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

August 2004

Read about events at Djuma Game Reserve

Vuyatela

Bush Lodge

for more information visit www.djuma.com

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This newsletter is archived in the Drumbeat section of our web site

Just to remind us that it is still winter, snow fell earlier this month on the Drakensberg mountains to the West of us and although it only lasted a day or two, it left us with a distinctly alpine feeling, a lot of which was probably due to the unusually cold temperatures it brought with! We've also had some more rainfall, somewhat unusual for this time of year, which has kept the vegetation green and ensured good grazing through the winter months.
Wildlife sightings have been somewhat erratic, with the cats in particular offering fabulous sightings for periods before seemingly disappearing completely, leaving the rangers to hunt high and low for them! One of the highlights of the month was definitely the violent clash of the Stix and Skutane prides as they met each other unexpectedly one afternoon. Whilst there were no injuries sustained the fur was definitely flying for a bit! An obviously threatened pride male has been keeping us awake in camp for a number of nights since with loud proclamations of his presence - I think we've got the message by now. Another exciting event was the rare sighting of a pack of eight African Wild dogs early one morning in front of the camp, drinking at the crib. They then proceeded to kill a small common duiker behind the pool and we got some fabulous viewing of them consuming their breakfast. It has been months since we've had a good sighting of these highly endangered species and we hope to see them again in the area. Kim and I became "rangers" one morning as we sighted a male leopard walking past the lodge whilst the rangers were out on drive. It was up to us to follow him in the open vehicle until the guides were able to return to the area and we had a great time off-roading and tracking. Unfortunately he gave us the slip just as they arrived, so we suffered quite some heckling from everyone. In the camp we have discovered a genet cat living near the kitchen area, so we have been progressively habituating it to our presence and whilst not completely tame we have managed to get it fairly used to us and it comes around the bar most nights to get a treat or two (of the biltong variety not the alcoholic sort).
Edward (who had returned to help us out for a while) has left again to travel on to France where he will be working in a guesthouse for a couple of months. His schoolboy French will improve rapidly I suspect. After being away for a few months already Jimmy has decided not to immediately return to South Africa and Djuma, but rather to extend his travels for longer. He will definitely be missed at Bush Lodge and we wish him all the best for the future.
Till next month,
Liane and the Bush Lodge Team

Let's start off with a weather report for the month of July. Being mid-winter, icy cold early mornings and evenings are to be expected. Normally, mild sunny days are common, and even the odd group of guests here and there may be found taking a dip in the pool. However, what we are not used to in July is rainfall, and a whopping 60mm at that! Yes, it is the middle of the so-called dry season, and our recent rains have topped what fell in November and December last year, which should be our wettest months. And the pros and cons of this strange season? On the down side we had a few game drives caught out in the rain, resulting in a cold return trip to the lodge. On the positive side, roaring fires in the dining room, and cosy hot water bottles at bedtime. The bush is also looking surprisingly lush and green, interspersed with belated autumn colours on some of the trees. One of the special scenes we have missed so far this winter are those splendid sunsets forming a backdrop to bare silhouettes of trees. We are also missing that lovely crisp dry smell that the bush seems to get in the dry months. Some of the guests have been lucky to catch glimpses of the thick mist that hangs in the low-lying areas as day breaks. From higher ground one can look down on these dense sections of white that the temperature inversions result in.
As usual we welcome our regular return visitors as well as the Human and the Anderson parties that have stayed at our other lodges before. Galago forms a lovely backdrop for groups wanting the whole place to themselves, in a comfy and relaxed surrounding. What better way to spend time with friends and family on the front lawn watching the animals parading past on the open plain beyond. Campbell's family and friends also spent a couple of days at Galago. Jay Hanson, who used to work at Bush Lodge, brought a group of gap-year students from the UK to experience the bush. These youngsters are based in Swaziland and in between community projects get to do a bit of traveling around Southern Africa with Jay as their "tour guide".
To frequent readers of this column and guests that often return to Galago, you will be pleased to hear that we have bought a 'top of the range' gas stove and a new fridge for the bar.
Until next month,
Regards from the Galago team.

I sit here writing this month's drumbeat from a very chilly and wet bushveld. We have had one of the colder winters I can remember. Temperatures reached zero and below on a couple of occasions. We have dragged out all the heating we could find to make it more bearable for us locals, while our guests from Northern climates have mentioned that it was not too chilly. To date we have had about 60mm of rain this month, more than November and December combined (our wet season usually occurs between November and January). So we are expecting the bush to spring green shoots at any time now. While a few of the Djuma family were on leave: Jurie, Pippa and the girls in Johannesburg, Pendrae and the kids at the beach and Mark in Pretoria, we had calls from the lodge to say that snow could be seen from Cheetah cut line on the mountains. The snow covered mountain peaks caused the slightest breeze to bring a kind of cold that seemed to cut through all the warm layers one was wearing.
We had some amazing sightings though, so it made up for the cold. Chris and Rodney were following up on some Lion tracks of the Skutane females. They had located the females when a very unfortunate lone Buffalo bull came into sight. The lionesses were very quick to grab hold of said Buffalo and brought him down, after a rather exhilarating show. The Buffalo tried in vain to use the game drive vehicles as a shield from its attackers but to no avail. Chris mentioned that the Buffalo narrowly missed the back of his vehicle at one stage. Chris and Rodney were clearly excited by what they were seeing and waited the nearly 40 minutes it took to kill the animal and all watched in stunned silence as the Lionesses fed on the beast. Emilie Chenivier and her friend Jennifer were on the vehicle along with our other guests. Emilie has been coming to Djuma since she was a small child. Now eighteen, they came and spent two weeks with us on our volunteer programme. Unfortunately they had no cameras to capture the kill.
We had a serious scuffle between three bull Elephants at Gowrie dam in front of Vuyatela. At first, two of the animals were at the waters edge drinking, when the third approached. There was a stand off for a while and then the scuffle started. There were trumpets galore as the two sparred, overseen by the smaller bull. They crashed though the bush trumpeting alongside the dam until the peace was restored in the form of a mud bath for two of the Elephants in front of Khaya 1. The third still agitated by the scuffle chose to feed on nearby trees, nursing a superficial tusk wound to the head. We had all the guests on the deck watching events unfold about 20 meters away.
Other sightings this month included Leopards on kills close to the lodge. At one of the sightings, a Hyena stole the kill from the Leopard as she tried in vain to drag it up a tree. Her cub watched from above as the Hyena charged up and grabbed the Impala and dragged it of away from them. The female Cheetah and her three growing cubs have been spotted regularly. They are all looking in tiptop shape. We have also witnessed a clash between the Skutane and Styx Lion prides, the Skutane pride being the victors. Last but not least, we saw Wild dog on a Duiker kill close to Bush lodge. They were believed to be part of the Skukuza pack consisting of eight dogs. They moved across the reserve fairly quickly.
Inge Moolman had a visit from some wildlife of the slithery kind in her house recently. It was a beautiful bright green Boomslang, as Warren described it. He mentioned that it was rather lethargic and he managed to relocate it easily into more natural surroundings!
Jean-Paul Chenivier was with us for two weekends this month and had a smashing time with some well deserved rest and relaxation. We also welcome Vincent and Tony Van Rooyen back again, twice in two weeks. Bruce and Mel Lawson and Katharine Rutherford all came for return visits. Great having you all with us and thank you for the great time. Sarah and John Pharo returned to us as well this month for a couple of days. They have been in South Africa celebrating their new home in Cape Town. Sarah is bringing a group out to us in October this year and said she could not wait that long before returning. We also had Jimmy Hurlimann come a visit us. Although has left the bush for London, he has brought his new family to see us. Shirley has been here on numerous occasions while her son Tom, joined us for his second visit. They are all happy together and we wish them all the best for the future. Jimmy and Shirley will be back with us again in August with some friends before returning to the United Kingdom at the end of August.
Helen Rohr's, our virtual game ranger, has been away for an extended visit to her parents in Canada. Nick has been beside himself without her around for this extended length of time. He has been taken care of by all at the lodge, so all should be well when Helen gets back. Nathalie de Beer has been filling in for Helen as virtual ranger, and she will be moving over to Bush Lodge in August when Kim and Chris go on leave. Neliswa has been hectically busy in the "rubbing post" with the introduction of new products for skin care. We now offer facials using Sans Soucis, this product originates in Germany from the Baden-Baden springs. It is a very relaxing facial and has most of the guests and staff lining up for some pampering. We are still stocking Environ and are offering numerous facial packages with the two products.
We celebrated two birthdays this month: Charmian Cooke and Finn Scott. From all at the lodge have a happy year ahead.
Until next month, ciao from Mark and the Vuyatela team.

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