It is midwinter, well almost, and the sun only rises at about 6 AM
in the morning. Admittedly our coldest temperature so far has been
only 8 degrees Celsius, but with the wind chill in the open game drive
vehicles, it does feel colder than that. The end of the rainy season
has left us with enough rain to see us comfortably through the coming
dry season. All dams are full and the grass is tall and lush, this
is a remarkable turn around after two years of drought. Given the
excellent grass growth we will have to keep a fine eye out for potential
run away fires, something we have not had to worry about in the last
two years of drought.
Another ecological phenomenon that the greater Kruger National Park
and we need to address is the growing pressure on the habitat from
the ever-increasing elephant numbers. The damage that these huge animals
can wreak in an ecosystem is well known and a present reality in the
greater Kruger Park. A moratorium on elephant culling was declared
in 1996 and since then no elephants have been culled. Today the elephant
population is more than 11 000 individuals after a half a century
of elephant populations being held constant at 7 500. By best estimates
this is an excess of about 3000 elephants - a staggering number of
the largest land animal!
The Kruger has experimented with two different types of birth control
methods as well as expansion of the park itself. One birth control
method has shown great promise with none of the side effects and behavioural
changes observed with the other method. Whilst these methods may help
to keep the population stable, they will not help much in the short
term in reducing the total number of elephants. The expansion of the
Park into Mozambique and possibly into Zimbabwe will help in the long
term, but once again will not help the unfolding crisis now. In the
Sabi Sand reserve we have recently caught a total of about 60 elephants
to relocate to new reserves elsewhere in South Africa. This is important
in establishing new elephant populations elsewhere and a sound ecological
management tool. Unfortunately at less than 10% of the elephant population
in the Sabi Sand (and 0.5% of the total greater Kruger population)
it will make very little difference to the elephant population pressure
we are experiencing.
So, what to do? This is a question that is exercising the best minds
and many facts need to be taken into consideration. One the hand all
would in principle agree with the sentimental point of view that killing
elephants - or any other animals - can be cruel and distasteful. Many
people quite rightly object to hunting and culling. But there is a
reality of what we - humans - have done. We have created islands of
conservation and these fragments, even as large as the Kruger Park,
are unable to regulate themselves in terms of certain animal populations.
Thus some kind of intervention is called for, whether birth control
and / or culling. Reserves like the Kruger Park need to conserve maximum
diversity and thus cannot allow one factor (e.g. elephant population
pressure), as natural as it may seem, to damage the ecosystem to the
point where other species are negatively affected.
The ultimate responsibility for this decision lies with National Parks
Board and we wish them all the wisdom and courage to make this decision.
The controversy with the culling of the tahrs on Table Mountain in
Cape Town clearly illustrates the massive backlash the Parks Board
must expect if they decide to resume elephant culling. The tahr issue
is in many ways an easier decision to make since these animals are
not indigenous to Table Mountain and should not be there in the first
place. This did not prevent overzealous people from making death threats
to members of the Parks Board. That kind of attitude does not help
when difficult ecological management decisions are to be made.
Jurie Moolman
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As we head into winter we are experiencing chilly nights with the temperature
already having dropped below 10 degrees on a few occasions, although
the days are still mild and pleasant. There's nothing quite like sitting
around a roaring fire in the chill winter evenings watching the water-hole
for activity. The bush is surprisingly lush still, with few trees having
dropped their leaves and the grass not yet turned into its typical dry,
yellow winter grazing. With no rain having fallen during May it won't
be long though before the ecosystem starts to show signs of the dry
season having kicked in and the rangers can look forward to an increase
in activity around the water-holes.
One of the more amusing experiences this month with wildlife was the
arrival at Bush Lodge of an elephant who just wouldn't take no for an
answer! He arrived quite sneakily, snacking on a large Knobthorn growing
over the swimming pool during the night The grounds man's greeting the
next morning of 'there's a branch in the pool' had me expecting a twig
drifting around, but sure enough a huge bough had been brought crashing
down (barely missing the wooden pool loungers). After cleaning up we
were on heightened alert and his rumbling could be heard throughout
the day in the drainage line nearby. The next night he took a bolder
approach and strolled right in through the staff entrance to walk where
no elephant had gone before (OK maybe not for a while anyway). He wandered
inquisitively throughout the lodge grounds (keeping quite a few guests
awake with his noise) and we can be lucky that the next morning the
only major damage incurred was a huge Knobthorn pushed over right in
the centre of the lodge gardens! Some trimming with the chain-saw and
a strong vehicle had it back on its roots again, where it is carefully
propped up as we wait to see if it survives. It took quite a lot of
persuasion on our part to convince the bull that he really didn't want
to come back and the sight of our entrance sign quite thoroughly trampled
the next day was a sure sign that he wasn't impressed by the electric
fence being switched on and all his possible entrances shut off! We
still see him lurking around and so there's no dropping our defenses
as yet!
Peter Pretorius has settled in well as our replacement guide for Jimmy
and already he and Abel are making a great team out in the bush. Brigitte
who joined us for another stint as a volunteer has returned to Austria
to enroll at University and we wish her luck with her studies. May also
saw another old face back in camp with the return of Edward (our previous
Ass Manager) who will be back with us for a while assisting around the
lodge. Its great to have him back again!
Marketing was a priority with the annual 'India' show being held in
Durban early on in the month. Most of the Djuma management traveled
down to catch up with agents and colleagues and to once again spread
the name of Djuma around the world. Hard work, but also great fun!
So look out for our migrant birds as you head in to summer,
Until next month,
Liane and the Bush Lodge Team
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Well, we had a great time at Indaba, the Durban travel show. The Djuma
stand looked great, but then we had expert hands creating the whole
thing. Pippa, Mildred and Mark traveled down two days before the show
started and put the stand together. We had a new paint technique to
apply to the walls, there were a couple of moments when we thought it
was not looking as we thought it should but in the end it worked beautifully.
We went for a very conservative look this year with a couple of twists
but received a good few compliments. The drive or rather "flight"
down was great Pippa and Vincent in the bus with Liane, Mildred and
Mark in the car behind. We made good time with a lot of chatting and
laughter. The rest of the team joined us by Friday ready to see all
at the show. Jurie, Campbell, Helen, Mark, Liane and Mildred took care
of the business while Pippa returned to the bush to join Pendrae and
Charmian back at the lodge. We all sorely missed them and we hope to
have them with us next year again!
The show brought us serious business and we touched basis with all our
operators. It is great to see old faces and catch up on news about what
we are all up too. The networking was fruitful with a lot of new contacts
made.
Back at the lodge we had Warren, Marietjie and Jimmy looking after our
guests. Nelly made sure they were all pampered with her wonderful therapies
and the boys showed them good game sightings. Solly was away for a well-deserved
break while Chris and Nick looked after the safaris, the bush as well
as tending to road maintenance.
Rodney had a break too but was treated for Pneumonia. With a lot of
bed rest he is back at work doing well. Aubery and Handry took care
of tracking and worked with the others on the roads etc.
We had some lovely sightings around the lodge this month. A couple of
the highlights were the Cheetah and her three cubs. They spent about
four days around and in front of the lodge. We had a wonderful breeding
herd of seventeen elephant come to water themselves at the dam.
There has also been a Hippo in the dam. There were three but two of
them have moved off leaving a single bull to protect his territory.
We had an elderly bull Elephant around the lodge for a while. He was
quite relaxed and fed right through the day and night.
More excitement happened when Charmian had a Mozambique spitting cobra
outside the reservation office. Nelly spotted it earlier in the morning
but it disappeared only to return later. Charmian and Marietjie were
chatting with Finn when the snake reappeared. Woer - Woer, the Jack
Russell, was checking things out but soon was pulled back inside the
office. Warren came to the rescue and relocated the young snake into
the bush a distance from the Lodge. Thanks Warren !!
The spa is nearing completion and we hope to move in soon. It will be
called "The Rubbing Post". Pippa has outdone herself on the
mosaic work on the walls. We are all very pleased at the result of the
building and Nelly cannot wait to be all moved in. Pictures of the building
will be in next month's Drumbeat.
The Mervaille's returned to Vuyatela after several previous visits,
they come back to see their favourite Leopard, Xivati. We had sad news
for them on this occasion as Xivati is thought to have been killed in
Manyeleti Game Reserve to our north, after breaking into a game guard's
hut. They had a great time even though their leopard was no longer.
Chris more than made up for this and we will see them next year again.
Kathy Reid spent three nights with us once again. It was lovely having
her here and we are glad that she got to see the animals on her wish
list. Lastly we would like to congratulate all our guides and trackers
on passing their trail exams with flying colours, well done!!!
We would also like to wish Liane all the best for the year to come.
She celebrated her birthday this month at Indaba.
Until next month, stay well, from Mark and the Vuyatela family.
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