Don’t forget the li’l guys

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I’ve spent time in several Southern African game parks – it’s my favourite pastime. When I first started visiting the Kruger Park, I kind of remembered the trips by the number of times I saw lion. Or leopards. Or, best of all, wild dogs. It took me a good few outings to realise there’s more to a game park than the big five. Or the big anything, for that matter. I’ve been to the Mountain Zebra and Addo parks several times but never seen a lion (which I believe they do have in their menageries).

Having said all that, my last trip to the Kruger broke all records in terms of lions. I saw a total of 28 lions in 10 days. It may be that I saw the same lion more than once, but I won’t tell anyone if you don’t. However, I have had a few Kruger trips when I didn’t see a lion at all, which is almost unheard of. When I say I didn’t see one, I mean one close enough to take a photograph of and which you would then be able to recognise as a lion. The thing is, there are many other very interesting sightings, if you allow yourself to think beyond the quest for the big five.

The picture above is of a common little Southern African tree squirrel (real name, Paraxerus Cepapi). It’s only about 350  centimetres long, of which half is taken up by its tail, and it tips the scale at about 200 grams. August is the mating season for these little guys and their offspring are born between October and November. At only 19 days, the youngsters are already able to forage for themselves.

Like many other visitors to the drier parks, I have loads of pictures of squirrels. They’re usually a lot easier to find and photograph than any of the big five and watching them for half an hour or more will provide you with a whole heap more entertainment that watching the king of the jungle – who’s usually sleeping it off during the day, anyway.

There’s much to see in the game parks – and it’s not all royalty.