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

February 2002

A recurrent theme last month was hippos, hippopotamuses everywhere! Read about these and other events at Djuma Game Reserve below.

Manyeleti Magic

Vuyatela dam has daily traffic jams of animals escaping the heat.

Bush Lodge had a large rotund herbivore mow the lawn!

Galago experiences a very busy month.

The best sightings of the month

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Manyeleti Magic

After many years of negotiating, Djuma Game Reserve has been allowed access onto our neighboring Manyeleti Game Reserve. Although the fences between the reserves were dropped years ago, we had to obey political boundaries while the animals are free to go where they please. Many a great sighting was stopped short as the animals crossed boundary leaving our guests looking at the south end of a critter going north!
Manyeleti extends over 25 000 ha to the North of Djuma, within this area there are a number of private concessions that have exclusive rights to certain areas. The African Ivory Route (A.I.R), a Northern Province initiative, is one of these concession holders. Djuma has an agreement with the African Ivory Route, which enables us to gain access into Manyeleti. The objective of this agreement is to facilitate and aid skill transfer between the two parties, thus, it is an educational initiative, and our cooperation and inclusion of the A.I.R guides in the "Manyeleti experience" is important.

Some of the Manyeleti activities we offer our guests as follows:
- Rhino Tracking
- Visit to "Dixie Hill", a rocky koppie (hill), with sweeping panoramic vistas in all directions
- Visit the hippo wallow, Dixie dam, or big dam at main camp
- Wilderness drive (can include packed breakfast or lunch)
- A three-hour trail instead of drive, usually in the coolness of the morning.

Vuyatela dam has daily traffic jams of animals escaping the heat.
Almost every day, we witnessed elephants cavorting in the dam in front of the camp entertaining the Vuyatela guests and staff. Some of these aquatic antics have gone on for an hour or more! There has been a constant flow of hippos coming and going, with a total of five one morning. However, we have had to be very careful around the camp at night, as the hippo prefers to feed on the newly mown grass within the lodge grounds.

Another exciting month draws to a close. It has been a hot, dry month with minimal rain; Bush Lodge is still looking beautiful, with a little help from the sprinkler systems.
Bush Lodge had a large rotund herbivore mow the lawn! We had a male hippo pay us a visit; he decided to run through the camp while all our guests were sitting eating dinner.

Galago Camp

Galago experiences a very busy month.
Galago was very busy in February, with many guests taking up the services of chef Max Sithole, who took over the cooking needs for our "self-catered" lodge. One of the highlights was the birth of a hippo at Sidney's dam, not far from the lodge. Read about this amazing experience guests at Galago had in the "Best Sightings" section below.

Best Sightings

We have been seeing more of the breeding herd of elephants, which has pleased the guests; it is always a treat to see young elephants. As mentioned above, Vuyatela dam is increasingly busy as the rainy season ends and the savanna starts to dry out.
A fantastic leopard sighting, which left our guests speechless, a female with her two cubs, they watched them as they played and jumped from branch to branch on a fallen marula tree, then continued to feed on a young kudu.
One of the highlights was the birth of a hippo at Sidney's dam, not far from the lodge. There was a tense moment as the guests came across the afterbirth and witnessed the mother guiding her calf down to the water for it's first bath. Quite suddenly the vehicle sank down into the mud, leaving Chris and Solly with a situation on their hands. Never before has a vehicle been "high-lift" jacked so hastily and driven out of a quagmire!

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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
 

 
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