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Greetings, once again from Bush Lodge. The hot, dry conditions have
continued throughout October and although we've experienced some wild,
stormy nights the two brief showers we did receive have offered little
relief. The vegetation is now even drier and sparser although upon closer
inspection one can see tiny spring buds on many of the trees and shrubs.
All we need now is a good rainfall and the bush will spring to life.
The shortage of grazing means that the warthogs are coming into the
lodge almost daily, alternating between the lawn around the pool and
that at Chalet 1. As we chase them away from one area they sneak around
to continue digging up the grass at the other. The time may soon come
to erect a scarecrow (or in our situation a "scare leopard"
might be more appropriate). Amazingly, despite sightings of both barred
and barn owls in the lodge grounds, the hares haven't been killed yet
and are still seen hopping around on the lawn most nights. The red-headed
weaver is still frantically building nests outside Chalet 4 although
none has of yet passed muster under his wife's critical eye. Chris is
thrilled that the red-billed hornbills have adopted one of his nesting
boxes as their nest for this year and although the female hasn't actually
laid any eggs yet they can be seen popping in and out of it throughout
the day. They had quite a battle to claim it from some starlings that
were equally determined to utilise it for themselves. The starlings
have now moved into the boma where it seems they will nest in the other
box Chris placed there.
This month leopards have definitely been the dominant sighting both
in the bush and around the lodge. Regular readers might recall in September's
Newsletter the female leopard 'Whitecloth' walking through the lodge
during dinner. This month she was back again just before sunset one
evening. We were lucky not to be taken by surprise this time as Graham
had followed her on his game drive as she wandered into the lodge grounds
and proceeded to sniff around before continuing on her patrol. Another
leopard in camp was a young male, whom we suspect is Kalkol's now fully-grown
cub. He was spotted just before dinner stalking Bushbuck in the garden
and everyone watched from the bar with baited breath as he leapt through
the air trying to catch one. Later after getting home, Kim and Chris
were relaxing, when the same youngster wandered onto their patio and
proceeded to walk smack into their sliding glass doors. Looking somewhat
puzzled he wandered off into the night and we haven't seen him since.
Needless to say Kim and Chris were quite taken aback, as well as relieved
that they'd shut the door.
Out in the bush the rangers came across the male Newington leopard on
patrol one night vocalising loudly, which is somewhat unusual leopard
behaviour. The excitement grew when a reply was heard and as the situation
developed it was found that the female leopard Whitecloth was nearby
in oestrus and the two males, Newington and Jordaan's, were vying for
her affections. Newington was the lucky suitor and he was justifiably
nervous of the close presence of the other male so he disappeared quite
smartly with Whitecloth into the thick brush where we hope they later
mated.
With water rapidly disappearing it means animals are forced to utilise
areas they don't usually use. This resulted in the 5-year-old daughter
of Whitecloth having to come into her mother's territory to drink and
her nervousness and unease was almost palpable to the watching guests.
She usually is found inside Mala Mala and so had wandered quite far
north in her search for water. After drinking her fill she beat a hasty
retreat back south.
Back in camp we welcomed a number of return guests to the lodge and
it was wonderful to see Tom and Bente, Jackie, Sarah, Sheila, George
& Christine and Bronwyn back again. As always the bush was alive
with romance as we hosted honeymooners Tim & Susanna, Lucy &
Andrew, Jean-Marc & Malin, Tim & Beth, Tiffany & Andrew,
Davide & Elena and Christopher & Sharleen. Congratulations to
you all.
We've been undertaking a number of training courses over the past few
weeks and the staff has thoroughly enjoyed developing their skills and
increasing their knowledge. Both Piet and Chris wrote their national
guiding exams this month and we will keep out fingers crossed for them
as we await the results. Our new student volunteer to the lodge is Morgan
who comes from Canada (although he was born in South Africa) and he
will be with us for a couple of months giving us a helping hand around
the lodge. He is a keen photographer so will be adding to his portfolio
during his time here. There is also some building work going on as George
and his team construct a fabulous new spa area for Nonku to work her
magic in. But we'll tell you a little more about that next month.
'Till then, keep well,
Liane and the Bush Lodge Team.
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We saw the first of some welcome rain this month. We have had a good
14mm over the month. The bush is still very dry but the trees are starting
to look lovely and green. We have had some record high temperatures
too, with the mercury getting up to 46C one sweltering afternoon. Over
the past month we have had a couple of days that have been like that,
only to be followed by cool and windy conditions with promises of rain.
It was one these cool day last week that we had a wedding at the lodge.
The day was supposed to be sunny and bright but as it turned out it
was cold and very overcast. Stuart and Sally Rae were not at all fussed
by the weather the wedding went off beautifully, with a group of Elephants
joining us for the nuptials. We spent a good twenty minutes with them
as they came to the watering hole to drink. It was as if they had waited
for us to finish up before they came in to drink. One of the Elephants
was a big tusker and had everyone in awe. We popped back to the lodge
for some bubbly and signing of the register in front of the warm fire
in the lounge. Congratulations to you both from the Vuyatela team.
We have had some great sightings around the lodge and at the pans over
the last month. Some of the sightings we have had have been Leopard,
Lions, Elephant, Hippo, Buffalo, Giraffe, to mention a few. The general
game has also been amazing with Zebra, Wildebeest, Impala, Nyala, Kudu,
Bushbuck etc seen regularly. The Nyala have literally moved into camp
at this stage, as this is where most of the greenery is to be found.
The vervet monkeys have also kept us on our toes this month with daily
raids on the kitchen and dinning room. There are a couple of newborn
vervets that have been spotted clinging to their mothers.
We have had several visits by two Elephants in camp. One afternoon Charmian
and Mark were walking up the hill to Hysteria lane and came across these
two Elephant grazing close to their homes. They both got home safely
when the boys decided that they had to encourage the Elephant away as
they were getting to close. Mark and Charmian were not perturbed by
the animals but Amos, Jimreeves and Million decided they (the ellies)
needed to be further away. The men came down the lane clapping their
hands and telling the Elephants to move off. They did as they were told,
only to wander down to the lodge were Jurie and Pippa spotted them lurking
at the staff swimming pool. The alarm was raised and Jimmy and Million
had escorted the fellows out of camp in no time. It was as if they were
having a game dodging from one place to the next. The kitchen staff
did not even notice the twosome having a feast outside the kitchen on
some bougainvillea.
We had a very romantic camp this month with tons of honeymooners congarts
to all of you and best wishes for the future. We had some return guests
this month too Vincent and Tony were back again with some friends as
well as Browyen Dorling and Monique and François great to see
you all again. Jackie Fox was with us with her son for some time in
the bush - great to see you again.
On the birthday front we wish Lots, Patricia, Million and Mark a very
happy birthday for all at Vuyatela and Djuma. Our staff has also just
completed a huge amount of training in the form of SA Host offered by
Kim Fitt. The "Djuma Lions", our very own soccer team, had
a resounding 3-1 victory over the teachers from the local schools in
the area. Well done to both teams, and we eagerly await the next show-down.
Until next time ciao
Mark and the Vuyatela team.
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