Latest News - December 2020
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Apologies for the lateness of this newsletter – it has been a crazy week! But belated greetings to you again from sunny South Africa, where things are slowly returning to a form of normality after most of the restrictions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted at the beginning of November. Included amongst these was a removal of the international flight ban – excellent news from a Close Encounters point of view, as it means that all of the tours scheduled for 2021 can now go ahead as planned. It seems such a long time since we last ran a trip – we cannot wait to get back on tour with you once again! There are only a few spots that are still open – if you want to get out and about in the wide open spaces of Africa, get onto our website and book as quickly as you can.
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The coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage all of the countries in the northern hemisphere as winter sets in. The USA is breaking all kinds of records, in terms of new daily cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. The Thanksgiving holiday and the upcoming Christmas season did not and are not going to help, either – medical professionals are tearing their hair out at the thought of the “superspreader” events that have already and are about to occur. Please follow all of the guidelines, wear a mask, and take care of yourself during what we here in South Africa refer to as “the silly season”.
For those of you that prefer Instagram to Facebook, we have now started to mirror most of our daily posts on this social media platform as well. There are some limitations (pictures have to conform to a certain aspect ratio, and videos cannot be longer than one minute), so not all of our posts will appear, but most of them will. We have also started to backpost some of our more popular Facebook features from earlier in the year. Click on this link to have a look: https://www.instagram.com/closeencountersadventures/
December is the traditional prime vacation season in South Africa, but many people here are wondering what this end-of-year period is going to look like after such a crazy 2020. There seems to be a fairly even split between those that are determined to travel after being cooped up for so long, and those that will elect to stay home for the holidays. But this is not the time to throw caution out of the window, and South Africa cannot afford another wave of coronavirus infections. Let us hope that everyone applies a bit of common sense (which is a misnomer, because rational thought is often not very common)!
Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and we will speak with you again early in January. Best wishes to you and your loved ones, and hopefully we can all look forward to a wonderful and prosperous 2021!
Mike Leicester
Editor
For those of you that prefer Instagram to Facebook, we have now started to mirror most of our daily posts on this social media platform as well. There are some limitations (pictures have to conform to a certain aspect ratio, and videos cannot be longer than one minute), so not all of our posts will appear, but most of them will. We have also started to backpost some of our more popular Facebook features from earlier in the year. Click on this link to have a look: https://www.instagram.com/closeencountersadventures/
December is the traditional prime vacation season in South Africa, but many people here are wondering what this end-of-year period is going to look like after such a crazy 2020. There seems to be a fairly even split between those that are determined to travel after being cooped up for so long, and those that will elect to stay home for the holidays. But this is not the time to throw caution out of the window, and South Africa cannot afford another wave of coronavirus infections. Let us hope that everyone applies a bit of common sense (which is a misnomer, because rational thought is often not very common)!
Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and we will speak with you again early in January. Best wishes to you and your loved ones, and hopefully we can all look forward to a wonderful and prosperous 2021!
Mike Leicester
Editor
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that the restrictions applicable to international air travel in South Africa have been modified to allow incoming flights from all countries. The only remaining requirement is that passengers will have to present a negative COVID-19 test result not older than 72 hours from the date of departure.
This means that all of the Close Encounters tours scheduled to take place during 2021 can go ahead as planned. We cannot wait to welcome you to our "world in one country"!
This means that all of the Close Encounters tours scheduled to take place during 2021 can go ahead as planned. We cannot wait to welcome you to our "world in one country"!
Upcoming tours
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South African Spirit
September 24 - October 8 2021 (14 nights) Only 6 spots open! The trip starts off with a tour to Soweto, then moves on to the incredible Walkers River Camp in the Timbavati, where the group will spend 5 nights at this game viewing paradise. This is followed by 3 days of fun and adventure on the Panorama Route, and then 4 more days in the magnificent city of Cape Town. Grab this opportunity to get one of the spots before they are all taken. You will not be disappointed! Click here to see the detailed itinerary. |
Focus on conservation
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Sea Lions?
Research by respected scientist P.E. Stander has revealed that the desert-adapted lions eking out a living on the harsh northwest coast of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast National Park (SCNP) are once again specializing in hunting seals and coastal birds such as flamingos and cormorants, after an absence of 35 years. They have also been seen feeding on brown hyenas and beached pilot whale carcasses. Lions disappeared from this hostile, remote coast during the 1980s due to intense human-lion conflict, but since 2002 have gradually re-colonized the area after a successful community-based conservancy model was implemented, and the growth of tourism in the area. |
These lions have only recently, after a period of 35 years, again started to utilize the rich marine resources, with as much as 80% of their diet in the past 18 months consisting of seals and birds.
The last SCNP lions were killed off by 1990, shot or poisoned by livestock farmers on the fringes of this narrow national park. Then, in 1997, a group of 20 desert-adapted lions was discovered in the mountainous eastern edge of the Namib Desert.
The population appeared to be thriving, thanks to periods of good rains, a growing Namibian tourism industry and a successful program to generate benefits for local communities from the tourism industry, although there were some issues related to human-wildlife conflict and trophy hunting.
During the poor 2017 rainfall period, the lions started visiting the coastal area to utilize the marine resources. Three young lionesses, orphaned at the age of less than one year when their mother died of natural causes, found their way across the dunes to an island in a fresh-water spring on the coast, and survived by hunting cormorants, flamingos and teals. They then moved on to scavenging off seal carcasses, and later progressed to hunting and killing at first juvenile and then adult seals.
The last SCNP lions were killed off by 1990, shot or poisoned by livestock farmers on the fringes of this narrow national park. Then, in 1997, a group of 20 desert-adapted lions was discovered in the mountainous eastern edge of the Namib Desert.
The population appeared to be thriving, thanks to periods of good rains, a growing Namibian tourism industry and a successful program to generate benefits for local communities from the tourism industry, although there were some issues related to human-wildlife conflict and trophy hunting.
During the poor 2017 rainfall period, the lions started visiting the coastal area to utilize the marine resources. Three young lionesses, orphaned at the age of less than one year when their mother died of natural causes, found their way across the dunes to an island in a fresh-water spring on the coast, and survived by hunting cormorants, flamingos and teals. They then moved on to scavenging off seal carcasses, and later progressed to hunting and killing at first juvenile and then adult seals.
Shoreline snippets
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Submarine photobombs whale pic
Simon’s Town resident Tracy-Lee Wise captured a once in a lifetime image when she photographed a whale in mid-air being photobombed by South African submarine. “I had been hoping to capture a whale breaching for the last few weeks, but as they are so unpredictable haven’t had much success. It came together so beautifully in a way that no one would be able to plan with having the whale breaching and the submarine so close together. It all boiled down to right time, right place,” Wise said when interviewed. |
While whales and the submarine are often spotted around these waters, images of the two so close together and in the same frame are rare.
“Due to so many sightings of whales along the coastline lately between Simon’s Town and Fish Hoek I had spent the day heading from beach to beach to try and capture them. It was my fourth trip down to Long Beach, Simon’s Town for that day, which is when I spotted a whale swimming close to the shoreline,” said Wise.
“In the beginning it wasn’t very active, only being able to see its back as it swam along before it disappeared completely. Then suddenly, without warning, it started to breach in front of the submarine and that is when I started snapping away,” said Wise.
The photobombing submarine, identified as the SAS Manthatisi (S101), was making its way out of the Simon's Town harbor when it interjected Wise’s shot. According to the navy, the sub is smoking because it is running its diesel generator to charge its batteries needed for use underwater.
“Due to so many sightings of whales along the coastline lately between Simon’s Town and Fish Hoek I had spent the day heading from beach to beach to try and capture them. It was my fourth trip down to Long Beach, Simon’s Town for that day, which is when I spotted a whale swimming close to the shoreline,” said Wise.
“In the beginning it wasn’t very active, only being able to see its back as it swam along before it disappeared completely. Then suddenly, without warning, it started to breach in front of the submarine and that is when I started snapping away,” said Wise.
The photobombing submarine, identified as the SAS Manthatisi (S101), was making its way out of the Simon's Town harbor when it interjected Wise’s shot. According to the navy, the sub is smoking because it is running its diesel generator to charge its batteries needed for use underwater.
Folklore & legends
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The man-eaters of Tsavo
For nine months in 1898, workers on the British Kenya-Uganda Railway were terrorized, attacked, and eaten by two enormous lions. At least 35 people, and possibly as many as 135 (depending on the source), were killed by the lions, nicknamed “the Ghost" and "the Darkness” (later to become the name of a major Hollywood movie starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas). The railway project was established to link Mombasa in Kenya to Lake Victoria in Uganda, in order to create a trade route for raw materials and British goods between the two countries. The project relied on the skills of thousands of imported Sikh laborers from British India along with local laborers. The lions were only one of many problems encountered during the construction process. To start with, much of the route crossed through Maasai tribal lands. In 1895, 500 workers were killed by the Maasai in retaliation for the alleged rape of two Maasai girls. Then from March to December 1898, the lions began to pick off the workers. Efforts to barricade the work camps failed, and the laborers became increasingly terrified. It fell to railway engineer John Henry Patterson (pictured) to stalk and kill the man-eaters. Patterson was a skilled marksman, but not a professional hunter. He finally tracked and killed the first lion in December of 1898, and then shot the second lion three weeks later. |
In the wake of his heroism, Patterson went on to become a game warden in Kenya, and the book he wrote in 1907 about his time in Africa has become a classic of adventure writing.
In 1924, Patterson visited the Chicago Field Museum to give a talk on his experiences with the man-eaters of Tsavo. After seeing the collections and receiving an enthusiastic welcome, he offered the remains of the lions, which had served as trophy rugs in his home for 25 years, to the museum for $5,000. The hides were used to construct a life-sized exhibit of the two animals, and they are still on display in the museum together with their skulls.
In 1924, Patterson visited the Chicago Field Museum to give a talk on his experiences with the man-eaters of Tsavo. After seeing the collections and receiving an enthusiastic welcome, he offered the remains of the lions, which had served as trophy rugs in his home for 25 years, to the museum for $5,000. The hides were used to construct a life-sized exhibit of the two animals, and they are still on display in the museum together with their skulls.
Creature corner
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Lions inhabit grasslands and savannas, but are absent from dense forests and jungles, contrary to popular belief. They are usually more diurnal than other big cats, but when persecuted they adapt to being active at night and at twilight. In the Pleistocene period, lions ranged throughout Eurasia, Africa and North America, but today they have been reduced to fragmented populations in sub-Saharan Africa and one critically endangered population in western India.
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Feather feature
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Common Name: Bateleur
Binomial Name: Terathopius ecaudatus Status: Fairly common resident Red List Status: Near Threatened The Bateleur is a medium-sized eagle endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, and they are commonly seen in the north-eastern game reserves of South Africa. Its name translates from French as “showman” or “tumbler”, derived from the bird’s characteristic habit of rocking its wings or tilting action from side to side when gliding, as if catching its balance. |
Did you know?
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Elon Musk was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa. He moved to Canada when he was 17, and then to the USA two years later. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer/designer of SpaceX, and the co-founder, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc. He is listed by Forbes as being within the top 25 richest people in the world.
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Words of wisdom
"Africa is not just a place, it is a feeling. Africa is the heart of the world and there are only a few of us who have been touched by her. Africa defines our soul and people can feel it, people just know..."
Unknown author
Unknown author