I had been thinking unsuccessfully for quite some time about what I should write in this month’s newsletter and then came across an article in a local tourism magazine. This article presented a gloomy outlook for international tourism that apparently will drop into fairly deep faecal waters. This crappy prediction led me to think of writing about the Dung Beetle!
The Dung Beetle
There are many species of Dung Beetle, which is also known as the Scarab Beetle. On some of the bushwalks I have done, I have always been impressed with the alacrity with which the Dung Beetles arrive at the freshly dropped dung. They smell the dung and some species often fly in to get there quickly. Once the ball has been formed, the male pushes it by placing his hind legs on the dung and using the forelegs to push. These beetles are extremely strong for their size, being able to roll a mass as much as 50 times their own body mass !
Most of our Viva Safaris clients doing their bush walk are absolutely amazed at the sight of a Dung Beetle. In most cases we see the male of the species furiously engaged in rolling a ball of dung. The female usually sits quite tightly on the dung ball, saving her energy for later. When a suitable spot with soft sand is found, they bury the ball of dung underground. The beetles then mate underground and an egg is laid inside the ball. The larva then has a readily available source of food.
The Dung Beetle is a very useful animal. By burying and consuming dung, they improve the nutrient cycle and the soil structure in areas where they are found.
The American Institute of Biological Science reckons that the Dung Beetle saves the US cattle industry in excess of US $ 375 million annually !! By removing the cattle dung, the beetles ensure that the number of pests and flies is limited and thus the prevalence of disease is largely curtailed.
South African Dung Beetles have been exported to Australia and New Zealand where they have saved the livestock industry many millions. So if you ever come on tour with Viva Safaris and see a Dung Beetle pushing his ball of crap, please be generous in your assessment of the efficacy of his work !
CHARITY OPERATIONS INVOLVING VIVA SAFARIS
Many years ago I taught a bright young Jewish lad called David Blackman, who today is a senior rabbi in Sydney. His father, Julian, served as Viva Safaris’ accountant some years ago. When I told Julian about how fortunate I had been last year with the fortuitous detection of my clogged arteries and subsequent successful bypass operation, he immediately advised me to spend some money on charitable concerns. Not only have I done this on a personal level, but Viva Safaris has also increased its expenses on charities. We now also assist Father Xico of the Catholic Mission in Acornhoek in running a soup kitchen.
Trevor has excelled in a project instigated by Viva Safaris’ senior guide, Bongani. Trevor and Bongani spent some time last year visiting schools and clinics to establish which ones really needed help. A project was started in the clinics to teach the youth more about HIV and AIDS. Material such as a TV, DVD’s and other instructional material in which people afflicted with AIDS share their experience was obtained with money personally donated by Trevor. Food for the children is supplied when they come to watch these presentations. Of course the food attracts the youth and at the same time a valuable message is being communicated. Bongani and Trevor plan to start a vegetable garden. As Bongani puts it,
“they need a vegetable garden because a lot of people do not have money to buy food and it is dangerous for them to take medication without food”. Trevor has indicated that he intends to involve some doctors and nurses to volunteer their services in this excellent project.
Well done to Trevor and Bongani – you have made us all proud of Viva Safaris !
GAMEVIEWING REPORTS FROM OUR GUIDES
Bongani has sent the following :
From 01-03-11
It was wonderful month in Balule and Kruger.
BALULE
01-03-11
On our morning walk we saw eight elephant bulls crossing the Olifants River moving towards us. We approached them and they remained relaxed and carried on with their activities. It was a beautiful sighting and so enjoyable to see them so close. We also had close contact with hippo. In the afternoon we went out again. It was hot so we drove straight to the waterhole, where our dream came true because we had a big herd of buffaloes lying in the water and less than 50 metres away were two big male lions looking at the buffaloes. One big male lion approached the water, presumably for a drink. He looked for a better path to approach. The buffalos made way and moved off a short distance. They did not seem at all scared of the lions. At the same time, a big herd of elephants came down towards the water and the lions had to move to another place to hide. What a magnificent sighting of lions, buffalo and elephants all at the same time, even in the middle of the early afternoon heat.
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Elephants spotted on our morning walk
02-03-11
A giraffe died apparently by electrocution on Sable road. The following day early in the morning we had a great sighting of four lions scavenging and enjoying their breakfast. Later vultures came but there was no chance for them to come down to the carcass because the lions were very close to the dead giraffe. Two big male lions arrived the next day and kept the three young male lions away from the giraffe. They walked from Sable road to Tremisana water hole to drink. The next day, on my way out for our morning walk I found tracks on the Olifants main road heading north. I followed the spoor until I got the lions walking on the road. There must have been other lions walking in front before them because all the time these two males stopped and sniffed the ground. It was easy for us to do our job of finding the lions because the spoor allowed us to know where to go. It is common in the Summer months, when there is high grass in the bush, for the lions to walk on the sand roads and their spoor is so very easy to follow.
Kruger
We had a lucky sighting with mating couple along S36 and there was one male lion without a partner busy watching the other two carrying on. He tried to come close but the bigger lion did allow him to come too near. I tried hard to find a Leopard because the guests said they had never seen a leopard even in other game reserves in East Africa. I was not successful BUT….the following morning we left Tremisana Lodge very early to do the Sunrise drive and it was very good because we saw a leopard on Olifants main road and we kept watching it until 09h00 !
Isaac Ncube has sent the following :
13/3/11
The day was very hot. At 9.30am as l drove towards Rabelais about 5 km from the main road there were two big buffalos taking a mud bath rolling and enjoying themselves. Suddenly a small size elephant herd appeared and they also wanted to take a mud bath. The buffalos were stubborn and did not want to move away .The elephants managed to intimidate the buffalos and moved in for a bath. As we were watching the elephants and buffalos, a rhino was approaching the same bathing area from a distance. It looked like he also wanted to bathe. He quickly sensed danger ahead and changed direction. The buffalo kept hanging around as they were reluctant to move away as they were the first ones to arrive at the waterhole.
Around 15h00 hrs we saw a pride of lions consisting of 4 females, 2 cubs and one male lion. They were on S39 about 4km before the Olifants river bridge. The lions had just killed a Zebra and they were taking turns in eating it, while the cubs were having fun playing on top of their food (zebra).
18/03/11
The day started off very quietly but the ending was great - everyone was very pleased. At Ngirivani dam around 10h30 we spotted a big male giraffe who was very aggressive chasing away all the young males from the females. The females noticed that they were being protected and they also joined in the chase but they could not catch up with the young male giraffes.
At 16h00 we came through Sweni which was a bit quiet because of the heat. At the waterhole 3km before Orpen road there was a Hyena resting in the pond, At the same time preparing an ambush about half a km away were two male lions. They were lying 20m away from the road. As we were watching them, a big buffalo herd appeared from both sides of the roads the lions stated tracking them. The buffalos were aware that the lions had started following and they quickly moved away with the big bulls remaining at the rear of the herd to watch.
Mayneth Sondane has sent the following :
08/03/11
The main highlight for the day was on H7 Nwamatsatsa Bridge - a male leopard was busy with the bull frogs. The sighting was very late in the day as we were coming out as the Kruger gates were about to close. The leopard put on a show for us, it was rolling around; a few times it stood up and jumped into the water and all the time it came out with bullfrogs. I have never seen anything like this and have never heard of leopards eating bullfrogs. Amazing sighting !
25/03/11
The highlight of the day was a great sighting of 10 lions at a waterhole on the S 90. We sat for a while watching them sleeping. A herd of Zebras and Wildebeest approached the waterhole while the lions were there. The lions woke up but did not seem terribly interested as they did not try to stalk the herds. I reckon it was a very hot day and the pride of lions and cubs were also feeling the heat.
27/03/11
Along the S90 we came across a lion and lioness mating in the riverbed. They were just a few metres from the road. They were not taking interest in anything except each other. They acted as if we were not even there !
A lion and lioness in the riverbed
Brett has sent the following :
10-03-11
We went out on a Sunset Drive and had a great time. We saw lots of animals but one sighting on that drive was amazing : we stopped at one of the dams to stretch our legs and while we were doing that a hippo surfaced in front of us. He then started playing in the water splashing around. I think it was some kind of dominance display – letting us know we were on his turf ! Then some impala and elephant made their way to the water for a drink. It was an amazing sighting with the sunset adding an additional element of magic.
14-03-11
We went out on our morning walk along the Olifants river. We must have only been 10 minutes into the walk when we stopped to take a photo of the river. All of a sudden a hyena appeared from a rock about 100 metres from us and started walking towards us. We all moved back and to the side so as to give the hyena space to come past. It walked right up and was about 5 metres from us. It was amazing to be on foot and experience the hyena walk past us as if we were not even there. I believe Viva Safaris is the only operator presently using this stretch of the Olifants River for Bush Walks so maybe the hyena is not used to humans and did not care about our presence.
19-03-11
The ways of the bush are really amazing. One never knows what is going to happen next. As we were driving and making our way to a spot where we could get some good photos of the great sunset, a lioness came running up the road. She was trying to hunt some impala. All of this happened in a flash. The lioness was gone and we tried to find her but saw nothing of her so we went down the road to see if there were any more. We found two more lionesses in the road and they started roaring. The next thing it felt like whole bushveld was roaring as another 14 lions walk out into the road and greeted each other and then slowly moved off in to the bush. Wow !
NEWS FROM OUR LODGES
We have made a few changes to the management structure at our lodges.
At Tremisana, Florence has been appointed as Manager and Delina has been redeployed as Supervisor. In the absence of Florence, Pretty will act as Hostess.
Florence, Manager at Tremisana
At Marc’s Camp, Ronald remains as Manager and we have appointed Fiona as his deputy. Fiona previously managed a very fancy 5 star lodge in the Timbavati Game Reserve and has a wealth of experience. Fiona will also serve as Hostess. Margrett remains Supervisor and will relieve Alice as Manager of Cheetah Inn when Alice is away.
Upon advice from a previous client, Anna Peters, we have made some wooden loungers for use at the pool at Tremisana. We have found that a good number of our guests have tremendous energy. Instead of going for a rest after the Bush Walk (as older folk like me do), some clients need to spend the remainder of the morning and early afternoon at the pool – nothing beats showing off a South African suntan when they return to the other hemisphere. I have also asked our guides to take the guests to the Hide at Tremisana Dam. This hide has its own bathroom so the guests can safely spend a few hours looking at the birds and animals that come to drink while the guide recovers. At an arranged time, the guide will collect them.
The Hide at Tremisana Dam
The hippo at Tremisana Dam has moved on. There is too little water and, as we are at the end of the rainy season, it is likely that the levels at the dam will drop even further.
The Nyala at Marc’s Camp are becoming quite famous. I recently had a request from a local to come to the camp to view and photograph these very beautiful animals. He was able to get to within one metre of a herd.
Nyala at Marc's Camp
At the Cheetah Inn, the warthogs seem to be breeding prolifically. I counted a total of 12 warthogs grazing near the pool.
We thank Keith and Aron who have completed all the alterations and improvements requested by the AA Travel assessor when he awarded the Cheetah Inn the recommended status.
NEWS FOR OUR TRAVEL PARTNERS
We have finalised our tariffs for self drive guests at Cheetah Inn.
Our rack rates are as follows :
Bed only : R 250 sharing, R 280 single
Bed and Breakfast : R 360 sharing, R 430 single.
Dinner, Bed and Breakfast : R 490 sharing, R 560 single
The breakfast is a full English one and the dinner is a 3-course Boma one.
To date we already have two tour operators that have agreed to use Cheetah Inn. To assist their operation we shall make available our open Gameviewers for safaris to Kruger Park.
CLIENT FEEDBACK
We have received the following emails this month :
Hi Piero
We had a great time with viva safari and enjoyed very much our stay at Tremisana and Cheetah inn.
We were happy to meet Alice, Bongani, Bret and Isaac. They looked after us very well and we appreciated their sense of hospitality.
Concerning the safaris, we were thrilled by our morning walk: we got a close encounter with a spotted hyena!!! Kruger as well was really a nice drive (two lions, lots of elephants, buffalos etc...)
If I may suggest one thing though: Instead of the afternoon drive, a nice rest at the pool would be preferable, because it is so hot at that time of the day that we do not get to see much...
Otherwise we have very good souvenirs of our stay amongts your team.
Looking forward to coming back and visit again.
Clement and Tessa
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Hello Pietro how are you doing today? My name is Mario Trotta, I traveled with my friend Gina last week and we booked a 4-day safari with Viva Safaris. I would like to say thank you for all that you have done for us on our vacation. We took hundreds of pictures and videos from encountering a hyena on foot to petting cheetahs. This really was the best trip I have ever had in my life and I travel the world because I am in school for International Business and will be finishing it by the end of this year!
I attached a few photos that you were interested in having for your brochure. We hope you like them and it would be very kind if you can send the new ones of us so we can tell family and friends to take a trip with Viva Safaris after hearing our exciting stories. Again thank you again for making my vacation a dream come true. I will keep in touch with you Pietro and maybe we can work something out together in the near future.
Mario and Gina petting the cheetahs
Hope to see and hear from you soon.
Thank you again!
Mario Trotta
P.S. I also put in a great review on TripAdvisors under Tremisana Game Lodge :)
Until next month...
With kind regards,
Piero
General Manager
Viva Safaris
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