Emerald Resort: Animal World

The Emerald Resort & Casino is situated an hour’s drive south of Johannesburg and it has accommodation, an animal world, games drives, a casino, and a water park.  Bright and early on the morning that we were there, we took my god daughter Keira to the Animal World.

(Click on any of the images for enlargements)

Crocodile, Hippopotamus, Black-Necked Swan and Purple-Crested Loerie

We took a walk past the crocodiles and hippos and then into the bird aviary where they had all sorts of birds from all over the world living together.

Scarlet Ibis, snakes and terrapins

As always, I enjoyed the section with the reptiles and snakes because I am weird like that (deathly scared of the American house cockroach but enamoured with spiders and snakes).

Meerkats

Meerkat means lake or marsh cat in Afrikaans so strictly speaking, the plural would be meerkatte as opposed to meerkats.  Stephen and I had good fun watching the meerkats being fed and we made scores of witty jokes about Compare the Meerkat to the bemusement of those around us.  Of course, meerkats come from Southern Africa not Eastern Europe so the adverts are even more rubbish than they were to begin with.

African Crested Porcupines

African Crested Porcupines are famous for their black and white quills and most visitors to national parks will pick up a couple of the quills to take home with them.  Did you know that porcupines are rodents? 

Nile Crocodile, Water Mongoose, Black Lemur and Brown Lemur

The Nile Crocodile is found all the way down Africa to Zimbabwe but were first thought to only exist in the Nile Delta.  They are huge and vicious and I love the ridges on their tales.  The Water Mongoose is related to the Meerkats above (as they are a member of the mongoose family) and the Black and Brown Lemurs come from Madagascar.

Black Swan

The black swan was once used as a reference for an unobtainable goal as Europeans thought that they did not exist.  They were first sighted by Europeans in Australia in 1697.

Ruffed Lemur, Steenbok, Vervet Monkey and Baboon

Steenbok is another Afrikaans word which means stone buck so the plural would be steenbokke.  Unlike most African antelope, they are solitary creatures and do not run in herds.  I am absolutely besotted with all antelope, especially our African species. 

Just a note, if you ever encounter a vervet monkey in the wild, do not be taken by their rather cute and friendly faces.  They are really vicious little things (but still don’t deserve to be locked in a cage).

Lions

I have been mad about lions for as long as I can remember and my mum tells me it is because I held one as a toddler (I held a monkey too and have a similar fascination).  Lions are known for sleeping most of the day but they do like to roam at night and sadly, there was no room here to do so.

Hyena, Lions, Wild Dogs and Chilean Flamingos

I love the look of hyenas and spent a long time trying to get a photo of the shy female above.  Wild dogs are not as pretty but they are one of the most endangered breeds of animals in South Africa, with only 3,000 to 5,000 left.  They remain in peril even after at least 15 years of targeted conservation efforts.

Pygmy Hippopotamus

Pygmy hippopotami come from West African countries such as Liberia, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.  They are endangered too due to loss of habitat and, of course, war.

Weaver, Orange Bishop Weavers, Red River Hog and Common Squirrel Monkey

Weaver birds are so named because of the nests that they weave and I was thrilled to get a photo of one weaving. Usually, when we refer to “Weavers” we are referring to the yellow variety and all others are referred to by type, such as the Orange Bishop Weaver. The Orange Bishop Weavers were everywhere to be found in Emerald Palace Resort and are quite beautiful.

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South Africa is known for its many national parks and conservation centres where animals are kept in areas as close to their natural habitats as possible. Unfortunately, Animal World is not one of those places and it is closer to a zoo than a safari experience.

I'm not a fan of animals in cages and I am also not a fan of animals so far from their natural habitat. Even though the Lion and Rhino Park north of Johannesburg had tigers and jaguars (from Asia and South America, respectively), they were involved in some serious rescue and conservation operations. 

My favourite place would have to be the Lion Park, also north of Johannesburg.  They breed and raise lion cubs there and are involved in efforts to rescue the endangered status of the white lion.  Your best bet if you are visiting South Africa is go to to one of the proper national parks such as Kruger National Park or Sabie Sabie.

See:

Holiday: Johannesburg 2006
South Africa 2009: Lion and Rhino Park part 1
South Africa 2009: Lion and Rhino Park part 2

Caged

This photo epitomises everything I don’t like about zoos.  Monkeys should barely know what barbed wire feels like, never mind be left grasping it in boredom and captivity.  I thought I’d post this photo separately, along with my negative sentiments, because I did go to an “animal world” with my god daughter in South Africa and wouldn’t want to ruin the entire post with my whining.

I liked this photo because it came out exactly as I wanted it to.  I wanted to focus on the monkey’s little hand and I had taken it with this exact sentiment in mind.

I also like that I resisted the urge to touch the monkey’s hand.  As cute as they look, they are more vicious than you can ever imagine and I would not have fingers with which to type had I given in to temptation.

Not to mention that wild animals and monkeys should not be subjected to the random touch of inquisitive humans.  The only time that has felt right is when I’ve been in animal rehabilitation, conservation or breeding centres.

The Vaal River at Emerald Palace

We only stayed one night at the Emerald Palace Casino and resort in the Vaal River in December.  After the brilliant African sunset of the previous evening, we woke up to a typical, cloudy summer’s morning.  In the summer months in Johannesburg and the province of Gauteng, it is the rainy season and all of that beautiful greenery you see in the photo above is courtesy of the incessant rain!  If you enlarge the photo above (by clicking on it) you can just make out the Vaal River winding past the boat house.

It didn’t look to bad from our vantage point up in the hills but the Vaal River was filled to capacity in December.  Just before Christmas, news had broken that the Vaal Dam was overflowing and that it was 101% full with four sluice gates open.  Well, by the time this photo was taken on 27 December, it was more like 110% and all five sluice gates were open.

Being of a daring nature, we decided to walk on down to the river and spot this hadeda (a kind of ibis).  Hadedas are known for their obnoxious and loud cries as they fly over people’s houses at 4am in the morning and they also lay their eggs in the most inconvenient of places.

It was both thrilling and frightening to see the Vaal River this full.  It hadn’t burst its banks at that stage but it is certainly not safe to play any water sports on the river or the dam when it is in this state.

Of course, my four-and-a-half-year-old godchild is infinitely braver than I am and she took a nice walk right along the bank while I got dizzy and sea-sick.

This is one of my favourite photos of all time and I might print it out and frame it.  There is just something so South African about this scene.  I could have focused more on the house and brought it down to a third of the picture but then you wouldn’t be able to see just how much sky there is in Johannesburg.  Well, this homesick meisiekind is going to make some nice English tea and watch some nice American tea and glare at the not-so-nice cold weather outside.

That reminds me.  The major difference between English and South African cloudy weather and rain?  It is cold in England! What a shock that was to my system to not see steam rising up from the pavement when it rained!

Sunset in the African Wild

... or my heart belongs in the African Bush.

It is not easy to explain to people how it feels to be South African and how it feels to be away from South Africa. Many South Africans dream of a better job market, less crime and improved infrastructure so that they can go home one day.  It is often physically painful to think about what we have left behind, especially when we are reminded of the awe-inspiring beauty of our home country.

Scenes like this sunset at Emerald Palace Casino and Resort on the Vaal River sustain me and fill up my soul until I can return.

We spent one night at the resort a month ago today.  We went with our friends, Sara, Donovan and Keira, who used to feature frequently in this blog when they lived in Surrey.  At sunset, Keira and I went for a walk to capture the sunset.  If you look at the photos above, you can see the lightning conductors which look like very tall poles.  Those are there because we have violent electrical storms all over the “highveld” in South Africa which is where I used to live.  The lightning conductor poles are there to protect the little cabins (we call them rondawels) as they have thatched roofs. 

This is possibly my Favourite Photo of All Time.  I have always been fascinated by guinea fowl which are plump little birds with white polka-dot spots on their black feathers.   They absolutely do not blend into the African landscape.  If you enlarge the photo above, you can spot two guinea fowl in the branches of what looks to be a baobab tree.

I could have remained there for hours just watching the sun disappear past the horizon but thankfully Keira reminded that there are more important things to do in the life of a four-and-a-half-year-old.

The Moon in Africa…

…still looks like the moon.

It is strange.  I had just begun to really feel that London is ‘home’ and now I have come back to Johannesburg and it is amazing and I feel at home again.  So much has changed here in approximately 18 months and it is all for the better.  Crime is still a major problem and there is currently very little work available so I guess that every silver lining has a cloud.  I have very little Internet access at the moment and have spent all my time with family and friends who no doubt appreciate their privacy so I’m afraid that there is little that I can post on my blog at the moment.  I’m certainly enjoying the technological break!