One of the great privileges of living in the Crocodile River Reserve is sharing your space with free-roaming wildlife. But when baboons and monkeys start helping themselves to your kitchen, what can you actually do about it?
Justin guided us through a carefully curated selection from the CRR’s impressive bird list — and while covering all 255 recorded species in one morning was never going to be possible, he chose beautifully. The majestic Brown Snake Eagle, the charismatic Arrow-marked Babbler, the humble Dove, the mystical Grass Owl and the very special Orange River Francolin were among the stars of the show. The presentation was, however, occasionally — and hilariously — interrupted by a group of Hadeda Ibis who clearly felt they deserved a mention too.
In total we had 52 attending the CRR 2024 School Holiday Programme over the four days in July 2024.
We hope that all the children who attended have happy memories of the time they spent with us in the CRR and have taken away with them a deeper understanding of the natural world, and the importance of caring for it.
What a ride! The CRR’s annual fund raising cycling challenge took place Sunday 29th October 2023. Despite the anticipation of it very possibly ‘raining on our parade’ the Ride the Rhenoster event’s team and volunteers, and a group of determined cyclists, showed up at the Four Wheel Drive Club of SA to face whatever this ride might bring. Hangovers were ignored, and spirits were particularly high thanks to the incredible win by our champion Springboks. To everyone’s delight the sun came out and the rain held off just long enough for the very last riders to come in and even have a tasty boerewors or salad roll, and a beer at the bar or a revitalizing coffee from MK. Some exciting changes to the route this year gave riders new experiences and a change in scenery. We hope to see everyone again next year!
2023 Ride the Rhenoster happens on Sunday 29th October 2023. This Event Guide shows the Marshall Points and Tracks here, along with your directions to the venue and notes for a great event.
The Crocodile River Reserve’s 15th Cycling Challenge, RIDE THE RHENOSTER, was truly a day to remember!
With riders doing either a 20km or a 40km route traversing both the Eastern and Western sides of the Reserve this is an event that cannot be described in a one or two lines with only a few photos! Riders, organizers, volunteers and supporters all worked together to make this an outstanding event, and the Crocodile River Reserve would like to thank each and every single one of them.
The 2022 photography event with Shane Rourke proved that an excellent way to experience nature is through the lens of a camera, even if that camera is on your phone.
Regardless of whether you were a complete novice or an experienced photographer you went away having learned something new. Everything from technical questions, the correct lens for a specific subject, and features and apps on your phone for editing was covered in this interesting and informative talk.
Over 40 people attended the Urban Wildlife talk by the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital and Rehabilitation Facility. This event was held on Sunday the 18th April 2021. Everyone involved deemed it an absolute hit. It was wonderful to see the number of children in the audience who participated with great enthusiasm!
The Tree Walk held in the Crocodile River Reserve offered an insightful and easy to understand introduction to the day, starting with the structure of leaves and how to use this to identify a tree. What followed was a walk through the beautiful veld of the Reserve during which we identified a variety of trees – such as the fascinating underground tree Lannae Aedulis, the Diospyros Lycioides (Blue Bush), the common but beautiful Acacia Karroo (Sweet Thorn) and the Protea Caffra Trees but to name a few.
The ripe fruits of the Ximenia Caffra or Sourplum are eaten by birds such as barbets, bulbuls and starlings and mammals such as giraffe, impala, kudu, grey duiker, steenbok, bushbuck and eland enjoy eating it’s leaves. The larvae of a number of butterflies feed on the leaves, some examples being the Bush Scarlet butterfly, Natal and Silvery bar, Bowker’s and Saffron sapphire and the Brown playboy.
