Africa Wild

So the essentials were done quickly (drink shopping, vehicle issues, coffee to go etc) and I even had some companionship. Ready to go north, N2.

One and hours drive and it was lunchtime, the spot not too bad for this: a "place in the shade" - eMthunzini. This day also a remote place, no campers or residents of the time share complex, almost a ghost town.

Laid-back coastal "town":


Roads lined with Raphia Palms, a so called national monument - wonder why, the Raffias have been introduced to the town from the Kosi Bay. Ugly photo, but long leaves


A spot for picnic and a short walk










Spot the fish eagle:






...and off on the Mangrove walk ...

Lovely place for a picnic

Mudiness all over the mangrove floor

Marsh crabs, Chiromantes eulimene





There must be close to a million crabs and some thousand holes; a pretty diverse bunch: the Red Mangrove Crabs, Fiddler Crabs, Marsh Crabs, Ghost Crabs.



Climbing Whelks, Cerithidea decollata feed on the mud surface at low tide and climb trees with high-tide water.




A Barred Mudskipper Periophthalmus argentilineatus



Some impressive adaption to mud living, this guy has periscope-style eyes. The stalked eyes can move in all directions, the eyes are also retrotactile and can be hidden in the skin for protection. They are completely amphibious fish that can use their pectoral fins to walk on land.

Mangroves have many interesting inhabitants

Yay, a mud safari, with lots of animals too! Interesting info. about the creatures, keep it coming.

Wow!!!!!


Fascinating indeed, Toks!

Is that a red duiker drinking?


Will find a google image at some stage!

wow the super nice place for picnic
and so interesting little animals

Spot the fish eagle

There are at least two.

Love that picnic place!

And the climbing whelks

Lovely place for a day visit...did you see the hairless vervet?

This was not a day visit, but a one hour visit and I haven't seen a monkey!

"Mangroves"

Mangroves are not a genetic entity, but an ecological one. Mangroves are defined as assemblages of salt tolerant trees and shrubs that grow in the intertidal regions of the tropical and subtropical coastlines. Mangrove forests in SA are species-poor and often monospecific, dense forests of mangroves (and fringing thickets of Hibiscus tiliaceus and Acrostichum aureum) in tidal zones of coastal lagoons and estuaries. A total number of 69 species in 27 genera, belonging to 20 families are considered as true mangrove species. In South Africa only 6 taxa of Mangrove species occur and the most widespread one on the coastline is the White (or Grey) Mangrove.

Mangrove species are variously adapted to cope with muddy conditions: Mangrove roots are in permanently waterlogged mud, but still need some air to survive. Different mangroves have evolved different structures to deal with this, such as the prop-roots of Rhizophora or the pencil-roots (pneumatophores) of Avicennia. The root system of the White Mangrove is well adapted to an estaury habitat: Horizontal cable roots radiate from the base of the plant tp provide anchorage in the mud. Out of these roots grow pencil roots ("pneumatophores") with lenticels on the surface for gas exchange (oxygen and carbon dioxide) with the athmosphere. They have breathing roots.

Mangroves have one of the most unique reproductive strategies in the plant world. Like most mammals, mangroves are viviparous (bringing forth live young), rather than producing dormant resting seeds like most flowering plants. Mangroves disperse propagules via water with varying degrees of vivipary or embryonic development while the propagule is attached to the parent tree.




Avicennia marina, White mangrove


Pencil roots


There are also red and black mangrove, but I won't bore you with more greenery details. Anyway the Kosi Lake system has a larger diversity of Mangrove species than this little spot.