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In the African night, the beat of a drum means news... |
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February 2007 |
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Read about events at Djuma Game Reserve |
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Bush Lodge |
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| "As the old year faded, some rain eventually arrived on New Years Eve, …." Click here to read more… | |
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Vuyatela |
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"On another day the variety was splendid: two
elephants, about thirty buffalo, …. " Click
here to read more…
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Galago
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| "…..PS: we scored: 25 mammals and 113 bird species - not bad." Click here to read more… | |
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"Djuma"
alive and well and Living in England…..
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| Click here to read more… | |
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for more information visit www.djuma.com |
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If you would like to subscribe to this monthly newsletter, click here |
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This newsletter is archived in the Drumbeat section of our web site |
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Editor:
Pippa Moolman
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The above photos were taken from the Vuyatela Cam,
hosted by Djuma Game Reserve - most of these images are recorded by
the Djuma guides and Pippa.
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| Bush Lodge | ||
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As the old year faded, some rain eventually arrived on New Years
Eve, but this has still left the dams far from full. We had more rain
in the middle of the month, lasting for two or three days giving us
just enough for new grass to shoot. The dams got a little water but
have suffered in the ever increasing heat towards the end of January.
However the garden is flourishing after the rain and has come into
its own, which makes the camp look a bit lusher. The Bushbuck
are enjoying the new growth and they often venture out for an evening
stroll when the guest are out on drive and the camp is a bit quieter.
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| Vuyatela | ||
| Happy new year
to everyone! We have been blessed with wonderful sightings within and just beyond the Lodge grounds. Elephants have been the most plentiful, and on one day in particular, a herd of about forty, including some really small calves, spent time swimming and playing in the water hole. One youngster was very annoyed with his mother, who would not let him venture into the water, and showed it by trumpeting and throwing a tantrum. On another day the variety was splendid: two elephants, about thirty buffalo, wildebeest, impala, kudus and warthogs all came down for a drink. The only lioness left from the Sandy Patch pride is still hanging around Vuyatela and has been spotted regularly. One morning Luzile, one of our chefs, was walking from the staff village and bumped in to her on the pathway. Moments earlier other staff members had walked right past the lioness unbeknown to them. Although it took a lot of courage not to scream, Luzile calmly retraced her steps back to the village and warned others not to choose the same route, but rather get someone to drive them to and from the lodge! On another evening Marietjie was hosting dinner, and just before the guests started their dessert, they heard the sound of hooves thundering past the lodge. In the distance they could see impala and waterbuck running but were not sure from what. Suddenly the lone Sandy Patch lioness appeared under the spotlight and continued hunting. Late one night Warren and Marietjie had a surprise when a leopard killed a vervet monkey just outside their house. When Warren went for a closer look, the leopard growled at him, so we are not sure which individual leopard it was. Out in the bush, our guests were fortunate enough to see two kills from beginning to end. In one case four cheetahs chased and caught an impala. The second was the 8+1 pride of lions (8 lioness and 1 male) bringing down a zebra. We welcomed back many return visitors this month - Mr. & Mrs. Wivell; Mr. & Mrs Withers (their 6 time back at Djuma); Mr. & Mrs. King and the Chenevier family who are now living in France, but return to South Africa as often as possible. Our congratulations go to the Kemps and the Urens as they enjoyed their honeymoons at Vuyatela. May your lives together be long and happy. Thank you to our most recent volunteer, Dawie Pieterse, for all his hard work at maintaining the roads, helping out in the workshop as well as doing a stint at tracking. Staff birthday wishes go out to Marietjie, Gladess, Mildred Morale, Pippa, Joyce Nyathi, Donald and Lydia. May there be many more years for you at Djuma. Our condolences go out to the Siwela family at their time of loss. From the Vuyatela team, fond wishes until next month. |
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Our guests wrote such lovely tales in the visitors' book. Isabella, Cecily, Howard and Sophie wrote, "Excellent!!!!! Thank you !!!! The team at Galago are superb. Everything was fabulous." Lex Hes, who has guided at Galago for more than a decade, finally
came to stay with his family and friends. "The past two days
have been wonderful. Highlight two leopard sightings on one
day. First a young male up in a Maroela tree feasting on a duiker
devoured in a hour or two. The leopard fell out of the tree.
The beauty, power, agility and grace beyond words. Later the same
day the mum of the young male resting on a termite mound. A real
close encounter with a steenbok who was lying 15 meters away
from the hungry leopard, who just manage to evade the stalking
leopard. A triumph for the little people. "At long last we made it here as a family - Lex, Lynn, Tammey
and Dale. And wow, what a wonderful few days it's been! Excellent
game viewing, great company and a perfect way to relax - what
more could you ask for?! Thanks dad for always being so, patient
and for imparting your knowledge - without you none of this could
have ever been possible. Tamz, Dale, Lynn and Lex On the lodge front, we took advantage of some quiet days and have done some extensive renovations. This included repairing the thatch (until the next monkey troop invades!) and replacing most of the door frames and then plenty of catching up on maintenance on smaller things. The next phase will cover replacing the cupboards in the dining room and kitchen. We are also going to get a back up power supply installed so that we can endure the ESCOM power outages that have engulfed our country over the last month! |
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| "Djuma" alive and well and living in England | ||
| Francis & Jane
Hindle visited Djuma Bush Lodge in 2006, and had the following news
to share. "We enjoyed our time so much there that shortly after we got home to England, and on 1st May became 'proud' owners of a chocolate Labrador puppy, we decided to name him Djuma! We couldn't decide on a name and thought it would be a great reminder - although it has raised many questions when out walking him as you can imagine." |
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Join
us next month and share our experiences as the seasons march on.
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Given
that the images are not sent with the html code that subscribers receive
in the newsletter e-mail, subscribers need to be online to see the
images. It is done this way to prevent large files clogging up people's
e-mail servers.
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Djuma
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