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

March 2005

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

Djuma guests enjoying a sundowner drink and snack in the bush on Valentine's. Libby entertained us with the beautiful sounds of her incredible violin.

As I write this, Europe and the UK are experiencing some of the coldest weather conditions in years, with snow having fallen across much of the region. Which makes the last of our summer weeks all the more precious to enjoy as we too head towards the cooler months of autumn. The guests who have been staying in camp recently have certainly made the most of our warm weather, lazing around the pool for much of the day enjoying the brilliant sunshine. There have been a number of return guests this month. Bam and Rita stayed with us during the floods of 2000 and not put off by the wet conditions experienced on their previous visit, they returned with their daughters this time. Fortunately no rain this time! We also welcomed Mark and Jackie back for their third visit. Warm congratulations go out to all the honeymooners who chose to share their special occasion with us. We love parties and it was fabulous to have David Carter celebrate his 70th Birthday with us. We trust it was a memorable day for him and thanks for all the champagne, David!
Out in the bush a special event was the sighting of a newborn hippo in Sussens Dam. Piet thought it only hours old and there was much fretting amongst the guests when a crocodile was seen easing into the water nearby. Fortunately, its very protective mother made short work of any ideas the crocodile might've had and we've had a few sightings of the baby since then just to confirm that all is well. Other babies included a pair of very young African Wild Cat kittens seen with their mother near the lodge as well as a newborn giraffe. In the camp, you may recall mention last month of the redheaded weavers hatching a cuckoo chick...well this month they hatched two of their own chicks much to our delight. However, as with life in the bush, not all stories have a happy ending and we were disappointed to discover a black mamba in their nest one afternoon feeding on the chicks, despite the brave attempts of the parents to dissuade the hungry snake. Hopefully they have more success next year. A rare sighting at tea time of a cheetah drinking from the crib had everyone rushing for the vehicles and we were lucky to spend an hour or two with this very relaxed cat right on our doorstep! Speaking of on our doorstep... Liane awoke to find the female leopard 'White Cloth' and her juvenile cub outside her house early one morning. They were hunting but after finding nothing of interest around the camp they moved off much to everyone's relief.
A couple of months ago, Mark and Carole Steele from Atlanta, USA stayed at Bush Lodge and went on the village trip. This resulted in them sending two boxes jam packed with pencils, paints and tons of other goodies for the school in Utah. Although the boxes arrived a month ago, we were unable to give hearty thanks in time for the last newsletter. However, better late than never, the gifts were delivered to the schools and the kids and all of us at Djuma appreciate the gesture whole-heartedly.
The good rains mean the campgrounds look fabulous with the Plumbagos still in bloom as well as the aloes and Pippa and Jurie helped to liven up the boma area with the addition of a water feature in the central garden area. Congratulations are extended to Evalinah, one of our housekeepers on the birth of her son; Layborn and we look forward to meeting him when she returns from maternity leave.
Until next month,
Liane and the Bush Lodge Team

Greetings form a very busy and dry bush. We have had a great month with the lodge seeing a lot of guests from all over the globe. We have not had too much rain so the dams and watering holes are drying up at a rapid pace. However, the vegetation still looks lush and thick. The game is in amazing condition with all the food around in the bush.
We had a warthog just in front of the lodge, which, at first glance, one would have mistaken it for a buffalo lying down! This hog was absolutely huge to say the least but had no care in the world as it snacked on the vegetation. Gowrie dam has been teaming with game as usual: Nyala, Impala, Waterbuck, Baboons, Vervet Monkeys, Wildebeest, and Giraffe amongst the daily visitors. The birds have also been out of this world. Every day at about 2pm just outside Mark's office we have a Woodland Kingfisher that comes to take a plunge in the pond. The Kingfisher has also been seen taking the odd fish out of the pond. Further away at the dam we have seen Saddle billed and Marabou Storks.
With all the marulas, ripe, ready and falling to the ground, we have had hundreds of Elephant around. The dam has been buzzing with various herds and smaller bachelor groups coming through. On a daily basis we have the giants at the dam or around the lodge. Needless to say that we are on full Elephant alert, as the gardens are looking great. Pippa had a visit one evening form one of these Elephants, but luckily no major damage was caused… except for her garden fence that was broken in two places. The Buffalo have also been in their usual spot in the dam, only moving when the Elephant come down to bathe. We have had the two Sandy Patch Lionesses hanging around the lodge with the Manyeleti Male. They killed a Wildebeest in the drainage line just behind Khaya 8. One evening at dinner we had the male and females on opposite sides of the dam. They started calling to each other sending chills down a lot of folks' backs. The Manyeleti Male stayed around the Lodge for four days keeping the staff on their toes. A new female Leopard has been seen around the Lodge. She killed something north of the dam but as the bush is so thick we could not get access to the kill. We did see her coming down for water though. We had the female Cheetah with her three cubs between the lodge and Moolmans' houses, spending the day there to everyone's delight.
Valentines day at the lodge was rather romantic. We had Libby du Toit on violin, and Louis Maritz, on piano entertaining our guest with beautiful melodies. We had champagne and lovely chocolates on the go and a really romantic time was enjoyed by all. Thank you Libby and Louis.
The Copper family came to visit with us again. It was great seeing the family again and especially noticing how the children have grown up.
We had a few birthdays this month. Congrats to Warren and Elizabeth: may the year ahead be filled with all you may wish for.
On a slightly sombre note, this month, some of our lovely staff have lost family members, Lusile, Handry and Amos you are in our thoughts at this time.
This month saw a lot of travel amongst staff. Graham and Charmian popped off for a two-week visit to Uganda to walk with the Gorillas and Chimps and even had several sightings of the bizarre Shoebill, a type of stork. They have retuned with amazing stories and pictures. Pippa, Liane and Mark popped of to Mozambique for a little get away and also returned with great stories and photographs.
Jimmy Hurlimann is back in the drivers seat at Vuyatela. He is here for five weeks helping out at the lodges and to escape the really cold weather in England. Shirley will however be coming to join him in April. Aubrey is also back in the tracker seat after the doctor gave us the green light. His wrist was broken last year in a freak mishap but all is well and he is looking good.
From Mark and the Vuyatela Team, stay well until next month.

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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