A welcome from the Baboons and more importantly a couple of Catfish!

As we came over the brow of the hill at least forty Chacma baboons scattered from the dirt road and disappeared amongst the thick bush that cloaks the side of the mountain.  Over the next month we would definitely see and hear a lot more from this troop and, possibly, from their rivals that roam around the area.  It felt great to be back on the farm in South Africa - the sun was out and, thanks to recent rainfall, everything seemed quite content .

The leftovers of a Leopard's lunch

With over forty five square kilometres to get reaquainted with, a busy month lay ahead.  After a deep sleep, thanks to an exhausting trip from the U.K., I rose early and took a walk from the house down towards the northern end of the farm.  A couple of light grey mountain reed buck skipped from their early morning drink and vanished into the twisted acacia bush just below the house.  Small black faces of a group of sleepy vervet monkeys turned in my direction as I passed, but an alarm call wasn't due after the long, sleepless night that they had just experienced.  To be a delicacy in the eyes of the leopard and caracal leaves little time for dreaming under the stars.

Near the next waterhole a herd of impala stirred as I approached.  Many individuals in the herd simply continued to lie on the short, dew-soaked grass, not frightened by me.  With the shooting season so long behind them and the early time of day, their laid-back behaviour could well be understood.  Maybe, like the vervet monkeys, they had experienced a shortage of sleep during the long night.

A morning puff adder

Around the next corner, and surprisingly for the time of day, I encountered the first snake of the trip.  With the hot sun a couple of hours away from hitting its spot, a large, female puff adder lay stretched out on the gravel.  I was in luck as this usually superbly camouflaged snake was coloured a little differently to it's surroundings, letting me catch sight of it  just before my foot landed on its back.  Whether I would have been bitten is open to debate, but my guess is that I would have been faster than the early morning adder.  With a little persuasion the snake reluctantly moved out of the road and into some cover.

A Puff Adder is highly camouflaged when amongst the leaves, but luckily not so when out on the gravel

Only birds and insects kept me company for the remainder of the morning, although the brown hyeana had trodden the same route on his nightly round not that long before my own walk.  Very distinct from other spoor, the front foot is almost twice as large as the rear pads.

A little further down the road a colony of large, shiny, black ants was heading home after their nightly raid on a neighbouring ant nest.  The last of the light brown, oblong pupae of a species smaller than themselves were being hustled back to the nest before the first rays of the sun struck the red earth.  A narrow pathway, an inch wide and worn clean by the passage of thousands of tiny feet, snaked off through the bushes back to the raiders' nest.



Ant raiders on their way home after a night's work

The next day, a movement in the corner of my eye turned out to be a young python that had taken up residence near a water reservoir.  It had been seen before, basking in the branches of a tree overhanging the water. and the rich pickings of abundant frogs and lizards had  obviously been enough to persuade it to stay put.  As I bent down the snake kindly posed or, rather, prepared to strike, by arranging its body to obtain maximum reach.  A decent photo required me to get quite close and personal with the little snake and, thankfully, the camera took the brunt of its strikes!

The fiesty young African rock python that was determined to attach itself to my face

Apart from the usual procession of small, winged visitors to my room during the night, a bat arrived and, after completing a few laps, decided to take an early evening rest.  Although the majority of people would find this sort of visitor particularly disconcerting, it does have a couple of important benefits.  First of all, it makes short work of any irritating mosquitos and, secondly, while it's carrying out this kind service, it gently fans anyone struggling with the intense, summer heat.



A night visitor to my room



A southern view of the farm

Not a week had passed when I checked out a cave to see if the resident porcupines were at home.  A few quills lay around the cavern's low slung entrance revealing who might be in residence, but, without a torch, nothing was visible and a return trip would be needed.  Before I left, I noted that a strange noise could be heard, originating from deep within the pitch black darkness.  I couldn't quite figure it out so I clicked a couple of pictures hoping that the flash burst might reveal what was causing this bizarre sound.  It wasn't until later that I actually looked at the photos and noticed about 200 bats hanging from the roof of the cave - the noise had simply been the gentle flapping of wings!

The cave with the bats at the back and wasps hanging near the front waiting for me to arrive.

Intent on getting some decent shots of the bats, I returned the next day.  To get into the cave I'd need to slide on my stomach through the entrance, which is no more than two feet high.  Once inside, where more room is available, it would be possible to set up the tripod to photograph the bats.

The roof of the cave is a perfect nesting site for the wasps known locally as perdebye, so I checked if any were about before I started to manoeuvre inside.  Having hardly got to the ground, I felt something hit the side of my head, followed by instantly intense pain.  Previous experience had given me some lessons about these particular wasps and I knew that an extra-quick exit would be the only thing to save me.  Once they've been disturbed and have decided to attack, it's only only a fast and long run by the target that throws them off the trail.

A different nest, but same species of wasp, starting to get agitated by my presence

I flew out of the cave like a rocket, whilst slapping the side of my head to try and dislodge the wasp that was repeadedly stinging my ear.  In the excitement my camera flew from my other hand and proceeded to bounce down the side of the mountain from rock to rock.  My head throbbed as if I'd just been branded with a red hot poker.  Amazing pain which slowly subsided as I rubbed my quickly-swelling ear.  Gingerly I crept back up to collect my tripod before taking my leave.  The wasps had now settled down and, luckily for them, my camera was trashed.  Had it been working, they would have definitely come to a premature end.  Looking at the photos that I had taken the day before, the wasps can quite clearly be seen hanging from the roof - how I missed them, I will never know.

A fine Kudu Bull

Resident Klipspringer

Bush locust picking its way through moth larvae turrets on old Kudu horn

Zinia peruviana flower and dolomite stone

Sharptooth Catfish
 

Crocodile River

Flapnecked Chameleon

Bush Locust

Leopard Tortoise

Giant centipede hunting cave spiders

Mountain Reedbuck and Kudu

Kitchen lizard

Tree Agama

Scarab beetle

Joker

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The Result of the all India angling competition is in!

In November 2009 I competed in the All India angling competition organised by Indianangler.com and am pleased to say that yours truly managed to bag first prize with a lovely Mangrove Jack of 9lb.

The best fish of the weekend; a 9lb hard fighting mangrove jack ( Lutjanus argentimaculatus )

The competition was held in Maharashtra and around 30 people travelled from all over India to join in. Unfortunately fish were a little hard to come by and relatively few were caught compared to the number of competitors. By saturday afternoon nothing of note had been caught until Neil took a small MJ and then a little later two small groupers, all on soft plastics. I fished hard and carefully covered the whole section of rocks that we were allowed to fish, casting in all the likely looking spots. My general plan was to search out the more territorial species such as jacks and cod, and in the process hopefully intercept the more mobile barramundi.

Towards evening I was starting to think that it might end up being an all nighter when all of a sudden I had a violent take. The soft plastic lure I fished was engulfed and the line literally screamed throught the rings, and by the time I registered what was happening at least 15 metres of braid had been taken.  The fish stayed deep and after a few more moments it decided to dive behind a rock. My heart quickly sank as the line grated on the rough underwater terrain.  Trying my best to subdue the instinct to pull I gave a little slack and gently coaxed the fish from its hiding place. This catch was badly needed and I knew should it escape I may well not hook another so tried hard to go easy. After another screaming run and quite a tussle close to the rock Pierre helped me land and photograph one of the most beautiful Mangrove Jacks that I have had the good fortune to catch. Everyone has his favourite species for fighting ability but until a good MJ is caught he or she should definitely reserve their opinions; they are undoubtedly in a class of their own!

Although very tempted to release such a beautiful fish we finally decided to keep the fish as it would feed a great many people that evening. With sunday morning still to fish things weren't anywhere near decided but I had a sneaky suspicion that I had just caught the best fish of the competition.

After a quiet sunday morning with nothing of note caught 1st prize was in the bag!

The mangrove jack that really got the adrenaline flowing. A very powerful fish  taken in  rocky  terrain so I was  pleased to have Pierre nearby to help me land the fish safely. It was touch and go until the fish was finally lifted onto dry land. The fish was caught on a shimano exage travel rod with an 8000 sized shimano reel loaded with 20lb fireline and finished off with a flourocarbon leader and a rubber shad as bait. The leader was in a bad way from rubbing on the oyster encrusted rocks but thankfully held out!

Recieving the shield for biggest fish of the competition. Thanks guys!

The competition team who travelled from as far as Assam in far eastern India.

After the competition I caught this good looking mangrove jack on a  floating sardine section.   I had noticed some large swirls in the area we fished and upon inspection saw some of the discarded sardines were floating A large but shy fish was gulping tem from the surface but continued to stay deep if it sensed anything above the water.  Rigging a couple of sardines on a super sharp hook I positioned them on the waters surface and sat back out of sight, ready to jump and grab the rod should the fish take the bait. And sure enough it wasn't long before the rod arched over as the fish turned to dive. I grabbed it fast and started to play the fish, much to the interest of a local guy who sauntered over and grabbed the line beyond the rod tip.  Amazed at what was happening some stern words were needed to send him away so the fish could be played in peace. A lovely jack was the result which was released after a quick photo.

A beautiful estuary on the Maharashtran coastline. Home to species such as  threadfin salmon,  barramundi,  ox-eye tarpon and  mangrove jacks.  The estuaries along the west coast of India are the main breeding areas for a large number of species and this should be taken into account when fishing these areas. Large sexually mature barramundi can release 3-6 million eggs and sometimes considerably more, so it make a lot of sense to release these larger specimens.  A few of these big females left to swim will help maintain a healthy population for years to come and will mean there are fish for your kids to catch.

The undefeated Janjira fort seen from the rocks in Murud,  Raigad district,  Maharashtra.

Canoes deliver catches of fish from the large fishing boats, to the market in Harnai. A colourful  and slighty smelly scene but a good indication for the angler of what swims in the waters of the Arabian sea.

Abbey and Rajat join me for a photo of an 8kg Barramundi caught from the shore  in  Mumbai.  Surprisingly for such a large and polluted city a healthy population of these fish still exist, but with an increasing number of anglers fishing the prime spots it's probably only a matter of time until the small transient pods are reduced to unsustainable numbers.

Markus with a small but extremely pretty rock cod caught trolling from Harnai.

The 8kg Bombay Barra that fell to a shallow diving minnow.

Ashok with two Lure caught Mangrove Jacks that ended up as the family curry.

Ashok and his two kittens that quickly developed a strong taste for fresh fish.

Abbey admires the range of flip flops available in India, washed up in a cove  somewhere on the Maharashtran coast

A great flock of seagulls take off from Shrivardhan beach, Maharasthra

Janjira fort, Murud, territory of Threadfin salmon, Barramundi and mangrove jack.

Abbey looks pretty excited about the day ahead!

Naveed casting lures for barramundi from the Murud rocks.

Flower seller, Colaba market, South Mumbai

Mumbai fish market, Sassoon dock, South Mumbai, where virtually every species that swims in the surrounding seas can be found.

Large trevally for sale at Sassoon dock

Having been at sea for a week or longer fisherman unload their catch early morning at Sassoon dock in south Colaba in Mumbai. A vast amount of fish and other sea life passes through the market daily making for a very vibrant scene. Arrive too early and the squeeze can be a bit much for all but the most seasoned dock worker, arrive too late and the pick of the fish will have left the flagstone floors. A huge variety of species can be found here so a visit is essential for any keen sea angler.

Markus shows off a lovely crimson mangrove jack that took a liking to  a soft plastic lure.  After an interesting fight that involved some swimming on my part, the fabulous fish was finally landed in the warm light of the setting sun.

Judging by the teeth and colour, it's not hard to know why the local name for this fish is red snapper!  

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