Spiderbloggers

Hi ... we're just back from our African adventure, and we had a fabulous five weeks away, although not all of it was in Africa. We spent some time in Johannesburg and did a six day/night safari on the Klaserie Game Reserve, which is part of the Greater Kruger National Park. If you get a chance, DO IT!

We encountered quite a few spiders, and I think Frankie and I drove the other guests, not to mention our wives, crazy constantly chasing after them. We were attempting to coax yet another baboon spider out of its' hole when an American guest said loudly "Boring! How many spiders can you possibly photograph in one day?" ....... Well, lots

The baboon spiders were my favourite. Our tracker was a Shangaan man called Andries. He would sit calmly on his chair, bolted to the bullbar of our 4WD Land Rover, while lions strolled past within a few feet of him, leopards growled and snarled at him, and elephants reached out to sniff him with their trunks. But show him a baboon spider and he'd hide behind the truck, and have nightmares about them for days afterwards.

There were little jumping spiders everywhere, and we managed to get a few shots in camp during the midday lull. There was so much happening that finding time for sleeping was a bit of a problem, but I came home with over 1800 photos from 10 days in Africa.

I've sent a couple of pics off to an African Spider group for ID, and I've included a few here at Spiderbloggers under Jumping Spiders and Tarantulas. I hope you like them.

Frogman

Hi Frogman,

Welcome back. I am really really jealous! Joan, from the South African spider group, has just joined, so I gather it is through you that we have made that contact. I am really excited by her email which talks about comparing spider species, given our two continents were once linked. I'd love to adjust this board so it suits their needs as well. That is what Spiderbloggers is all about.

I may be a bit slow over the next month or so - I'm off to the US for some speaking engagements and research for my doctorate and next book. But I will log in as often as I can. I can see lots more posts from you, and I can only ask for as many as possible. 1800 of your photos - sounds good to me!

Lynne