This mountain is at the back of the Avalon Springs building and no guests go there, as it is more of a maintenance workshop and general storage area. But of course, I could go there and I had some great interactions with the Dassies there in the rocks. Dassie is the local name for a rock hyrax.
I will show you one of my experiences with one in here.
This is the reason why I come back here behind the building, as it is quiet and there are no disturbances.
There are many dassies. So many that we couldn't keep count. And of course, also many dassie babies. They live in the rocks and there are plenty of rocks, crevices, and crags in the mountainsides that surround the property. The property is situated in a valley near a hot spring and the parking area for guests is in clear sight from our apartment. Now let me tell you, that the dassies and their babies all come through that parking lot early morning to invade the mountain on the other side. On their way, they pass right through the property.
If you look at the dassie on the rock below, then you will also be able to see him in the center of the first picture.
Here is some more information about these cute little critters.
The rock hyrax (/ˈhaɪ.ræks/; Procavia capensis), also called dassie, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, and (from some interpretations of a word used in the King James Bible) coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East. Commonly referred to in South Africa as the dassie (IPA: [dasiː]; Afrikaans: klipdassie), it is one of the five living species of the order Hyracoidea, and the only one in the genus Procavia.[1] Rock hyraxes weigh 4–5 kg (8.8–11.0 lb) and have short ears.
This is not actually a bush, as it looks like a tree, and many of these flowers grow between the rocks in the mountainsides.
The dassie disappeared for a while, and then he popped up almost right in front of me.
You can see that he knew that I was standing close down below.
The next moment he simply launched himself off the rock and he ended up in the branches of the flowers.
He kept an eye on me, as he started feasting on the pine-type leaves that dangle down behind the flower heads.
Happily chewing away, and I made no move to scare him.
Hello mister, he said, why don't you come and join me for lunch?
Then he simply dropped down out of the tree on to some tiles below.
And finally, he was on his way.
I would so have loved to get some dassies swimming in the hot spring pools, but it was not to be as they don't go near the pools. I think they know that they wouldn't be able to get out. I felt so blessed to be enabled with this view, that I regarded it as almost sacred as I have never seen this happening before. Wonderful to see how the wildlife can support themselves with food.
The strange thing was that I only once saw a raptor bird up high in the sky, and there were no others to be seen for our entire stay there. Surely the raptors would be after the hyrax babies, but I saw no threat around. One of the staff members told me that snakes often take the babies, but I have not had the fortune to see such a happening. Later on, we traveled to two museums in the town, that I will show you in another post.
For now, I hope that you have enjoyed this post.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
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