The Mata-Mata Raptor Centre is a wealth of information of the birds of prey that can be found in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP).
A total of 27 resident species of raptor, as well as the ten or so annual migrant raptors or vagrant species that swell the numbers when food supply is abundant, were researched.
This information is now displayed at the Mata-Mata Raptor Centre.
In order to establish this, the South African National Parks (SANParks) has a partnership and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Sunshine Coast in Australia (UniSC) whereby SANParks provide the locations, and supplies the university with selected content.
UniSC is an academic institution specialising in interpretation services and with an international design projects unit.
The UniSC team design world class interpretive displays to showcase the subject matter, and when SANParks signs it off, the displays funded by the university are installed in the parks.
The newly-added displays focuses on nine themes that give visitors an insight into the lives of raptors and why these aerial predators thrive in the Kgalagadi. The new displays showcase the following:
- Raptor real estate delves into the raptors’ nests for breeding, roosts for sleeping and perches for scanning and launching attacks.
- Raptor romance gives a look at the acts of courtship.
- The battles that take place within a species or between species are reflected in Raptor conflict.
- Raptors’ restaurant gives a perspective on the reason the Kgalagadi is so bountiful with many raptor species. This includes the seasonal abundance of food supply, be it rodents, serpents, insects, small birds, or other menu items.
- The relationship between birds of prey and water, to hydrate, to bath, and to hunt is described under Raptor refreshment.
- In Raptors’ reach these birds’ mastery of flight and the span of their wings are showcased.
- Raptors’ running gives an insight in amongst other secretary birds who are renowned for their behaviour on the ground, and this display features interesting secretary bird activity, but also highlights other raptors’ terrestrial behaviour, when they are usually associated with exploits in the sky.
- Raptor adaptations takes a deep look into the ways raptors are adapted to maximise their killing potential or their survival in harsh environments like the Kgalagadi.
- Raptors of a feather gives a look at the various collective nouns for the different groups of raptors.
This new addition to the Mata-Mata Raptor Centre is a must-see, and visitors to the KTP will be awed by the wealth of information, said Genevieve Maasdorp, communications manager of the SANParks’s Arid region.
