As exclusively reported by The South African website in November last year, Kingswood Golf Estate in George welcomed the birth of its first ever black springbok.
Those golfers who’ve enjoyed a round at the well-known Garden Route course will have encountered numerous springbok roaming the fairways – and rough – with a total of around 45 on the estate.
Believed to be a ram
However, until the birth the course had never had a ‘one in a million’ black springbok born.
The estate’s Community Manager, Dan de Wet, said that he believed the new-born was a ram and he knew who the parents were.
Springboks that are black in colour are uncommon.
While the exact quantities are unclear, they are substantially rarer than their more common counterparts seen widely throughout South Africa.
Name
The public took to social media in their numbers to share their thoughts on a name, and, after days of deliberation, a name was selected.
The top 10 suggestions included Charkie, Marmite, Rassie, Oreo, Kolisi, Midnight, Black Beauty, KingsBok and Allblack.
However, the estate opted to name the new-born Siya, in honour of Springbok captain Siya Kolisi.
The George Herald reported that the springbok is ‘a happy little guy whose whole herd has accepted him completely.’
Now four-months old, pictures forwarded to The South African website by a reader show that ‘Siya’ is now dark brown in colour rather than black.
All pictures courtesy of Dr Corneli Dittrich
The new-born has predominantly stayed on the ‘front nine’ of the course, but has also been spotted on the other side of the course, just short of the 17th green.
Image taken shortly after birth and clearly more ‘black’ in colour
Have you ever seen a black springbok in the wild before?
Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1
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