The discovery of new life brings so much hope and joy, always! And it’s such an exhilarating and special experience here at Londolozi.

At the end of one of our morning game drives, on the way back to camp, we came across a herd of wildebeest on the airstrip. Pausing for a moment, I noticed that one of the females looked like she had started to give birth. It was a spectacular sighting watching this female with unique horns give birth out in the open. It took all of seven minutes before the newborn calf was on its feet and walking alongside its mother.

As a Tracking and Guiding Team, these types of discoveries fill you with immense satisfaction. Whether it’s finally finding a new den site after hours of tracking, suspicions, and debated speculations, or simply being reminded of the incredible magic of the wild. These moments pull you right into the here and now, where you realize you were in the right place at the right time. Just like Kirst Joscelyne’s recent blog, where she witnessed the incredible spectacle of a mother giraffe giving birth!

The first steps for this newborn calf.

Recently, Ranger and Tracker duo Shadrack & Bennett had one of those magical moments. While sipping their morning coffee out in the open grasslands, they spotted a female ostrich in the distance. At first glance, it seemed like a typical sighting, but then they noticed something odd. She was behaving strangely, making some curious displays with her wings.

The ostrich population continues to thrive in the South-western section of the reserve.

Intrigued, they drove a little closer after finishing their coffee break. What they found was beyond exciting—a clutch of ostrich eggs! They’d discovered an ostrich nest!

The scene discovered this year by Shadrack and Bennett looked very similar to the scene photographed above!

Ostrich Nesting: The Facts

• Ostriches have a defined breeding season that runs from around June to the end of October. After their flamboyant courtship rituals, the pair of ostriches create a shallow, scraped nest in the dirt (this is made by the territorial male, then chosen by the female). The female ostrich will lay an egg roughly every second day.

The ostrich’s mating display is known as kantling.

• She can lay about 10-15 eggs in a season, but incubation doesn’t begin until she has enough eggs to fully cover with her wings and body.

• What’s even more fascinating is that often, more than one female will lay in a single nest. The first female to lay is known as the major female, while any others are called minor females. The major female can actually recognize her own eggs and will push or abandon the minor females’ eggs to the perimeter of the nest to favour her own during incubation.

• Once the chicks hatch, life begins with a mix of vulnerability and opportunity. Born precocial, they’re relatively mature and mobile from the moment they emerge from the egg. Within a day or two, they’re up and running, trying to keep up with the adults and stay clear of predators. In their first few weeks, they learn to forage on grasses, seeds, and insects under the guidance of their parents. Both parents help rear the chicks for about 6 to 9 months.

• Given they are the largest birds in the world, an ostrich chick will only reach maturity when they are about 4 years old. They also only have about a 12%-15% survival rate!

New Chicks in Town

The morning after Shadrack and Bennett’s discovery, we decided to go see the nest for ourselves—it was my first time seeing an ostrich nest, and our guests were just as excited! Sean Zeederberg also set up a camera trap near the nest, hoping to gain more insight into this incredibly vulnerable stage of an ostrich’s life, both for the adults and the newly hatched chicks. Below are some images that summarize this exciting discovery.

When we arrived at the nest, the male was still incubating. We had a view of one chick that had already hatched.

It wasn’t out for long before nestling back under the adult’s wing for warmth and protection. At this stage, we weren’t sure how many chicks had hatched, as the male remained seated. But just seeing one was a sure sign the adults had been incubating the eggs for at least a month!

If you haven’t done so already, take a look at Londolozi’s latest Virtual Safari #238, where you get to witness this new nest in action! In the video linked and photo above, you’ll notice the chick pecking at pieces of eggshell at their feet. I found this so interesting and it is a common behaviour for chicks—they eat their eggshells after hatching for a few reasons: (i) it provides an immediate calcium boost, (ii) it helps develop their digestive system (known as a gizzard in birds), and (iii) it stimulates their appetite, promoting the development of survival skills for foraging.

I decided to look back in my archives. This was taken on 28th August 2023 – last year when I had my first sighting of ostrich chicks. I think they are just too cute!

Fingers crossed these chicks make it to independence, safe from the threat of predation. Hopefully, we’ll be able to follow their development on future game drives!