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Well greetings
from the rather busy bush. We have had a bumper month with the return
of our vivacious friends from Graskop, Mpumalanga. They took time out
from their busy schedules to come a celebrate Big Tony's birthday with
us. Yes, that's it, the Delagoa and Graskop Hotel bunch. We were also
delighted to have Vincent and Tony with us over that period one big
happy family!
The sightings have been absolutely fabulous with Twitch the Leopard
visiting the Scott's garden on a couple of occasions. We have had copious
amounts of cats around the lodge and reserve, Leopard and Cheetah, both
with cubs as well as Lions. There have been wonderful Rhino sights and
huge herds of Buffalo as well as Elephant with some young calves. Our
guests have all had exceptional safaris that have become the standard
at this time of year, and have also enjoyed accommodation and cuisine.
As for our herbaceous border destroyer, One Tusk (the elephant), we
have come up with a very discreet plan to keep him at bay (shaken not
stirred) with the erection of our two strand electrified camp boundary.
Mark has been hard at work with the boys getting the fence in operation
with the careful assistance and very watchful eye of Campbell. We are
sure that Campbell's presence is due to the fact that he did not want
any staff electrocuted. Although amongst us, Mark is still learning
the difference between volts, amps and earth leakage, and may just make
an impact on the maintenance crew.
We have also completed the new massage therapy boma where Nicole will
be pampering our guests. We have aptly named it "The Rubbing Post".
On a more serious note Steve Bailey has injured his back so he is going
to be taking duties within the lodge and heading the safari department.
The entire Djuma team wishes him well and a speedy recovery. On a positive
note, Solly Sithole has been guiding in Steve's place and has had rave
reviews from our guests. Chris has been very busy creating new roads
and sundowner spots for the Lodge as well as showing all of his guest
a great time on safari…. he is also proving to be quite the host
as well! Jimmy Mlanga, head of service, has mastered the Italian lingo
and is now chatting away with all our Italian guests a dime to the dozen.
Well-done Jimmy.
Until the next addition avoir
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Bush Lodge
rejoiced this month as finally some much needed rain fell on our wilting
gardens! Even though it was only 10mm, it seems as if spring is on its
way. The striped swallows, which nest in the office, have returned from
their European vacation and have been hovering around camp for a few
days and we are all crossing fingers that they decide to nest this year,
after they lost their brood to an unknown predator last season.
One of the more amusing wildlife incidents to happen this month was
the arrival of the infamous 'One-Tusk' at Bush lodge. Many of you will
know of his exploits from Vuyatela which has meant them resorting to
the installation of an electric fence. Well, he must have had telepathic
abilities to know that our electric fence was temporarily down and so
one afternoon he brought a few friends along to investigate our gardens!
Even though it was not working, it was amazing to watch how carefully
he stepped over the fence in his bid to munch our gardens. Andrew and
Liane have never had to deal with such a determined pachyderm before
and even after all his friends had high-tailed it out of the area in
fear of their crazy carrying-ons, One-Tusk just continued placidly munching
away. After much persuasion he finally moved off (politely stepping
over the fence again) and needless to say we have now our electric fence
back up and running at full strength again before he gives a repeat
performance. Good luck Vuyatela!
We also had a rarely seen cheetah sunning itself at the swimming pool
early one morning and a major highlight was the Sikutane pride killing
a buffalo across the dam from camp. It meant some amazing viewing from
the lodge, but not many had the courage to brave the pool area for a
few days. Both Evalinah and Liane ended up unexpectedly in the pool
when being taken unawares by the local wildlife and you'll be glad to
hear the water is a very pleasant temperature. (Ed's note to Liane and
Evalinah - we need to have a full length feature article on this event
please!)
On the maintenance side we've been full steam ahead with upgrading our
staff facilities and Kim and Edward now sport a new roof on their house,
just in time for the rain as well as a new stronger, higher fence in
case of the local wildlife getting too friendly. George, our in-house
builder, has done a great job building new staff rooms and bathrooms
and the staff are delighted with their new accommodations.
And finally we wish Edward a very happy birthday (and no we're not telling
his age) and hope that the year ahead is a wonderful, fulfilling one
bringing many new experiences and adventures for him.
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