways you now know where I live, so I will share why I feel I need a Blog a bit and bit more about myself. First off, I've just recently returned back from an amazing trip in Australia and New Zealand, this really did open my eyes to the possibilities and benefits of living outside of Africa, but in hindsight while I was travelling I really began to realize that I was taking many things I get to experience here in South Africa for granted. For example our amazing array of wild life (which you'll soon learn I'm avidly passionate for), our beautiful scenery, our amazing cultures and just the array of interesting and different people. So when I arrived home I decided that I will document and share what I get up too here in South Africa and any travels I may do in the future. Well you've probably already figured that I've got the bug to travel and hopefully I'll have the oppurtunity to do it again, you'll also soon learn I have a keen interest in photography so hopefully you'll enjoy my nature photography, I'm also a keen Scuba Diver and a general out doors man. Anyways thought I'd post one recent wild life trip so enjoy :)

24/10/2010
Frogging and Wildlife Mission, Mount Moreland


On Sunday night myself and my friend Tyrone decided to go for a little mission, this was a spur of the moment thing. So we hadn't really prepared ourselves too well. It wasn't the greatest of nights for reptiles but for frogs we really out did ourselves plus we had one really rare encounter, that some bird enthusiasts might enjoy.

Species encountered:

Kwazulu Dwarf Chameleon Bradypodion melanocephalum
Red Toad Schismaderma carens
Guttural Toad Bufo gutturalis 
Natal Forest Tree Frogs Leptopelis natalensis 
Painted Reed Frogs Hyperolius marmoratus
Greater Leaf Folding Frogs Afrixalus fornasinii
Snoring Puddle Frogs Phrybobatrachus natalensis
Common River Frogs Afrana angolensis
Tinker Reed Frogs Hyperolius tuberilinguis

 Natal Forest Tree Frogs Leptopelis natalensis 

Painted Reed Frogs Hyperolius marmoratus 

 Tinker Reed Frogs Hyperolius tuberilinguis

Greater Leaf Folding Frogs Afrixalus fornasinii 

Never thought I'd see a Palmnut Vulture, let alone down the road from where I live these are reported to be very rare raptors, we came across this one roosting in some pine trees near the Umhlanga River. Anyways hopefully this is just a taste for many things to come.