We heard rustles in the bushes when my wife started feeding the birds, but I thought that it was a rat or something similar.
Instead, the rustler was this Cape Mongoose. He obviously sat spying on the kind of food that Marian was feeding the birds.
We arrived at the bush camp the previous day and after coffee and a sandwich, my wife cast out some bread for the birds. The camp was alive with birdsong and also many strange wild animal sounds. It is a new style of camping inside luxury tents, with big wooden decks that look out at the mountains and the style is now called "Glamping"
Surrounded in a valley by hills and mountains, we felt that we were in a different world. Of course, there is also a dam and at night a thousand frogs sing one to sleep.
We were up before sunrise and in the photo below, the sun was busy rising behind the hills.
Wow! Look what appeared suddenly on a foot path!
This guy is a Cape Grey Mongoose (Herpestes pulverulentus, pulverulentus)
Oh yeah, he took up a very cute pose and you can see the glint in his eye.
Marian was feeding the birds and here we had a Cape BulBul and a weaver enjoying breakfast.
I beckoned Marian to throw some cheese out for the Mongoose. Never throw food directly at a wild animal, as then they will scatter. So, she threw it a couple of meters away from him.
Boldly the little guy stepped up to have a look at the cheese.
The Cape Grey Mongoose has a Catholic diet, meaning that they are opportunistic feeders that eat a wide range of mainly animal and some plant material. They mainly prey on small mammals and insects, but their diet also includes carrion, birds, reptiles, amphibians, wild fruits. The benefit of these mongoose is that they keep pest species under control, as they prey on rodents and are also known to kill snakes
Source
Yes, he saw the cheese and I think that this photo below was his way of smiling.
Right, he was a very happy little guy.
At first a tentative smelling session.
And then he started eating the cheese.
Drat! I could not get that sharp and big top tooth into the focus.
He finished the cheese and then he sauntered off, looking back as if to say; Thank you for the food guys.
Cheers little fellow and we hope to see you again the next time that we come here.
Nature eats nature and the predators that hunt the mongoose are the leopard, caracal, black-backed jackal and large birds of prey.
So I can tell you that we were very happy to see this mongoose and it made our stay so worth it at this place. I have more that 1000 photos and prepare for some great sights. Wonderful views and in two days we managed to fit in 4 small farming towns, 4 mountain passes and some stunning views.
We booked at this camp for four days thinking that it could form a base that we could work from, but sadly I received a call to come back home urgently with the result that we are back home now. We had to cancel two days with no refunds, so we lost ZAR 3000.
But such is life and we never complain.
I hope that you have enjoyed the story and the pictures.
And That's All Friends.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
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Wonderful animals! You can see the cycle between predators and preys. Just hoping that most preys do not go extinct as times goes by.. Sorry to hear your two day stay was canceled. I hope you can spend more days in nature in the future so we can also enjoy looking at whatever you've got in your journey.
Oh yes, the eco system in nature works very well, but we share you fears about the extinction status as mankind causes many damages to the habitats of the birds and the animals.
The 2 day cut was urgent and we do indeed plan to continue our travels to different parts of the country.
It is one of my favorite animal species in the wild.
Thank you and it is also one of our favorites.
I love that special encounter with the wild creatures. They are beautiful in their own wild ways.
Always great to make contact with them and you are right, as they are all beautiful.
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I guess you can't pet these famed Cobra bashing furry animals (unless you want to lose your fingers?). We don't have exotic creatures in the UK,
Well you can try the petting part and I will stand a distance away to watch your progress 😲
Only humans over there that try to look exotic 🤣
So cute. This post made me smile.
But it was the best treat he's had all month. Because cheese!
Glad that I could get a smile and yes, cheese is a big friend maker in the wild world.
!PIZZA
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Wow, you saw a mongoose 😎 great captures Zac.
Beautiful to see one.
So glad to meet that little fighter and he loved the cheese.
Always nice to encounter them in the wild.
It’s wonderful to see 😎🥰
Have an awesome Thursday Zac
Are those spikes on its body or are they just hair?
Nope. no spikes and indeed only hair.
Oh I see. It must be dirt that made its hair look so stiff.
Thanks for the interesting photos of the mongoose. He appreciated the cheese. I’ve never seen one except in photos.
Thank you Lady Jo, it was a nice and surprising encounter and typically like most wild animals, he only wanted food. He went straight for the cheese and didn't touch the bread. Some types of birds did the same and others preferred the bread.
I hope that you will see a real one someday.
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I hope everything is ok at home!
That little mongoose looked so happy :) He's probably never had cheese before!
Are there still leopards out there, outside of the preserves???
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Yes thank you, there was some urgent outstanding work to be done on our car and they scheduled it to be done on the third day of our break at 10am. So we had to cancel the 2 extra days.
It was a pleasure watching how he selected what to eat and what to leave. He did not touch the health bread and the cheese was his favorite.
Oh yes, leopards are even sighted in some of the city suburbs here. Recently photos were published of leopards near Table Mountain and a friend sent me a photo of a leopard in one of the mountain passes.
This is Africa mate and here is a picture today on the front page of one of our daily newspapers, the Cape Times. 2022/12/02 edition.
The leopard killed the mother, but the baby was desperately clinging on.
Blessings!
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Wow, so one day you might have a leopard on your porch???
It's so sad that a mother was chosen :( ... I know everyone has to eat, but the poor baby 😢
I probably would have chosen the vacation over the car... I'm glad all is well :)
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It sounds like you loved the area and with so much wildlife around I can see why. What a special treat to run into a Mongoose, I'm sure folks don't run into them too often. I was surprised that he stayed around when he say you, most animals in the wild enjoy their privacy. A scary-looking critter with some rather intimidating teeth.
Even though your stay was cut short you guys still seemed to get a lot in.
I hope the call you received that had you leaving before your stay was completed worked out for the best.
Peace my friend
Hi there big guy and so good to see you again. I am at a big loss with all of the daily power cuts and it's a struggle. So I can mainly only concentrate on getting 1 daily post in and to answer the comments.
It was indeed a very special occasion to see so much of the Mongoose, as they are difficult customers to get on camera. A cute little animal, but yes, one doesn't want to get on the wrong side of that little snake fighter.
My camera worked overtime, as there was so much to see and I will continue with the series of posts that I am doing about our visit to the area.
We traded in our 2014 VW Polo car and bought a 2018 used Ford car at the beginning of November. So I took the car back to the dealer to do a free checkup, as we were planning to do this long trip. The test showed that the car battery and the wipers were shot. Then they wanted to charge me a small fortune to replace it with new ones.
Of course, I would have none of it and I submitted a complaint to the MD of the place stating that as I bought the car in the same month, it was their fault and that the parts should be replaced at no cost to us. There was no answer and we decided to do the trip as is, only praying that the car would not get stuck on the long road. On the second day of our trip, I received a call from the dealer stating that they would replace the parts for free, but that they could only do it the next day at 10am in the morning.
So we cancelled the extra 2 days and returned home. Now the car has all of the new parts Amen.
I hope that the new knee has settled in by now, as you must have had a bit of a rough time. We are getting older and I find that things are now taking longer to heal.
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Good to hear from you as well, my friend.
Happy to hear that the emergency was only your car. No breakdowns for the first part of your vacation, another good thing. Businesses trying to rip people off seem to be the way of the world these days.
The pictures of the Mongoose were just fabulous and it sounds like you've got plenty more that you took on your shortened trip. From what I can see already, what a great area you guys decided to visit.
Bummer about the electrical situation in more ways than one. I hope they let you know when they are cutting off the power, I think I remember that you said they do.
The knees and hips are doing great. I'm getting back to homesteading again and not a minute too soon, for a while there I was bored out of my mind. Lying around so much, doing nothing, can be as debilitating as the injury if you know what I mean. Use it or lose it.
Keep on trucking buddy and give Marion our regards.
Thank you very much for the gifts, always appreciated.
Hope that your Sunday is good!
Yes, and we say that we traveled in the power of the Holy Spirit. So the car had no chance of breaking down.
Only had 2 days over there and we plan to go back there in the cooler months, like April, or September, so we will wait to see if it can happen, as there are so much more to discover.
The mongoose was very brave to come out, but I made sure that I was no threat to him. A real cute little guy. You are right as I took a ton of photos over there.
They do have a schedule of power cuts and we were lucky to have only two per day in the past week, but from tomorrow (Monday) we will have 3 per day again. It takes 7 hours out of every day and it makes things very difficult for us. That's why I can only place one post per day and I can only concentrate on the post replies.
I know exactly what you mean, as I had to lay around like that for 3 months in hospital after my accident. It is a real killer, but it affords one a lot of time to think about life.
Happy to hear that you are up and about and all strength to you my friend.
Marian also sends here regards to both of you!
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Lovely creatures, it's so nice to see them. Thank you.
Thank you again for liking the creatures.
!PIZZA