DIKHOLOLO GAME RESERVE #SOUTH AFRICA #NATURE-PORN

HEY STEEMIANS, IF YOU LIKE NATURE LOOK AT THIS!

While we were enjoying our stay in the Dikhololo game reserve I had the opportunity to take some great photos of the animals that i would like to share with you all.

(A squirrel I captured in the early morning searching for food.)

WHERE IS DHIKOLOLO EXACTLY?

Dikhololo game reserve is situated in the heart of the bushveld in North-West province of South Africa.
I stay in Gauteng , Dikhololo is about 100km from where i stay but it is well worth the drive to relax in the quiet of bushveld and doing some game drives to view the abundance of animal life.

WHAT WE DO WHILE AT THE GAME RESERVE

To be quite honest, I try to do as little as possible for as long as possible, sitting on the "stoep" (what we call a patio), flames burning high into the late afternoon sky , with the sweet scent of true bushveld wood burning away slowly preparing the coals for the "braai" (basically a barbecue, except we cook the meat over the coals or fire instead of gas).

Early mornings and late afternoons are when we go on game drives or walks to do some animal spotting, During late morning to early afternoon the scorching sun will burn you to a crisp in minutes. Temperatures soar to almost 40 °C in summer so the swimming pool is a great way to quickly cool down before retreating into the shade.

(The human water hole of coolness, hehe)

WHY I LIKE TO GO TO GAME RESERVES

There is nothing quite like waking up in the early morning looking out the window and seeing the abundant wildlife.
Squirrels running up and down trees, lizards baking in the early morning sun, animal eyes peering back at you before quickly running into the cover of the dense African bush.

Absolute silence apart from the songs of birds, an occasional monkey signalling its troop that he has found food, the grunt of an antelope in the distance walking peacefully with its herd to the watering hole.

Being in the bushveld has this calming back to nature feeling, almost an primal attraction to the natural bush. Maybe it is just an South African thing.

SOME OF THE WILDLIFE I WAS ABLE TO CAPTURE

What a majestic animal the giraffe is, I personally love it when they run, it looks like slow motion running.. If you have not seen one running do yourself the favor of finding a video.

(Blesbok or Blesbuck is a antelope species endemic to South Africa)

(Springbok or Springbuck)

This little fellow is our national antelope of South Africa.Our national rugby team derived its name from this beautiful antelope.
Well known for the height and distance it can jump while running.

(The zebra)

(The Kudu)
This kudu calf came to our chalet, curious about what we were doing.She came right up to the stoep and we fed her Marula fruits that she ate out of our hands.


A Kudu bull and cow slowly crossing the dirt road, sometimes I wondered who was watching who.

(Blou kop koggelmander or Blue headed lizard)
This Blue head lizard is still a juvenile so his color has not yet started showing yet.

( Euphaedra perseis Male butterfly)

(I am sad to say that I could not find the name of this butterfly. If you know the name please comment it to me.)

(Telipna maesseni Butterfly)

(Cream-spot Tiger moth)
Yes I know it is a moth but i found it to be very pretty.

(Junonia oenone Butterfly)

(Red-billed Hornbill)
This curious bird came to visit us one early morning while we were sitting outside and having our coffee. He hopped right up to the table to eat a piece of bread that had fallen on the floor.

What an experience it was to interact with the animals up-close and experience the calm, peaceful and relaxing atmosphere of the bushveld.

I really hope you enjoyed this post, Follow me for more, I'll be posting soon about my visit to The Kruger National Park!
Thank you for reading my post.

All photography original work of @rslabbert
Member of Proud South African Steemians(@psas). You can follow us for more trueley South African content.
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