Towards the end of October, I drove to Skukuza to effect payment for the annual renewal of OPEN VEHICLE permits. Viva Safaris renewed the permits of four of our original vehicles and added two brand new vehicles. See photo below :
While at Skukuza, an old stomping ground of mine since 1961, I met up with a long-time friend who is now Manager of Nature Conservation. I was telling him about how more easily we now encounter Rhinos around Orpen and Satara compared to the olden days. He was pleased to know that Viva Safaris has had an over 95% success rate on daily sightings of Rhinos, but issued a caution in terms of the number of Rhino being poached for their horns. I have mentioned in previous newsletters that the value placed on rhino horn has spurious foundations : there is a myth about a supposed aphrodisiac property of powdered horn in the Far East ( as a result of the rhinos’ prolonged copulation period ) as well as astronomical prices paid by wealthy Arabs ( mainly Yemenis ) who use the horns as shafts of ceremonial weapons. The horn consists of a tightly-packed mass of tubular filaments, similar to hair or fingernails, which is an outgrowth of the Rhino’s skin, not attached to the bone or skull.
The good news is that the Kruger Park authorities have trained and equipped 57 new rangers to counter increased poaching. To date 38 Rhino have been poached in Kruger this year. The syndicates involved in this horrendous activity have no scruples whatsoever. I recall that rangers in the Zambezi valley had a similar problem with poachers of Black Rhino and were eventually so frustrated with apprehending poachers and having them tried and incarcerated only to find the very same poachers back in action 6 months down the line. What happened there was that the rangers eventually “ lost it ” and ended up shooting the poachers on sight with specific intention to kill…………………………………
Other good news is that the SA military will also be henceforth employed to patrol the 450 km long Mozambique border. Our hope is that poaching of our valuable Kruger animals will thus be further restricted..
GAMEVIEWING NEWS
The first rains of the month fell on 29th October – very late indeed!
From a game-viewing perspective this has been good news as the animals have been easily located around the watering points all month. Viva Safaris clients have had some absolutely exceptionally brilliant days as evidenced in the reports of our guides :
ANDRIES reports two sightings of actual kills. Prior to working with Viva, he had worked for 6 years in the Skukuza region where in all that time, he had only once seen an actual kill. This is easily explained in terms of the open areas found around Orpen and Satara. These regions have superior gameviewing because these areas receive less rain than the areas down south and consequently the bush is not so dense..
Andries reports : “ On 9 October we had entered the new Gate 7km from Orpen. I drove up to two cars that had stopped and were looking at an impala herd. The cars then moved off, but I noticed that the impala looked edgy and were looking around, not feeding. They seemed nervous so I decided to wait a minute or two. My decision paid off : right in front of our vehicle, we saw a yellow blur and 3 seconds later a Leopard had grabbed an impala by the throat. We watched, totally mesmerised, as the leopard proceeded to suffocate the impala right in front of us !
A leopard grabbing an impala by the throat right in front of our vehicle
The rest of the day was excellent – we saw the Big Five as well as a large clan of hyena driving 2 lions off a buffalo kill, but these usually brilliant sightings were nothing compared to that leopard kill. ”
Andries reports another kill on 22 October as follows :
“We had just left the Nwanedzi picnic spot, where we had a bathroom stop. Two Australian guests had told me earlier in the morning that their idea of really awesome luck would be to see ‘ lions catching something’. Well they had their wish come true : about 3 km further on, we came across an amazing scene. Three big male lions had a teenage buffalo by the nose on one side of the road while the rest of the buffalo herd was on the other side of the road. The young buffalo made terrible noises and I expected the buffalo herd to come to its aid as I had seen on documentary films. The herd was agitated but no effort was made to rescue the stricken buffalo. I reckon that a pride of 3 big male lions must rate as the very pinnacle of formidable killing machines – the mother buffalo would most probably have also been killed had she tried to assist.
Some of my guests felt very sorry and were actually nauseated by the pitiful sight of the dying buffalo, but this is the way Nature works. ”
BERTUS
This for me was a month for cats. It was probably my best ever time – I saw the biggest variety of cats and amount of cats in the Park as well as on Balule.
The most notable day in Kruger was on the 20th. We went in early with our guests and about 5km from the gate found a cheetah with 3 cubs. We then went another 500m and found a pride of six lions. By this stage we were really happy, but then about another 4 km on we found a leopard next to the road with an Impala kill. She spent some time on the side of the road and we had a wonderful opportunity to have a good look at her.
On most of the days I spent in Kruger we were able to find the big 5 except at the end of the month when the weather turned bad and very windy. Migrant birds are coming back and I have spotted European Bee-eater, Carmine Bee-eater as well as Woolly-necked Storks.
Balule was great as well. We are starting to see a lot more elephants and they are sometimes right at Tremisana Lodge where they come to drink from the watering hole in front of our Lapa. Here the cat sightings continued with frequent sightings of the big pride of lions which consist of 2 males, 2 females and 9 cubs. My highlight was the 15th of October when we took our afternoon drive. We had just driven onto Balule when we found 2 cheetahs walking down the road. After a good look at them we continued and were stopped at Impala Dam just as the sun was setting. We found 3 Hyenas drinking water there which for me was great as I haven’t seen Hyena here in a long time. We then responded to a radio sighting for a big elephant bull. When we drove back past Impala Dam we were called to the wall for a leopard sighting. I must admit it was very difficult to see it as it was dark already but we could see it clearly enough for it to be a confirmed sighting.
BONGANI
Kruger and Balule
Balule
“It was a bad month for me, I was nearly attacked by a herd of elephant in Balule and bashed into a tree with the Landcruiser. It was a very dangerous situation. I could not believe how the whole herd just came towards us at high speed. I tried to reverse but it was very difficult. They followed us for three to four hundreds metres. Thankfully nobody was hurt, only very excited with a good story to tell when they get back home.
We went out later that afternoon. As we reached the Olifants Road we saw eight lions come out of the bush and walk on the road. We followed them for ten minutes. There were two big male lions with three cubs. They all had blood on their faces - it seemed like they had been eating.
On our walks, we managed to get close to three White Rhinos, while on the other side of the road there was a big bull elephant come towards us. We were surrounded by the two of the big five. The elephant was very close to us – at most 30 to 40 metres away from us.
On 12-10-09
We left the Cheetah Inn at 04h45 early in the morning for our day in Kruger. We had great luck with many animals : our first sighting was a spotted hyena with a leg of impala in its mouth. It walked into the culvert under the road. Afterwards we drove the Timbavati road, S39, and saw four lions and two cubs eating a giraffe. There were vultures all over the place waiting for the leftovers – also some jackals. Three to four kilometres further we had a leopard sighting. It was up in a tree. Between S127 and Satara there were four white rhinos; on the sand road there were three big male lions eating a giraffe, but it was hidden under a tree so that the vultures would not see the carcass. The following day we did a different road. We did the S36 where we had our first sighting of a lioness lying on the road. It was injured in the back leg. After that we drove the Sweni road. We found a leopard lying in a tree and relaxing watching impalas grazing. A few metres away there were two big male lions walking towards Sweni Pan. At the pan there were many animals like zebras, impalas, giraffe, elephant, blue wildebeest and buffalos.
As we were watching the other animals, a big herd of elephant came towards the waterhole. The elephants spotted the lions coming from the west side of the water hole. The elephant kept the lions away from the waterhole. We then drove the S100 on the east side of Satara and we saw a beautiful leopard. It was trying to get an impala - on the other side of the river was group of baboons. The leopard was very close to the impalas and one young baboon gave an alarm noise causing the impala to run away immediately.
A Waterbuck was close and followed the leopard for a few metres and baboons joined the impalas.
On 19-10-09
We went in at Orpen gate and out at Phalaborwa gate.
Before Orpen gate we saw four hyenas. Just after the gate we had luck with three cheetahs walking along the road. A hundred metres on there were six lions lying near the road. Close by was a leopard up in the tree with impala. As we got to the sighting it carried the impala down. The grass was tall and we struggled to see it. We spent 10 to 20 minutes waiting along the road and suddenly we saw it walking towards the road with impala. We followed it for long time.
On 27-10 -09
Near Satara two male lions killed a blue wildebeest. Before they had finished to eat their kill, some hyenas arrived and managed to drive the lions away. Later some jackals came and helped the hyenas to eat the breakfast of the lions. After a few minute the lions crossed the road and walked into the bush. Vultures arrived as well and tried to get something to eat, but the hyenas kept the vultures away from meat.
LERAY has emailed the following : On 13th October my group & I had an amazing day in the Kruger Park. We saw leopard twice, twice buffalo breeding herds, rhino, lion & an elephant breeding herd. Close to Bobbejaan Krans we found a huge breeding herd of buffalo. It’s magnificent to see these massive animals close up! They tried to cross the road but they were extremely nervous, until one of them had enough courage to go first. The whole group followed. After 20 minutes sitting & watching them we could continue our safari. One of the other amazing sightings that we had was with a leopard. We were on our way to Orpen Gate back from Satara. I saw something moving in the distance, I could only see the body shape. I said to the group it’s a leopard! As I said that, the leopard looked at us. As soon as he realized he’s in the open area & we can see him, we had a brief sighting of him before he disappeared into the riverbed.
A huge herd of breeding buffalo spotted near Bobbejaan Krans
On another day of safari we took the Sweni road. We had an amazing sighting of a lioness & her two cubs. They were lying next to the road. It was something to see how the lioness interacts with her two cubs. It was quite fun to watch them & see the bond between mother & child. As soon as a new vehicle arrived at the sighting the cubs were up with their ears pitched & looking at the vehicle, but “mommy” was just lying there without any problem. I’m sure that if they could talk she would say, “ don’t worry kids it’s just people coming to have a look at us”
An amazing sighting of a lioness and her two cubs.
Tolli has emailed his report : We do not often have the opportunity to see the major differences between the Tawny Eagle and the Steppe Eagle, because we don’t get so close to them to see where the gape of the mouth begins. The Tawny Eagle’s gape begins in the centre of the eye and the Steppe Eagle more towards the end. These two brown eagles are often confused; both are large and powerful eagles. The Tawny eagle is an all year resident and the Steppe eagle only a summer resident when thy follow the rain in search of food. Another common mistake we can make is the juvenile Bateleur because it is also a strong brown and large raptor, but its body and head shape, bare legs and face distinguish it from the above mentioned.
My pax and I were privileged to see these two raptors within 1km of each other. On the right is a Tawny Eagle and on the left a Juvenile Bateleur
Rhulani has sent the following report :
“ On 11 October we had a great sighting of 8 lions polishing off an impala at Nsemani Dam. Only 2km from Satara we had a brilliant experience : A pack of 17 hyenas drove two male lions off their kill. On the 13th October we saw a big male leopard up a tree on the Sweni road. An unsuspecting duiker was walking towards the tree and the leopard tensed up. Just as it was about to spring, a young baboon started screaming wildly. A big male baboon came to investigate and saw the leopard up the tree and there was such a performance that the duiker ran away. It owes its life to that baby baboon.”
Rhulani also reports seeing a pack of Wild Dogs on the Rabelais loop. There were 19 adults and around 16 pups. It was a brilliant sighting as they were all walking along the road !
NEWS AT TREMISANA GAME LODGE
A large male Caracal has made Tremisana his home and is often seen in the early mornings and late afternoons. I was having a swim one evening when all the Vervet Monkeys made a huge racket and moved from their roosts to the ends of the branches of a Fig Tree. I looked around and then saw the Caracal at the base of the tree. It jumped into the tree and the monkeys dispersed. After 30 seconds it came down from the tree, gave me a cursory look and walked out near the cell phone tower !
NEWS AT MARC’S TREEHOUSE LODGE
The new Guides Rooms are complete and Rhulani and Andries have moved in. We hope that their closer presence allows some of our more timid guests to feel a little more secure! Thanks to Sandy and Pearl for the time spent in upgrading the bedding of the treehouses.
Bedding upgrade at Marc's Treehouses!
NEWS AT CHEETAH INN
I saw leopard tracks at the entrance to the Boma – no doubt the leopard is after the 5 Nyala that have been introduced ! Congratulations to Wilma and Schaull who celebrated their wedding with us on the 24 October.
NEWS FOR OUR TRAVEL PARTNERS
All our staff are proudly wearing their new name tags.
We have bought a new Landcruiser that will be used to take our Tremisana Lodge clients on game drives on Tshukudu Game Reserve from 1 January 2010.
Bookings for June and July 2010 are coming in fast. We have decided to upgrade the Adventure Camp at Marc’s and will thereby supply 8 additional en suite rooms that we shall probably kit out as 4 twins, 2 doubles and 2 quads. We are hoping that these will be ready by 1 January 2010.
We have this month received the following emails :
From: Koerbela
Sent: 16 October 2009
Subject: Stay at Marc's camp
Hey Piero,
Together with my friend Katarina I spent a couple of unforgettable days at the treehouse lodge (October 4-7). We enjoyed the amazing location and were in fact happy to skip one day of Kruger safari and spend it at (and in) the pool, on an enjoyable tour of the camp together with Florence and on a spontaneosly organised sunset safari next to the camp. In fact, even better than the Kruger: we came extremely close to all the animals. The most magical moment was watching the sunset with a black rhino couple just in front of us. You should encourage guests to spend an extra day at the lodge (which no one gets too see otherwise, a pity! What an extraordinary place, and so well kept, and adventurous, and the stylish interior of the treehouses...) and at the private game park "next door". The staff was absolutely amazing! Florence and the guide Rhulani are the most professional and lovely people ever. We felt very welcome and taken care of, and learnt lots and lots about the bush and (South/Southern) Africa in general.
Florence treated us with all the comfort one could wish for, she is a treasure and the perfect person for the job with her amazing knowledge of human nature. Rhulani and his friends took extra shifts to make our special game drive possible. We really believe his story to have texted the rhinos to be at the right spot at the right moment... We were so sorry to leave after only three days. Are longing to be back, regarding the German winter cold and rain outside.
I would really like to keep in touch with Florence and would therefore be very grateful if you could forward this mail or my emailaddress to her (or even my mobile phone number: 0049 179 1026155; or tell her to add me on facebook). Thanks a lot for this heaven on earth and congratulations for the wonderful staff you've got.
Kind regards,
Lill-Ann (Koerber)
From: Matti
Sent: 24 October 2009
Subject: Regards from Germany
Dear Piero,
Amazing Mrs. Pearl, wonderful Mama Delina, incredible Bertus.
We have had an unbelievable time at TREMISANA.
Pearl did a wonderful job, knowing everything we needed to feel home.
We will never forget Mama Delinas cooking and the way how she smiled and behaved towards us.
The game drives and walks were phantastic. Bertus is one of the best Rangers we ever met.
Thanks a lot. We will tell everyone about it and we are shure to come back in 2011.
Regards
Wiebke and Mathias
From: Bob Bell
Sent: 30 October 2009
Subject: Thanks again - ATTN: Piero
Piero,
I just wanted to email and thank you again for helping to facilitate two wonderful stays for our Habitat for Humanity groups at the Cheetah Inn and in Kruger Game Park.
I have recently completed a Review of the Cheetah Inn on TripAdvisor.com and it should post along with photos in a couple of days on their site.
Thanks once again,
Bob Bell
From: Leslie Bell
Sent: 31 October 2009
Subject: One more big thanks
Hi Piero,
I needed to write to you to give you one more big thank you for your generous support of our two Habitat for Humanity Global Village teams. They had all worked so hard to build the 37 houses in Mozambique for the OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) program and looked forward to the safari. Since they all had to raise all of their own funds for their travel and expenses, as well as enough to build the houses, I'm sure that some of them would not have been able to afford the safari if you had not given us such a great price.
You truly have a wonderful place at the Cheetah Inn, with remarkable staff. Alice was so easy to work with and took care of anything and everything we needed. The food was always great and having a brai and fire circle was a real treat.
The two guides were very informative and obviously had a great deal of skill. This made our safari very successful and educational. And they were good, safe drivers as well.
We couldn't have asked for anything better. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
We haven't made our plans for 2010 yet, but our hearts tell us to return to Mozambique. If we go through South Africa again, we'll be sure to contact you!
Kindest regards,
Leslie
From: Simon Hanton
Sent: 30 October 2009
Many thanks for the email. We had a few days with you last year and this is the first newsletter I've actually seen. The junk filter got them all before now!
On the subject of pictures you might like one local who surprised Bertus one evening at a water hole at Tremisana. This fellow emerged from the bush and then took us off to see his family.
Regards,
Simon
Photo taken by Simon Hanton at the waterhole at Tremisana
Until next month.
With kind regards,
Piero
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