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

  
 

June 2005

  
 

Read about events at Djuma Game Reserve
 

Vuyatela

Bush Lodge
 
 

for more information visit www.djuma.com

If you would like to subscribe to this monthly newsletter, click here

This newsletter is archived in the Drumbeat section of our web site
Editor: Pippa Moolman
 
       
 
The above images are from the live Internet cameras that Djuma runs on the AfriCam.com web site. All images from the Djuma Safari Cam are by Helen - "virtual game ranger" and those on the Vuyatela Cam mostly by Pippa.
 
Tourism Indaba
As the beginning of May came around, we were preparing ourselves for the annual International travel show, Indaba, held in Durban. We had been planning for a couple of months before, but the time seemed to just fly. Pippa, Mark and Mildred were the stand creators as usual. We left in high spirits on the 3rd May; vehicles packed to the hilt. Mildred was the navigator, and we decided on a new route staying over night on a farm outside Piet Retief. We chose a fabulous guesthouse called "Dusk to Dawn", and sure enough dusk and dawn were experienced to the sounds of farm animals grunting and groaning on their way to and from grazing in the fields. The show started on the 7th so we needed time to build the stand and get it ready for opening day. All was sorted by the afternoon of the 6th thanks to the delightful help we had from Russell Weston of Greenlife, in the form of his tall stature and seeming lack of fear whilst on top of a ladder!
We had the extraordinary paintings by Maré van Noordwyk depicting rural buildings (spaza's, general dealers, schools etc) on display on our stand. These paintings document the wonderful a rich history of our great country, and in particular our area just beyond the reserve.
The team attending Indaba this year was Jurie, Pippa, Helen, Mark, Mildred and Kim. It was a busy show for us, as always, and a lot of new contacts were made, but more importantly, we had a chance to see all of our old friends.
Apart from back to back meetings and functions, our time in Durban was made very relaxing by the owners and staff at the amazing "164 Boutique Guesthouse" www.164.co.za .We can highly recommend this establishment, and will certainly stay there again next year. We all headed home to the welcoming warmth of the bush on the 11th May.
 
Laborie Bush Banquet
There was no rest on returning from Indaba, as we had to get ready for the annual Laborie African 'Bush Banquet' hosted by Southern Cross Schools http://www.southerncrossschools.co.za in Hoedspruit. The rules of the banquet are very easy - starters and dessert may be pre prepared off site - but the main course had to be cooked during the banquet. The twenty five teams of participants could only use gas and an open fire to prepare the evening's meal, and, one could only use ice to keep your ingredients cold. The "kitchens" had no electricity at all, thus no lighting either. We had to make sure that the chefs could see with the use of lanterns and rechargeable camping lights. This year the theme was "Afro Chic" and we all looked the part. Clinton Verhoog, our culinary co-coordinator, came down from Jo'burg for the event to keep and to eye on the food. We had an amazing team representing Djuma at the event: Charmian, Lusile, Eunice, Raine, Clinton and Mark. They all created the wonderful table settings and bush kitchen, which shouted "Afro Chic". We got an award for our food and wine pairing. The night went very well and was a fund raising success for Southern Cross and its "Reach-a-Cross" programme. Jurie and Pippa attended as guests, so after a little celebrating and fun we all returned to the lodge very late into the night.

 
     
Galago  
Vuyatela

Winter is firmly upon us, after a cold front passed over, a week or so ago, along with some whispery, light rain. With that, out came the hot water bottles at bedtime, and roaring fires in the dining area and cozy blankies on the game drive vehicles. Surprisingly, from a sub-tropical perspective, the staff was in awe that some guests were crazy enough to take a dip in the pool! Having said that, the King family have just returned to South Africa after ten years in Canada and the others were from the icy Highveld.
It was wonderful to see return guests throughout the month with the Van der As from The Netherlands, as new comers. They also coped with swimming during the sunny, winters, days. Simon and Wendy King were thrilled to show their children the wonders of wildest Africa. Morris Mnisi (from Bush Lodge) pulled out all the stops to show them most of the animals on their "wish list" as well as tracking spoor and more importantly, how to spit impala dung! It was also good to see the Bams and their close friends back again. The month ended with the Calmeyer party up from Cape Town, after their last Galago visit two years ago. Andy described how they got in from a morning drive and the cheetah family came down to drink at the waterhole in front of the camp. Just then, an impala walked passed, unaware of the cheetahs and the potential hazard. Apparently, the kill did not happen, but the tension in the camp as to what could have happened was immense!
There were plenty of lion, cheetah and rhino sightings on safari, with the leopards only showing themselves sporadically. Elephants have also been a bit thin on the ground - perhaps word is out that there will be further relocations later in the year. The current firm favourite has got to be the little hyena pups! Most visits to their den have guests amazed at how cute they are as youngsters, and thus warming to the scavenger and predator image that one usually has of the adults. We have not seen the lion cubs for many weeks now, and are holding thumbs that they are alive and well, but hopefully just off the property for now.
Until next month, stay well, from the Galago team.

On the lodge front we have the once, watery oasis of Gowrie dam, drying up rapidly at this stage. We will start pumping fresh water to the smaller watering holes in the next couple of weeks unless an unlikely downpour occurs. We had a large herd of Buffalo though about a week ago, about 500 strong. The next day Chris noticed a large number of fish floating belly up on the sides of the water. The Buffalo, clearly thirsty, had stirred up the mud and with their shear numbers, which must have managed to starve the fish of oxygen in the water. We have been having amazing sightings of Marabou Storks, Black Storks, Spoon Bill Storks and Herons to mention a few. The activity around the water is out of this world with daily sightings of Impala, Nyala, Warthogs, Zebra, Wildebeest, Giraffe to name a few. We had two Rhinos at the water drinking one morning too. They have been spotted on a number of occasions around the lodge and our staff village. We had the Manyaleti male Lion come through camp one day. Tracker Aubrey, returning from a trip to the village with guests, spotted him walking down the driveway. The guests were totally surprised by the sight and followed the Lion with Aubery through the camp, right past "The Rubbing Post" and Khaya 5. What an unexpected thrill! The Lion was seen around camp for a while after that. A giant Kingfisher has been seen at the pond outside reception by Jimmy and Mark on a number of occasions. The Kingfisher has been enjoying the peace of the reception pond as it can fish without a worry of other competition.
We welcomed John Johnston (Johnny Bagpipes, a comedian from Canada) back to the lodge while Marianne attended Indaba. Vincent and Tony returned for a weekend break and birthday gift for Tony's brother-in-law, Rob and as can be imagined a lot of fun was had. Chris came over from Bush Lodge to drive for them. Jean Marc and Evellyn Kifaru were back with us for a week doing some more filming with Graham Cooke. Bronwen and Grant also popped in for a short visit to the lodge before returning to Mozambique. We had a number of honeymoon couples with us too, and we wish them all the best for their future together and hope to see them all soon.
"The Djuma Lions", our own team, played a friendly soccer match against the local teachers in Hluvukani. There were tons of tense moments but the teams managed to draw 1-1. The supporters came home with voices totally strained by all the chanting and encouragement.
Until next month all the best
Mark and the Vuyatela team.
   
Bush Lodge
Greetings from a drier and chillier Bush Lodge.
With the easing off of the Impalas' rutting season, the bush has quietened down somewhat, with only the occasional male still letting out a determined bellow or two. The spotted hyena clan have denned in the same termite mound as last year, which is now very active with no less than 13 adults having been sighted in its vicinity. The young cubs are still blackish in colour having not yet developed the spotted coat so characteristic of the adults. They are curious and mischievous (as befits most youngsters) and often come up to the vehicles to have a closer inspection, much to the delight of our guests. The cheetah family we reported on last month are still regularly seen in the area, although they have migrated west towards Galago camp. The two cubs are growing rapidly and are almost the same size as their mother, although she is still doing all the hunting. The female leopard "White Cloth" has been sighted a number of times and she seems to have extended her range to occupy some of the now vacant territory that "Kalkol' (whom you may recall died last month) used to utilise. A highly unexpected sighting one morning was of a lion pride near Galago Camp. The reason for it being so remarkable is that it is a pride from the Southern region of the reserve that has never been seen this far north before. Consisting of two males (one of whom is blind in one eye), 3 females and a lone sub-adult this pride killed a wildebeest close to Galago camp. After finishing their meal, they returned back South again but it'll be interesting to see if they begin to utilise this area more regularly.
Back in the lodge, we are thrilled to report that the genet cat is back! Not having seen the genet for many months, we assumed that it had left the lodge area or perhaps even died. But, as the bush has started to dry up and food has got more difficult to find, the genet has once again returned for its nightly biltong treats. Already it is well habituated and some of our guests have been fortunate to have good visuals of it. The bushbuck is another nocturnal visitor and we have a gorgeous big male that comes in almost nightly along with two females. The downside to them is that they are voraciously eating up all the well-tended plants in the camp gardens, so we have now resorted to covering up the flowerbeds at night to try and halt the damage. Our winter flowering plants are in bloom, and the aloes, bougainvillea and impala lilies add a much-needed splash of colour to the dull winter bushveld.
We've had a number of return guests this past month, including, Heather and William, who had Chris as their guide which they were thrilled about as he drove them during their previous visit. Klaus returned for his second visit this year from Germany and again saw some wonderful game including rarely seen endangered African Wild Dogs. Jacqueline and Yves from France returned for another visit to try and view their beloved leopards. They started off with a fantastic sighting of Newington Male whom they hadn't seen for a number of years, so that really made their stay for them. Honeymooners, included Jo and Della, and Richard and Jane. Congratulations on both your marriages!
May is also the month for marketing and this year's Indaba show in Durban saw Kim attending as the Bush Lodge representative for the first time. The show was another great success as we renewed our contacts and hopefully made some new ones too. Kim and Chris took some time off to travel to the Cape for Chris's sisters wedding. Shani and Andrew got married in Prince Albert and after months of preparation everything went off without a hitch - even Chris's MC'ing! Liane also travelled to the Cape for her cousin's wedding in Knysna after which Lorna and Alastair enjoyed their honeymoon at Vuyatela. So there's definitely been the buzz of wedding talk around Bush Lodge this month!
Finally we say farewell to Sue who has been our volunteer student for the past few months. She has proved to be a most valuable asset to the camp as well as operating the "Virtual Game Drive" and we will miss her warm smile and gentle manner. She leaves us to backpack through Europe and we wish her well on her travels.
Kind regards,
Liane and the Bush Lodge Team

 
 
 
Join us next month and share our experiences as the seasons march on.
 
 
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.
 
You received this e-mail newsletter because you are subscribed to the Djuma Game Reserve Drumbeat Newsletter. We respect your privacy and will not divulge your e-mail address to any third parties. Should you wish to unsubscribe please reply to this e-mail with "unsubscribe" in the subject line or click on this link to unsubscribe yourself.
 

Home
 

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

Copyright © 1998 - 2005 Djuma Game Reserve - All Rights Reserved.