It is a known fact that parts of the Kruger Park contain significant coal reserves. About 20 years ago, we were shocked when it became known that the government of the time was giving serious consideration to mining coal in Kruger.
Thankfully, as happened later also at St Lucia, no mining took place.
With the present debacle around power supply breaks, euphemistically called “load shedding”, it is important that those of us, to whom wildlife conservation is really sacrosanct, do not allow any further consideration of mining in Kruger.
We shall have to devise some other methods of ensuring that power cuts are minimized. At our lodges, our generators have saved the day ( actually night ) on a few occasions. Thankfully the power breaks last for only a few hours. It has necessitated a few simple changes to our kitchen staff’s duties. Meals are now prepared a little earlier than before.
The weather also plays its part in power breaks. From time to time we experience huge thunderstorms over the Kruger Park. Invariably the substations are “ hit ” and once again, it is candle-lit dinners and electricity from our generator. Some of our guests have demanded battery-powered lighting, but the majority are content with the candlelight - it introduces a sense of old-style romantic Africa.
In fact, our most philosophical tourists see a power break as part of the “Africa wins Again” syndrome. Despite its many shortcomings, Africa has always and will always have an alluring attraction that first world countries lack. Its ruggedness, the sheer beauty of its sunsets, the spine-tingling sensation that accompanies listening to the roar of a lion or the whoop of a hyena are parts of Africa that are exclusively African. Our guests doing the Tremisana safaris have reported that same sense of awe while tracking big game on foot on our scheduled 4 hour walking trails. The early European travelers to Africa felt the call to return time and again. It was even called “mal d’Africa ” - literally “ Africa fever ” , a sort of lovesickness to return to those wide open unpolluted plains of rolling grassland and savanna………….
The rainfall in December was 35 mm above the 15 year December average and that in January was 45 mm below the 15 year average. What with unseasonable weather patterns appearing all over the world, most recently in China, it is becoming clear that the old patterns are changing rapidly. There were some days in January that were actually cold, a phenomenon unheard of in the past.
Game movements have been affected by the rainfall. We had a lean patch with gameviewing in early December, but by end of January the guides were reporting excellent game-viewing again. The area, in which our establishments are situated, is going through a particularly dry spell. The big dams we visit in Kruger are also emptier than they were this time last year. Unfortunately some of the grass is drying out prematurely, so we hope it rains soon.
GAME-VIEWING IN KRUGER PARK
Overall the gameviewing for the last two months has been satisfactory. Our guides report as follows :
BONGANI reports an extremely rare sighting : “ On 1 December, we saw a lappet-faced vulture attacking and eventually killing a just-born wildebeest calf. It was only minutes old and the mother was nowhere to be seen.”
On the 2 nd December, Bongani and his guests were looking at a leopard with an impala kill up a tree when some noisy tourists in a private vehicle came along and made enough noise to frighten the leopard away.
It is unfortunate that we have these ill-mannered oafs in such a beautiful place. We report the incidents to the management at Orpen Gate, but it appears that little can be done. One of the local newspapers has taken to publishing photos of the tourist vehicles, showing the number-plates, in an effort to name and shame these wildlife illiterates.
Bongani reports an interesting and unusual sighting : “ On 3 rd January we found a Spitting Cobra attacking a Puff Adder. After killing the Puff Adder, the cobra attempted to swallow it. With half the Puff Adder swallowed, a group of Dwarf Mongooses appeared from nowhere. The Cobra regurgitated the Adder and disappeared.” On 24 th January, after a fairly uneventful day, Bongani and guests were taking photos of a herd of impala with the backdrop of the African sunset, when, out of the bush there came a pack of eight wild dogs that chased the herd.
Bongani is very pleased with the increase in lion and elephant sightings on the Sunset Drives at Tremisana.
JACOB reports that his group spent 45 minutes on 1 December watching a pair of mating lions. In this space of time, copulation took place no fewer than five times. On the following day, a leopard up a tree with its prey watched unconcernedly as a hyena tried for over half an hour to climb unsuccessfully up the tree . Jacob had two attempted kills witnessed by his guests around Satara. On both occasions, the zebra got away easily. Not so another zebra that was killed on 10 th January at Nsemani Dam and the guests spent an entire hour watching the scene.
MESHACK reports seeing three different leopards on 4 th January. On 9 th January, Meshack and his guests spent over 30 minutes watching a lioness and her six teenage cubs chase an impala near Satara. They missed their quarry. After a lunch break, the group returned to the same spot and now the same lions were stalking a wildebeest - again unsuccessfully. It appeared that the teenage lions were far too clumsy in hiding themselves, a skill they will learn with experience. On the 29 th January, Meshack and his guests saw a pride of lions stalking impala at Nsemane Dam. Once again they were unsuccessful. Later that afternoon, they returned to the dam and this time found a crocodile that was eating an impala.
CLIFF , Trail Guide at Tremisana, reports that the game-viewing on the Balule Plains has been good. In the month of January, he saw over 45 breeding herds of elephants ! A large herd of buffalo is also moving throughout the area. I was with him personally on 14 th January when we came across two lionesses stalking a herd of impala. Unfortunately it was full moon at the time and the Balule Plains are very open so the lionesses were clearly visible even at 19h30 at night.
The comments of all our guests doing the 4 hour game trail / walk have been very positive. Cliff carries refreshments on his backpack and goes at a pace that allows even the moderately fit to have a great time on the walk.
NEWS AT TREMISANA GAME LODGE
The hide situated at Tremisana Dam has been completed. It has a bathroom alongside the main viewing room. This was built so as to obviate the need to do a bit of veld-traversing for those in need of “spending the proverbial penny” – I wonder how many of our younger tourists remember the penny and the meaning of the expression ( to find a toilet urgently ). Of course we will no doubt have that “balmy tourist” sooner or later who wants to spend the entire night at the Dam. It may well prove worthwhile as the dam is illuminated by a powerful halogen foglight. We shall have to supply cell phones in case of emergencies !
The menu has been upgraded as of 1 February. With the growing number of “non-red meat eaters” we have decided to supply a chicken dish over and above the normal fare. Delina, once again, has risen to the occasion.
The monkeys in camp are becoming a problem. They seem to have lost their fear of humans and from time to time also enjoy Delina’s new chicken dishes. Wynand Britz, our Game Warden, is not impressed and we have made it our business to insist that our guests NEVER feed the monkeys. The best that can happen is that they can become so fearless that they may bite one of our clients. Thereafter the Warden will have no option but to eliminate the offending primate ( the monkey ).
NEWS AT MARC’S TREEHOUSE LODGE
In keeping with responsible eco-friendly management, we have done a great clean-up all the refuse dump. All our refuse is incinerated and then buried.
The arrival of the breeding herd of Black Rhino has necessitated our buying another rifle. We know that these animals are very temperamental and sometimes overly aggressive. Jonathan Beretta, the Game Warden, has indicated that we should consider having an armed escort to the treehouses until it can be established whether the Black Rhino will be problematic or not. At the moment, the rhino are in an enclosed boma where they are acclimatizing to their new area, having come from the Madikwe Game Reserve in the North-West province. They will be released into the bush by March.
Very few private reserves can boast about having Black Rhino, so we are pretty happy that they are finally here. Our White Rhino population has increased to 18 individuals and, unlike their smaller cousins, are well behaved and do not pose any serious threat to the wellbeing of our guests.
Another headache in the pipeline is the intended release of a herd of elephant later in 2008. We are thrilled at the wildlife additions in terms of having both black rhino and elephant but are not too thrilled of the prospect of having a treehouse and tree land up in the Klaserie River !! We shall consult with a wide spectrum of conservationists and determine what we can do to protect the treehouses and their occupants from the elephants.
NEWS AT THE CHEETAH INN
Margrett Ngoane has been appointed manageress. We have achieved something unparalleled for black economic empowerment in the lodge industry insofar as all three Viva Safaris managers at our three establishments are locals.
Viva Safaris prides itself in the fact that all three of our managers started with us in relatively unpretentious positions. From relatively lowly occupations such as carpenter , cook and cleaner, Ronald, Delina and Margrett have been encouraged to take responsibility for running the lodges. Their honesty and hard work has resulted in their promotion. We undertake to continue to develop their potentials through sharing our management knowledge. Of course there is always room for improvement and we ask their critics to be constructive.
Similarly we request our clients to exercise a little patience also with our local guides who sometimes mispronounce the odd English word. Their enthusiasm, passion for the bush and general wildlife knowledge leave nothing to be desired.
NEWS FOR OUR TRAVEL PARTNERS
Viva Safaris sponsors a number of charities. In December we were pleased to host the lucky winners of prizes we sponsored at fundraisers of the Reach For a Dream Foundation and the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Durban.
Other charities that benefitted last year included Hospice, Ride for Sight, Avril Elizabeth Homes, Hoedspruit Airforce Base and a number of schools. If you know of any worthy causes, please let me know. We shall be pleased to offer a 4 day safari for two people as a prize.
We have added an insert into our welcome letter which is handed out to all our guests on pickup. This insert describes the Kruger Park and gives some useful hints and insights into game-spotting. Perhaps more importantly, we have outlined the approximate times of departures for the various activities. It never ceases to amaze me how we struggle to be punctual. I apologize to any guests who have been made to wait. Our guides are a trifle too polite sometimes and everybody has to wait while some uncaring individual wastes time drinking that last cup of coffee or running back to a treehouse to collect some item that should have been remembered. While we do understand that it is a holiday safari and that people on holiday don’t like to be rushed, there is a fine line between personal selfishness and consideration for the rest of the guys on safari. Although we have the departure times prominently displayed at the lodges and our guides announce the next day’s activities at dinner time, I believe that the insert allows our guides to be a little more pushy and get the tourists going on time !
Gerda van Jaarsveldt, acting relief manager at Tremisana and Marc’s was requested to find any three comments from each camp’s guestbook. She chose these :
TREMISANA
14-12-07 , Sandie Fletcher ( sandi-f@hotmail.co.uk ) : “ Thank you to all the staff for a fantastic stay. I will come back .”
28-12-07 , Susan Beale and Anna Lav , Sidney Australia : “ Thanks so much ! We had such an awesome time and we know that all the lions did NOT go to Mozambique ”
04-01-08 , Rao family , Sydney, Australia : “ Thanks so very much. We had an absolutely great holiday ! Thanks to Delina and her staff for all the love and care. Special thanks to Bongani for making our safari so special ! ”
MARC’S
05-12-07 , Dave Shaw , U K : “ Amazing safari, especially the lions and the dancers!
Must come back with a better camera and for more stories from Nelly and Meshack ”
14-12-07 , Matt Passalacqua ( passalacqua@mail.un.edu ) : “ Good safari – got 4 out of the big 5. No problems at all. I really enjoyed my time here and the staff was really terrific. They helped me with all my needs”
20-01-08 , Phil Morrison ( phillmorrison@hotmail.com ) : “ Absolutely awesome ! Staff were amazing. Bongani’s knowledge of the bush is incredible. Accommodation was the best we had in South Africa ! 5 stars guys ! ”
I wish you all a successful 2008 and hope that the power failures don’t happen at the wrong moment !
Regards
Piero
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