Ngwenya Sightings

05
Jun
2023
Ngwenya Lodge Gives a Hoot

Ngwenya Lodge Gives a Hoot

We love that we so often get to fall asleep to the sound of owls hooting, here at Ngwenya Lodge. This time, however, the hooting was a little too close to home…

Barn Owl found in a unit at Ngwenya Lodge

This beautiful little guy, a Barn Owl, somehow found his way into one of the units, where he was discovered by our housekeeping team. We’re not sure just ‘hoo’ was more surprised…

The housekeeping team enlisted the help of the maintenance team, who carefully and calmly, manoeuvred him into a corner where they could safely gather him up. They then duly removed him back to the great outdoors and left him in the fork of a large branch, in a dense, shady tree away from any populated areas.

Barn Owl in the bush

Interestingly enough, Barn Owls don’t actually hoot! They make a harsh, eerie-sounding shriek. This, combined with their somewhat spooky appearance, especially in flight, and their fondness for abandoned buildings, is what has led to the nickname ‘ghost owl’.

Barn owls are one of the most widely spread species of birds and are the most widely distributed owl in the world. Western Barn Owl breeding pairs are monogamous and mate for life. They are nocturnal predators, usually setting off to hunt just after sunset and returning to roost just before sunrise. The owl’s facial disk helps to channel sound to its ears, which are located on either side of the face, and they can zone in on sounds with extreme accuracy. Another remarkable adaptation is their silent flight, thanks to specialised feathers that muffle the sound of their wingbeats. This silent flight enables them to surprise their prey, making them highly efficient hunters.

Barn Owl hunting at night

In addition to the threat of loss of habitat which owls face, through deforestation and land conservation for agriculture, owls are at risk from pesticides and rodenticides, as these chemicals can accumulate in their prey and affect their reproductive success; or often kill the owls outright through secondary poisoning. Unfortunately, over the course of time, Western Barn Owls have been linked to unfounded beliefs in a tragic manner. They are believed to represent death and are seen as bearers of misfortune for humans, often associated with practices like witchcraft. It is widely believed that if a Western Barn Owl is spotted resting on a house’s roof, a family member will die the next day. These baseless superstitions and the subsequent bias against Western Barn Owls have resulted in their senseless and cruel killing by some humans.

The African Scops-Owl is the smallest Southern African owl, and is smaller than a dove

Fortunately, more enlightened folk hold these magnificent birds in high regard and understand and appreciate their role in the ecosystem.

Rats and mice are notorious for destroying crops and can cause ill health to humans through the zoonotic diseases they carry. As predators of rats and mice in both rural and suburban areas, Western Barn Owls have an important role to play.

Owls play a vital role in maintaining the delicate balance of the Greater Kruger Park Lodge ecosystem. As top predators, they help regulate populations of small mammals and birds, preventing unchecked growth and potential imbalances. By controlling rodent populations, owls indirectly contribute to the health of the region’s vegetation, as excessive plant consumption by rodents can disrupt the ecosystem extensively.

Pel’s Fishing Owl, another local resident considered one of the Kruger birds Big 6

We wish you many happy hoot spots on your next visit to Ngwenya Lodge, but hopefully not in the lounge!

Posted by WSC_Dev in Kruger National Park, Ngwenya Lodge, Ngwenya Sightings, Wildlife, 0 comments
28
Feb
2023
Ngwenya Wildlife Photography Competition

Ngwenya Wildlife Photography Competition

Ngwenya Lodge is full of awe-inspiring pulchritude that provides an extra frisson of grandeur to every guest that drives past our welcome wall into their home-away-from home.  And the greatest source of all this magnificence is the abundant wildlife that occurs on the boundary of our unbeaten location. Being situated on the southern boundary of one of the biggest and best-known wildlife sanctuaries in the world – the Kruger National Park – has provided our guests with an unmatched game-viewing and birding experience without even having to leave the Resort gates, so guests never miss an opportunity to capture and share in these special game-viewing experiences.

We have seen all of your photos of herds of elephants with their calves in tow, crocodiles sunning themselves down along the riverbanks and the eagle dominating the sky with its majestic wingspan, and we thought we’d just have a bit of fun with all of you and host a photo competition on our Facebook page where you get to share your best and favourite wildlife photos with us for a chance of being featured as our Facebook cover photo for an entire month!

All you need to do is submit your favourite top-quality high-resolution photographic masterpieces to us at myholiday@ngwenya.co.za or via WeTransfer and we’ll choose the best ones to feature on our page for every month in 2023! Who doesn’t love bragging rights?

Competition Rules:

  1. Poor quality photos and videos will be disqualified.

Take note:

– Images submitted must be in high-resolution only.

– Images submitted must be above 1MB in size; any images below that size will not be accepted.

– Images and videos submitted which are pixellated or blurry will not be accepted.

– Images and videos submitted via Facebook or Instagram will not be considered. Please email or WeTransfer all submissions.

  1. Imagery submitted should only reflect wildlife and holidays at Ngwenya Lodge and the Kruger National Park; no photos of other holidays or at other game and wildlife facilities will be accepted.
  2. By entering this competition, the participant warrants that the submissions do not violate any copyright, nor the rights of any third person.
  3. By entering this competition, the participant agrees to give Ngwenya Lodge, as well as all affiliate companies, unrestricted access to make use of the submissions for marketing purposes, even if they are not the winning entries.
  4. Ngwenya Lodge reserves the right to cancel this competition at any time, if deemed necessary.
  5. The judges’ decision is final.

Sounds pretty simple, right? So start scrolling through your camera rolls and show us your best captures. We can’t wait to see them:

myholiday@ngwenya.co.za | WeTransfer

Posted by WSC_Dev in Kruger National Park, Ngwenya Lodge, Ngwenya Sightings, Wildlife
02
Jun
2022
Hear the Kruger Call

Hear the Kruger Call

Hear the Kruger call: the shrill cry of a fish eagle gliding over the floodplains; the rumbling sound of a lion as dusk settles in; the thundering hooves of a buffalo herd fleeing into the undergrowth from a predator. These are all nature’s melodies. These are all sounds that resonate in our souls, and that which we know to be synonymous with an authentic bushveld experience. But, there is so much more to the songs and calls of the wild than this. From communication to foraging, wildlife have evolved their own languages into a range of patterns and frequencies across the spectrum of species (many of which humans do not yet fully understand).

Ngwenya delves into the intricacies of wildlife communication:

Hyena

Hyenas are highly intellectual creatures that operate in large clans. These clans have social structure and a range of rules regarding their territory, hierarchy, the hunt and protection. Naturally, this means they require complex communication to uphold their system; one of the widest ranges in communication found in mammals, as a matter-of-fact. The most well-known of the hyena’s sounds is probably the hoot-laugh and giggling, which has dubbed the species with the name “laughing hyena”. While humans associate loud laughter with joy and relaxation, to hyena’s it actually signals distress and tension. The other most prominent call is the whoop which is a loud call that ranges in pitch. The whoop is used to communicate when out of visual range and can actually distinguish hyenas from one another. It is believed that these calls can signal the sex, age and status of the hyena to others. Scientists continue to study the vocalisations of hyenas, with growling being the most obscure. Hyenas are believed to use growling and body language in different combinations to communicate different meaning, the intricacies of which are still being uncovered.

Coucal

The coucal is one of 27 species of the genus Centropus, though you may be more familiar with the term cuckoo. Many of these medium-to-large birds are named for the sounds they make, or the birdsong they imitate. The two species most prominently found in the Kruger National Park are the Burchell’s Coucal and the Black Coucal. Coucal’s are widely known for the gurgling sound that accompanies their song, which many associate with a babbling brook. In fact, their local name in Kenya translates to “The Water Bottle Bird”. Their birdsong not only imitates water but has been closely studied and revealed to be linked to periods of downpour. Coucal’s will often sing before or after rain, when humidity is at an all-time high. Coucals, and birds in general, are able to produce their melodies due to an organ that only they possess: the syrinx. This vocal organ is found at the base of the trachea and produces sound when air is forced through it. The membranes of the syrinx walls vibrate when this happens; causing an oscillating effect that produces intricate birdsong.

Elephant

Elephants are known to have some of the most complex language systems amongst all wildlife. They are able to produce a range of idiosyncratic sounds, ranging from vibrations and rumbling to barks and snorts. Elephants mostly communicate using a low rumble which is produced at such a low frequency that it is seldom heard by human ears. The low rumble can be heard or felt as vibrations, by other elephants, up-to 10km away! This form of communication travels as vibrations with sound pressures reaching 117 decibels. The receptors of an elephants’ feet, known as Pacinian corpuscles, are highly sensitive and share a direct link to the somatosensory cortex of the brain, which is responsible for processing touch. The PC receptors are localised around the edges of the foot; elephants have been documented pressing their feet more firmly onto the ground to enlarge the surface area of contact so that they can hear better!

While this explains how elephants can hear one another, how exactly do they vocalise? Until recent studies conducted by the University of Vienna, scientists weren’t sure if elephant’s communicated through electrical impulses, known as AMC or active muscular contraction, or by the MEAD or myoelastic-aerodynamic method. Domestic cats use AMC to purr, while humans communicate via the MEAD method. While it is difficult to test for AMC, as it requires muscle contractions produced by brain signals, Christian Herbst at UV was able to test MEAD. His team obtained a deceased elephant’s larynx, which they connected to an airflow system. In this way, they could move air over the vocal cords of the larynx, which in turn mimicked the low rumblings and thus put the debate to rest on how elephants vocalise.

This is just three species’ ways of communicating and vocalising, but every wild animal has its own language to communicate with one another, ward off danger or to simply add a sweet song to the chorus of the bush. Wildlife also make use of a number of tools to effectively communicate that surpass sound, and these intricacies will continue to interest scholars and enthusiasts alike. All we have to do is pause and listen to the sounds of the Kruger.

Posted by WSC_Dev in Kruger National Park, Ngwenya Lodge, Ngwenya Sightings, Wildlife
05
Jun
2019
Raka; Our Resident Crocodile

Raka; Our Resident Crocodile

The warm weather has touched the landscape across the Crocodile River and the cold-blooded reptilians slide onto the sandbanks from the cool water to bask in the sunlight. Like logs, the creatures lie almost lifeless, soaking up the rays of sunshine with beady-eyes seemingly staring blankly ahead. Raka; our resident crocodile, slides his huge body out of the water; he is the largest of the crocodiles on this stretch and dominates many of the smaller crocs in these waters.

On this particular morning one of our guests, Tommy Weys, captures some incredible photographs of Raka in his natural habitat. An unfortunate impala has wandered too close and has been snagged. A fully grown crocodile, like Raka, will consume 20% of his body mass in a single sitting. While his main diet subsists of fish, birds and smaller antelope, he is not impartial to establishing his dominance over the River by consuming smaller crocodiles as well.

Raka’s digestive system is a well-oiled machine; perfected through thousands of years of evolution. His jaw cannot move other than to clamp down or open up; he therefore swallows prey whole. The meal will reach his stomach, and be met by hydrochloric stomach acid, as well as small stones (that he swallows) which help him to grind the food; due to an inability to chew. What’s even more interesting about this process is that his blood plays a vital role. Crocodiles have a special valve in the heart muscle linked to an aorta leading directly to the stomach, which miss the lungs completely. The blood that travels along to the stomach is thus rich in carbon dioxide, a crucial component in releasing more acid into the stomach to disintegrate prey. The influx in gastric acid means that Raka can devour and digest his prey faster than any other animal and dissolve bones that have made it into his system.

On further inspection of this prehistoric creature paleo-biologists discovered that a crocodile’s bite force averages around 16 460 newton’s; 10 000 newton’s more than that of a lion or hyena. Interestingly though, the muscles to open the jaws are not nearly as strong, which is why conservationists recorded relocating crocs by simply holding their mouths shut.

This by no means diminishes a crocodiles dangerousness; Raka will stalk his prey from below the water’s surface and lash out quickly, clamping his strong jaws shut around his victim, before pulling it back into the water where it will drown. Once shut, his jaws act as a vice-grip and will be near impossible to open.

Raka may remain in the River whilst feasting on his prize, but this is to minimise his vulnerability to other crocodiles attempting to make a claim on his meal. Once he is satisfied, he drags his large body from the cool waters and basks in the sun to digest his food. The warm rays of the sun, and the special second aorta, work in conjunction to speed up digestion; without these tools Raka’s meal would putrefy in his stomach.

As he lies along the lazy Crocodile River, we begin to notice how he, and other crocodiles around him, seem to share the same vacant expression and wide-open mouth. This social behaviour is not at all random, and shares with us another glimpse into the marvellous evolution these creatures have experienced. We already know that crocodiles are cold-blooded, so their body temperature is directly proportional to that of their environment. Along the Crocodile River, temperatures can sky-rocket to over 40° Celcius and Raka, as well as his other scaly comrades, can overheat. Lying on the sandbanks with their mouths agape works similarly to that of a dog panting; the cool breeze ripples over the crocodile’s mouth and cools the blood flowing around its brain. Once thoroughly cooled, the crocodiles will return to the depths of the Crocodile River.

Each day we watch, eagerly, as crocodilians put on a show for the Lodge’s visitors along the meandering Crocodile River. Raka; our resident crocodile and fiercest mascot, makes regular appearances to amaze and instill a sense of wonder and awe in those lucky enough to behold him; a living, breathing dinosaur of the deep.

Posted by Ngwenya Marketing in Ngwenya Sightings, 0 comments