Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve - 2014-11-16

This time, when I visited the Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve on 16 Nov 2014, I was lucky to take a photograph of a Greater Striped Swallow, which is a really pretty bird.

Greater Striped Swallow

Hardware
Camera:	Sony SLT-A37
Lens:	Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM
Photo Settings
Aperture:	f/9
Shutter:	1/640
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	500mm (35mm Eq = 750mm)

Blood lily

Hardware
Camera:	Sony SLT-A37
Lens:	Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM
Photo Settings
Aperture:	f/6.3
Shutter:	1/500
ISO:	400
Focal Length:	500mm (35mm Eq = 750mm)

Hiding Impala

Hardware
Camera:	Sony SLT-A37
Lens:	Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM
Photo Settings
Aperture:	f/6.3
Shutter:	1/1000
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	360mm (35mm Eq = 540mm)

What bird am I?

Hardware
Camera:	Sony SLT-A37
Lens:	Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM
Photo Settings
Aperture:	f/6.3
Shutter:	1/1000
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	500mm (35mm Eq = 750mm)

Yellow Masked Weaver

Hardware
Camera:	Sony SLT-A37
Lens:	Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM
Photo Settings
Aperture:	f/6.3
Shutter:	1/1000
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	500mm (35mm Eq = 750mm)

Yellow Masked Weaver

Hardware
Camera:	Sony SLT-A37
Lens:	Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM
Photo Settings
Aperture:	f/6.3
Shutter:	1/1000
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	500mm (35mm Eq = 750mm)

Yellow Masked Weaver

Hardware
Camera:	Sony SLT-A37
Lens:	Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM
Photo Settings
Aperture:	f/6.3
Shutter:	1/1000
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	500mm (35mm Eq = 750mm)

Ostrich with her chicks

Hardware
Camera:	Sony SLT-A37
Lens:	Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM
Photo Settings
Aperture:	f/9
Shutter:	1/800
ISO:	200
Focal Length:	210mm (35mm Eq = 315mm)

Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve–18 October 2014

I realized, as I was preparing for this blog post, that I haven’t created any posts between my last post (of Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve - MKNR), and this one, even though I have been taking pictures all over in between. I will have to rectify that some time!

Anyway, MKNR is one of my favourite places to visit for 4 reasons:

1. It is free to visit the reserve;
2. You can walk through the reserve (many come to do some jogging here);
3. You essentially get much closer to the animals;
4. It is only 7km (4.35mi) from where I live.

So, here are a few of the pics I shot in the 3 hours I spent here.

The pic above is of a Cardinal Woodpecker

 

Impalas checking me out, wondering what their next move should be.

 

Zebra having breakfast.

 

Created with flickr slideshow.

Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve - 28 September 2014

I popped into Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve today to take a couple of photographs. For some reason the animals were nowhere where I was. I only saw one Springbok. There are many zebra, springbok and gemsbok there. I somehow missed all of them.

Here is a slideshow of the pics I shot.

Created with flickr slideshow.

Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve–2012-05-05

I am forever asking my wife to think of places where I can go to take photographs in and around Pretoria, and, like the angel she is, she always tries her best to think of places. Yesterday, both of us came up with blanks. So, I decided that I would just ride around keeping my eyes open for a place or places. I was driving through Moreleta Park, an eastern suburb of Pretoria in South Africa, when I came across the Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve. I knew it was there, but had never been there, and it never occurred to me to go there until I drove past it.

Entrance is free to the reserve, and there are Zebra, Blesbok, Springbok and ostriches to see. The amazing thing is that these animals are so used to the humans that come there that I was within metres from the Blesbok and I probably could have walked right up to the Zebra and her foal, but I didn’t want to take the chance of spooking them.

The great thing about South Africa, especially where we live (Pretoria), is that we can see wild animals within minutes from home. One of the things you will notice as you view the slideshow at the bottom, is that the reserve is right next to modern beautiful houses.

The entrance to the reserve is on the corner of Palmiet and Helios roads in Moreleta Park and the GPS coordinates are:

25°49'1.73"S

28°17'27.96"E

You can find it on the map below.

Apart from the animals to see, the reserve has a very nice variety of hiking trails. The trail that I walked covered about 75% of the trails there, and it probably took me about 2.5 hours to walk with the occasional photographs.