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One of the more positive aspects of the approaching dry, winter season
is the remarkable increase in game activity. Unlike us 'softer' animals
that just want to snuggle under the duvet on chilly days, the wildlife
keep warm by hunting, feeding and fighting! Which makes for satisfied
game watchers! The crib at Bush Lodge has seen some wonderful activity
during the month, not the least of which was a sighting of the female
leopard known as 'White Cloth' with her cub 'Kinky Tail' taking on a
spotted hyena that just wouldn't leave them alone. Despite his youth
'Kinky Tail' put on an impressive display of bravado and strength and
helped send the hyena scuttling off into the night. We also sighted
a cheetah family stroll across the open area mid-morning for a drink
at the crib. This group is new to our area and consists of a female
with her 2 sub-adult cubs. The next sighting we had of them was a few
days later on the open area in front of Nkorho Camp where they were
resting up, eyeing out a herd of impala grazing nearby. After a brief,
speedy chase, the mother cheetah successfully caught an impala and the
family had just settled down to feed when out of the thicket nearby
charged 'Newington' the male leopard! With only brief resistance from
the cheetahs, Newington soon found himself the lucky recipient of one
barely eaten impala gained with minimal effort. Most exciting to watch,
although everyone felt a little sympathetic towards the cheetahs who
had to watch their lunch disappear up a tree. Not satisfied with that
incident, a few days later, we again found the cheetah family hunting
on the plain in front of Nkorho camp. This time it was a steenbok that
was the unfortunate target of their hunger. After managing to capture
the buck, the mother left it still alive so that the cubs could practice
their killing skills. The bawls and squeals from the steenbok attracted
rather too much attention however and three hungry lionesses appeared
shortly thereafter and again the cheetahs had to run for their lives
and abandon their dinner. Unlucky cheetahs!
The lion cubs are thriving and the rangers are getting more regular
sightings of them as they grow older and become more active. On a sad
note, the female leopard known as 'Kalkol' who has been a regular sighting
in the area for many years was killed in a skirmish with some lions.
From what the rangers can determine she got encircled in an open area
and was unable to make it to the safety of a tree and although she put
up quite some resistance she was unable to fend them off and later died
from her injuries. Fortunately her sub-adult cub wasn't with her at
the time and we have had a few sightings of him since then so he appears
to be coping all right on his own. The male leopard 'Newington' was
discovered mating with an unknown female leopard close to Bush Lodge
early one morning; so we will be keeping fingers crossed that this new
female moves into Kalkol's now vacant territory and produces cubs. The
impalas have started the 'rut' and so day and night the air is filled
with loud snorts and grunts as the adult male impalas battle it out
for their own female herds and the chance to mate and continue their
bloodline.
In the camp, we have hosted a number of honeymooners and we congratulate
Ann & Tony, Paul & Sarah, Emma & Simon, Lee & Lorraine,
Esther & Mark. May you all have wonderful memories of your honeymoon
at Bush Lodge to take with you into your lives together. Continuing
with the marriage theme, one of the neighbouring private camps hosted
a wedding and we were full hosting the overflow of guests who had travelled
from all over South Africa to witness the wonderful occasion. The wedding
was held at sunset on 1st rock and was a most memorable event.
Sue took some time off to travel to Johannesburg for the marriage of
her mother, Carol to Barney. We send warm congratulations to them and
wish them well for their future together. Return guests included the
Fitch family for their 4th visit. Once again they had marvellous game
viewing and we wish them all the best for their return to the USA after
living in South Africa for a number of years
On a final note we say farewell to Campbell and Pendrae Scott, who after
many years at Djuma, have decided to move on to try a new venture elsewhere.
Campbell and Pendrae have put great effort and dedication into helping
Djuma grow into the highly successful, well managed Reserve that it
is today and their presence will be sorely missed. With profound thanks
and fond farewells all the staff at Bush Lodge wish them and their family
happiness and success for the future.
Until next month
Liane and all the staff at Bush Lodge
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Well, the Black Mamba incident certainly got a lot of folk chatting
and mailing in from our last newsletter. Nellie is all right and yes,
we all had a big fright. We have not seen that naughty serpent around
the lodge again but we did have a visit from a smaller relative, which
Warren caught and relocated in a matter of minutes. With the seasons
changing we have seen a number of these critters around the lodge but
have managed to redirect them. We have to remember, however, that we
are on their turf and therefore have to be as accommodating as possible.
Enough about that for now!
Autumn is in full swing with early mornings being rather chilly and
evenings cooling down too. We are all quite relieved, as it has been
a rather hot summer. We have had a bit of rain over the last month,
but still the dam is drying up so we shall just have to hope that a
good storm hits soon.
We have had a number of honeymooners through camp over the past month.
Congratulations to you all and we hope to see you back for the odd anniversary!
We also saw a number of guest return for some special Vuyatela magic.
Jean Paul, Zet and Emilie Chenevier were with us for a three-day break
before they return to Paris for a while. We had Vincent and Tony Van
Rooyen with us for a couple of fun filled days and also Bill and Kathy
Beattie back for some time with Graham and us. We had Jutta Frensch
and friends join us from Cedric's Lodges in the Cape and also Willem
and Harrie (of Harrie's Pancake fame) from Graskop. Great to have you
all with us again.
We had the girls from Nelair Charters join us for a quick two-day weekend
break. Nonku and Mark were kept busy in the spa with copious pampering
treatments for the ladies. On the whole, they all looked highly rested
when they flew home on Sunday afternoon.
The Sandy Patch Lionesses have been seen around regularly, and they
have the cubs stashed in the drainage line in front of the lodge. We
have had some great sightings of the cubs and the female alike. The
Manyatlei males have been hanging around too, so we are all very careful
about walking between the kayas and the main buildings. Leopards have
also been sighted in abundance. We had a Cheetah killing an Impala on
one of the open areas. There appears to be two male sub adults and a
female. They had just started feeding when a male Leopard caught them
off guard. The male Leopard known as the Newington male grabbed the
Impala and was off to a thicket with it. Needless to say we had an awesome
sighting. The general game around the lodge has been really amazing
this month. Some afternoon's we did not have to go out on drive as there
were so many species around the water.
We are all getting ready for the tourism Indaba; an annual trade show
hosted in Durban, South Africa. This show draws buyers from all over
the globe and gives Southern Africa the opportunity to show off all
it has to offer in tourism. This year it is being held from the 7 -
10 May. Pippa, Mildred and Mark leave on the 4th of May to travel down
to get the Djuma stand ready for the show. Kim will be joining them
from the 5th, and Jurie and Helen from the 6th.
Patsy, Jurie and Pippa's little Jack Russell, gave birth to seven delightful
puppies early on Thursday morning. We have been visiting her and her
new puplets regularly. She seems to have lost all her pregnancy fat
and is looking very thin but I am sure she is quite happy with that.
Nick De Jongh and Helen Rorhs are leaving us for a great opportunity
not to far from us. We wish them both all the best and will be seeing
them around the area. The lodge is going to be so quite without Nick
and his jokes and Helen and her delicious smoothies amongst other things!
We also would like to take this time to say farewell to Campbell, Pendrae,
Finn and Jack Scott. They leave us for the lights of the big city for
now. We wish them all the best in their new endeavors.
Until next month,
Cheers from the Vuyatela team.
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