Meet Gina

Gina has become one of the iconic lionesses of the Addo Elephant National Park. Everyone loves to see her. I was hoping to get a glimpse of her cubs when I took this photo, but no luck there I am afraid, maybe next time.

Felis leo - the king

Coming across lions in the wild is always a thrill. I don't know what it is. Maybe its their size or their raw power, or the fact that they are just plain dangerous. But whatever it is these big cats do have a certain aura about them.

There are nine of them in the Addo Elephant National Park and if you know more or less where they hang out, you may just see them. But they spend about sixteen hours of the day sleeping or just lying about and if they are in the thick bush you will never find them.

This is one of two young males that lives in the Southern part of the Park that happened to be walking along the road we were driving along. On this occassion he was on a mission. The sighting was a fleeting before he and his brother disappeared into the thick bush.

The witching hour

I was up early one morning to capture an image of the park across the road from us, as it was shrouded in the mist and looked quite eerie. I felt the shots were somewhat bland to start with, until Wallace, our Siamese cat, decided to join me.

Cats are not the easiest of animals to photograph at the best of times, but try it in the dark when they are on the prowl and refuse to cooperate and it is almost impossible. Here he paused long enough to coincide with the shutter speed and give me a nice silhouette.

Launch break

I did not catch the sunrise on this morning, but captured the gate keeper taking a launch break.

Karoo Kat - Our shadow

Sue and I first met this cat when it as still a kitten, when it joined us on an early morning walk. She is still as friendly as ever and does not miss an opportunity to go for a stroll in the bush.

Caracal

I do so enjoy the wild cats. This caracal was photographed at African Dawn wildlife sanctuary, where it is waited on in true cat fashion, unlike its relatives in the wild which are persecuted as vermin by farmers.

Only a cat

Is this why it is called a recliner.................?

The great dog/ cat debate finally resolved

I have often listened to debates on the subject of which make better pets, dogs or cats and they are always inconclusive.

It is like asking someone the question, “Which is the best flavour of ice cream, chocolate or vanilla?” It is a matter of taste; you either like chocolate or you like vanilla. Or is it that simple? Surely one must be better than the other, in spite of taste differences.

Think of the debate in terms of wine. Many people will be happy with a bottle of plonk with a screw cap, but the connoisseur will be satisfied with nothing less than a wine of distinction.

You have to remove subjective opinion from the debate and look at it with cold hard facts. When you approach it in this manner, you will see that a cat is like a wine of distinction and a dog is like a bottle of plonk.

Here are ten facts that prove my point:

What more can I say?

Wallace takes over

Formula: 1 contented Siamese kitten in the house = 3 disgruntled older cats outside the house.
The corollary, is that the older cats will get over their sulking and come back inside and soon there will be 4 contented cats in the house.

Meet Wallace

You will be forgiven if you have mistaken Wallace for a bat eared fox. He is in fact a highly pedigreed Siamese, with a kink in his tail. This means he was given to us, because we don't go for the papers and the image trip, but love Siamese cats because they are such characters.

Continuing with Cats

I personally do not like to see wild animals caged, but Tenikwa does give you the opportunity to get up close and personal. Like this pair of Caracals. We did stumble across one at the Addo Elephant Park a while back, and it was a joy to see. These animals are persecuted by farmers and are very shy and seldom seen.



The Serval was not vey cooperative and was determined not to allow us to get a decent phograph. Yes, even wild cats are wonderfully perverse creatures.

Zwelakhe

Zwelakhe, the leopard is one of the orphans at the Tenikwa Wildlife Awareness Centre. He is nine months old and already quite a handsome fellow.

His was the only cat enclosure we were not allowed to enter, because he is already quite big and is very playful and according to our guide can be quite rough. I was therefore happy not to go into his enclosue, as I do not want to be played with by a leopard. I have also heard that leopards do not teach their cubs to hunt, it comes natuarally to them.

Many farmers still trap and kill leopards, but organizations such as Tenikwa are doing a lot to educate farmers to rather capture and relocate them.

Only a cat...........

Yes, only a cat can make itself comfortable like this...........and in my favourite chair! So guess who sat on the sofa?

Life with Suzie - Addo

We decided to spend the weekend at the Addo Elephant National Park, but today's post is not about elephants, but more about taking risks.

We had just travelled from the Main Camp past Carol's Rest, on a quest for lions, when we came across the sign that said that the road was only suitable for vehicles with a high ground clearance. Suzie's Daihatsu Materia does not have a high ground clearance. Suzie on the other hand has a sense of adventure and does not mind the fact that he car does not have a high ground clearance.

"The road looks like it has just been graded," she said, "let's try it." I reminded her of her reluctance to drive on bad roads with her new car, but undeterred she drove past the warning sign and down the road.

The road had not been graded. "Oh well," I consoled myself, "someone with a 4x4 is bound to come down here at some stage today and if we ask them nicely, I'm sure they will tow us out."

As it turned out the road was not bad at all. a few rough spots here and there but nothing the valiant little car could not handle.

And then as we came down a hill we came across this Caracal lying at the side of the road, totally undeterred by our arrival. It was quite contented to pose for us.


You don't see these cats about every day. Caracals are nocturnal, secretive, solitary, and aggressive animals. Due to being hunted as a problem animal by farmers, the Caracal has become even more elusive and thus getting to see one is very difficult. This was a rare sighting for us and was truly the highlight of the the trip.

The moral of the story, take a risk you may be pleasantly surprised.

As you can see this little bus is not a 4x4.

Organic pest control

Felicity cat has taken to catching locusts and bringing them into the house. It is more than just catching - it is an obsession with her as she brings in about four or five a day, which is good for our garden. What is not good, is putting your foot on crunchy locust in the dark!

She is not trying to be cute, but is looking for a victim that eluded her in the house.

Here she is checking out the lavender bushes for her next victim. Sometimes she climbs through the upper branches of our shrubs looking for her prey.

Felicity cat adds new meaning to the term "organic pest control".

The reclining cat

Felicity Cat is not constrained by the dictates of fashion like other Siamese cats. She is seen reclining here, in this candid shot, in her striped outfit.

Felicity Cat

There is definitely something amiss with the Siamese lineage, when I look at the tabby markings on the legs of Felicity Cat. Despite that she is certainly displaying all the Siamese characteristics, such as taking control of the home; dominating the other cats, inspite of her diminutive size; living life on her terms and keeping her doting slaves in line.

Essential gadgets

Do you know what this is? It is probably the best R20 I have ever spent.



This one is for you Karoline. Use one of these the next time you have give Mr Jones a pill and I guarantee your fingers will not be chewed - your arm may be shredded, but your fingers will definitely be safe.

The beauty is in its simplicity.

Slot the pill in the fork, shove it (ever so gently) to the back of the cats mouth, push the plunger, withdraw it and voila..............one very disappointed cat. Imagine it not being able to exact revenge in the form of a chewed finger.

One up for the humans.

WHITE FING – THE SIAMESE THAT WASN’T

One day about 6 years ago I got an excited phone call from Sue. We were going to get a Siamese kitten. A friend had an alley cat that produced a Siamese kitten with every litter and with a little persuasion from Sue, she promised us the next one.

We waited patiently for kitty breeding season, which happens twice a year. And then we were informed that mamma cat was pregnant. Great excitement.

Our friend told us that the Siamese kittens were born white and changed colour as they grew older. This was an interesting fact we did not know.

Like expectant grand parents we waited patiently for the arrival of the new addition to our family. Fortunately kitty pregnancies are not long and soon we were told that the new litter had arrived and sure enough there was a white one. More great excitement.

The wait was coming to an end. In about eight weeks and we could bring the little tike home.

After about four weeks we could not contain ourselves any longer and traveled the 30 kilometres to Despatch, to see our new kitten. The excitement was now reaching breaking point.

When I looked at the little ball of white fur I realized that something was wrong. I knew that the white fur could change to the Siamese tones, just as Lipizzaner horses start out life black and turn white as they grew older. But ……. the big but was, would a pink nose turn brown.

The excitement waned.

After a respectable interval we went home. After much debate we were convinced that this was not going to be the real thing……….. of course we could hope. And how could we change our minds now that it was accepted as our kitten.

And so the waiting continued. The excitement, somewhat diminished.

The day finally arrived and we went to collect our new kitten hoping for a miracle. Hope let us down. The fur was as white as ever and the nose ……….. still bright pink. We were now the proud servants of a white cat.

Names, we had to have a name.

Naming a kitten is like naming a child. Somewhere out there the right name is waiting, the question is how do you find it. My first suggestion was Pinkie. This was met with outright rejection and a total humour failure. Perhaps understandably so. It reminded her of a German Shepherd dog that I had given the unfortunate nickname of Pinksh, because of his unseemly dog’s manners and lack of decorum. The association was too strong for Sue’s liking (she has a very vivid imagination) and my suggestion was short lived, very short lived, so short lived in fact that it was dead as soon as I suggested the name.

As it turned out names were irrelevant. We soon discovered that she was deaf. Another of nature’s idiosyncrasies, just as tortoise shell cats are females, white cats with blue eyes are deaf.

So she now has many names. My daughter calls her Dee Dee, I named her Wit Blitz (White Lighting) because of her habit of running around the living room at full speed after her meals, and sometimes we refer to her as the White Thing (or White Fing) because of her penchant for shredding furniture – scratching posts are beneath her dignity.

Her disability has not stopped her from living a normal life. She behaves like any other cat and meows and preows with the best of them, but has no volume control.

She also has her own kitty sign language, which she deigns to respond to when she feels like it. Cats are like that, they live life on their own terms, always ensuring that you get just enough affirmation to feel honored that they have taken an interest in you, or graced you with their presence.

The name she understands best is a crooked finger pointed in her direction and waggled up and down. If she is in the mood she will let out a preow and come running.