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Ndumo Game Reserve
Ndumo Game Reserve is a small () South African game reserve located in the far northeast district of KwaZulu-Natal known as Maputaland. It is situated on the border with Mozambique where the Pongola River joins the Great Usutu River. It is adjacent to the Tembe Elephant Park. Ndumo is relatively remote, being over from Durban. The town of Mkuze is away. Ndumo hosts a diverse range of habitats including sand forest, dense riverine forest, floodplains, alluvial plains, reedbeds, grassland, broad-leaved and acacia woodlands and extremely dense thornveld. Ndumo is popular for its birdlife and despite its small size, the reserve has recorded in excess of 430 bird species including residents and seasonal migrants. The park's abundance of pans, floodplains and rivers (Pongola & Usutu) provide suitable habitat for many aquatic species. The Maputaland area in general is relatively rich in birdlife due to ecosystem diversity as well as its geographical location: the area forms the southern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, with a long shoreline on the Indian Ocean and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho. Its capital is Pietermaritzburg, and its largest city is Durban. It is the second-most populous province in South Africa, with slightly fewer residents than Gauteng. Two areas in KwaZulu-Natal have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. These areas are extremely scenic as well as important to the surrounding ecosystems. During the 1830s and early 1840s, the northern part of what is now KwaZulu-Natal was established as the Zulu Kingdom while the southern part was, briefly, the Boer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Broadbill
The African broadbill (''Smithornis capensis''), also known as the black-capped broadbill or Delacour's broadbill, is a species of bird in the sub-oscine family Calyptomenidae. Description The African broadbill is a boldly streaked, largely brown, stocky flycatcher like bird. They have dark crowns which are black in the males and grey in the females of the eastern subspecies and blackish in both sexes of the subspecies ''S.c. meinertzhageni''. The upperparts are mainly olive-brown with black streaks, the bases of the feathers on the lower back and rump are white and are hidden when the bird is at rest. The underparts are buff or creamy-white with black streaks on the flanks and the breast. There is subspecific variation with ''S.c. meinertzhageni'' and ''S.c. suahelicus'' being whiter below with thicker streaks than, for example ''S.c. medianus''. It measures in length and in South Africa males weighed and females . Sound production The African broadbill produces a very loud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maputo River
The Maputo River (Portuguese ''Rio Maputo''), also called Great Usutu River, Lusutfu River, or Suthu River, is a river in South Africa, Eswatini, and Mozambique. The name ''Suthu'' refers to Basotho people who lived near the source of the river, but were attacked and displaced by Swazis. It is also said to mean 'dark brown', a description of the river's muddy water. Course The river rises near Amsterdam, Mpumalanga, South Africa, and flows easterly through Eswatini, where it enters the Lebombo Mountains. The 13 km gorge forms the boundary between Eswatini and South Africa. For approximately twenty kilometres, it forms the border between South Africa (province of KwaZulu-Natal) and Mozambique. There, in the Ndumo Game Reserve, it absorbs its largest tributary, the Pongola River. It then meanders through the Mozambican coastal plain and empties into southern Maputo Bay, some 85 kilometres downstream. In Eswatini, the river is called the Great Usutu or Lusutfu and flows throug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maputaland Coastal Forest Mosaic
The Maputaland coastal forest mosaic is a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion on the Indian Ocean coast of Southern Africa. It covers an area of in southern Mozambique, Eswatini, and the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Mozambique's capital Maputo lies within the ecoregion. Geography The Maputaland coastal forest mosaic occupies the humid coastal strip along the Indian Ocean, inland to the Lebombo Mountains for much of its length. This is part of a strip of moist coastal forests that extend along Africa's Indian Ocean coast from southern Somalia to South Africa. The northern limit of the ecoregion is north of the mouth of the Limpopo River, near Xai-Xai in Mozambique, where the forests transition to the Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic. The southern limit is near the St Lucia estuary in KwaZulu-Natal, where the Maputaland forests transition to the Kwazulu-Cape coastal forest mosaic. Climate The ecoregion has a seasonally moist, tropical to s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Invertebrates
''African Invertebrates'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal that covers the taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, ecology, conservation, and palaeontology of Afrotropical invertebrates, whether terrestrial, freshwater, or marine. It is published by Pensoft Publishers on behalf of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum and the editor-in-chief is David G. Herbert (KwaZulu-Natal Museum). History The journal was established in 1906 as the ''Annals of the Natal Government Museum'' and after 1910 renamed to ''Annals of the Natal Museum''. In 1989, the journal stopped publishing archaeological and anthropological papers, which was split of to a new journal, the ''Natal Museum Journal of Humanities'' (later: ''Southern African Humanities''), while the ''Annals of the Natal Museum'' were restricted to the natural sciences. The journal obtained its name in 2001 when its scope was limited to the study of invertebrates. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted and inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Usuthu-Tembe-Futi Transfrontier Conservation Area
Usuthu-Tembe-Futi Transfrontier Conservation Area is a group of protected areas in southern Africa, straddling parts of South Africa, Mozambique and Eswatini, including the following: * Maputo Special Reserve (Mozambique). * The Futi Corridor (Mozambique). * Usuthu Gorge Conservancy ( Eswatini). ** Tshanini Community Conservation Areas. ** Usuthu Gorge Community Conservation Areas. * Ndumo Game Reserve (South Africa). * Tembe Elephant Park (South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...). ** Community Area left of the Thembe Elephant Park. ** Community Area right of the Thembe Elephant Park. Future plans This park once it proved itself is to become part of the Greater Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area. Protected areas of South Africa Protected areas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. Symptoms usually begin ten to fifteen days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. If not properly treated, people may have recurrences of the disease months later. In those who have recently survived an infection, reinfection usually causes milder symptoms. This partial resistance disappears over months to years if the person has no continuing exposure to malaria. Malaria is caused by single-celled microorganisms of the ''Plasmodium'' group. It is spread exclusively through bites of infected ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. The mosquito bite introduces the parasites from the mosquito's saliva into a person's blood. The parasites travel to the liver where they mature and reproduce. Five species of ''Plasmodium'' can infect and be spread by h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Impala
The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'') is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus ''Aepyceros'' and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to European audiences by German zoologist Hinrich Lichtenstein in 1812. Two subspecies are recognised—the common impala, and the larger and darker black-faced impala. The impala reaches at the shoulder and weighs . It features a glossy, reddish brown coat. The male's slender, lyre-shaped horns are long. Active mainly during the day, the impala may be gregarious or territorial depending upon the climate and geography. Three distinct social groups can be observed: the territorial males, bachelor herds and female herds. The impala is known for two characteristic leaps that constitute an anti-predator strategy. Browsers as well as grazers, impala feed on monocots, dicots, forbs, fruits and acacia pods (whenever available). An annual, three-week-long rut takes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nile Crocodile
The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern, and southern regions of the continent, and lives in different types of aquatic environments such as lakes, rivers, swamps, and marshlands. In West Africa, it occurs along with two other crocodilians. Although capable of living in saline environments, this species is rarely found in saltwater, but occasionally inhabits deltas and brackish lakes. The range of this species once stretched northward throughout the Nile, as far north as the Nile Delta. On average, the adult male Nile crocodile is between in length and weighs including stomach stones. However, specimens exceeding in length and weighing up to have been recorded. It is the largest freshwater predator in Africa, and may be considered the second-largest extant reptile in the wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hippopotamus
The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being the pygmy hippopotamus (''Choeropsis liberiensis'' or ''Hexaprotodon liberiensis''). Its name comes from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (). Aside from elephants and rhinos, the hippopotamus is the largest land mammal. It is also the largest extant land artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, the closest living relatives of the hippopotamids are cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises, etc.), from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. Hippos are recognisable for their barrel-shaped torsos, wide-opening mouths with large canine tusks, nearly hairless bodies, pillar-like legs, and large size: adults average ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nyala
The lowland nyala or simply nyala (''Tragelaphus angasii'') is a spiral-horned antelope native to southern Africa. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus ''Tragelaphus'', previously placed in genus ''Nyala''. It was first described in 1849 by George French Angas. The body length is , and it weighs . The coat is maroon or rufous brown in females and juveniles, but grows a dark brown or slate grey, often tinged with blue, in adult males. Females and young males have ten or more white stripes on their sides. Only males have horns, long and yellow-tipped. It exhibits the highest sexual dimorphism among the spiral-horned antelopes. It is not to be confused with the endangered mountain nyala living in the Bale region of Ethiopia). The nyala is mainly active in the early morning and the late afternoon. It generally browses during the day if temperatures are and during the night in the rainy season. As a herbivore, the nyala feeds upon foliage, fruits and grasses, and req ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
