The first wintry nights of 2008 have manifested themselves in typical bushveld fashion: one day the temperature is in the late twenties and 12 hours later we are into low single figures. This dramatic temperature change has very negative effects on wildlife. I have a report of the death of tens of thousands of swallows in Limpopo. The explanation for this serious loss of avian life is as follows: with a dramatic sudden drop in temperature, the insects that form the daily staple diet of birds such as swallows go to ground. If the cold is accompanied by wet conditions then not only are the swallows unable to find food on the wing, but they are also grounded and their condition deteriorates rapidly.
May 2008 will be remembered for a far, far greater tragedy: xenophobia. For those South Africans who had never heard the word before, the images of the results of our disgracefully embarrassing behaviour, etched forever on our memory tracts, will never let us forget the word. What the consequences will be, in terms of future tourism to SA, are at this stage not known. What is known though is that we as a country can hang our collective heads in shame knowing that such unspeakable events have forever tainted the hues of our rainbow nation.
On a positive note, the animal sightings for May have been nothing short of brilliant. Our tourists have had some exceptional game viewing as indicated in our guides’ reports further on in this newsletter. On my visits to Kruger in May 08, I was amazed at how the need to find water can lead to redistribution of game. For example I came across two Nyala bulls at Leeupan, south of Tshokwane. In the olden days (1960s and 1970s) the only place that one had a good chance of seeing Nyala in Kruger was near Pafuri in the extreme north. Then, in the mid 1980s, some Nyala were released along the Sabie River between Skukuza and Lower Sabie. The biggest influx of Nyala came about when Kruger dropped its fences with its western neighbours in the Central Section. Our tourist guides regularly see Nyala along the Timbavati River. Those of our guests that stay at Marc’s Treehouse Lodge probably do not get too excited about this, as Nyala are very prolific at Marc’s.
I attended the AGM of Olifants West Game Reserve in which Tremisana Lodge is situated. One of the speakers astounded me with a proposed plan to manage declining wildebeest numbers: in an effort to curtail lion predation on wildebeest, a proposal to kill buffalo is being mooted. The underlying thinking is that if the lions are fed on buffalo meat, then they will not need to kill more wildebeest. Somehow I remain unconvinced. It is this type of “trial and error” management that can lead to problems. The biggest blunder, in my opinion, of Kruger management happened some 15 or so years ago when the authorities at the time decided to sink boreholes in the very north of Kruger to supply more permanent water. What happened then was that substantial zebra herds were attracted to these areas and with them came lions. When the zebra population was depleted, the lions then started to take Roan Antelope and this has resulted in the critical status of Roan in Kruger today. The waterholes were then closed but it was too late – permanent, possibly irreversible, damage to the Roan population was done. I trust the Balule authorities will rethink the issue of feeding buffalo to lions!
May has also been the rutting season of impala. It is amazing how noisy the rams are – our guests cannot believe the guttural grunting that goes on all day and night. Some of our young male guests are amazed (and probably also a tad envious) that a single ram can cover up to 30 ewes. It is a classic example of Natural Selection – Nature allows for the fiercest and strongest male to pass on his genes. The number of bachelor herds that are found bears testimony that only the strongest males in nature are permitted to breed.
What a close encounter! I am sitting in the red car pictured in the top right corner!
I was pleasantly surprised to see so many kudu all over the Park. I saw some really impressively-horned bulls and a good number of young. I also saw a number of lionesses in very poor condition. The prevalence of TB is noted and two particular lionesses were literally skin and bones. The number of White Rhino seen was better than ever and I understand from our guides that seeing rhino these days is quite normal. In fact what I am told is that it is a bad luck day when rhinos are not seen.
GAMEVIEWING NEWS
BONGANI has had a great month. On two game walks that he conducted on Balule, the clients came face to face with lions. On the one occasion there were 9 lions right near Tremisana Lodge. The clients were relaxed and kept quiet. The lions went about their business without paying attention to the gues ts. This is what game walks are all about – we can enjoy seeing the animals doing their thing without affecting them in any way. Bongani reports good sightings of predators at all the major watering spots. A pair of cheetah are still operating around Ngirivane waterhole and the lion prides along the S 100 and near Ngotso Dam are being seen very regularly. At Ngotso Dam a White Rhino bull seems to have taken up permanent residence and he is seen almost every time we visit the dam!
CHARLES started the month on a high note. On 1st May his tourists had a veritable lion-fest. A pride of four was seen on the turnoff to Timbavati, followed by another pride of nine on the other side of the Timbavati River. This was followed by a sighting of three lions walking along the road and then five more lions on the S 100. On the 4th his group saw Sable Antel ope and Cheetah on the Mudzanzeni road.
CHANTELLE lists her May 08 highlights as follows: Cheetah were seen on a kill. Five injured lions were seen resting on a dry riverbed. They had been in a huge fight and probably had been thrown out of their territory. One lion had a broken jaw, another had an ugly gash on its side and the others were all limping. At this time of the year territories with permanent water are key to the pride’s survival – both in terms of drinking water and also in terms of hunting animals that come to drink. So it is the season where some very serious fights take place. Chantelle also had a sighting of a leopard with an impala kill up a tree. Her sightings on Balule Plains were equally impressive: A pride of 12 lions with c ubs approximately four weeks old, Serval and Wild Cat and a young zebra stuck in the mud struggling for about 20 minutes before freeing itself.
 
Photos submitted by Chantelle
STEVE reports seeing a pride of 10 lions regularly along the S 100. On one sad occasion, he and his guests saw a very sick lioness left alone to die. He reports a cheetah kill of a young kudu. On the Balule Plains game drives, Steve has been seeing rhino regularly along the Tshukudu cutline. He also had an excellent sighting of a leopard. From time to time our guests see Tshukudu’s semi-tame cheetah, Savanna, sitting near the Mohlabetsi entrance gate. Although accustomed to humans, she still hunts for herself.
NELLY spent most of the month on long leave but made it very plain that he had excellent sightings along the S 100 on which road his tourists saw, within a distance of 12 km, “two big male lions, rhinos crossing the road and too many elephants and buffalos”.
BERTUS, the son of Wynand, our Warden, has been helping out when we have extra work. His report tells of excellent sightings of elephant and buffalo on a daily basis and lions being seen up to four times a day. A regular sighting is of a lioness with three cubs just north of Satara. A herd of over 60 elephants crossed less than 10 metres in front of Bertus’ vehicle at Nsemani Dam. On another occasion Bertus and guests were watching a pod of about 20 hippo along the Nwanedzi river. Something spooked them and they all charged into the water, causing a wave of water to go over the low-level bridge where the vehicle had stopped. There was some veld-burning taking place around Satara in May and a number of raptors were seen feasting on the insects escaping from the flames. These included Martial, Bateleur and Tawny eagles and a first for Bertus in Kruger – a pair of Peregrine Falcons!
Bertus reports seeing three Buffalo bulls metres from Tremisana gate on a bush walk. They were very calm and posed absolutely no problem.
NEWS AT TREMISANA GAME LODGE
The crocodile that our Warden, Wynand, released into an adjoining property’s dam, decided to return to Tremisana. I cannot understand why this is happening as there is absolutely no water in Tremisana Dam. Another regular visitor is a civet which appears every night at the Boma. It is most unusual behaviour and is as a result of the paucity of food in the bush. The civet was very thin so we originally put out a bowl with scraps. Unfortunately this has led it to come right up to guests at dinner time. There is a remote possibility that someone may be injured so we have stopped feeding.
Sidney, our mechanic, is using the relatively quiet time to service all our vehicles. We are also recanvassing some of the Open Gameviewers. We have serviced both boreholes and have been informed that there will be no problem with the water supply this winter. This is a relief as previous predictions were not as positive!.
NEWS AT MARC’S TREEHOUSE LODGE
All the treehouses are having their winter maintenance. The reeds are being replaced, the thatch roofs recombed and the canvas cleaned. The rhino population seems to be congregating around the river and we are seeing signs of these animals more frequently. Jonathan Beretta, Warden of Motlala, reports that a baby White Rhino was born at the end of May. He also came across a pair of mating leopards, so we expect a baby leopard in a few months. Jonathan reports that the Black Rhino will be released on 10 June. At this stage we are not too concerned about any potential danger to our clients but we will keep an eye on things.
Ronald reports his usual winter-season increase in blood pressure as the monkeys, mongooses; kudu, nyala and buffalo all contrive to destroy the manicured gardens. The monkeys are especially troublesome. We have asked our guests to desist from feeding these animals as they then can only become more problematic..
NEWS AT THE CHEETAH INN
We have upgraded the a la carte menu. Our staff have been working hard and the hotel is looking good. We have had a number of groups and the 3-course dinners offered in the open Boma have been really appreciated. A number of tour operators we met at Indaba have expressed interest in conducting site inspections at Cheetah Inn with the view to bringing tourists in the future.
NEWS FOR OUR TRAVEL PARTNERS
INDABA was a great success. Trevor, Anthony and I were assisted by Ronald this year. The Indaba coincided with my daughter’s wedding so it was an interesting exercise in attempted bi-location. For those of our readers who are Catholic, we are told that the famous Padre Pio had the power of bi-location. It is a great pity that Padre (as in father) Piero could not do it! It would have been very useful to be in two places simultaneously!
Nevertheless we saw a good many travel agents and tour operators and we believe that the exercise as a whole was well worth the money spent in having our own stand.
As mentioned earlier the recent xenophobic attacks are expected to have some effect on tourism to SA. So far we have had no cancellations, but we are not sure of the effect on future bookings. We, at Viva Safaris, place an enormous emphasis on our clients’ wellbeing and safety. From the moment they are collected from their homes, hotels, hostels or JNB Airport, we take it upon ourselves to make sure that nothing goes wrong in terms of client safety. The routes we take are well policed and out in the bush there is no hint of any of the urban tensions. Of course we are monitoring the situation very carefully and should there be any reason to postpone any booked safari, we shall not hesitate to contact our clients. We hope and pray that the situation remains under control.
We have had our usual excellent comments for May 2008 in the Guest Books. I thank the staff sincerely for all the hard work which leads to our happy guests writing such flattering comments.
TREMISANA
Trish and Matt Keeney, Feeler53@hotmail.com
“Our honeymoon! Amazing place – saw 4 of the Big 5. We’ll be back to see the spotted cat!
Saw loads of other game. Bertus was an amazing guide, very knowledgeable and also a good friend!
Loved the family atmosphere. Thanks so much to Pearl and staff for giving us a wonderful time.”
Sandy Gammon, Cape Town
“Second visit and really great. Thank you very much. Saw 4 out of 5. Rehab Centre amazing and Cultural Village interesting.”
ERLA DIEDERICHS, etla@media24.com
“A holiday that I will always remember! Orange sunsets; being flanked by two elephants; seeing a leopard right next to us and sharing a brief moment of universal contact – all moments that are priceless ……….
Thanks Piero, Pearl and team for making it possible. ”
MARC’S
Arthur Silva, Australia, arthurpassos@gmail.com
“Really great time, I’ll never forget it! Thanks for everything! ”
Felix d’francis, felixdfrancis@yahoo.com
“This place is very nice, the staff exceptional on their service. Ronald was great! ”
Dave Martin and Rojane, dave@bulungula.com
“Very peaceful – just what we needed”
Regards and best wishes,
Piero
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