The Rhino Midden *

[Sharifa]

We were booked in Biyamiti for the June long weekend, from 14-17. Arrived at around 12pm at Malelane gate and drove slowly to Biyamiti. It has been a while since we last were in Kruger, well, a year to be exact.Great to take in the smells and sights of Kruger. The vegetation was dry but still dense. Not what you would expect in winter.

We saw general game like the impala, a ellie or two and a buffalo or two.

As per tradition we drove to the Weir first before driving to Biyamiti Camp


and were rewarded with lions sprawled out in the riverbed under the Wild Date Palms.

A male


A few females and some cubs.

[Sharifa]

Thank you Amoli, Bushcraft, Dewi, Flutterby, Richprins, harrys, Mel and steamtrainfan

@ Richprins - was also surprised to find so much water at this time of the year.

Once we had booked in we were allocated hut # 14, no river view but there was a donor birdbath under the trees and as soon as we filled it with water the birds practically rushed to it.

Red-billed Firefinch




Blue Waxbill


Southern Black Tit


In the tree canopy

White-bellied Sunbird


Cardinal Woodpecker, female


Orange-breasted Bush-Shrike


Red-headed Weaver, female


Emerald Spotted Dove decided she was safer with us rather than out there in the big outdoors. She spent the night on the verandah.

[Sharifa]

Saturday, June 15 2013.

When staying at Biyamiti our first port of call is the Weir. The 18km stretch of road to the Weir is normally very productive but this time it was so quiet, hardly any animals. Once we got to the Weir we were rewarded with this

Mums and Tots




Three very inquisitive cubs












A last look

[Sharifa]

Most visitors to the Parks know about the middens already but after our lion sighting we saw how it is done -O

What is a Rhino Midden?

‘Midden’ is the name given to a dung heap or an area of communal defecation. Many animals make use of middens including white rhinos. A white rhino midden can be over an incredible three metres wide and you can often see them on the road side in National Parks.



Why use a midden?

Communication. Olfaction is the secret language of most animals. Olfaction means communication via odours. This can be from specialised scent marks, urine or dung. In this case, animals creating middens use dung to communicate. It provides a true and honest signal of health and status. For example, a male can discover if a female is ready to mate or subordinate males can tell that there is a dominant male close by. Middens can therefore act as a huge message board for all the white rhinos in the area.



Who uses the midden?

Everyone. White rhinos of all ages and sex use the middens but only the dominant male in the area will defecate in the centre. You can see evidence of this as he is the only one who will kick his dung. He does this to spread his scent over all the others, it is also thought he will then leave a trail of his dung scent as he walks. Two defined foot scrape marks can easily be seen in middens visited by a dominant male.















Drive carefully! Middens aren’t only important for mammals; dung beetles are frequent visitors. Dung beetles lay their eggs in the dung so take care not to drive over middens or dung piles in the road when visiting national parks. Dung beetles are important to the ecosystem as their tunnelling activities aerate the soil and recycle nutrients and this increases the overall quality of the soil. Also, by breaking down dung they reduce habitat for parasites like fleas and ticks, therefore improving the health of animals using the midden. Be aware of dung beetles rolling their dung balls across roads, especially in the rainy season.

Reference
Courtney Marneweck - University of KwaZulu-Natal – researching white rhino communication

[Sharifa]

After we got over the rhino show -O

We came across a herd of buffalos


Burchell's Coucal


Then on the H-5 a beautiful family of hyenas

[Sharifa]

Back at the Weir we had this strange scene with the Hammerkops on the Weir wall
The one Hammerkop kept jumping on the other and making a tremendous noise while the third one just watched, thinking he's









On the rocks there were Egyptian Geese




Black Crake


A water monitor as well

[Sharifa]

On our final morning we made a turn at the Weir and were just in time to see the resident pair of Fish Eagles come in to land on the rocks. The one Eagle had a plover chick.









The Eagle was bombarded by the plover parent





After the Weir we carried on to the S114 till Renoster Koppie Dam, then made our way to the H3 where we got our best sighting for this trip......

[Sharifa]

Oops, missed a whole episode of the last evening drive
So time to rewind. The evening drive was on the 18km Biyamiti private road and we saw

Brown Snake Eagle




Verreaux's Eagle Owl


Dwarf Mongoose enjoying a bit of evening sun

[Sharifa]

Thank you Jillinflorida, nan, Lisbeth, dewi, JustN@ture, Flutterby and Mel
The mongooses hid for a little while but once we parked and switched the car off they came out to play

Back to the last stretch of the trip. We were exiting from Malelane Gate so we drove up to Renosterkoppies Dam and then down the H3
Everything was very quiet, just general game to be seen then suddenly we saw a black and white flash of a honey badger
I thought that was it, we were only going to see a flash but he was out hunting



We watched him dig out something and eat it.






We did not get to see many predators and unfortunately no leopards but we had some very special sightings.
The rhino depositing on his midden, the birds with their strange behaviour and the honey badger digging for his meal were all remarkable to see.
Thank you all for joining us on this journey