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In the African night, the beat of a drum means news... |
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March 2007 |
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Read about events at Djuma Game Reserve |
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Bush Lodge |
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| "One afternoon before tea 'White Cloth', female leopard, showed her face to guests in Chalet 1 ……" Click here to read more… | |
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Vuyatela |
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"On closer inspection they realised she was giving
birth! ......." Click here to read more…
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Galago
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| "…… Many lodges like Djuma strive to allow our precious animal life the ability to live in security and their natural habitat….." 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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The rain has not been kind to us this month as the reserve is in
much need of water to see us through the winter months. We have had
the odd down pour but nothing like what is needed. Coupled with the
unrelenting hot days, peaking at 41C in the middle of the month, there
is little respite for the bush which is already drying up. When the
lodge has had a shower, the frogs are very entertaining for the guests,
as they (the frogs) always knock up a conversation in the lodge and
before you know it you have a whole orchestra trying to get there
two cents worth in. The last week of February eventually saw some
rain. We had about 17mm of rain, and guests were still able to enjoy
the village trips and drives even though it was wet. |
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| Vuyatela | ||
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February behind us, and the dam in front of the lodge drying up, we
were fortunate enough to have some spectacular storms followed by a
couple of days of light rain. This means that the lodge gardens are
looking beautiful, filled with butterflies, insects and birds.
Just beyond the lodge at the dam we have been entertained by a daily
non-stop animal parade. The likes of elephants, waterbuck, nyala,
kudu, impala, zebra, leopard, giraffe and wildebeest have been daily
visitors. The rangers have confirmed that the Sandy Patch lioness
is alive and well and has met up with her two cubs. The cubs
are a little on the thin side, but are thriving at their mother's side
once again. She is quite happy to stay close to Vuyatela - maybe waiting
for availability for some five star pampering - and has been seen on
a number of occasions drinking at the dam or walking past the lodge
into the bush thickets along the drainage line. One afternoon there
was great excitement when a pack of hyenas separated a wildebeest
calf from the herd and attempted to kill it. The adult wildebeest were
having none of it, and bravely fought the pack off, rescuing the lucky
calf. Some game sighting highlights out on safari this month have included the two African Wild Dogs that passed through our property earlier in the year. We are hoping that they join up with some more Wild Dogs forming a larger pack that will be viable to breed and raise a litter of pups. If this happens, in the next month or so they will have to begin looking for a den site, so keep your fingers crossed! Some of our guests saw the 3 + 1 pride of lions take down an impala on Quarantine open area just west of the lodge. This was all very exciting, but there was not much meat to go round, so had to set off hunting again a little while later. Charles Gumede was out on drive with a party of Dutch guests when they came across an elephant cow leaning up against a termite hill. On closer inspection they realised she was giving birth! After a while the guests witnessed the cow helping the little calf up onto its feet. This was a first for Charles, even after more than twenty years of working in the bush and I am sure a memory neither he nor his guests will ever forget. We have had a number of honeymooners at Vuyatela this month. Congratulations to the McCords, the Richards, the Walklys, and the Himes. May you have long and happy lives together and return to Vuyatela for your anniversaries. It was lovely to see the Cheniviers at Vuyatela again while on a visit to South Africa from their new home in France. Happy birthday wishes in camp this month are for Warren and Elizabeth, and we extend congratulations to Kim and Chris at Bush Lodge for the birth of their little boy, Harry John Stamper. Until next month with hopes for more rain, the Vuyatela family |
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February started out hot and dry, but by the end of the month we
were lucky enough to have close on 50mm of rainfall. Although
this has not been enough to fill the dams, the bush has greened
up somewhat and the dust has settled. There is not much time left
in what is supposed to be our wet season, but we hope that we get
some more spectacular cloudbursts to carry the veld through winter. |
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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
Game Reserve
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