Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
How do “the seasons” actually work in southwest Western Australia?
In 2023 one could reply, “they don’t, anymore!”
However, even back in the “good old days”, anyone who paid attention already knew that “seasons” in WA had precious little to do with any calendar’s dates, nor with European notions of “four seasons”.
This was already the case long before the coining of terms like “global warming”, “climate change” and “the Anthropocene”.
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The featured image, above, shows a most unusual circumstance: desert-adapted elephants right inside the walled, gated, “tourist accommodation” section of northern Namibia’s Palmwag Lodge.
The “invasion” was unexpected but it was not at all violent – nobody was attacked, no buildings were damaged, and no trees or bushes were uprooted or seriously hurt.
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Jimbo – this chapter’s star individual – is an adult, desert-adapted elephant.
As is generally true of adult bull elephants, his is a mostly-solitary existence.
Only two nations are now home to desert-adapted elephants: Mali and Namibia.
Namibia’s live in that nation’s northwestern corner (some of them do set foot in the southwest corner of Angola) – an area long known as “Damaraland”, although the currently-preferred name is “the Kunene Region”.
Contrary to popular misconception, they do not comprise a separate species; desert elephants and African bush elephants (aka “African savanna elephants”) are fellow members of Loxodonta Africana, the current world’s largest terrestrial mammal species.
The desert-dwellers are very different/distinctive, but what sets them well apart from savanna/bush elephants is largely a matter of behaviour/culture rather than genetics.
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I really loved the pictured signpost.
We did indeed see Jimbo, not very many metres away from it; neither he nor we encroached upon the other’s “personal space”.
Jimbo himself will star in this little trilogy’s second chapter.
“3” will feature some other desert-adapted elephants; their behaviour was much more unexpected/unusual.
All three chapters involve the same northwestern Namibian location, inland from the Skeleton Coast.
Overlooking the sweeping northern Damaraland landscape, the peaceful oasis of Palmwag Lodge & Campsite is set amid swaying palms, robust mopane trees and rich red rock.
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Generally, when Australian humans think of bees, they are thinking of Apis mellifera, the so-called “western” – or “European” – honey bee.
When Australian humans venture outdoors, Apis mellifera is the only bee species that most of them ever notice and/or recognise.
Australia has an estimated two thousand native bee species; circa 1,600 of them have been identified.
Around 800 identified species live in Western Australia; many of them live only in some part/s of Western Australia.
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“Our” world is so oversaturated with sensationalism, misrepresentation, haranguing, intolerance, name-calling, “cancelling”, “virtue signalling” and the “100% this versus 100% that” school of argumentation.
It has become an increasingly rare pleasure to read a measured and sensible newspaper article, devoted to a highly contentious topic.
The relevant piece was published this week in the Australian edition of The Guardian.
Fully cognisant of cats’ devastating impact on Australian wildlife, it addresses this question:
can we have cats (as pets) in a sustainable and ethical way?
You may be surprised to know that the answer is yes, albeit yes, if…
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It was late afternoon, on our final “full” day in and around Nagarhole Tiger Reserve.
We were midway through the eighth of our nine Nagarhole wildlife “drives”.
Tiger-wise, time was running out.
We had enjoyed many “close encounters of the wildlife kind”, including one with a very healthy leopard.
On two occasions we had seen a tiger…just, fleetingly.
On more than two other occasions our ears had provided unmistakable evidence that a leopard or tiger was “on the prowl”, nearby.
However, at 4.52 pm on 07 March it appeared likely that we were not going to experience any 2023-vintage, visual “close encounter of the tiger kind”.
I took the featured photo – above – at 4.58 pm.
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Imagine an English-speaking tiger, asked to describe the deer in this post’s featured image.
”Delicious”, might be the tiger’s reply.
You are looking at #1 and #2 on the list of species most preyed on by India’s tigers – respectively, sambar and chital/spotted deer.
As you can see, all five deer are definitely not relaxed.
Drinking and having “a good look around” are not simultaneously-possible; the pictured chital are in “eyes down” mode.
The sambar calf is looking at its mother.
However, you can see that the ears of all five deer are open, alert.
If you wish to see tigers (or leopards) in the wild, your ears are your most useful organs.
Big cats’ hunting success is stealth-dependent; they are highly unlikely to make sounds that betray their presence.
Your very quiet self should be focused on hearing the alarm calls which “prey” animals make whenever they notice a predator.
Comments closedIf you wish to see tigers “in the wild”, India is your best destination.
It contains circa 25% of the world’s remaining tiger habitat, but India is currently home to around 75% of “our” globe’s wild tigers.
There is no such thing as a reliable estimate of India’s wild tiger population, let alone the world’s.
The likely-best available figures come from the Global Tiger Forum.
On 10 September 2023, Global Tiger Forum published its latest global estimate: 5,574.
That is 74% higher than their 2010 figure. (click here for more detail)
It is impossible to know how much of the apparent increase reflects better monitoring rather than actual increase.
That said, there are grounds for believing that in some nations – India, especially – wild tiger numbers really are rising, after many years of steep decline towards seemingly-inevitable extinction.
This little series looks at Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, south India.
The featured image and the one immediately below show what the local tiger habitat looks like.
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On Sicily’s northwestern corner, Erice sits atop a very steep hill, 750 metres above the Mediterranean.
Highly picturesque and spectacularly-located, it is essentially-medieval, but this village’s history extends very much further – Erice was conquered rather than created by ancient Greeks.
As the photo illustrates, some 21st century visitors to Erice find it difficult to recognise exactly what they are looking at…
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