Kwawula Game Estate

08/05/2024

Birders at KwaWula are all-a-flutter this week with a confirmed sighting of an Allen's Gallinule (juvenile). This sighting of the intra-African migrant is a first for our Nature Reserve and is credited to the perseverance of Lindy, one of our residents, who conducted the stakeouts to obtain photos for positive identification.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?
The scientific name for Allen's Gallinule is 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑟𝑖𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑖. 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑟𝑖𝑜 is Latin for swamphen and 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑖 is named after Rear-Admiral William Allen.
Gallinule is derived from the Latin for chicken!

05/12/2023

A BEVY OF BUSHBUCK
Yesterday we welcomed a group of Bushbuck to KwaWula. Thank you to Ryan van Deventer and his team from Veterinary & Wildlife Solutions for this special delivery!

24/10/2023

23/10/2023

On Saturday, the KZN Inland Branch of the Botanical Society held a Spring Walk at KwaWula. Led by Alison Young, a large group of enthusiasts were treated to an abundance of wildflowers. Here's a glimpse at some of the beauty found in our grasslands!

20/10/2023

(ORIBI) LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT💘

This morning we released a female Oribi close to one of our Oribi rams. Once out of her crate, she ran across the grassland and the ram instantly ran to meet her! 💚

02/10/2023

OCTOBER ORANGE

"If you go down in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise", as balls of orange-red dapple the forest floor. The flowers of 𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑥𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑢𝑠, commonly known as the Snake Lily, Paintbrush Lily and Blood Lily are in full bloom in KwaWula's forests.

Despite the bulb being poisonous to humans, it is used in traditional medicine for gastrointestinal and cough remedies.
Birds feed off the nectar and berries and monkeys too eat the berries.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?
𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑥𝑢𝑠 is derived from 𝑑𝑜𝑥𝑢𝑠, meaning "glory" or "splendour" and 𝑝𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑢𝑠 meaning crimson, scarlet or purple.
Blood Lilies were previously in the genus 𝐻𝑎𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑠, ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑎 being Greek for "blood"" and 𝑎𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠 "flower". This refers to the red colour of the flowers and to the bulbs, which appear to have blood dripped on their sides. Despite them being subsequently moved to the genus 𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑥𝑢𝑠, because they have elongated stems, the name Blood Lily remains in use. The common names Snake Lily and Paintbrush Lily refer to growth form of the long stem and large terminal flower.

12/09/2023

Have you ever wondered how the season "Spring" got its name?

Before the 14th century, Spring was called 'Lent'. It then became known as 'spring-time' to describe the plants "springing" from the ground. It was later shortened to "Spring".

In the Midlands "Spring" could maybe come from the verb spring: "move or jump suddenly or rapidly upwards or forwards" as we spring from winter to summer and back again in a matter of days! What do you think?

Case in point; on Saturday and Sunday the mercury soared to 34°C and today we awoke to snow on the Berg🥵🥶

Keep a look out for the flowers "springing" from the ground🌸🌼🌺

31/08/2023

Sun set and moon rise today, 31 August; the end of winter... Looking forward to spring rains and rejuvenation 🌦🌱

20/08/2023

BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY

The Butterfly Lobelia (𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴) is flowering in our grassland. Take a closer look, it is an absolutely beautiful wild flower.

WHAT'S IN A NAME? The plant family Lobeliaceae is named after Matthias de L'Obel (1538-1616), who was a Flemish botanist and physician to King James I.

08/06/2023

A glimpse into recent zebra-capture at KwaWula🦓

28/05/2023

"LIFE BY THE HORNS"
A newly-released film by our "Safari Family" about game capture at KwaWula.
ENJOY!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=202141789366667&id=100087125418654&mibextid=Nif5oz

We love to share our wonderful experiences! Here, Connor helps me once again on another Game Capture experience. His role is to administer the antidote to th...

25/05/2023

A LOAD OF BULLS...
Today, team KwaWula and Veterinary & Wildlife Solutions captured Blue Wildebeest bulls for translocation. This management activity is in line with maintaining carrying capacity and male:female ratios.