Damaraland - August 2007
02 Sep 2007
"Regulars" seems to be a word used often in Wilderness Safaris. We're receiving more and more repeat guests to our camps and also our country and every time we say goodbye to our special "first time guests" who visit us we get a sense that they too will become "regulars" and will return in the future.
But there's another type of "regular" that we have in our Camps. The furry, scaly, feathery types that frequently visit the Wilderness Safaris Camps. Some of them big, some of them small, some of them real characters and others go unnoticed, but when you take the time, sit back and observe, you begin to notice that the common brown House Sparrow that you see every morning is actually the same one that comes in every morning and that little hopping bird becomes a personality and a "regular".
At Damaraland Camp we have a few visitors who are becoming noticed, some of them are very permanent fixtures at the Camp, and others frequent visitors, but all seem to have routines that mesh in with ours and when you watch them you start to wonder who's actually watching whom?
One of these regulars is our ground squirrel. Although generally a social species, this boy seems to be a loner. He's not very commonly seen as he tends to hang around the staff quarters and only really comes out when things are quiet. We will suddenly come around a corner and he'll be making a dash from the kitchen to a bush. He does appear to be getting calmer about things now and his mad dashes are more like leisurely saunters.
In the valley below Camp there's an inhabitant that because seen daily doesn't get that much attention but does get pointed out every day. We must pay tribute to him because he's the first large mammal seen by our guests upon their arrival at Damaraland Camp. When you drive over the rise leading to the camp you can generally see him grazing close by, and early in the mornings his solitary and quiet figure can be observed quiet close to Camp. This is our residential territorial male springbok. Recently however this old man has attracted a small group of females and he's quiet obviously very proud of himself. Soon we could have a few new additions to this herd as spring approaches.
Throughout the day we have frequent feathery visitors. One notorious (and sometimes rather annoying) visitor is the Pied Crow. Well known opportunists, these birds won't be sighted anywhere in our vast wilderness spaces, but the moment there's an inkling of human habitation they appear from nowhere. They seem very awkward and clumsy looking birds and throughout the day they mainly just hang out in trees in what could only be described as "gangs" where they seem to just sit around and "shout" at each other. They are known to mob any birds of prey coming into the area and when you see a sudden burst of activity there's usually a predatory bird looking very annoyed.
Another bird with similar antics would be our Pale-Winged Starlings. These are much smaller birds but just as opportunistic. They are keener than the Crows and more agile. Smart birds, they have realised that unattended breakfast buffets are perfect hunting grounds and staff are usually dashing around attempting to chase off the birds as well as serve bacon and eggs. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. Martha (one of our waitresses) is often seen standing next to the scones, bread and muffins with feather duster in hand on high alert with several Starlings above her waiting for her to just look away long enough for them to get in. Soon, we believe, these birds will develop diversions or serious tactics to win their meal at the end of the day. As they get smarter, our buffet defences will have to develop too.
Along with many others we also have the Mountain and Common Chats who are in and out of the Camp, they are regularly seen hopping amongst the rocks and stones around the Pool and Lounge and every morning we have two Cape Buntings who forage around the fireplace as guests enjoy breakfast.
Seen like clockwork is our residential group of Guineafowl. Noisy birds the size of chickens they forage around the camp in a small group. They roost in the rock cliffs behind Camp at a "waterfall" which only flows after heavy rains and are seen coming to and from their roost at dawn and sunset. Other ground-dwelling birds include the sandgrouse we see: they are all over but not noticed as much as their camouflage is so good and they freeze the moment someone comes down the paths.
And in the evening as the sun starts setting we hear a croaking sound amongst the rocks, when you look closely you will notice that the noise is not coming from a frog, but instead a rather large ground dwelling bird called the Rüppell's Korhaan. We have a family of four who frequent our camp and are often seen around the Work Shop as well as in between the tents.
And last but not least we must mention our nocturnal residents. Just below Camp we have a residential pair of black-backed jackals and on most nights when there's a sudden break in the conversation around our family dinner table you can hear the eerie call of the jackals. In the early mornings they can sometimes be seen amongst the Euphorbia with our solitary springbok grazing nearby. At night when they're on the hunt for small vertebrates and whatever else is good to munch on you can hear them calling too.
That's just a few of the "regulars" we have paying us visits every now and then in our immediate vicinity. Not to mention the abundant fauna and flora Damaraland has to offer. It's a land of drastic scenery, ever-changing colours and vast wide open spaces. So when visiting our Camp, don't forget to take the time to see if you can recognise any of these regulars.
That's all for now folks.
Best Regards,
Nadja le Roux and DMC Staff
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