As promised in last month's newsletter, I have included in the July 07 newsletter some info on musth in elephants.
Many years ago, as a young ( and naughty ) teacher, I one day informed the school secretary, who was considerably older than me at the time, that I was afflicted with a " serious " problem. I then announced that I had contracted satyriasis and asked her if she would help alleviate the problem. She said she would try her very best to do so, but did not know what satyriasis was. I asked her to look it up in the dictionary which she duly did. Moments later, I had to dodge a flying dictionary. (Satyriasis is the male equivalent of nymphomania !)
I use this by way of introduction to the musth condition in elephants. Sexual maturity in male elephants is reached at around 16 years of age. However, they will only attempt to mate in their early twenties. This happens because older males keep them in check in the presence of oestrus females. The other drawback is that it takes quite a time before the young male has full physical control over his s-shaped erect penis, thus impairing penetration.
All male elephants have varying testosterone levels at different times. When the testosterone levels rise appreciably, a male elephant will actively seek oestrus females. This condition may last for up to a few months. The aggressive behaviour associated with higher testosterone levels usually ensures that an elephant bull in musth will have a greater chance than a non-musth elephant to mate. Bulls in musth are usually first identified as such by a secretion of liquid from the temporal gland above the cheekbone. Alternatively we can smell them as they give off a very strong diagnostic pungent odour in their urine.
It may happen that two or more musth bull elephants arrive at an oestrus cow elephant at the same time. Then what follows is a dominance display. The chances are that the dominance hierarchy has been established previously between the bulls in which case the lower ranking males give way. If, however, two mutually unknown musth bulls or two bulls with similar ranking meet at an oestrus cow, there is potential for a major, sometimes fatal, fight.
A lot of posturing and theatrics goes on with the elephants attempting to look larger than normal. They will lift their heads high and spread their ears wide and walk with short, confident and deliberate steps. They will dribble urine in great quantities. This urine has a particularly pungent smell and leaves a strong scent on the ground. They also make a rumbling sound - perhaps a precursor to the thunder in their veins !
Two sparring musth bull elephants spend a lot of time attempting to demonstrate to each other exactly how powerful each one is. They deliberately make this peculiar musth sound - almost a kind of rumble - and generally destroy the veld around them, picking up clumps of bush and even breaking tree branches and throwing these around. The idea is to intimidate the opponent with such a show of brute strength that he will admit defeat and escape quickly. The loser also shows respect by stopping his own musth rumble, the urine dribble and the secretion from the temporal glands. In most cases the loser is then chased for a distance of 100 - 200 metres and then left alone.
I have gone into some detail regarding musth in elephants as the condition may result in aggressive behaviour. Viva Safaris vehicles have been charged in the past. Elephants in musth can be unpredictable. They may be wanting to vent their sexual frustrations or may see the open vehicle as a rival. In all cases, our guides will treat a musth elephant with the greatest respect.
GAMEVIEWING IN KRUGER PARK
When we first were looking to buy our own lodges way back in the early 1990's we looked specifically around Orpen Gate, as years of experience had taught us that this is the prime game-viewing zone of Kruger Park. All Viva Safaris tourists travel along the Orpen to Satara route. The Park authorities must also believe this to be the best gameviewing area as they have erected two 24 hour web cameras - one at the waterhole outside Orpen and the other at the drinking trough at Satara. These are the only webcameras in the whole of Kruger. You can relive your exciting Viva Safaris experience by logging onto www.sanparks.org and pressing the webcams button. You will get 24 hour coverage of the goings-on at these two excellent venues.
As happens every year, July is an excellent month for viewing game. The veld is drying out as there has been no rain this month.
ANTHONY continued to astound everyone with his incredible knack of finding leopards. He conducted tours on nine days in July and found leopard every time ! On one particular day he saw four leopards : a mother with twin cubs, one of which even walked on the road in front of the open vehicle, and, later the same day, another leopard up a tree with the remains of an impala. On two separate occasions, Anthony's lucky tourists came across lions with a kill, in both cases wildebeest. On another day, Anthony was chased by a musth elephant near Phalaborwa gate. He describes another highlight as follows : " We saw a Martial Eagle swoop down and catch a Crowned Guineafowl approximately 20 metres from the vehicle. We sat and watched as the eagle simply held down the guineafowl until it died. He then moved, with prey firmly grasped by its talons, under a small bush.
BONGANI boasted a 100 % July record with lions, buffalos and elephants. On 2nd July, his clients saw two male lions narrowly miss an impala ram on the road between Satara and Olifants. On 8th July, on the Sweni road, Bongani saw a leopard with a dead impala up a a tree not more than 50 metres from two White Rhino. He reports that Nsemani Dam is excellent at the moment with daily sightings of elephant, rhino, buffalo and, of necessity, hippo. A buffalo kill between Satara and Orpen kept lions visible to tourists for four consecutive days. It was exciting also to see the vultures, jackals and hyenas waiting their turns to get to the scraps.
CHARLES reports an interesting sighting on 16th July. On the Timbavati loop, a pride of lions were eating a zebra they has just killed. They seemed tired and one was hurt, probably from a kick delivered by the zebra. A large group of hyena arrived on the scene and successfully appropriated the dead zebra for themselves. Charles reports that he saw a personal first on 17th July : between ORPEN and SATARA his group came across a pair of mating giraffes. On the same day his clients also came across a pair of hippos mating at Nsemane Dam. On the 28 July his group saw a pride of lions eating a buffalo about 13 km on the road from Orpen to Satara. The next day the lions brought down a giraffe not even 4 km away from the buffalo kill. Charles reports that " it was amazing and extraordinary to see the Big Five and two carcasses in one day. This was the first time it happened to me before lunch ".
NELLY started the month with great luck. On 1st July his guests spent over an hour watching a pair of lions mating right on the road. On the 4th July his American tourists had another reason to celebrate when they came across a herd of rare Sable Antelope. At the Welverdiend waterhole on the Sweni road, his guests saw a leopard eating a scrub hare. On 13th July a pride of lions tried unsuccessfully to catch some impala. On the 14th July, Nelly came across a mother White Rhino with a very small calf at Girivana waterhole. A group of hyenas were trying to distract mother rhino while others were trying to bite baby rhino. Fortunately the mother rhino was intelligent enough to stay close at all times to her calf and successfully defended her offspring. Nelly also had his share of " near miss " lion kills. On 18th July his group spent about 30 minutes watching a pride of lions lay a trap for a zebra. The lions encircled the zebra. Once the zebra realized it was in danger of losing its life, it ran at great pace straight for one lioness that attempted to jump on it. The lioness sprang onto the zebra but fell off, leaving a bloody gash on the zebra's rump. On the 31st July, Nelly's group saw 3 lions attempting to catch a giraffe very close to the tar road between Satara and Orpen. Once again the lions were unsuccessful.
JONAS, our new guide, spent a number of days in Kruger. His highlights included seeing honey badger, sable antelope and cheetah. His success rate with the Big Five is impressive : Elephant 100 %; Buffalo 100 %; Lion 80 %; Leopard 60 % and Rhino 60 %. Jonas is testing a new possible product : the Balule Plains Experience. Viva Safaris is considering replacing one of the days in Kruger on our Tremisana 4 and 5 day safaris with a full day on Balule Plains. We have contracted an initial 6 month trial period, ending 31 December 07 after which we have the option of a renewable 3 year traversing lease. Jonas reports as follows : " Although we have not seen as many animals as we do in Kruger proper, the guests are happy with the experience. It is very different from Kruger in that there is no traffic. We drove for over 3 hours without seeing another vehicle ! The scenery is more pristine and the fact that we can do a limited amount of off road driving makes the experience very exciting. The animals are not as 'tame' as those in Kruger as they are not as accustomed to vehicles. The fact that we can stop anywhere and get out of the vehicle without risking getting a fine is good - I enjoyed a long walk which I incorporated into the overall bush experience.........I think this new product may work "
NEWS AT TREMISANA LODGE
The entire western fence of Balule, effectively the western fence of Kruger Park, has been replaced. We have had far too many lions, elephants and buffalos breaking through and landing up on the tar road. The new fence will have more strands and we understand that the electric voltage will also be increased. Vodacom has also upgraded the cellular tower at Tremisana. We are told that this will give us greater coverage as well as speedier emails.
Work has started on the new Lapa. This is being constructed near the Guest House and has an excellent view of the waterhole where animals are often seen drinking. We hope to have the Lapa ready for 1 Jan 08 when we expect to formally introduce the Balule Plains Experience. We shall have a grassed area with loungers for sun tanning as well as a large chessboard and a wooden deck. There will be easy chairs for relaxing and we shall install a TV and DVD with wildlife movies. An extensive collection of wildlife books and magazines will be available.
The Hide at Tremisana Dam will also be refurbished. The idea is to include a shower and toilet for those of our guests who want to spend the entire night at the illuminated waterhole. A few beds will be added in case they want to grab forty winks in between waiting for the animals.
Delina has ( reluctantly ) sent me her award-winning recipe for Butternut Soup. Like all good chefs, she has probably omitted something . Enjoy.
BUTTERNUT SOUP for FOUR
Ingredients : 1 medium butternut; 1 large onion; 1 litre water; 500 ml milk; l pinch curry powder; 10 ml olive oil; sprinkle of Aromat seasoning.
Method : Place olive oil in medium sized pot. Cut onion and fry in olive oil until golden-brown. Cut butternut into small cubes and add with water into pot. Bring to boil and simmer for 20 min. When butternut is soft , add milk. Put mixture in blender. Add pinch of mild curry powder and sprinkle Aromat seasoning. Replace in pot and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Serve with home-made bread.
( I shall try to get the recipe for the home-made bread before 2010 )
NEWS AT MARC'S TREEHOUSE LODGE
Ronald has started building a new deck for Treehouse # 3. The rethatching of most treehouses has been completed. The two new tents will be operational in September.
Viva Safaris has had a record July at Marc's Treehouse Lodge. The popularity of this venue is constantly increasing, especially among the backpacker fraternity.
Ziggi and Anthony successfully hosted the Grade 6 group from Unicorn Prep. Once again the local buffalo herd decided to compete for the Obstacle Course Dam and Ziggi reports that he "got one of the biggest frights" of his life when a young bull chased him. The buffalo also took over the swimming pool , much to the delight of the wide-eyed Unicorn students.
NEWS AT THE CHEETAH INN
The game-proof grille and fencing is complete. We have arranged to release zebra, nyala and impala during August.
The Nature Conservation officials inspected our bird aviary and were very pleased. We need to add shade-cloth netting to provide better protection and then we shall be issued with the necessary papers. Permission has been granted to house up to 96 South African finches.
NEWS FOR OUR TRAVEL PARTNERS
As indicated earlier, Viva Safaris is in the process of evaluating a new product : the Balule Plains Experience.
If introduced, it will be available only for the 4 and 5 day safaris to Tremisana. This means that the 3 day safari remains unchanged and that all our safaris will still include a full day on the open Gameviewer in Kruger. What the change essentially entails is this : replacing the second day in Kruger with a day doing the Balule Plains Experience.
We would like to empirically establish what our clients think of this new product. To this end, we ask you to consider mentioning the new possibility to clients you may book with us for the rest of 2007. We need to find out what they think of the new product. We shall then be in a very good position by year-end to decide whether or not we want to change the program in 2008.
As far as I can establish, the one definite advantage over Kruger is that the ranger is free to alight anywhere he wants. Unlike Kruger, we shall have limited off-road driving to get closer to photograph any animal. Effectively our ranger will be able to present a safari incorporating both driving and walking. The trick is to offer these two components in the right measure.
To assist us in the implementation of the new product, we have engaged a very experienced guide who will be joining us as of 1 November 2007. She has held senior positions both in Kruger Park and in the private lodges within Kruger Park. She is the most highly qualified guide we will ever have had and is even a qualified assessor. I am sure that her appointment as Chief Guide of Viva Safaris will add to the overall improvement of guiding standards throughout the company. She has been lead rifle on many game walks and I believe that the Balule Plains Experience will be right down her game-path !
Piero
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