In the African night, the beat of a drum means news...

January 2004

Read about events at Djuma Game Reserve

Vuyatela

Bush Lodge

for more information visit www.djuma.com

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This newsletter is archived in the Drumbeat section of our web site

Every decade or so we experience a drought here at Djuma Game Reserve. This is due to the weather oscillation known as El Nino and El Nina which on average seem to change global weather patterns every ten years or so. In the December 2002 issue of Drumbeat I describe the El Niño / La Niña effect and its consequences for Djuma Game Reserve, click here to read that article.

In that article I suggest that - given historical records - we would have a drought; it was an easy prediction to make - unfortunately! For the 2002 / 03 wet season we recorded 207 mm (annual rainfall is usually almost 600 mm) and for this season so far we have recorded about 100 mm (with another two or three months of the season still to go). We have been lucky in that the years before 2002 were above average in annual precipitation (several flood years in fact). Furthermore, the rain that we have received so far in these two years was mostly soft rain as opposed to torrential downpours; this matters since a downpour washes away the barely covered soil and thus making it harder for the plants to cope with the stressful conditions. On the other hand, gentle rain helps the perennial grasses to have a green flush after the rain. These green flushes last a few weeks, but are eventually beaten down by the relentless grazing pressure of hungry animals as well as the brutal conditions that prevail at soil level, day after day of 40 degrees Celsius. When air temperature is that high, soil temperature is even higher; almost 70 degrees Celsius - too hot to walk on barefoot.

This will be the first drought in more than a half-a-century that the reserve will be without a fence between it and other reserves, including the enormous Kruger Park. We used to have fences between ourselves and most of our neighbours - since the sixties there has been a fence between the Sabi Sand (of which Djuma is part) and the Kruger National Park. These fences were all removed in the early nineties and now there is only the outer western boundary of the greater Kruger Park that remains as a fence - and of course remains so since in SA we firmly believe in the separation of pristine animal habitats from human settled land. The removal of the fences was seen as an ecological imperative since they were seen as major contributors to the devastation caused by previous droughts. In the 1991 / 2 and the 1982 / 3 droughts it was heart-breaking finding most of the animal deaths occurring along the fence lines. Instinctively the animals seem to know that in such dire times they need to migrate to climes that may have received better rainfall - the fences prevented them from doing so. It will be interesting to see whether the removal of the fences will help more animals to survive the coming winter months, our dry season. The northern end of the Kruger Park received almost 200 mm last week and given that nothing - other than distance (about 300 km) - now prevents animals from moving to where there is green grass.

It must be noted that droughts are a normal part of the life cycle in the savannah and all animals and plants - large and small - have evolved survival strategies. In fact, savannahs are defined by their erratic rainfall, years of plenty are followed by years of little. Ce la vie!

The last time the dam in front of Vuyatela dried up was in 1998 - the year we started Africam and thus we have pictures from every day since October 1998. In 2000 we had floods, the pictures below show the changing dam from empty to over full to empty again over the intervening five years. We have now dismantled the ugly old cement crib featured in so many of the photographs - it cracked and we have now replaced it with a more natural looking pan.

We now pump water to several pans on Djuma Game Reserve - Cheetah Plain pan, Three-in-a-Row pan, the pan at Bush Lodge, the pan in front of Vuyatela and the pan in front of Galago Camp. We do this to ensure that the animals have access to water, but of course we need to be judicious in our water use, not just for obvious reasons of water conservation, but also because such pans can have a negative impact on the surrounding landscape and plants since such "permanent" water holes in times of stress can lead to overgrazing and eventually erosion.

Game sightings have been awesome and we have had an endless stream of animals coming to artificial water holes at the lodges.

Jurie Moolman

Warm season's greetings to everyone! We trust that as you read this you have enjoyed a splendid Christmas and New Year's celebration with family and loved ones. In the bush, we have celebrated in style, with tables laden with Lineth's delicious cooking, the main building beautifully decorated by Kim and the greatest gift of all - some rainfall! In much of South Africa the drought has now been broken, so may the rains continue!
We had hoped for some Christmas babies as our red-billed hornbills seem close to completion of the raising of their brood, but it was not to be. On a high, the female has emerged from the nest looking thin and tattered but has quickly recovered to help the male feed their ever-hungry family. On a low, he has since injured his wing and is unable to fly. As we try to keep his strength up by supplementary feeding him, we are all biting out nails to see whether he recovers. We will let you know whether there is a happy end to this tale. Helping out with other wildlife, the male staff went wading through the stinking, sluggy mud of Buffelshoek dam which is now rapidly drying up and captured a number of barbel (catfish) some of which were huge! They have been relocated to 3-in-a-row pan where they are sure to breed up quickly. New leopard cubs have been discovered. The two tiny cubs' eyes are barely open and we hope to have many more sightings of these two as they grow up. The 3 lion cubs are still doing well and are growing rapidly now, with their mom's having almost daily success with hunting down dinner. A number of baby elephants have been seen, including a tiny baby, which was sighted drinking with its mom from the crib during dinner one night. Unusually the female was alone with her calf but we assume she has since rejoined her herd. A delightful baby zebra is often sighted on the open area in front of the lodge and to see his delight, running and bucking and prancing around, after the rainfall was truly heart-warming.
In the camp, Jimmy has been hard at work on the maintenance side and the dam wall has finally been repaired! He, along with his team of labourers, undertook the backbreaking task of repairing the wall in the blistering heat and has done an admirable job with the new wall sure to withstand many rainy seasons to come. The entire camp staff celebrated Christmas with a traditional braai one Sunday afternoon. The eating and dancing went on late into the night and all had a fabulous time - if the sore heads and feet were anything to go by the next day. More partying was in order this month with many birthdays also being celebrated and so Birthday congratulations go to Jimmy, Graham and Suzi (our chef consultant). Early in the month, the rangers and trackers underwent a week of challenging evaluations for their statutory guiding licenses. Both Piet and Jimmy passed with high standards achieved and special congratulations go to Abel Mkansi who achieved a level 3 tracker status which is a huge achievement! As out longest serving employee it's obvious that all his years in the bush have taught him well. On a final note, Onno has decided after a year in the bush to return to Johannesburg and a different 'jungle' to be closer to his girlfriend and family. We wish him well with his new path in life.
As we enter 2004, we wish everyone an enriching year ahead. May the circle of life be good to you all.

Warm wishes,
Liane and all at Bush Lodge.

The Vuyatela team would like to wish you and your family the best for the coming year.
We have had a hot month with temperatures reaching into the mid 40's with very little rain. Possibly the new year will bring us plenty moisture if New Years Eve is anything to go by.
December saw a hive of activity out in the bush with sightings of the big five as well as Cheetah and Wild dog. The rangers are returning to the lodge with guests that speechless at the sights. We have had a Leopard kill close to the lodge during this time. The Safari female was seen walking over the open area stopping for water at the new pan in front of the lodge. Mark, Patrick and Raine were on the deck getting dinner ready and called the sighting in. She calmly carried on walking away from the lodge. Chris relocated her and followed her and watched as she grabbed the young Impala and dragged it up a Marula tree. Rodney arriving back from a village trip with guests spotted a male Leopard up a tree on Quarantine with an Impala kill. The guests were quite surprised by this, as it was midday. He had eaten a bit of the kill but soon left the tree and moved to an overgrown thicket to indulge in more.
We had some return guests with us this month. Jean-Paul Chenevier and his family were with us over Christmas. Emilie, their youngest daughter, celebrated her 18th birthday in style in the bush. Congratulations Emilie. Jan Stamper paid us a visit this month. Chris was happy to have his mom to himself for a couple of days. Great having you with us again Jan. We also had Paul and Wiz Tindley with us again for six nights over new year. It is always great to have the two of you with us. Vicki and Gerry Scholtz also spent some time with us for a couple of days on their honeymoon. Sussi Baeton and her son Ben paid us a visit too. Thanks for joining us in the bush, Sussi.
We had our staff select some outings as a year-end gift. There was much debate and excitement but they eventually settled on three choices. A day trip into the Kruger Park with lunch at Skukuza. The second choice was a day out to Nelspruit, which included a movie and lunch and then some shopping in the mall. The third trip was more adventurous; this trip saw most of the guys and one gal take on the white water of the Blyde River. It was great to spoil them to this and even greater to listen to the stories of the trips.
Mark had a very close encounter with a 2.5 meter Black Mamba early in the month. He and Warren were walking towards the staff car park when Mark stopped to collect some medication out of his house. Mark was still talking and moving when Warren grabbed him by the arm and dragged him down the path. A clearly bewildered Mark inquired if he was mad but soon saw the reason for this sudden movement. At the door to the house the Mamba had already reared up and was ready to strike when Warren saw it there was no time to talk just grab and drag. The Mamba was removed permanently from the lodge area. Once again thank you to Warren for your quick thinking!
Lusile one of our head chefs has left us for three months. She is due to have a baby in the next couple of weeks. Lusile mentioned to me that she is very happy the due date has been moved forward by three weeks as it has been rather taxing over the last couple of months with the high temperatures we have had. Most of us are convinced it will be a boy but only time will tell. We would like to congratulate Gladness on the birth of her little girl in December. Gladness has named her Peace and both mother and daughter are doing well.
We wish Graham a happy birthday this month but we have stopped the age clock, as I do believe he is moving on at high sped in age!!

Until next month greetings from the Vuyatela team.

December has been very exciting and busy as the build up to the festivities happened. An EcoTraining student group doing their practical module took up the first two weeks of the month. The group spent a very nervy night on a sleepover at Buffelshoek dam. Great game sightings were experienced and many memories will be held for a long time to come.
Over Christmas we hosted Felicite de Beer and all her children and grandchildren for her surprise 70th birthday bush bash. Thanks to those that traveled from as far a field as Hungary and London to be there, Felicite will surely never forget the occasion!
Just before 2003 bid us farewell, we were treated to a wonderful lightning display and some much needed rain. May the Galago team wish you all fond wishes for 2004 and we look forward to seeing you again soon.
Stay well and warm blessings from Ephraim, Thembi, Mildred and William.

Until next month,
The Galago Team.

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Djuma Game Reserve
P. O. Box 338, Hluvukani, 1363, Mpumalanga, South Africa
Tel: (+ 27 13) 735 5118
Fax: (+ 27 13) 735 5070
 

 
Webmaster: Jurie Moolman