Back in July I took a family holiday in the Hluhluwe area. We stayed at Malala Lodge which was quiet, comfortable, (though a queen bed rather than a double would have been nice), and had a nice selection of birds, animals & butterflies present. I spent a few hours surveying the area for butterflies & finished with 25 species positively identified species (list below). All photographic records were submitted to the South African Butterfly Conservation Assessment (SABCA) Virtual Museum. Here are a few photographs:
Small Orange Acraea Hyalites eponina
Window Acraea Acraea oncaea
Common Orange Tip Colotis evenina
Smoky Orange Tip Colotis euippe
Dry Season Form African Veined White Belenois gidica
African Common White Belenois creona
Broad-bordered Grass Yellow Eurema brigitta ovidepositing
Natal Tree Nymph Sevenia natalensis
Squinting Bush Brown Bicyclus anyana
Common Blue Leptotes sp. (Members of this group of related species can only be distinguished by genital dissection.)
Topaz-spotted Blue Azanus jesous
Common Dotted Border Mylothris agathina
Black Pie Tuxentius melaena
Spialia sp. (Possibly Forest Sandman Spialia dromus, but difficult to tell without seeing the underside of the wing.)
Small Elfin Sarangesa phidyle
Long-horned Swift Borbo fatuellus
Other species observed included:
Yellow Pansy Junonia hierta
Blue Pansy Junonia oenone
African Monarch Danaus chryssipus
Club-tailed Emperor Charaxes zoolina
Citrus Swallowtail Papilio demodocus
Mocker Swallowtail (Flying hankerchief) Papilio dardanus female f. hippocoonides
Sulphur Orange Tip Colotis auxo
African Small White Dixeia charina
Green-marbled Sandman Gomalia elma
Common Hottentot Skipper Gegenes niso
I would expect there to be at least 80 species present in total but multiple surveys would need to be carried out at different times of the year.
[...] took a family holiday in the Hluhluwe area. An earlier post on butterflying around Malala Lodge is here. We visited the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (It was until recently known as the St Liucia Wetland [...]