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Every month our experts answer your questions about birds, bugs and beasts. Send your photos and queries to editor@gomag.co.za Quite a looker PIETER BROERE from Pretoria writes: I recently came across this colourful caterpillar while working in the garden – it was about 2 cm long and looked like a little Christmas tree. What is it and can you tell me more about it? Entomologist DUNCAN MACFADYEN says: This is the rayed slug moth caterpillar, which belongs to the family Limacodidae. This species of slug moth was first described by Austrian entomologist Rudolf Felder in 1874. It does indeed look like a Christmas tree – something that's characteristic of this group of moths. The caterpillar is green with white bars and blue dots, and has interesting large, barbed projections. The…

We're spoilt in South Africa when it comes to farm stalls, coffee stops and even big restaurants and convenience stores next to our roads. There's always a spot where you can pull over, buy a drink and order something from the menu. Do it right and a long drive quickly becomes a long kuier. When you cross a border into one of our neighbouring countries, however, the farm stalls and coffee shops disappear. Namibia has a few but in Botswana, for example, farm stalls aren't a thing at all. Zambia is doing a little better. There's Coffeeberry Café in Mazabuka on the highway between Livingstone and Lusaka, and The Fig Tree Café in Kabwe north of Lusaka, which is always popular. Until recently, the road west of Lusaka to Kafue…

Dream I'm A Bird by Simon van Gend Band US$8 from bandcamp.com Cape Town singer-songwriter Simon van Gend has been on the scene for more than 20 years, but this is his first full album release since 2015's Suffer Well. On Dream I'm A Bird, he re-unites with top musicians like Ross Campbell (drums) and Eric Michot (bass) to produce another fine set of acoustic folk songs. It's great to hear Simon's voice again, crisp and clear like the first words you read when you open a fresh newspaper in your lap. Many of these songs are contemplative in nature – lost love, mortality, the fragility of life – but there's no wallowing in misery. Instead, it feels like he greets life's challenges head-on: “Time has shot my head wide…

Tackling your first overnight hike in the Drakensberg can be daunting, but at just 8 km, the two-day, out-and-back trail to Sleeping Beauty Cave gives even novice hikers a perfect introduction to the pleasures of these mountains. “You're lucky, it's been sunny all day,” says Zandile Duma, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife field ranger as she hands us the compulsory mountain rescue register to fill out. “We've had a lot of rain and you'll be crossing the river six times. There are no bridges, just rocks. ”She eyes our hiking shoes. “But the cave will give you protection if it rains,” she says, putting our minds at ease. With a thunderstorm forecast for the afternoon – a regular occurrence in these parts in summer – we heft our packs and get going,…

Do you normally page past this column? Do you think a bird column is, well… for the birds? Do you slather yourself in Tabard so the birdwatching bug won't bite? If you answered yes to any of these questions, I have a trick for you that will mess with the minds of the birders in your midst… Here's how it goes: Wait for a night when you're with a group of keen birdwatchers around a campfire. Then casually drop the words “narina trogon” into conversation. Make sure to mention that the bird is fairly common and that you've seen many of them. Read the rest of this column for more facts to support your story. I bet a few people will shake their heads and mumble. You see, the narina…

JOIN US! On this epic adventure, we will explore parts of Namibia and Zambia where few of us have ever been, including Nkasa Rupara on the Linyanti River, and Mudumu and Bwabwata (Horseshoe Bend) national parks. Zambian highlights include a visit to Sioma Ngwezi National Park, the country's third largest reserve. We start our journey in Kongola in Namibia and will spend the next couple of days exploring the Zambezi Region, with its parks and abundant wildlife. Then it's on to Zambia. We will enter Sioma Ngwezi National Park via a small border post. Barotseland in western Zambia is still undeveloped and our first night in the country is at a rustic but beautiful campsite close to the Kwando River – the border between Zambia and Angola. This area is…

Biggest lesson learnt? Sjoe, that's a big question. So big that I recently wrote a book about the subject! This trip offered me the opportunity to experience myself in a completely different environment. Certain aspects of my personality – the ones I can usually overlook – came into sharp focus. I spent a lot of time thinking about the questions that matter, about what I believe in, and whether I have the courage to be honest about it. The people of Africa have time for each other – and for strangers like us. When we pulled over for a drink of water, people would stop to ask if we were alright or if they could help with something. Generally, they live close to nature and close to each other, with less…

Where did your love for travel begin? I always joke that it began in the womb. I was born in Ireland, but my father was an army officer on United Nations duty and we soon moved to Damascus in Syria. As an adult, I worked in the fintech industry in Austria, Australia and Ireland, and I'd regularly take a year off to travel. In the early 1990s, I hitch-hiked the entire coastline of South Africa and fell in love with the country. Once I settled in Dublin in 1998, I worked for a company with clients in South Africa and frequently had to travel to Johannesburg. That's when I started including side trips to the Kruger Park. I was surprised to find out you could do guided walks in the…

Baklava Makes 24 portions Preparation time 30 minutes Baking time 40 minutes You need • 1 x roll (500 g; 9 sheets) phyllo pastry, thawed • ½ cup butter, melted • 300 g mixed nuts • 30 ml sugar • 5 ml ground cinnamon FOR THE SYRUP • ¾ cup castor sugar • ¼ cup honey • 1 cup boiling water • juice and grated zest of 1 lemon • 5ml rose water (optional) Here's how 1 To make the syrup: Dissolve the sugar and honey in the boiling water and cook without stirring for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice and zest, as well as the rose water. Set aside to cool down. Put the syrup in the fridge. 2 Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease…

Ivisited the Kgalagadi in November 2024. One day I went to the Cubitje Quap waterhole, which is north of Nossob, to take photos of bateleurs. They usually come to drink there in the heat of the day. A few young bateleurs eventually arrived, as well as gemsbok and a kudu. A black-backed jackal hung around in the hope of scavenging something. Later that afternoon – just after 5pm – the jackal stood under one of the thorn trees on the edge of the waterhole. It looked into the tree and sniffed the air. I knew something was about to happen… Luckily, I had my Canon EOS R5 Mk II camera and 100–500mm zoom lens ready. I swung the rig towards the jackal and started shooting. Moments later, the jackal leapt…

ANSWER #5 A kingfisher! I know this one! Indeed, but which species? Despite the name, only half of our kingfisher species eat fish and live in association with water. The other half hunt insects, spiders, earthworms, frogs and small reptiles and live in dry habitats, often kilometres from water. From the habitat in this photo, you might guess which subset this one belongs to. A kingfisher with brown in its plumage is the exception rather than the rule. There are really only two possibilities: brown-hooded and striped. But how do we tell them apart? As always, I recommend starting with the bill. The brown-hooded kingfisher has a heavier, all-red bill; the striped kingfisher has a short, slightly upturned bill with a black upper part. Shape-wise, the brown-hooded has a typical…

When you're a child, you don't think too much about your heritage and about where you come from. Your mom is your mom, your dad is your dad and your brothers are there to play with and tease you. Your only job is to go to school. (And Sunday school, if you grew up in my family…) I'm writing this column from a house my grandfather built. Oupa Lalie was an orphan from the Great Karoo. He never went to school and he couldn't read or write. In later years, he could spell his name and make a signature, but not much more. I wish I'd listened more intently to the stories my mom told about Oupa Lalie, because I never got to speak to him myself. I was six…

Where have you been? What have you seen? Write to editor@gomag.co.za WINNING LETTER Frolicking free We recently did an early morning trip along Clarence Drive, which hugs False Bay between Gordon's Bay and Rooi Els. On the Gordon's Bay side, we saw movement in the water. It was a quiet, windless day and the sea was like a mirror – we could see the white splashes from afar. We pulled over and I looked through my camera lens: A big pod of dolphins was chasing a bait ball! They were fairly close to the coast; I could even hear them breathing. I just pointed and clicked – it was hard to work out where they'd surface again because they were swimming so fast. HANNEKE FOURIE-BENEKE, Strand WRITE TO US &…

South African Indigenous Garden Plants: the gardener's guide by Elsa Pooley, GeoffNichols & Andrew Hankey, Struik Nature R850 in bookstores Have you been toying with the idea of pulling up your lawn and turning your garden into an eco-friendly, waterwise haven that attracts wildlife? This hands-on guide will help you do just that. The introduction will get beginners orientated: It explains plant names and gardening terms; the effects of climate on vegetation; growth and dormancy periods; and how to garden in areas where you get frost in winter. It further lays out the types of garden styles (formal, informal, fynbos, alpine…); how to invite pollinators, birds and mammals into your garden; and how to plan and maintain it all. The main section of this guide is an extensive plant catalogue…

Here's your chance! Send your best wildlife and travel shots to Toast Coetzer and we might publish them on these pages: takeyourpic@gomag.co.za WINNING PHOTO JEANETTA HOEKSTRA Canon EOS 250D Sigma 18–300mm lens JEANETTA WRITES: I photo-graphed this Cape weaver in our garden in Sandbaai, near Hermanus, in October 2023. I was standing on our balcony with my camera when the male weaver suddenly landed in our wild banana tree. I took several photos of the bird in different positions on the flower. I like this composition – if you use your imagination, it looks like the weaver is peering into the bill of a much bigger bird. The flower's pistil looks like a tongue sticking out. I used these settings: shutter speed 1/1000 second; aperture f6.3; ISO 200. By the…

The car that has already made the biggest splash in the South African luxury SUV market is the Lexus GX. This is not just a Toyota Prado dressed up in a Versace evening gown, it's a formidable 4×4 with a low-range gearbox, diff locks and a punchy, turbo-charged petrol V6. The engine, especially, will make Prado owners choke on their Nespresso. The GX might share the Prado's chassis and many of its other 4×4 features, but it's a more powerful vehicle. The Prado's 2.8-litre diesel engine is excellent, but it's not at the same level as the Lexus. The GX comes in two trim levels. The SE is a seven-seater SUV aimed at city dwellers and suburbanites, with bling 22-inch wheels and a Mark Levinson sound system. Nice, but that's…

… for the first time in many days, we slept at a place with running water, a shower and a toilet with a seat. The mornings stayed darker for longer the further north we travelled. On Day 58 we were up early in the town of Koundara in the north-west of Guinea. Tambacounda, a city in Senegal and our next destination, was 182km away. We got on our bikes and set off. The vegetation was now entirely bushveld – it felt like we were in the north of the Kruger. We got stamped out of Guinea without much drama.The Senegal border post was 20km of no-man's-land further away. It was a straight, quiet road and we opened up the throttles to 100km/h. A bushbuck startled in the thickets and leapt…