Wildlife in Wilderness

Being a GVI intern in the Garden Route allows me to work and travel around to 3 different parks. The three parks where I can work are: Tsitsikamma NP, Knysna NP and Wilderness NP. As I do most of my work for the Tsitsikamma section it is always a nice thing when I am needed in one of the other parks.

Last week for example I went to the Wilderness NP to guide some school groups on the river with a canoe. Considering it was nice and sunny not a bad job at all, somebody has got to do it ;-). As always, coming to Wilderness is quite nice, everybody seems even more friendly than in Tsitsikamma (if that is even possible). And as a bonus I can stay within the actual park so there is enough wildlife to see.

When it comes to wildlife, I am a fanatic photographer and was struggling this particular time with getting a decent picture of the beautiful Knysna Loerie. It is a lovely bird but it just won’t sit still. After running around with my camera almost all weekend I went to work at the office on Monday. And there were at least 8 Loerie's always around having a drink at a little basin almost all day long. I could not believe what I was seeing. So after 10 minutes of waiting I have got more than I could have ever hoped for.

Sometimes you just have to be lucky though. On a random Saturday walking around in the Tsitsikamma NP me and my group stumbled up on an African (Jackass) Penguin. This bird is seldom seen in the National Park, and is another species for my ever growing ''collection'' of animals that I have seen and took a picture of.

My next ''mission'' is to get a picture of the bird that is called Narina Trogon and is according to most people the most beautiful forest bird around, but even more elusive than the Loerie. So I guess it is a good thing that I am here for a year in total, which should increase my changes considerably.

Posted by: Joris Wiersinga (GVI Intern: Garden Route National Park)

Date posted: 07 October 2011

Photos: Knysna Loerie and African (Jackass) Penguin

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Wildlife in Wilderness