Mountain Zebra National Park

2 December 2014 by Alan

Holiday fun at Mountain Zebra National Park

Guided game drives and walks, identifying birds, visits to rock painting sites and animal tracking are just some of the activities geared to keep the youngsters entertained at Mountain Zebra National Park this December. Day visitors and overnight guests with children between the ages of six and 16 will be pleased to know that the …

Day visitors and overnight guests with children between the ages of six and 16 will be pleased to know that the park will once again offer a two-week long holiday programme from 8 to 21 December. Aimed at both the young as well as the young at heart, most activities are free of charge, except for the game drives, which are offered only to the youngsters at a reduced rate.

DATE	TIME	ACTIVITY
Monday 8 December	08h00 – 10h00	A guided game drive at a cost of R75 per child
Tuesday 9 December	08h10 – 10h10	A guided 1km walk on the Imbila hiking trail inside the fenced area of the park
Wednesday 10 December	10h00 – 12h00	DVD morning (such as Madagascar)
Thursday 11 December	11h00 – 12h00	A guided game drive to a rock painting site inside the park at a cost of R75 per child
Friday 12 December	12h00 – 13h00	Get to know your birds
Saturday 13 December	17h00 – 20h00	DVD evening (such as African cats and the Story of an African Farm)
Sunday 14 December	09h00 – 11h30	A guided walk on the 2.5km Black Eagle hiking trail inside the fenced area of the park. Wear a sun hat, good walking shoes and sunblock
Monday 15 December	10h00 – 12h30	Signs of the wild: animal tracks and tracking
Tuesday 16 December	09h00 – 10h00	Environmental games for kids: are you a mammal or reptile?
Wednesday 17 December	09h10 – 11h10	A guided game drive at a cost of R75 per child
Thursday 18 December	10h00 – 12h00	Story telling session: the history of the park and animal folk stories
Friday 19 December	11h00 – 12h00	A guided game drive to a rock painting site inside the park at a cost of R75 per child
Saturday 20 December	09h00 – 11h30	A guided walk on the 2.5km Black Eagle hiking trail inside the fenced area of the park. Wear a sun hat, good walking shoes and sunblock
Sunday 21 December	10h00 – 12h30	Signs of the wild: animal tracks and tracking

Please note that some of the activities may be cancelled due to bad weather conditions. Entry/conservation fees are payable upon entry for all visitors, including holiday programme participants. Bookings are essential due to limited numbers. For further information or for bookings, please contact 048 881 2427 or 071 4691 050.

Category: NewsTag: Mountain Zebra National Park

9 June 2014 by Alan

Images of Mountain Zebra’s Cheetah Cubs

The Mountain Zebra National Park’s seven cheetah cubs are a few months old now and they’re all doing well. Samara’s three cubs were born at end December or beginning January and have been moving around quite a bit with their mother. The three, who make up her first litter, were born in the mountainous Kranskop …

The Mountain Zebra National Park’s seven cheetah cubs are a few months old now and they’re all doing well.

Samara’s three cubs were born at end December or beginning January and have been moving around quite a bit with their mother. The three, who make up her first litter, were born in the mountainous Kranskop area.

Nixi’s four cubs were born in February and spent most of their first months in the den, which is also in the south-western Kranskop area. With both cheetah, the dens used were not a hole in the ground (as people might imagine) but under a dense shrub which protected them from the elements and other predators.

The fact that the cheetah mothers chose the remote and mountainous area of the Park to have their cubs is most likely a reaction to the presence of lions, which do not frequent the southern mountainous slopes.

It’s not yet known if the little ones are male or female since this is difficult to establish from a distance in the long grass. The Park’s animals are not handled as they are wild and SANParks practices a policy of minimum interference in nature. Interference and handling with the purpose of assisting an animal is only allowed if a threatened species – such as cheetah – is in danger due to injury or if it is necessary to manage the population.

Both litters of cubs are fathered by Phinda, a male introduced from a KwaZulu-Natal reserve in June last year as part of a genetic exchange programme to introduce new genes into the Park’s cheetah population.

All of the Park’s cheetah were on contraception to limit the population from increasing too quickly but three females were taken off contraception so that they could have cubs. After introducing lions in April 2013, there was a possibility of conflict between the two predators which might lead to cheetah numbers declining, hence the decision was made to allow the population to expand. These cubs mean that the cheetah have successfully come off contraception (cheetah are quite sensitive and in some cases do not breed that easily after contraception) and also that the genetic health of the population has been improved. There are now 12 cheetah in the Park (including the cubs).

Recently, a number of visitors have been lucky enough to spot the cheetah cubs while on drives in the Park. The cubs have been seen on various occasions on the Rooiplaat Loop, along the main entrance road and on the Juriesdam 4×4 loop. Some visitors have even posted photos of the cubs on the Park’s Facebook group: SANParks – Mountain Zebra National Park.

Visitors have the chance of spotting cheetah on one of the Park’s cheetah tracking activities (where a cheetah is tracked by means of radio telemetry on foot with an experienced guide), a guided game drive or a self-drive game viewing outing.

Category: NewsTag: Cheetah Cubs, Mountain Zebra National Park

6 June 2014 by Alan

Mountain Zebra Lion Kill

All indications are that the three lion introduced into Mountain Zebra National Park outside Cradock in April last year have settled down well in their new home. The three, one lioness and two males became the first free-roaming lions in the area after an absence of over 130 years. They were the third predator species …

All indications are that the three lion introduced into Mountain Zebra National Park outside Cradock in April last year have settled down well in their new home.
The three, one lioness and two males became the first free-roaming lions in the area after an absence of over 130 years. They were the third predator species in the Park – after the introduction of cheetah in 2007 and brown hyena in 2008.

Park Manager, Megan Taplin, says it appears as if the two feline species are co-existing peacefully. “We allowed the cheetah to first establish themselves in the Park before introducing lion which may have competed with the cheetah for food. The numbers of large herbivores in the Park such as black wildebeest, red hartebeest, eland and gemsbok have sustained the lion population while cheetah tend to focus on smaller species such as springbok and young antelope,” she said.

Taplin says monitoring has shown that cheetah tended to avoid areas where lion roamed. Although the two species had encountered one another, there appears to have been no major incidents yet, with the cheetah fleeing from the lion when conflict arose.

The lone lioness was sourced from Karoo National Park outside Beaufort West, while the two males were brought in from Welgevonden Game Reserve in Limpopo. The decision to introduce lion into the Park was mainly for biodiversity reasons. “Lions occurred here historically and it is SANParks’ policy to reintroduce the wildlife species which would have occurred in an area before hunting or habitat loss forced them to local extinction in earlier centuries. They are also occupying the niche of large predator in the ecosystem, keeping the numbers of larger herbivores in the Park in check,” said Taplin.

The three were collared so that Park Management could monitor them and rangers and researchers could observe which habitats they use and which species they prey on. After their release, the brothers were mostly seen together, while the lioness has been exploring the Park on her own most of the time and only occasionally meeting up with them.

Apart from their biodiversity value, the introduction of the lion has also added to Mountain Zebra’s tourism value, offering visitors a new species to look out for in the Park. Guests to the Park over the past year have increased by over 14%, compared to the year heading up to the lions’ introduction. Unit occupancy has increased by nearly seven percent while camp site occupancy recorded a four percent increase.

“We are very happy with what our statistics are telling us. Although our primary reason for introducing the lions wasn’t to increase tourism, it’s certainly a welcome effect. The draw card of the lions has introduced more people to the Park’s wonderful landscapes and great game viewing potential. We look forward to building on this in the future as the word spreads and more people are drawn to both the Park and the region,” Taplin concluded.

Lion Kill — This photograph was taken on Thursday 5 June, after the brothers successfully took down a buffalo in the Ebenaezer area of the Park the day before.

Category: NewsTag: Buffalo, Lions, Mountain Zebra National Park

4 June 2014 by Alan

Dream, Believe, Achieve

Mountain Zebra National Park (MZNP) outside Cradock hosted 15 girls from three local high schools under the theme “Dream, Believe, Achieve” on Thursday 29 May. It formed part of the countrywide, annual “Cell C Take a Girl Child to Work Day” initiative. The main objective of the day was to expose the learners to the …

The main objective of the day was to expose the learners to the different professional opportunities which exist in organisations or industries which they may otherwise not have been given access to or been aware of.

MZNP hosted the girls from J.A Calata, Mathew Goniwe and Michausdal High Schools to a productive day in the Park where they participated in job shadowing in different departments, such as Human Resources and Administration, Conservation, Tourism, People and Conservation and Biodiversity Social Projects. They even spent some time in the Park’s Restaurant.

The day’s programme included a motivational talk by Park Manager, Megan Taplin, who encouraged the girls to pursue a career in a field they are passionate about. “If you are passionate about your work, you will love your job and do well in your chosen career,” said Taplin. She also encouraged the girls to adopt the theme of the day “Dream, Believe, Achieve” for the long term in all that they do, adding that positive thinking will go a long way in achieving their career goals. Each girl then received a Certificate of Participation and lunch boxes, courtesy of Cell C.

With the majority of the girls indicating that they’d like to pursue a career in tourism, the day ended off fittingly with a game drive through the Park, before heading home.

Mountain Zebra National Park staff hosted 15 girls from J.A Calata, Matthew Goniwe and Michausdal High Schools as part of the annual “Cell C Take a Girl Child to Work Day” last week.

Category: CommunityTag: Mountain Zebra National Park

11 June 2013 by Alan

Mountain Zebra National Park hosts Girl Child to Work Day programme

The main objective of the day was expose the girls to the different professional opportunities which exist in industry which they may otherwise not have been given access to or have been aware of. The learners, from Mathew Goniwe and Michausdal High Schools, spent a productive day in the Park, with their Cell C-branded drawstrings …

The main objective of the day was expose the girls to the different professional opportunities which exist in industry which they may otherwise not have been given access to or have been aware of.

The learners, from Mathew Goniwe and Michausdal High Schools, spent a productive day in the Park, with their Cell C-branded drawstrings bags and note books and pens never far off for note-taking purposes. After an educational talk themed “Empower a Girl. Empower a nation.” the girls got to do some job shadowing in the Park’s different departments, such as Human Resources and Administration, Conservation, Tourism, People and Conservation and Working for Water.

The programme included a motivational talk by Park Manager, Megan Taplin, who told the girls she hoped the day opened their eyes to the varied careers that are on offer in a national park, especially conservation and tourism. “I encourage you to be yourselves and do all you can to get where you want to be in life. We hope to see some of you applying for jobs in the Park in the future. Remember, never let anyone tell you you can’t do a particular job. If you want it, you can do it,” she said. She then awarded each of the girls with a certificate of participation, and the day’s programme concluded with a game drive during which time the girls could explore the Park’s flora and fauna.

Taplin says, “The management of Mountain Zebra National Park would like to say thank you to Cell C, all the people who participated in the event, especially the girls and the teachers who spent time in the Park, and the headmasters who agreed to participate in the programme.

Category: NewsTag: Mountain Zebra National Park