stevemiddlehurst
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The Wonderful Return of the Little Egret
Eight years ago, when first arriving on the Isle of Wight, I visited the Alan Hersey Nature Reserve at Springvale for the first time. It is a small marshland reserve shoe-horned into one of the few pieces of the coastal… Continue reading
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An Image of Slavery
This photograph was taken in Stone Town, Zanzibar by an unknown missionary around 1890. The original is a lantern slide measuring just 83 x 83 mm, the width of a credit card, yet in that tiny space, it exemplifies the… Continue reading
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The Demise of Malawi’s Elephants: Part 2 – The Nightmare Years
We are watching a breeding herd of elephants at a muddy wallow, babies frolicking in the mud, tumbling over each other as they spray muddy water in all directions. Their aunts are just behind and often standing over them as… Continue reading
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The Demise of Malawi’s Elephants: Part 1 – Before the Slaughter
Malawi was once famous for its huge herds of elephants, described in the 18th century as an “elephant rich country” with the land between lake Malawi and the Luangwa River in Zambia “teeming with elephants”. A country where, in 1859,… Continue reading
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Sowing the Seeds of Extinction
Where Did all the Lions Go? We are all too aware that the demise of wild life in Africa is as a result of human activity and it is well recognised that this started in the colonial era but, naively… Continue reading
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Elephant Marsh
In the south of Malawi close to the Mozambique border there is a glorious wetland formed by the seasonal flooding of the River Shire that, depending on the river’s flow, can spread to over 1,000 square kilometres of waterways, lagoons,… Continue reading
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Three Zebras and Two Rhinos: William J Burchell
In 1810 a slight-figured, personable, young English naturalist travelled northwards from Cape Town in a huge 7,242 km loop into what is now the Northern Cape and beyond before returning via modern day Port Elizabeth and the Garden Route to… Continue reading
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The Day of the Painted Wolves
South Luangwa National Park is one of a handful of locations in Africa where there is an excellent chance of seeing Painted Wolves or African Wild Dogs so we headed into Zambia from Malawi to stay at Robin Pope’s Safari… Continue reading
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Last Chance to See: African Wild Dogs
The predator with many names; Mbwa mwilu, painted dog, painted wolf, Budzatje, African hunting dog, Cape hunting dog, Hlolwa, ornate wolf, hyena dog, Nkentshane, painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus and African wild dog. The horrible truth is that despite being… Continue reading
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The Christmas Hyenas
Despite visiting parks and wildlife reserves across four African countries hyenas have remained somewhat elusive. We’ve seen the occasional loner in the distance but until South Luangwa National Park our only worthwhile encounter was two spotted hyenas lying in a… Continue reading
Travelogues and Other Memories 