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In the African night, the beat of a drum means news... |
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September 2006 |
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Read about events at Djuma Game Reserve |
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for more information visit www.djuma.com |
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If you would like to subscribe to this monthly newsletter, click here |
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This newsletter is archived in the Drumbeat section of our web site |
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Editor:
Pippa Moolman
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The above photos were taken from the Vuyatela Cam,
hosted by Djuma Game Reserve - most of these images are recorded by
Pippa.
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| Bush Lodge | |
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August has flown by, not only time wise, but also as far as the windy
weather occurring at this time of the year. The wind has vigorously
removed most of the remaining leaves on the trees and a blanket of
purple from the bougainvillea covers the ground near the bar. |
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| Vuyatela | |
| What a wonderful
month it has been for rare and fantastic sightings here at Vuyatela. The guests have been blessed with seeing huge amounts of general game around Vuyatela's watering hole, namely buffalo, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, nyala, kudu, bush buck and waterbuck. We must not forget the many impala, which always show us their graceful beauty. Also visiting the watering hole on a regular basis has been a breeding herd of elephant. Both staff and guests have taken great pleasure in watching the babies play with each other and their parents. We even had the joy of watching two adult elephants go for a swim and play in the water, blowing water on each other and pushing into one another. The leopards have been very active this month, with one female trying to make a kill between Kaya 4 and 5. Another female decided to grace the guests with her presence one evening while everyone was having dinner. She waltzed onto the deck, took a look around and walked off into the bush passed the gym. Needles to say, there was no arguing from the guests when it came to being escourted back to the khayas that night. Not to be left out of the visitation rights, one lioness and three lions were seen wondering through the camp in the early hours of the morning while the guests were all still fast asleep. Out in the bush there have also been some amazing sightings this month and the first one was a guest witnessing a buffalo been killed by lions from start to finish. On the 30th of this month, our guests were very blessed in seeing one of the more rare sightings. A lioness was spotted up a tree, where a few hyenas had cornered her. They had also managed to steal her kill from her and the rest of the hyena were lurking around and finishing off the last of the meal. Guests counted 13 hyenas in the vicinity of the lioness and her tree. Eventually the hyena's moved off and a very scared and tired lioness came down out of the tree. What an incredible sighting for both guests and rangers. Click here to see these photographs. A few congratulations to the following newly wed couples are in order: Mr. and Mrs. Cranfield, Mr. and Mrs. Rose, Mr. and Mrs. Gavin, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Totten, Mr. and Mrs. Millo and Mr. and Mrs. Amin. May your journey be a wonderful one and may you hold hands forever. Happy Birthday to Pete Reiter, we hope that your "African birthday" was all that you wanted and more. On the staff side, happy birthday to Solly, Jurie and Zoë. More congratulations to Cha and Graham on their 10th wedding anniversary. Also to James on his newborn baby girl, who was born on the 26th of August. Congratulations to Rain for winning a R25 000 prize from Ellerines and Move! We say farewell to Teresa, who has been our relief therapist for a long while, filling in when Nonku is on leave. Teresa is settling down in Sabie after three years of nomadic life temping at Lodges. To all our guests and readers, may you always feel the African sun on your face. Have a great month. The Vuyatela Team |
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From all the letters and stories told and written
to us, our guests have all had a most fantastic stay at Galago. Every
one of our guests reported seeing the Big 5 and much more. One family
was rushed off at high speed just in time to see a lion kill a buffalo.
What a wonderful sighting, and they manage to capture it all on camera.
It seems some guest want to rename the Djuma Game Reserve, Leopard Valley, as leopards have been quite visible for a few weeks now. One family saw 5 different leopards on their safari. One leopard in particular, was trying very hard not to share his dinner with a hyena. The guests also got to enjoy watching a male leopard cub play and he was described as being quite boisterous. Apart from leopard, lions, rhinos, cheetah and black backed jackal were all spotted several times. A few celebrations have come to pass at Galago this month. Mark Taylor and Jeanette Anansen got engaged at Galago. Mark left a huge comment in our guest book that said; " SHE SAID YES!" Congratulations to both of them and we wish them a wonderful journey. Chelsie de Beer celebrated her birthday on the 17th of August. Happy birthday to you and we hope that you have many more wonderful years to come. From all the staff at Galago, to all the wonderful guests who visited us, thanks for making it a wonderful month. The Galago Team. |
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| "Extra, Extra, read all about it…" | |
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| A couple of weeks ago, one of South Africa's top entertainers, Mandoza, played live at the Barnyard Theatre in White River. Djuma would have loved to send everyone to see his show, but we had to opt for a lucky draw, to choose the 11 staff members to take a night off, on us. Needless to say, everyone enjoyed themselves immensely, and we look forward to more live shows of the same caliber as Mandoza. | |
| All Djuma's housekeepers, and Marietjie, went off for a four-day intensive housekeeping course near Hoedspruit. All the ladies came back brimming with renewed enthusiasm and ideas. | |
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| Lucky Rain Radebe entered an Ellerines and Move! SMS competition and won a fabulous dining room suite and entertainment centre. Well-done Rain. | |
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| A redheaded weaverbird has fallen in love with his own beautiful reflection in the mirror mosaics at the Moolmans' house. In actual fact, he must be fighting off a fellow male suitor, as female redheaded weavers look nothing like the males. We are hoping he will find enough time, between bouts, to meet a lady friend. | |
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| Inge and Luc's house has been rebuilt after the terrible fire did short work of it late last year. Jurie was putting the final touches to the house and decided to restart the gas geyser in advance of Inge and Luc's arrival from Cape Town. Unbeknown to Jurie, two bushbabies had set up home in the geyser and got quite a shock when their leafy "bedding" caught fire! Jurie heard the commotion and quickly doused the flames, rescuing the little primates. Apart from singed hair on their faces, they are doing well under the loving care of Graham and Charmian Cooke. As soon as we are sure there are no further problems, they will be set free in the bush again (the bushbabies, not the Cookes!) | |
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Join
us next month and share our experiences as the seasons march on.
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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
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