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

September 2005

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

August has seen our unusually mild weather continue and it seems to already be Spring in the Bushveld. We've experienced a number of awesome electric storms with thunder rolling and lightning illuminating the night sky and although no rain has fallen as yet, it shouldn't be long before we experience the first spring showers. The calls of fiery-necked nightjars, cicadas, frogs and toads can be heard echoing around the lodge in the evenings. Not to mention the mating calls of squirrels, francolins and hornbills during the day. Yup, Spring fever has definitely hit the Bushveld.
August is always a particularly busy month for us and this year was no exception. We hosted a number of family groups from the USA and UK and we particularly commend the Hopper family for our entertaining evening of "John Denver' sing alongs. We extend warm congratulations to our honeymooners - Katie & Mike, Kath & Andrew, Jason & Natalie and Martin & Lisa. We wish you all the best for your futures together. Return guests included Bob & Honey Alders from Holland who came back to visit for the second year in a row. We'd also like to say a big thank you to them for their kind donations to the village crèche and school. Jimmy and Shirley Hurlimann also visited with Shirley's sister and her family. All the staff really enjoyed seeing Jimmy again and catching up on his news and we congratulate them on their first wedding anniversary. Birthday celebrations for Jurie's much anticipated 40th Birthday were a good excuse for us to let our hair down and had many of us nursing sore heads the next day.
Around the camp we've been hard at work watering and trying to keep the gardens alive through the long dry season. To this purpose we've extended our electric fence to include the pool area as we were getting a number of buffalos and elephants visiting the lawns at night. Hopefully our fence will put paid to these nocturnal feeding frenzies and we'll soon be boasting lush green lawns. Piet and Chris have been kept busy maintaining the pipeline to our various water holes and their hard work has paid off, as the waterholes are now full and bringing in fantastic game sightings.
We've had further evidence of black rhino activity in the area, but still no sightings. Fantastic leopard sightings have been had this month and "Safari Female's" two cubs who are now hunting on their own, are becoming more regularly seen in our area and we have high hopes that the female cub occupies the vacant territory around Bush Lodge. An adrenalin-causing sighting was that of a mature female leopard (known as "White cloth') walking down the garden path from Chalet 6 during dinner one evening. As everyone rushed to the bar to view her, she nonchalantly strolled past us, through the boma area before walking across the bridge and up to the crib for a drink of water as if she owned the place. There were certainly a few hearts pounding around the dinner table that night! The crib has seen a huge breeding herd of buffaloes visit a number of times, as well as elephants, lions, kudu, giraffe, waterbuck and impala to list but a few. Lions have been sighted often this month and a sad find was made of the old female from the Skutane pride dead one morning. Whilst she had been losing condition for some time it was still a major loss to the pride. The other lion prides are doing well and the Stix Pride at the crib treated us to a rare visit one evening. A few of the lionesses proceeded to hang around the camp for a few days before heading off again to regroup. And on a final note we congratulate Chris on his first sighting of Aardvark at Djuma. The guests too were thrilled to view this rarely seen nocturnal animal and we hope the fabulous game viewing continues! We'll keep you posted as always.
Until next month,
Liane and the Bush Lodge Team.

We have had so much activity around camp this month that the mind boggles at having to try and remember all that has happened, or possibly it is just a sign of getting older!
At any rate we have had our fill of excitement in and around camp.
We are still going through a very dry period with most dams having dried up or in the process of drying up. The two smaller watering holes on the open area in front of the lodge have been teeming with game. You can see for yourselves by linking to the live camera on our web site www.djuma.com . The Elephants are using the tree right next to the pan as a rubbing post so seem to be enjoying the fresh water we are pumping daily. The buffalo are also here regularly, but we must admit, that after a large herd has been through we need to fill the pans as they empty them rather quickly. We have also seen a male Leopard drinking there on a number of occasions usually during dinner. He has to be one of the largest male leopards we have seen in a while. He seems to enjoy the drainage line in front of the lodge and "Hysteria Lane" where Charmian, Graham and Mark live.
We had the Stix Pride Lionesses kill a Nyala just outside of khaya 5. The staff doing wake up calls in the morning got the surprise of their lives, not to mention the guests in the khaya's while the kill was happening. The lions spent a two days with the kill, but we had to try and get them out of camp. While the lions were not looking, we dragged the carcass out of camp into the drainage line for them to feed on further. After that, they were seen for a day or two just in front of khaya 3. The Rhino have been around as well, coming to drink at the pans. The general game has been outstanding with large herds of Zebra, Impala, and Nyala amongst others.
Warren spent two weeks guiding while Marietjie went off on leave. It was great to see him in the drivers seat again, and his guests all had a good time out in the bush with him and Aubrey. One of the many amazing sightings they had was with a Cheetah that they had been following for a while. Out of the blue there was a chase and kill right in front of them. The guests raved for hours over breakfast and lunch.
We had a number of return guests this month. The Ash family were back for a four day visit. Solly looked after the Ash's again and showed them all the sights of the bush. The sightings were amazing and the boys especially had a great time. Emily Chenevier and Jennifer Hunt were back with us for a week again too. Sue Spencer was also back for 12 days with Graham as her guide, and once again she had a fab time with us. Donna Johnson also came back again, this time with her mom, for a 5 day break before popping back home after some business. Great to have seen you all again. Jimmy and Shirley Hurliman were back for 4 days with her sister and family. Great to see you again, dollas.
We had a number of families with us this month too - the Brodskys, Buckridges and Burnstyns - always great to see family traveling the world together.
Birthdays that were celebrated this month were Solly, Jurie (who has reached a milestone) and Zoë, who celebrated her 9th birthday. We wish you all the best for the coming year.
George has a new son born on the 28th of August. Both Zodwa and little Kgatlego are doing very well with George is smiling from ear to ear as the proud father. Congratulations guys!
Until next month greetings from Mark and the Vuyatela team

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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