Blue Wildebeest
There is a unique story about the Blue Wildebeest told in many African cultures over many generations and it goes like this: After the gods created all the animals they realized that they had made too many spare parts of…
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Category: Interesting Facts
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Mother-in-law’s tongue
Mother-in-law’s tongue is not a euphemism – this is the plant’s actual common name! These are fairly common plants round here and even though they look thick and full of liquid, their leaves are actually quite fibrous. They are traditionally…Read More »
Leopard Orchid
The Leopard Orchid is used as a love charm, an antidote for bad dreams and to ward off lightning at traditional homesteads. This orchid is an epiphytic, a plant that grows on top of another – in this case on…Read More »
Wild Cotton
The scientific name for Wild Cotton is Gossypium herbaceum. The Genus name Gossypium is from the Arabic word “goz” which means soft substance. Gossypium is Latin for “cotton” and herbaceum means herbaceous. This shrub is endemic to South Africa, occurring…Read More »
Corkbush
Quite common in the area round KwaMbili is a small shrub called the Corkbush. It has a relatively light green leaf compared to the rest of the foliage and – unbelievably – it is used for fishing! But not in…Read More »
A giraffe’s “extraordinary net”
Giraffe will generally drink about 12 litres of water a day but a large bull can consume up to 48 litres. With their long necks one might wonder how they manage when lowering their heads to drink. The heart of…Read More »
A zebra’s bacteria
Zebra never appear thin, and this has to do with a very special form of “friendship”. A zebra’s digestive system contains 37 different types of bacteria adding up to thousands in total. These bacteria digest what the zebra has eaten…Read More »
Lappet-faced vultures
During game drives it is not uncommon to see vultures resting in the trees but on this particular day it had been fairly cool and a bit gusty earlier on so there was not much birdlife to see until we…Read More »
How the leopard got…
There is a wonderful story about why a leopard has spots or, more precisely, rosettes. It goes like this… “There was once an Ethiopian man who hunted with his pet leopard. The man and the leopard soon realized that they…Read More »
An elephants built-in water…
You may have noticed elephants with a leakage from their temporal glands. This means that they are experiencing some kind of stress. It could be a female worried about protecting her calf or simply heat stress. Interestingly, there have been…Read More »
