When the Whole Dassie Family Decides to Show Up

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit a special place, but as soon as we entered this special place, this enclave where nature still remains in control, a family of rock hydrax (or what we call "dassies") arrived. I could not help myself from looking at the whole family, from newborn babies, teens, adults, and old folks. It is interesting to just stand and look at these small animals doing their thing. Even though they can be violent and aggressive, they are the pinnacle of "chilled" and "zoned out" grazing animals. They chew their food so slow, staring into the void. I always wonder what they think about...

On a sign close to where these animals roamed, we are told that these were the original and first grazing animals in this area. One might think about goats or deer as grazing animals, but on the coast, these are the original grazing animals, and I think their numbers are still strong - so strong that they might even be overgrazing the ever shrinking fynbos flora kingdom.

These animals always make me feel like they are in the perfect shape and size for a cuddle animal. But the thought about picking them up and them biting me always makes me think rational. But there are always these myths or legends about people who sit with them and become their friends. In fact, much of these legends are based on real events...

We had a teacher at our High School all those years ago who they called "Sparks" or something along those lines. He was still active in the "See and Sand" (or sea and sand) training school who trained future life guards. But there are also bad stories about what he did to people... He was a very "strict" person. Here is a tribute piece dedicated to the legend, the man who was friends with the dassies of Hermanus. Sadly, the man, the legend himself, is not alive any longer... I wonder if the local dassies became aware of this man's absence...

I obviously lost my fiance at these baby dassies. Even though we had much still to see, she could not move away from this cute baby dassie feeding on some grass and other plants. I have to agree, it is indeed the most cute image ever, it looks like a small (Teddy) bear.

Alas, we could not stay there all day. It was windy and cold. A typical coastal bad weather day. Even though it is summer, these cold days on the coast with its overcast weather is a common feature.

It makes one appreciate the warmer days. And it is interesting to see the animals come out to feast when the weather is this bad.

We were lucky to see the amount of dassies that day. Sometimes they hide so good that you cannot see any of them. But we saw a lot!

For now, happy photographing, and keep well.

All of the photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm Zoom lens. The musings and writings are also my own, albeit inspired by the cute overload of these dassies.