http://www.djuma.com/blog/ The Djuma Weblog contains articles, photos & videos of the experience at our 5 & 4 Star Luxury Game lodges in the exclusive Djuma Game Reserve, South Africa. Game Drives, Game Walks, Spa Treatment... en-us Nucleus CMS v3.41 � Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.djuma.com/blog//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://www.djuma.com/blog/ http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=465 Peter & Alta ( 27/06 - 02/07 ): We enjoyed every minute here and will take lots of memories with us. Every game drive was so special and we have seen amazing things.

George & Vallery Yamas (01/07 - 07/07 ): A perfect experience. The staff is exceptional! Leaving with wonderful memories, hope to return & will recommend you highly.

Mark & Laura Beckwith ( 02/07 - 06/07 ): Our stay far exceeded our expectations. We saw the Big 5 almost daily. Texon & Amos were fantastic. Eugene & staff were accommodating and exceeded all expectations.

Morgan & Ryan Beckwith ( 02/07 - 06/07 ): Our stay was beyond perfection from start to finish. The staff were extremely attentive without being pushy. Texon our ranger had a wonderful sense of humor, but I also felt very safe at all times with him.]]> Guest Experiences http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=465 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:39:17 +0200 http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=451 HEATHMAN 4-8 MAY: Excellent stay. The location and setting of the Lodge are wonderful. The staff and food were great aswell.

DIANNE MURPHY & BERNADETTE BURNS: The staff, rangers, trackers & Patience made the experience a once in a lifetime experience. This staff is all outstanding. All memories of South Africa will always be about this Safari.

ELISABETH DOUWE: It was a pleasure to stay again in Djuma. It was excellent!!

SHROW WEI GOH: Ecellent experience, the lodge is rustic yet catering to every need. Room facilities are excellent, cant ask for more, mayb bedroom slippers will be a nice touch. Staff are friendly and accommodating. will definetly return.]]> General http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=451 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:37:47 +0200 http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=447 With money coming in from the sale of company shares, this VGD became a reality. It was cutting edge technology for its time and, after months of trial and error, we got it to work. Initially we thought we could pop the camera into the hands of the ranger or tracker accompanying the guests and carry on from there. This was not to be, because we quickly realised that our guests were not getting the undivided attention of their guides. The problem was solved in the form of virtual game rangers. They were employees of AfriCam who would come and live at Djuma for six weeks at a time, hopping onto the drives with guests. Most of them were fabulous to have around, their love of the bush being foremost in their minds, and some even had a touch of technical know-how thrown in. In this regard they were most helpful in moving Skedonkie around, or repairing broken cables, etc. The problem was that this meant we always had people in our house, which, although fun for the most part, was quite exhausting in the long run. The inconvenience was sorted to some extent by moving them down to one of the old Gowrie Camp chalets, but, with all the builders’ rubble and the builders themselves on the Vuyatela construction site, it was not practical in the long term. We ended up by converting Charmian and Graham’s garden cottage into the VGD accommodation.
We evolved another extremely exciting camera, or rather, we took the technological guts out of Skedonkie and a new and improved trailer was converted to form what was to be called Wild Dog cam. Djuma Game Reserve was fortunate enough to have a pack of African Wild Dogs den and breed on our property for the two years prior this time. We started seeing signs that the dogs may return for a third season and this encouraged Graham to get things set up to film the activities around the den. Once again the camera rig was in a trailer form, but this time there was a hydraulic antenna that could be erected by a nifty foot-pump. Although the rig was about five kilometres away the day-time camera could be panned, tilted and zoomed to capture fantastic images. At night time a second camera with infra red capabilities captured any action that occurred. It was extremely important to be able to move the trailer into place without disturbing these highly endangered animals at such a sensitive time in their life cycle. Even more important we wanted to leave the camera there for a few months without altering the dogs’ behaviour. Jurie and I enjoyed having the ability to link the technology of internet cameras, record the fascinating daily activities of the animals at Djuma, and share the moments with people all over the globe. AfriCam was way beyond being an entertainment website, it was educational too.
Once the Wild Dog pack and alpha female had selected a termite hill to use as a den the AfriCam team took the trailer and headed out east to set up the rig. Less than a kilometre from the den site they performed a last and final test to make sure everything was working, lest something go wrong on site. Lo and behold, while grainy test images were being submitted back to my office where I was monitoring the progress, the unmistakable shapes of African Wild Dogs appeared on the screen. It was a superb coincidence that this pack of Wild Dogs happened to pass by close enough to the place the technicians had chosen to test the camera. This sighting confirmed that the pack was away from the den, allowing the technicians to move in and place the trailer where it was to stay for a couple of months, and document the Wild Dogs behaviour day in and day out. Soon after the camera was put into place, the alpha female produced a litter of twenty-two pups. It was fascinating watching the pups emerging from the den for the first time after weeks of being concealed beneath ground. The rest of the pack would return to the den several times a day and regurgitate meat after long hunting trips in the bush. If the mother accompanied the pack she would leave a subordinate female in charge of keeping an eye on the youngsters. We even watched a warthog showing interest in the burrow only to be chased off by one of the sentries. After dark we could observe the pack regrouping at the den and performing their intricate greeting and bonding ritual with one another.
A fabulous sequence of events, starting at Gowrie dam, took place early one morning. From my desk, in my office which is about five-hundred meters west of the dam, I saw on my monitor (and confirmed this by looking out the window), some of the adult dogs milling about, and next thing I saw was a splash in the water. I panned Gowrie cam in that direction and saw that the pack had chased an antelope into the water. I alerted the closest game-drive vehicle, which happened to have the VGD crew on board, who reached the scene as the dogs killed the buck, and captured it on camera. The dogs ate the meat rapidly and then started off towards the den at a fast pace. About twenty minutes later they arrived at the den to be greeted by the hungry pups and their mother. From that point we started filming the action from the trailer. We marvelled at the co-operation between pack members and how each member got their fair share of meat, all of which was so different from the pecking order observed at lion kills. With lions the male takes “the lion’s share” with the lionesses moving next and if they are lucky enough, the cubs will be allowed scraps after all the other pride members have had enough to eat.
By that stage I had little reason ever to leave my desk at all. I could be on cyber-safari all day long, doing my AfriCam job, watching all the cameras, and controlling Gowrie and Wild Dog cam, as well as conducting running dialogues in the chatroom and the Boma. This was when I became quite friendly with a regular visitor in the AfriCam chatroom, called Shelley. She lived in Washington DC, and after getting on rather well in our cyber world, she announced she was coming to South Africa to meet other AfriCammers in real life! I jumped at the chance to invite her to come and stay at Djuma – not as a guest at the lodges, but with Jurie and I at home. The weeks leading up to her visit were a bit nerve-racking as I doubted if it was the right thing to be inviting a virtual stranger into our home. However, I need not have worried, as we got along very well and had a great time together. The following events happened one afternoon after we had decided to sit at the Wild Dog den and watch the pack in real life. As is customary in the bush, a cooler box of refreshments – that day, lots of gin and tonic - is standard on any game drive, as one never knows how long one may be out there. Jurie, Shelley, myself and Wally, who was visiting from the Cape, set out towards the den. Hours of exciting dog-watching and several G&Ts later we decided to move along, mostly because we had to have much needed wees! We stopped on the wall of Buffelshoek dam for some quiet time to watch the sunset while we poured another drink.
When Shelley first arrived at Djuma I had explained the finer details of going to the loo in the bush. The most useful tip in my opinion was to go right behind the vehicle, for two reasons. The first: one was able to balance by holding onto the rear bull bar. The second: no one could see one, as one was in effect right beneath the rear game-viewing seat. If one tried to find a bush to squat behind, it was useless, because everyone could see you through the scrubby vegetation. OK, so there we were in this beautiful setting and I climbed off the vehicle and went to the rear of the vehicle, pulled down my jeans, and held onto the bull bar. By then the afternoon’s G&Ts had done their work, and I lost my balance – tumbling down the steep ten-meter embankment of the dam wall – thank goodness, in the opposite direction to the water. All I thought of while I was bare-butt to the world was that, if I kept really quite, I could climb back up to the top and no one would notice. However, this was not to be, because as soon as I realised I was not hurt and saw the humour in my predicament I burst out laughing. When I did try composing myself I saw Jurie, Wally and Shelley all looking on, laughing out loud!
Those were happy days at Djuma: lots happening and never a dull moment with all the fun and excitement around us. There were plenty of distractions created by AfriCam, all of which helped release the tension built up by the more serious work of building the new lodge and expanding our business.

To read previous chapters of “Our African Way”, please click the following link:

Our African Way
]]> Our African Way http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=447 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 19:51:31 +0200 http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=444 The job entailed several things, including the daily monitoring and selection of emails sent in with pictures captured from the cameras. By this stage there were six cameras – two at Djuma, two in the Kruger National Park at Satara and Orpen camps, and two at Sabi Sabi, in the south-western Sabi Sand Wildtuin. My job started off with manageable couple-of-hundred emails a day, often the same pictures (pics) sent in by many different people around the world. I had to save a copy of each pic, and then add up to ten submitters’ names beneath it – most of the time, the first ten names to submit the same pic. Then I would choose the best picture, which would be posted on the front page of AfriCam, along with the list of people who had submitted it. The competition to “win” Pic of the Day was fierce and I got a fair share of emails either from people buttering me up in order to get names on the front page, or, on the other hand, heckling me because their names had not appeared there. There were advantages in having new, fast computers and servers because then the chances of getting one’s pic in the quickest were assured. I also had to see that all cameras were represented equally, as it would have been easy to show bias towards the Djuma cameras. Part of the job was to also answer questions sent in by email or posted on the Boma (message board). I took it all very seriously at the time, and enjoyed it as well, but looking back it was quite fickle. Hundreds of people were logged onto the cameras for four or more hours a day, many of their lives revolving around the website. Although AfriCam was essentially an entertainment website at that stage, a cult-like following emerged. Something as simple as getting your name mentioned on the home page became the be all and end all of many peoples’ lives; I played to their enthusiasm and passion for AfriCam and them to mine.
I also became hooked on the chatroom. It is difficult to explain the grip a chatroom can get on one, causing one to spend, as one does, more time with people one does not know than with live flesh and blood beings, such as one’s husband and children. When Jurie pointed this out to me I thought he was joking and did not take his concern seriously. To accommodate the various threads in my life – the lodges, my family, AfriCam – I tended to spend very little time sleeping. The days were spent doing lodge things and AfriCam highlights and email, and the nights passed in ‘chatting’ to my cyber buddies across the Atlantic in America, or elsewhere in the world.
Psychologically speaking I believe this job was very important to me on many personal levels. First of all I gained some financial independence from Jurie and an escape from the sheltered environment of Djuma. Secondly, I was becoming known – even if merely to a cyber community - as a person in my own right, not just as Jurie’s wife.
AfriCam was fast becoming a corporation worth a fair amount, and it was expected to be listed on the stock exchange. Jurie was offered one percent of the shares, I guess as a token of appreciation for all the work that he had done and the initiative he had shown in the early days of AfriCam. There were some grumblings from Campbell, who thought he had just as much right to have his own one percent because of the work he had done, or, at the very least, Djuma (of which Campbell would soon own forty percent) should own the one percent. As far as we were concerned, it was part of Campbell’s job description as a lodge manager to do some of the AfriCam work maintaining cameras, something he did willingly at that. Further more, Djuma was in no position to fork out over half a million rand, as every bit of cash was being used in the development of Vuyatela. Jurie offered Campbell some of the initial percentage, as he had done to other friends, but Campbell was not happy to get something as an afterthought. After some negotiations on Campbell’s part he put in an offer to AfriCam and got his own percentage. For Jurie, it was a business investment, and, as we all know, there are risks involved in most investments. Right then, Campbell’s percentage did not seem too significant a matter, but time would tell.
Up until then a corner of our living room had been used as an office: AfriCam technicians would come up to the bush from Johannesburg and work from our lounge. Now, however, we realised we needed some more space. Jurie and I have always lived in houses that were hives of activity, non-stop people streaming in and out, but now we needed a calmer environment to raise our family of two small children. Therefore it was around this time that we extended our house and made an office, in an attempt to separate our private lives from our lodge work and AfriCam lives.
Let us get back to the web cams. Djuma already had two cameras, the first one being at Bush Lodge and the second being the mobile camera. We then placed a third camera in a tree looking over looking Gowrie dam. This camera was called Gowrie cam and was quite remarkable in that one could pan, tilt and zoom the camera onto the game, thus not having to wait for the animals to move into the frame of view at the waterhole. This technology was quite a leap forward in comparison to the other cameras and the content from this location was phenomenal. The camera was operated from a control box in the new office: buried cables connecting the camera to the controls.
Djuma and AfriCam were also experimenting with other cameras. One such camera was mounted on the roof of a small remote-controlled car. The idea was to send the car off onto the open plain in front of Gowrie Camp – soon to be Vuyatela – and film animals grazing there. However, it was unsuccessful, because as soon as a zebra or wildebeest saw this vehicle approaching, they would turn tail and run! Another problem was that the car’s battery would run flat before we could get it back to base. This would have to be followed by several hours of our walking through the long grass and bush looking for the car, the last image usually having showed an inverted tuft of grass.
There was another ingenious camera that Jurie had fun building, called wheelbarrow cam. The idea came up because we had lots of little creatures we wanted to film, but usually they were too small or too mobile or us to capture them on any of the other cameras. This particular camera, its antenna and battery packs were small enough to fit inside a wheelbarrow, which could then be wheeled into position to start transmitting pictures. “Film stars” viewed on this camera included a baboon spider, a python, and a dung-beetle! The large, hairy, reddish-brown baboon spider, called Charlotte by the AfriCam community, was our most camera-shy subject. Charlotte, as all baboon spiders do, lived down a silk-lined hole in the ground just outside my back door. This species of spider is quite shy, but an old game-rangers’ trick to entice them out of their holes is to make them think a small insect or something tasty is about to fall into their lair. This effect is achieved by tickling the entrance to the lair with a blade of grass and, before long, for a fleeting instant - very scary if one has never seen one of these spiders before – a small monster will appear, only to sink out of sight again when it realises there is no prospect for dinner. Jurie and I tried this on many occasions, but only twice did we manage to get the camera to capture Charlotte at the exact moment when she poked her head and hairy legs above the lair’s entrance.
We managed to capture some shots of dung beetles going about their duties among a small mountain of elephant dung. Dung beetles sort through the manure, roll small balls of it away, and bury their eggs within them, to incubate their offspring. We also caught on camera, and showed to the world a lovely shot of a squirrel, perched on top of a heap of elephant dung, feasting on partially digested marula pip. On another occasion we were lucky enough to catch a small python, which we placed in a glass display cabinet for a day. Some excellent studies of this beautiful snake were displayed on the internet for all to enjoy.
To read previous chapters of “Our African Way”, please click the following link:

Our African Way
]]> Our African Way http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=444 Wed, 1 Jun 2011 18:07:40 +0200 http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=443
Anyway, updates are too many to list all, but here are some of the most important:
after 15 years, Char has left us for greener pastures, literally! We wish her and Graham all the best
we have cancelled our management contract with Seasons in Africa and are once again managing ourselves
a terrible wind storm, the worst I can ever remember, ripped trees and communications masts down, but we are now mostly back online and tidied up ... remarkable how untidy a wind storm and leave a place!
lots of animal news, from Karula and her cubs in Vuyatela to newborn hippo to the Gowrie Gang missing Graham ... you can follow all these stories on Facebook
see you
Jurie]]> General http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=443 Wed, 1 Jun 2011 16:51:55 +0200 http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=441 Pendrae and I started planning the artworks and interiors for the lodge feeling we wanted to reflect contemporary art and craft in South Africa. From the townships there had been an increasing emergence of art utilizing recycled materials and found objects. Along this concept we imagined wall-papering with product packaging, and generally went over the top with found objects. So many lodges were taking the colonial route and furnishing their establishments with objects from a by-gone Africa, or even Europe. This seemed a bit inappropriate for the era in which we were living currently, in our homeland. No other lodges we knew about had embraced or drawn upon the rich resources we had right here on our South African doorstep. There was even a fleeting moment when we joked about remaining authentic to some of the interiors we had seen in the local villages: maroon velveteen-buttoned headboards and glossy, veneered, bedroom suites. At that stage my mom drew us aside and suggested we call in the help of an interior designer! This was when we met decorators, Caline and Sam, from Artichoke in Johannesburg, who were invaluable to us with their ideas, and in pulling our project together. They wisely pointed out that the interiors Pendrae and I were envisioning would not be to the taste of most of the guests who would stay at Vuyatela. They suggested using a neutral palette and then adding accents of colourful individual pieces, thus enhancing the actual art and craft on display itself.
In true Djuma spirit we drew in friends to do their fair share of work, as we had done when we were renovating and starting Bush Lodge a few years previously. Neil Crafford was open to allowing me to express my creative spirit around the buildings. For a while I had been keen to try my hand at mosaic. There was a mate of mine, Andrew McLeod, who had dabbled in the craft. I called him up and invited him to spend a few weeks in the bush teaching me mosaic skills. Jurie and I had met Andrew at art school many years ago. He was outrageously flamboyant and, even on his frequent visits to the bush, would usually totter around on high heels, wearing a long-blond wig and with a wine spritzer in hand. Andrew was one of those rare individuals in whose company we could spend hours until we reached the point of almost hating one another, when the tension would break into laughter, and we would start all over again.
This was in about June 1999, and we planned to have all the mosaics done well before the tile-layers arrived two weeks prior to the lodge’s completion date. In order to do this we developed an indirect method of preparing mosaic panels. Direct application of the tiles onto the walls was impractical as the buildings were not sufficiently advanced. The method we used was to draw the design on newsprint, then layer nylon mosquito netting over the design. The pieces of mosaic were then stuck onto the netting using contact adhesive. We had to use this glue so that the panels could be stored outdoors for a few months while the buildings were being completed. Each completed panel was hung up on the wire fence around the yard, like trophies from a long, hard, hunt. Eventually the newspaper backing would be washed off and the tiled panels would adhere to the surface of the wall or floor. They made quite a sensation – both Andrew and the mosaics!
Creativity was running rampant through the building site as far as rendering techniques and finishes to the exterior walls were concerned. Among these were faux cow-dung bricks, wattle and daub, various coloured oxides, corrugated iron, and hand-painted fine-line drawings. Each chalet, or khaya, was made up of two separate buildings joined by a wooden deck. Sunken into the deck was a small plunge pool whose edges were trimmed with high-tech stainless-steel railings. Neil had wanted to plaster the walls with buffalo dung and, even though we thought cow dung would be a more practical substitute, Neil insisted that buffalo dung was the way to go. Luckily a huge herd of buffalo were moving about the property at the time. Dave’s son Alistair was given the task of collecting the remains of their foraging. The dung had to be no more than a day old; any older and it would not mix into a suitable paste for plastering, nor would it be the golden-yellow colour required!
After dung application beautiful designs were painted onto the walls by an old lady from Giyane, a village to the north of us. One of her roles in her village was to paint traditional motifs on the houses in her area. The pigment she used was a mixture of powder oxides, cement, and water, applied with none other than a toothbrush. I was concerned that this application method was so slow, and gave her a fabulous paint brush that took the paint readily. She tried one stroke, gave it the toss, and went back to the toothbrush method.
Caline and Sam, the interior consultants, wanted to use Clementina van der Walt’s hand-painted ceramics for the crockery at the lodge. I loved the idea, apart from the cost, but, however, did not believe they would hold up to the rigours of a game-lodge dining room and scullery. I decided I could decorate plates myself and just needed a kiln to do so. I found a perfect little second-hand kiln in Johannesburg and had it delivered to the bush. Once again, there I was in a situation with a tremendous amount happening in my life, and expecting myself at the same time to produce a complete set of crockery for the new lodge. Yeah right, once more I had to outsource! I called in Maré van Noordwyk, a close friend of ours, also from art-school days. For the designs on the crockery Maré went down to the lodge to be inspired by the paintings on the buildings. The paintings were adapted to designs for adorning all items of crockery in such a way as to offset the food to be presented on them. She used on-glazing on white porcelain to a great and colourful effect.
Remembering the impression Makalali had made on us in respect of its food and service we realised we needed to get in the expertise of a professional. Suzi Holtzhausen brought us her culinary skills and structured the menus to reflect a contemporary South African style of cuisine. She also laid out the kitchen and trained the chefs to prepare and present the new fare. Suzi was assisted by Bronwen Smithers, who enabled the housekeepers, waiters, and bar staff to come up to scratch with their side of servicing Vuyatela.
To read previous chapters of “Our African Way”, please click the following link:

Our African Way

]]> Our African Way http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=441 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 06:20:17 +0200 http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=440 Next up came the colonial splendour of a design by Tom Hattingh, who was based in Nelspruit. Wow, it was great, but way over our budget, and also so many other lodges looked like it. Initially I was drawn to this design in that it seemed safe, as far as the tastes of the prospective clientele were concerned. Incidentally, Tom had done a conversion on Galago years before, and also plenty of work for the Buffelshoek owners. A further design involved stunning, elevated, shuttered buildings based on an Australian concept. We could see it working in vast desert landscapes, but not in our cosy riverine environs. Another design resembled an underground warren with lots of earth and not much in the way of windows. It was produced by a city architect with no experience of bush conditions and was basically not “us” at all. Fairly early on we discarded the last two.
The Scotts - although not yet officially partners, but considered as such – and Jurie and myself were getting quite worried, as time was marching on and we still had no settled architect or plans. Vuyatela was already being marketed and the opening date had been set for the beginning of December, with November being used for trial runs.
Having all this choice from various architects was confusing. Our next move was to get on a chartered plane and go to see as many lodges as possible. There were about fifteen lodges in total, which we divided between the Scotts and ourselves.
I think Jurie and I were slightly inclined towards Tom’s version and he accompanied us on some of the trips to the other lodges. I was most impressed by a series of four, called Makalali, near the town of Tzaneen. They were designed by Silvio Reich in a North African style and the attention to detail was amazing. There were wooden doors and furniture by craftsmen from Zanzibar. Almost everything was custom made to impart a unique style and flair. For example, metal taps, basins and furnaces were all hand-made art pieces in their own right. Mosaic was inlaid here and there, and statuesque concrete benches and sculptural objects nestled in the bushes all over the place. Although we only popped in for lunch we were given the grand tour by the friendly staff. Going beyond what guests would normally see, to the backs of the lodges, we noticed how the design, right down to the wall-finishing, continued. We loved the way the menus, staff uniforms and customary greeting reflected the theme of each lodge. It also dawned on me that, although the lodges were all about four years old, they were still being featured in many magazines which focussed on various specific topics: cuisine, travel, architecture, craft and more. The uniqueness of Makalali made it very marketable. I was smitten!
Tom was with us when we visited Singita’s Boulders Lodge in the Sabi Sand Wildtuin. Wonderfully colonial in style, it included a sweeping water-feature sneaking in under the thatch eve of the main building. No doubt it was a gorgeous lodge, but Tom and both of us was shocked that it was so similar to the design with which Tom had presented us, even though he had never been to the lodge. There was no way we were going to ‘reinvent the wheel’ by rehashing someone else’s lodge.
These expeditions helped confirm for us what we did not want, but not much else.
February was almost over when we got a phone call from Neil Crafford, who was visiting his own lodge in the southern Sabi Sand Wildtuin. Being in the area he thought he would swing by and go over with us the drawings he had sent us weeks before. When he arrived Jurie and I jumped into his car and headed straight out to the rural areas surrounding the Sabi Sand Wildtuin. Neil was quick to point out wall finishes, thatching techniques, traditional versus modern building styles, window and door frames, as well as the general layout of each family homestead. The communities were very accommodating and many families welcomed us into their homes to show off their houses, artworks and furniture. Jurie and I were brimming with excitement as we visualized our own lodge: Shangaan culture merging with high-tech modern fixtures to become what could only be the most unique lodge in the industry! A humorous moment I remember at the end of that day was when we thought we would treat Neil to a packet of traditional “Chillie Chips” from a local tavern. When it came to paying, neither Jurie nor I had a cent on us and we had to get Neil to foot the bill. An interesting way to start a multi-million-rand business venture! After this reccie into the surrounding villages we were convinced that Neil was onto a good idea as far as the design of the new lodge went. Jurie and I were brimming with excitement when we got back to Djuma, babbling on about the finer details to the Scotts, and confirming that Neil’s plans were “the one”.
Neil had built many lodges and hotels in the bush, many of them together with a large building firm called Telford Construction. We thought it was best to stick with a construction company that Neil trusted and had worked with in the past. Our little lodge was a much smaller project than Dave Telford, the owner, was usually involved with, but I believe he was excited about doing something unusual and spending some time in the bush. Jurie and I had met Dave, the father of a friend of ours, a year or so before hand at another mate’s wedding. We got chatting because he had somehow acquired a lodge on the Zambezi River in Zambia and, not having had too much experience in the tourism industry, had asked us for some advice about running lodges.
With Telford and Crafford on board a commencement date for April, the week after Easter was targeted. With their experience on building sites in our region Neil and Dave insisted on getting a Sangoma in to perform a cleansing and blessing ritual for the building site. They assured us that this was essential to ensure a harmonious vibe among the labour force. We were rather intrigued by the proposal and, trusting to the older, wiser men set about organising the ritual. An entourage of tribal healers, shouters, and the Sangoma arrived, sacrificed some chickens and a sheep, and set about making the magic mixes that had to be spread around and buried at the location for each chalet and main building. We also decided to set up Skedonkie, the mobile camera rig, to film the ceremony, thinking that it would be something fascinating for foreign viewers to witness. We took a lot of heat for doing that, mostly from the American audience, who thought the slaughtering of innocent animals was barbaric. It was a reality, from an African point of view, that we could have hidden, but we chose not to. I’ll never forget it and should add that I was relieved to experience such a hassle-free building project.

To read previous chapters of “Our African Way”, please click the following link:

Our African Way

]]> Our African Way http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=440 Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:38:36 +0200 http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=439
Thank you so much for the email.

I just want to thank every single staff member of Djuma for making our stay so special. You can be proud of everyone of them.

You and your staff created memories that will stay with us forever and ever. Everything was perfect and we couldn’t ask for more.

Please send my regards to everyone.

Kind regards,
Gerda Lottering
We simply loved the place and it felt that we were at our own home and the Djuma staff members our own family members . all of u rock , may God always bless you and may you always keep up the warm and hospitable work. U ROCKKKKKKK, and we shall definately come back to see the BIG 5 and you all are our BIG 6ths
Rahul, Shualti And Rakshiet,


Dear Warren and all

We had an amazing time with you . Thanks for making our stay so memorable and special.
We do hope to return one day.

Best Regards

Chris and Michele Power.


Phil and Dawn Judd: “A wonderful stay and lovely to see all the friendly staff again”

Sabrina, Lee & Yaa Baker: “Everything was amazing – food, staff, animals. I am so happy that our first Safari was such a grand slam!!! Thank you sooo much!!!”

Michèle, Chris & Jack Power: “We have had a fantastic time + been very well looked after by a very caring team of people. Our 1st Safari, saw the “big 5” in the very safe + trust worthy hands of Amos + Handry. Fantastic! Thank you so much!

Jinny & Ryan Schwartz: “Ryan and I had a wonderful stay. An experience that will last a life time. Thank you so much everyone!!!

Sonya & Graeme Starnes: “We loved it here!!!! What more can you ask for in life.”

Jurie, Renee, Brian & Analize: “Thanks for a great Stay. The Leopard with cubs was beautiful.”

Robert & Yvonne Neame: “The very best Safari we have ever done. Loved the people, food, drinks and country. Looking forward to the next visit.”

Edda & Werner: “Fantastic!!! Everything was great. Thanks a lot for a wonderful time.
Betsy & Greoff Seguin: “What an incredible, blissful place! Were never felt so relaxed and pampered. Everyone on staff is so kind and wonderful. Texon is the very best guide ever.”

Carol& Ken Bych: “This ranks top on our visit of favourite vacations! We are so pleased with our selection of Vuyatela – staff so accommodating and friendly. We wouldn’t change a thing. Hope to return with the rest of the family.”

Debbie & Joe Demarco: “This is a wonderful place & vacation. The staff is so friendly! We’re had a relaxing and peaceful time. We loved our trips with Texon – he is the best.”

Shiree & Andrew: “Exceeded our expectations!!! Loved the total experience, beautiful friendly staff. We will be back to do it again.

Peter & Mary Obeirne: “You are the best.”

Michelle & Geoff Ferrer: “This was my 5th game lodge experience and I can honestly say the best. What a wonderful experience.

Helena & Fabio: “ It was perfect!!!! Thank you”

Johann & Annette Rademeyer: “ Dit was ‘n ongelooflike voorreg. Baie, Baie dankie”

Chris & Carla vandenheuwel: “Could not have asked for a better stay, Thank you.”

Brett, Nicola, Devon & Julia: “Fabulous experience and a wonderful place to stay. The staff was great and very welcoming to the children. Thanks so much.”


]]> Guest Experiences http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=439 Wed, 2 Mar 2011 12:22:13 +0200 http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=438 bacon, eggs, and a side of monkeys, please!
Thursday, 1/13/11 at 9:45am:
Greetings from Sabi Sands private game reserve and Djuma Vuyatela lodge. I will try to express in words just how amazing this place is, but it might not be possible...
We arrived here yesterday after a 2.5 hour flight from Cape Town to Kruger Airport and a 2.5 hour drive from the airport to Djuma Vuyatela lodge. First I'll explain that Kruger National Park is located in the Northeast corner of South Africa, and is ginormous. Sabi Sands private game reserve is a private reserve, sort of within Kruger, but not associated with Kruger. Vehicles from Kruger can't go inside Sabi Sands, and vice versa. But, there are no fences, so animals can roam throughout.

Anyway, when we pulled up to our lodge we were greeted with warm facecloths and delicious lychee juice. We are two of four guests staying here for the next few days, and the last night we will be on our own. But, there is a full staff at all time. We were given a tour... the grounds are beautiful, amazing, gorgeous. A thatched-roof building comprises most of the indoor space, with a beautiful bar, sitting area, huge fish tank with local fish, and a grand fireplace with seating around it. A large deck surrounds the building, and the deck looks across the watering hole, where a hippo has been camped out since we got here. There are two other smaller thatched roof huts, one with computers and a television and the other with a gym. Everything here is decorated fabulously, with beautiful Afican artwork, mosaic tiles, and many photos. Our host then brought us to our villa, #1.

There are 8 private villas. Our villa is made up of two buildings, connected by a large deck and situated right on the watering hole. We also have a private plunge pool and an outdoor shower. When we first got here there were water buck hanging out outside the shower... incredible! Anyway, the villa is incredible.

At 4pm we made our way to the main house for tea and biscuits before heading out on our first game drive. We hopped into our completely open land cruiser with our new friends (the other couple staying here), from Arizona. Taxon is our driver and expert game tracker, and we also have a tracker in training who sits on a seat perched on the front of the truck.

This game drive was unreal. We saw so, so many animals, starting with a PRIDE of lions! These lions were absolutely demolishing a buffalo they had killed the day before. There were two males, three females, and two cubs, and we were no more than 10 feet away from them. These animals are just incredibly beautiful, and seemed completely unphased by us being there, so close. They were just taking turns chomping on this buffalo and when not eating, they were lying around and digesting. Honestly I could see a bit of Winston in all of them, as they stretched out and lay on their backs! The cubs were especially adorable. Photos to come (hopefully!).

Half way through the 3 hour game drive we stopped for sundowners and snacks. The guides set up a little table that flips up from the hood of the truck and made a little bar for us. They stopped in the perfect spot, right next to a pond full of hippos, plus one crocodile. On the way back to the lodge we saw some more animals, including 2 giraffes, wildebeasts, rhinos, zebras, antelope and buffalo (Our guide accurately described the buffalo as looking at you as if you owe the money). It is insane how close we were able to get to all of these animals and that we get to see them in their natural environment.

After returning we sat down for an awesome 4 course dinner before some final drinks and bed. We are liking this place..... Wild animals and lots of delicious food...

Today is our first full day on safai and it started with one of the staff members knocking on our door at 5am. We got up, found coffee waiting for us outside by the deck and got ready for the morning game drive. Only 15 minutes after being on the trails Taxon somehow spotted a leapard in the distance off to one side of the path. He turned into the bush and headed toward the animal. This female leopard was gorgeous, and just slinking through the bush around us. We followed her for about 25 minutes and then took off. We also saw a ton of zebra, more buffalo, and then came upon two hippos who had been duking it out over a watering hole. One was completely bloody... poor guy (we ended up seeing him again later making his way to another watering hole). In the middle of the drive Taxon stopped and made us delicious coffee.

A BIG treat today was completing our veiwing of The Big 5 (leopard, buffalo, lion, rhino, and ELEPHANT!!!!) Yes, we saw an elephant, and were about 3 feet away from it! He was by himself and just eating (apparently they eat 24 hours a day) and he came right up to our vehicle. Incredible! We have lots and lots of photos of him.

Another exciting moment was seeing hyena, which are tough to spot since they scare easily. We went back to the place where the lions had been eating the buffalo, and now vultures were all over what was left of the carcass. All of a sudden we spot a hyena emerging from the bush. He came right up to the carcass, grabbed a HUGE bone, and ran off with it (I thought of Enzo!). Another hyena came and did the same thing. Pretty awesome.

Anyway, we came back to the lodge to an absolute feast: a beautiful buffet of fresh fruits, meats, and cheeses, along with eggs made any way. Here's where the monkeys come in. There are monkeys everywhere. Sam and I both had some toast, and sam had just finished buttering and jamming his when I spotted an adorable monkey on the deck. Of course I started snapping photos and before I knew it he was hurtling toward as at top speed. I continued to snap photos while laughing hysterically, and he must have thought we were idiots, because he jumped right onto the table and grabbed the entire piece of toast off Sam's plate. Before we knew what happened he was out of sight. It was hilarious and I have an awesome photo of him in action. Don't worry about Sam... he had all the toast he wanted!

Welp, that's it for now. We are in LOVE with this land, this reserve, and especially this lodge!!!!

lots of love to you all!

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2011
Hakuna matata
As we sit on the deck writing this we are watching a large warthog about 10 feet in front of us mowing on some grass. What a ridiculous animal! All we can think of is pumba from the lion king...

Since we last wrote Vuyatela has continued to treat us well. This place is out of this world incredible. The service is impeccable and we are completely spoiled. After writing yesterday we hung out on our deck and watched the hippos and swam in our private pool.we went to the "gym" which has 2 bikes and a treadmill and did our own spinning class... Ha. We then came to the main deck for a 4 course lunch. One of the best things is that everything is included (meaning all meals, drinks, etc are included in the nightly rate). We have a minibar that is stocked daily that we can have anything from, and if we want something more we can just come up to the main house bar and a bartender will be there ready to serve us. What's more ridiculous is that we are now the only people here! It's pretty amazing, we really lucked out.
After lunch Caitlin headed down to the "rubbing post" for a massage (yes it is actually called the rubbing post). We then Hung out by the pool and made our way to the main deck for yet another course... Tea and cake, before heading out for the evening game drive.

The evening drive got off to a good start with another leopard, we were sure we would not be lucky enough to see this animal again. Leopards are very hard to spot, particularly this time of year with the tall grass. We followed it for a half hour or so off road then got back on the trail to continue the game drive. Saw some more animals, thought nothing new, stopped for sundowners and snacks on a cool rock formation, then hit the trail once again in the direction of the lodge for dinner.

Last night's dinner was especially good, not only because of the delicious meal but they set up tables around an outdoor fire (called th boma) for us all to sit at. it was also the other guests last night so we enjoyed a final meal with them before saying our goodbyes. We should mention that dinners are also fun because our game tracker, Texon, eats with us, so it's another great opportunity to pick his brain about animals and other aspects of bush life.

This morning it started rain around 6, a half hour or so after the game drive began. This
one got off to a slow start since most of the animals were trying to take cover somewhere,
but we eventually came up to a herd of 8 elephants, three of which were babies, one just a
few days old. Adorable......

We also had a very very exciting find.... Caitlin spotted (and now she thinks she's an expert!) two cheetah. Apparently cheetah are rare here, but we had th opportunity to sit 8 feet away from these two for fifteen minutes. It was incredible.

Gotta go to tea... More later! This place is awesome!


SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011
Goodbye, SA!
Sadly, this is our final blog post from SA. Caitlin is hoping to continue blog updates once in a while after we return.

During yesterday's afternoon tea, the owner of the lodge named Pippa showed up and said she was going to join us on the evening game drive. We figured that this put a little extra pressure on the ranger and thus ensured a great evening of animal tracking. Before leaving Caitlin and I agreed that we hoped to see lions and a giraffe again, as those are the only large animals we have come across only once. Texan delivered. We saw a Giraffe along with a few Zebra early on in the drive, then just before we stopped for sundowners came across the same lion pride we watched eat the buffalo 2 days earlier. First we found the two males, looking much thinner than before as they have not since the buffalo. Only shortly after find these lions Texon started driving away without saying anything. Caitlin was momentarily disappointed as we didn't get to spend more than a few minutes watching the male lions. Just down the trail we found one of the female lions with two cubs. I think this was Cait's favorite sighting yet, they were some very cute killer cats. As we followed these cubs and their mother, we came upon three more lioness. Texon stopped the car and they walked out of the bush, one by one, right up to our car. We were getting nervous, but they slowly turned to keep walking down the road. There really is no feeling quite like having such powerful, dangerous animals three feet away.

After following the lions for 20 minutes or so we headed to Texon's favorite sundowners spot looking over a watering hole. We had some drinks as well as buffalo wings while chatting with Pippa and the others about the lodge and our fond memories of staying there.

When we drove off it was dark and Texon drove us right up to the lions new location. It was pitch black out but we were able to view the whole pride settled in for a night, with a spot light. What an incredible sight!

Back at the lodge, We were greeted By the staff with a "chameleon" a special drink of the night. They had set up a beautifully decorated table for two in front of the large fireplace, champagne and all! The evening followed with a wonderful dinner just for the two of us. Did we mention we LOVE this place?!

Sadly we missed our game drive this morning because it was pouring rain, the start of a 4 day floodwatch for Sabi Sands game reserve. We slept in and enjoyed our final breakfast and a relaxing morning. The time came to pack up and say our goodbyes. Cait was very tearful as we hugged all the staff, and of course Texon and Lots, our ranger and tracker. But, we assured them we would be back someday and we also promised them that our parents would be there in the next couple of years (that means YOU: Chris, sandy, Karen, and ford!) they are so excited to meet all of you! We quickly loaded in our car and started the first 2.5 hours (with cait crying) of our 30 hour trip home.

Now we are in Johannesburg about to board our flight to Alanta... 17 hours! Woof!

Lots of love to everyone... Can't wait to see you when we get home!

Caitlin and Sam
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]]> Guest Experiences http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=438 Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:50:24 +0200 http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=437 General http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?itemid=437 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 07:48:17 +0200