Amazing Wildlife Photographs

These dramatic pictures show a clash of the titans as a protective elephant mum and a ferocious crocodile get in an epic tug of war in Zambia. The female elephant and her baby were drinking from the Luangwa River in the South Luangwa National Park when they were attacked. Leaping out of the murky waters a vicious crocodile bit down on the female's trunk.

Water gushes from the mum's trunk as she finally shakes the croc, with her baby momentarily tripping over the predator before the pair made off safely. They were seen feeding from the river later in the day.

South Luangwa National Park is well-known for its mighty elephant herds of up to 70 individuals. Measuring 9000 square kilometers, the park has 60 animal species including baboons, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, leopards, lions and hippopotamus.

Hippo Help

This might be the first ever recorded rescue of a baby zebra and wildebeest by the same hippo on the Mara River.

Both were rescued within space of 10 minutes as they crossed over from the Lamai side. The photos and videos were captured by Michael Yule and other guests as they were watching a major wildebeest crossing at the time.

The hippo was watching as the wildebeest herd swam past. As soon as the calf jumped in, the hippo swam up to it and pushed it along all the way across until it had reached safety on the other side.It then went back and did the same for a zebra foal just minutes later.

The wildebeest and zebra are now moving down in large numbers from the Masai Mara across the Lamai plains and crossing the Mara River. Guests of Lemala Camp are witnessing crossings every day.Some of the herds have arrived north of Lobo.

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Table Mountain Cable Car Half Price Special!

Table Mountain Cableway’s famously popular Sunset Special starts on Monday November 1 this year and runs until the end of February 2011. Adults pay R90 per person return while children under 18 years pay R45 per person return after 6pm. Tickets can only be purchased at the Cableway’s Ticket Office from 6pm. Click for more info.

The Cableway operates weather permitting. For information call (021) 424 8181 or visit http://www.tablemountain.net/

“A world in one country”

South Africa has been billed as 'a world in one country', offering a taste of the African experience with the chance to visit traditional tribal villages, game reserves and sprawling townships. At the same time it also offers all the pleasures of a first world holiday experience, with luxury hotels, sophisticated shopping, exciting theme parks and clean beaches.

It is not only cultural diversity that makes South Africa magical. The country has a wealth of animal and plant life scattered across its varied climactic zones from desert to snow-covered mountains, forests to grasslands and mangrove swamps.

Click for the full article on South Africa.

Some great wildlife photo's

Vist http://www.findingafrica.com/ for safari holidays in Southern Africa and taylor made photographic trips to Namibia.

Win a 10 days holiday in South Africa for 2!

For more information on this prize click HERE.

Shelly Point - West Coast

Shelley Point is located on a private peninsula and fringed by three bays – Stompneus, Shelley and Britannia - with beaches, world-class surf and clear water in one of the calmest bays on the West Coast. There is a golf course and spa at the four-star Shelley Point Hotel, Spa & Country Club.

Next door is Britannia Bay, named after the British ship Britannia that struck a reef in October 1826. The bay is fringed with 4km of sandy beach. Also nearby is SAS Saldanha where there is a choice of four nature trails from 4km to 14.5km. Each one is colour-coded and clearly marked however finding them is the difficult part.

Bird-watching: the best place to observe the waders is at low tide from the bird hides at Geelbek located in the West Coast National Park. From Geelbek’s bird hide it is possible to spot long-legged godwits, whimbrels and curlews, knot, sanderling, little stint, ruff, marsh, terek, curlew sandpiper and many others. There is also the chance of seeing osprey and chestnut banded plovers. Geelbek was home to the Khoi people who lived here thousands of years ago. This Cape Dutch building was renovated three times since it was first built in 1744.

For the rest of this article please click on Finding Africa.

Spring into the Flower Season

The explosion of spring flowers has fast become one of South Africa’s most popular natural events, drawing visitors from across the country and the world to marvel at the carpets of colour that bloom in the Western and Northern Cape each year.

You’ll see magnificent spring flowers as far south as the Western Cape wine lands town of Darling, but if you have a little more time on your hands the Northern Cape is the place to visit. Heading north on the N7 freeway, you’ll pass the turnoff to Clanwilliam, but keep driving past the vineyards and rooibos tea plantations until you reach Vanrhynsdorp; the ‘gateway to Namaqualand’.

It’s here that you’ll need to choose between left and right; the high road or the low road. Left takes you north along the N7 to the famous Namaqualand, while right will lead you over the winding Vanrhyn’s Pass to the Bokkeveld Plateau and Nieuwoudtville.

If you stick to the N7 – the main drag north which runs right up to Namibia – you’re on your way to perhaps the most famous flower gardens on earth; Namaqualand. Dry and barren in summer, winter rains transform the dusty landscape almost overnight as the famous Namaqualand daisies, gazanias and succulent vygies turn the desert into a riot of colour.

For the full article on the Flower Season.

Spring is around the corner!

Amazing Air Traffic

What you will see, is a video showing air traffic around the world for 24 hours, taken from a satellite.The yellow dots are airplanes in the sky during a 24 hour period.

Stay with the picture.. You will see the light of the day moving from the east to the west, as the Earth spins onit's axis. Also you will see the aircraft flow of traffic leaving the North American continent and travelingat night to arrive in the UK in the morning.

Then you will see the flow changing, leaving the UK in the morning and flying to the American continent in daylight. It is a 24 hour observation of all of the large aircraft flights in the world, condensed down to about 2 minutes..From space we look like a bee hive of activity. You could tell it was summer time in the north by the sun's foot print over the planet. You could see that it didn't quite set in the extreme north and it didn't quite rise in the extreme south.

We are taught about the earth's tilt and how it causes summer and winter and have had toimagine just what is going on.

With this 24 hour observation of aircraft travel on the earth's surface we get to see the daylight pattern move as well.

Remember watch the day to night..... Day is over in Australia when it starts.

BA passengers pick Cape Town as favourite destination

British Airways has announced that its passengers worldwide have identified Cape Town as their favourite destination. As of November this year, British Airways will offer a second daily flight between Heathrow and Cape Town ahead of the 2010 summer season due to increased popularity. The additional flight will see the introduction of BA’s new Boeing 777 for the Cape Town route.

British Airways Commercial Manager in South Africa, Sue Botes, says demand for flights to Cape Town was on the rise even before the FIFA World Cup, and the airline is accommodating the increasing demand by offering an additional daily flight.

Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariette du-Toit Helmbold says, “An additional daily British Airways flight is very good news for Cape Town’s tourism industry. Cape Town’s popularity has been rising steadily over the past few years and with all of the positive 2010 FIFA World Cup coverage and word-of-mouth recommendations, the city’s popularity has sky-rocketed.”

Swimming in the sky

If you fancy a dip in this pool, you'll need a head for heights - it's 55 storeys up.

But swimming to the edge won't be quite as risky as it looks. While the water in the infinity pool seems to end in a sheer drop, it actually spills into a catchment area where it is pumped back into the main pool.

At three times the length of an Olympic pool and 650ft up, it is the largest outdoor pool in the world at that height.

It features in the impressive, boat-shaped 'SkyPark' perched atop the three towers that make up the world's most expensive hotel, the £4billion Marina Bay Sands development in Singapore .