September is the month that heralds the advent of Spring. In the bushveld, Spring manifests itself in very noticeable ways : the acacia trees come into flower and their pollen disperses fragrantly on the air ; the first leaves appear in bud form on the branches of trees ; frogs and toads make their appearance in the dams and water features of our camps and their incessant raucous calls for mates keep some of our tourists thoroughly enthralled.
Of all the acacia species, I believe that the Knobthorn, Acacia Nigrescens , is the most interesting. Apart from the "knobs" on the branches which allow for immediate identification, the Knobthorn gives a lovely display of flower colour. Interestingly, there is a variation in colour from cream through light yellow. At Tremisana Lodge we have noticed that the cream-coloured flowers originate from buds that are a reddish/ maroon while the pale yellow flowers originate from buds that are bright green . This is a result of a genetic mutation ( compare this to the genes that produce white lions in the animal kingdom). The nectar produced in the flowers attracts numerous insects that play an important part in the cross-pollination process. These insects, in turn, attract many insectivorous birds that require a high protein diet at the start of their breeding season .
The Marico Sunbirds at Marc's Treehouse Lodge have already started breeding . They made their nests in mid-September and are incubating at the moment. They make a very conspicuous white-coloured nest out of wild cotton. They obtain this cotton from a creeper growing near the Breakfast Dam - the climbing kapok, Ipomoea Alba. The nest is very visible to any predators and we believe that the nest site near the main lodge was carefully chosen as arboreal snakes such as boomslang generally keep away from human habitation. It just goes to show how intelligent birds can be !
September is Tourism Month in South Africa. We are pleased to report that we have had a good month, tourist-wise . We are nevertheless concerned at the crime levels in our beautiful country - it would be great to see a significant drop in crime country-wide, especially with the 2010 FIFA World Cup approaching. Our clients are always pleasantly surprised to see the relaxed and trusting approach we adopt in the bush - a far cry from the major cities where leaving keys overnight in a Landcruiser would probably happen only once...........................
September 24 is a public holiday in South Africa - Heritage Day. Some evolutionists believe that South Africa is the cradle of all humanity, claiming that the first modern man walked initially on South African soil. We are encouraged to think not only about our different cultural heritages that have been successfully moulded into our so-called "Rainbow Nation" but also about our wildlife heritage. The Kruger Park has as its motto " Custos Naturae " - the guardian of Nature. Viva Safaris is intimately involved in conservation and our brief is clear : preserve our wildlife heritage as best we can for future generations.
NEWS AT TREMISANA GAME LODGE
In keeping with the sentiments expressed above, we have decided to clean up the dumping ground. With the assistance of other landowners in Balule, we shall in future take all refuse to the newly-installed Dumpster. From here all refuse will be taken to a central refuse collection point near Hoedspruit. It has been an easy task to collect all cans / plastic as the veld is so dry that these items stand out like the proverbial sore thumb.
Night Drives have been good - we are still seeing lions regularly . Our 4 buffalo bulls that we saw regularly are now down to 3 - we are not sure how one has disappeared, perhaps it was taken by lions. A recent study of lion predation on buffalo in Kruger Park found that the vast majority of buffalo taken were bulls. The same research asserts that "buffalo bulls are ready, willing and able to take their chances with lions in order to get into tip-top condition so that they stand a better chance of successfully mating with a buffalo cow " . I'm not sure of the veracity of this claim and look forward to the publication of this research in a scientific journal.
Our elephant sightings have been good - mainly groups of bulls.
Charles reports a sighting of 5 cheetah early on in September - they had pulled down an impala near the airfield. Chances are that a group of 5 cheetah is made up of mother and four cubs.
Other sightings of nocturnal animals this month included scrub hare, porcupine, small-spotted genet, civet, bushbaby and various owls. This list sometimes seems trivial to our uninitiated guests. For those in the know, the sighting of an aardvark on a night drive is far more newsworthy than a sighting of a lion.
Tremisana has a fine reputation of offering some mouth-watering soups made by Delina. Recently we had as a dinner guest the owner of a 4 star lodge who could not stop singing the praises of the chef - he reckoned that the soup and homemade bread were the best he had ever had in 20 years of bushveld meals ! Despite the copious praises, he left empty-handed in terms of soup recipes - Delina guards her secrets zealously!
NEWS AT MARC'S CAMP
The most recent census of the game on Motlala Game Reserve, on which Marc's Camp is located, indicated that the buffalo herd has grown to over 100 animals.
The buffalo are in excellent condition. The new Warden, Jonathan Beretta, will be conducting another census soon and we shall report on the buffalo numbers as soon as we have them. Interesting news is that Motlala is planning to release 3 Black Rhino . There is a herd of 10 White Rhino already on the property and it will be interesting to see how the two species of rhino cohabit on a restricted range. In Kruger, 99,9 % of sightings of rhino are of the White variety. This is so because the Black Rhino is a browser and consequently favours leafy thickets, whereas the White Rhino is a grazer and frequents open grass plains. Also the White rhino is substantially bigger than its Black cousin ( about 2000kg compared to 1200 kg ) and is thus more easily seen. The numbers in Kruger are roughly 12 500 White Rhino and a mere 450 Black Rhino. Interestingly, outside of South Africa, most African countries that have remnant populations of rhino ( after the insane poaching epidemics ) actually have mainly Black Rhino.
The Nyala population density is very high at Marc's Camp. These beautiful animals have become very tame and are often seen by our guests who marvel at the close proximity to which they can approach these graceful antelope.
Birdlife at Marc's Camp is excellent at the moment with most of the species moving from the drier areas to the well-wooded zone along the Klaserie River.
Special sightings of Narina Trogon, Trumpeter Hornbill and Saddle-billed Stork were had in September.
We hosted the grade 10 group from Kingfisher School in Phalaborwa and were pleased to show them a leopard up a tree. These students were clearly not city-slickers as evidenced by their insistence on playing "Stalk the Lantern" at night despite the abundance of fresh buffalo dung !
NEWS AT THE CHEETAH INN
Building operations are in full swing and the two new chalets are nearing completion. This brings the number of rooms at the Cheetah Inn to 20. We shall build two more chalets and then will have the correct number for hosting coach tours.
In September we held a Matric Dance for a local school as well as the AGM of the local Water Board.
Our Saturday afternoons have been busy with rugby enthusiasts enjoying our large-screen TV in our airconditioned bar.
October will see the erection of a game-proof fence around the property.
We have added a rustic touch to the outside rondawels by building wooden palustrades along the paths leading to their front doors.
We have located a bushpig den on the property and were fortunate in seeing 4 bushpigs late one night. Unlike its cousin, the warthog, which is strictly diurnal and usually sleeps in unused aardvark holes at night, bushpigs emerge after dark and are mainly nocturnal.
GAME-VIEWING IN KRUGER PARK
As always, September is one of the very best months of the year for Game-viewing. This month our guides have often had sightings of all of the Big Five in one day !
The percentage sighting success of each of the Big Five in September 06 was as follows :
Elephant 100 %
Buffalo 100 %
Lion 80 %
Rhino 67 %
Leopard 40 %
With the drying out of the veld, rhino sightings have improved. They are seen regularly along the Sweni road. Lions have been seen more often than last month and are now permanently localised near watering points.
Leopard, as always, is the most difficult of the Big Five to spot. They tend to operate nocturnally and the best chances of seeing leopard by day is to look for them in the shade of a leafy tree, where they spend the warm daytime hours lazily extended along a branch. Although they are more likely to be found along river courses such as the Timbavati and Nwanedzi, leopards can appear anywhere at any time of the day. Our guides have seen them hunting animals as small as spurfowl and as large as young giraffe.
Cheetah and wild dogs have also been seen this month. They are usually found far away from areas where lions are well-established. This happens because lions will generally attempt to kill cheetahs and wild dogs as they are competitors for prey animals.
Charles reports two really spectacular game-viewing experiences :
On the 16 September, at Girivane waterhole a pride of 10 lions, including a large male and 3 sub-adult cubs, had set up a classical ambush trap. There were many animals that wanted to drink ( this water is the only surface water within a radius of 6 km ) and these animals were aware of the presence of the lions. Usually in such instances, the heat of the day causes the thirst of the animals to eventually throw caution to the wind and, invariably, one animal pays the supreme sacrifice so that the others may quench their thirst. Not so this day - first a herd of 4 elephant bulls appeared and the big male lion showed remarkable courage in holding his position near the drinking trough - resulting in all 4 elephants drinking from the cement reservoir where they reached the water by stretching their trunks over the wall. Shortly thereafter 2 warthogs appeared. These creatures show little or no regard for danger . Unlike the other animals that keep a respectful distance from the water when they are aware of the presence of lions, warthogs, no doubt unable to control their thirst ( they are pigs, after all ), simply run up to the drinking trough. The lions were ready in position and a kill seemed inevitable when the exuberance of the inexperienced sub-adult lions came into play. Instead of allowing the warthogs to start drinking and thereby lose focus on the surroundings, the sub-adult lions charged before the warthogs got to the water. Teenagers will be teenagers, even in the lion world. It was close, but no proverbial bacon ! Our clients all heaved a collective sigh of relief and asked Charles to drive to Satara for a drink to calm their nerves .
On another occasion, on 21 September, Charles and his fortunate guests were looking at a herd of Sable Antelope ( a very rare species ) that had come to drink at Shimangwanene Dam. While they were watching the Sable, a group of 3 lionesses appeared from nowhere and started stalking the antelope. An attempted kill was thwarted as the Sable ran off, luckily in the right direction, as a fourth, hitherto unseen, lioness appeared from long grass. Upon closer inspection of the ground around the dam, Charles noticed the horns and carcass of a Sable that must have been killed earlier. What a pity that the lions are preying on such a rare and, in my opinion, the most majestic and beautiful antelope in all of Africa!
Episodes such as the above will be forevermore etched into the memories of those lucky guests - and, undoubtedly, will be the topic of many a conversation piece in far-off lands. This is precisely how people develop "mal d'Africa" - the metaphoric fever which encourages them to return again and again to experience wild and savage African gameviewing at its very best !
NEWS FOR OUR TRAVEL PARTNERS
It is a pity that our travel agent friends can only read about the wonderful game-viewing adventures we give Viva Safaris guests. It would be great for you to share in our experience.
We are pleased to offer you an educational safari with Viva Safaris. Experience what we offer first hand and you will be able to sell our product with added confidence. Please contact Trevor on 082 450 9930 or Anthony on 082 506 9641 for further particulars.
We shall be communicating our 2007 tariffs to you by early October. In keeping with our policy of offering the best value-for-money safaris, our increases in tariffs will be accurately and fairly calculated. We thank you for your continued support and look forward to providing our usual excellent service to you and your valued clients.
With kind regards and best wishes for the busy season ahead.
Piero
General Manager, VIVA SAFARIS
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