Viva Safaris Logo
Great shot of a cheetah

August 2014

|Comments are Off
The Barberton Daisy, Gerbera Jamesonii, derives its name from its geographic origin. Barberton is a town south of Nelspruit in the Lowveld and it was here, in the granitic soils, that the early gold diggers first saw this beautiful flower towards the end of the 19th century. It...
New sliding doors in treehouses 1 and 6

July 2014

|Comments are Off
The home page of our website, www.vivasafaris.com has videos taken by guests of two lion kills. These videos were taken in July 2012 and July 2013. I was hoping that we could make it 3 out of 3 with another video for July 2014. No such luck ! Nevertheless, at the beginning of...
Warthogs having a disagreement

May 2014

|Comments are Off
Sandra and I spent part of our long leave this May on a spiritual pilgrimage to the Holy Land, led by the Catholic Archbishop of Cape Town, Stephen Brislin. It was a truly amazing and unforgettable experience. In between the wonderful visits to the places where our Lord walked, I...
Wesley's brilliant photo of young male leopard seen regularly near Tremisana

April 2014

|Comments are Off
Last week we received an animated email from an upbeat Craig Spencer, Warden of Olifants West Game Reserve, in which Tremisana Lodge is located. Craig informs us that a Black Rhino calf was born in our reserve during the last week of April 2014. You may recall that, as part of...
Mating lions

March 2014

|Comments are Off
After the heavy March rains this year, the butterflies have appeared in greater numbers than usual. I took this photo with my cell phone on a bush walk. A friend of mine, Ian Sharp, is an avid lover of butterflies. Viva Safaris helped in sponsoring a checklist of butterflies...
Young lion cub

February 2014

|Comments are Off
My Italian background has played an important part in many facets of my life. Probably the biggest part has been in my founding of Viva Safaris in 1991. Because I can speak Italian fluently, the big Italian travel agencies like Sandown Travel and International Travel supported...
Bongani and nearby elephant during Sunset Drive

December 2013 / January 2014

|Comments are Off
The year has started badly – one of our Black Rhino bulls was killed on the first full moon of January. A year ago exactly I predicted in my Dec 12 / Jan 13 newsletter that the rhino poaching deaths for 2013 would reach a figure around 987. This was based on a simple mathematical...