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Newsletter Spring 2004

September and spring is here again.
The winter’s wind has taken the last of the autumn leaves from the trees. The Blackthorn’s branches are overloaded with blooms, soft and yellow, sheltering vicious thorns. The air at night is still cool and restless, the faint scent of the flowers carried through the dark, around ghostly silhouettes of browsing kudu and sleeping impala.

The full moonlight casts shadows as sharp as cut glass, feeding elephants send sounds of cracking ice through the night as they snap the winter dry branches in search of food.
The sunrise now brings with it real warmth, greeted by a wild chorus of birdsong.
The morning sky is still the brittle clear of winter, but faint clouds are now etched above the horizon, the promise of summer rain as faint as a roll of distant thunder
The ground has long forgotten the last rain, the bush a palette of a thousand shades of beige. But even now, before the rain’s forgiveness, the trees and grasses are growing again, a green watercolour wash to soften the browns of winter.

GUIDE’S REPORT FOR AUGUST 2004

Every season of the year has something special to offer and in spring is no exception, when the fauna of Madikwe comes to life. With the warmer weather, the game drives have been going out a little earlier in the morning. It is still a bit chilly first thing but this is made more than bearable by the hot water bottles which are still provided!

We have had some very good sightings recently, but the local pride of lions have once again stolen the spotlight, one of the reasons for this being the two cubs that are now well settled within the local Kwena pride. They are moving with the pride throughout the territory and are also now joining in at kills. It is still a little while before they will join in with the hunt, but they have to start somewhere! The two little ones have learned the cold way why lions don’t like water. We followed the pride (all seven of them) down to the drift across the river. The drift (or bridge) was under water and the adults continued to cross without minding the idea of getting wet. The two cubs were left sitting on the one side desperate to follow their mother. One of them finally got the courage to brave the icy water. Though not at all happy with the idea, he started to cross - only to find out that, in spite of what he thought, his ego weighs nothing and he is really still a feather-weight. He was nearly swept off the bridge and had to be rescued by one of his big sisters who helped him to the other side. The other cub then followed suit, also with assistance from his big sister close by.

We also had very good sightings of the cheetah and her four cubs on Makanyane’s private ground and in the Reserve. She killed an impala just outside our gym room a while ago, as they fed they provided excellent viewing for Vanessa and her guests. She also recently left her cubs close to one of our vehicles, while she went off hunting. This is a very good indication that she has accepted the game drive vehicles and feels that it is safe to leave the cubs close to the vehicles.

The elephants have started to venture back into our area (they had left us to go and enjoy the fruits of the marula trees in the West). We have had plenty of fun with a couple of the lone bulls trying their trunk at landscaping in and around the camp.

The wild dogs are also doing well with the Tswasa pack looking after their 11 pups. They are seen on an almost daily basis going to or from their den. The Madikwe pack of dogs is also doing well, they have a den in the Tswene tswene valley, and are also frequently seen.

Sightings Summary:
Elephants – 64%
Rhino – 35%
Buffalo – 12%
Lion – 70%
Giraffe – 94%
Cheetah – 21%
Wild dog – 20%

Warm regards from the guiding team – Dylan, Vanessa, Cassandra and Philip - at Makanyane Safari Lodge.
Philip Hattingh Back at the lodge, the bushbuck lamb born in front of the main lodge is doing very well, she has doubled in size in the last month and she, and her parents, are now often seen from the suites and the main deck. She has seems to have difficulty containing her energy, it keeps escaping in a burst carefree frolicking as she rushes in circles around the trees, sending francolin squawking into the air.

Tottie, and his younger companion, the resident mongooses, are in excellent spirits, particularly as the grasshoppers are now beginning to move again. As those who have met him will agree, that he never says no to a free lunch! The birds, always first to react to spring, are frantically singing their hearts out, bouncing through the trees around the lodge looking for mates.

The old farmers always say that if the acacia (thorn) trees bloom heavily, there will be very little rain that year. The trees are certainly laden with flowers at the moment, far more so than last year, but whether the old wives tale has any truth remains to be seen. Summer is certainly coming in hard and fast this season, the days are already warm, although the nights are still pleasantly cool.

The controlled burning is finished for the year, the burnt areas already covered in a healthy flush of juicy green grass, much to the delight of the grazers, who are already feeding on the nutritious growth. The benefits of fire as a bush management tool have been immediately obvious, years of moribund growth and dead wood have been reduced to ash and the fresh new growth has been allowed to flourish.


Yesterday I was walking off in the bush with Jakob and Claudia, guests from Austria. From the middle of a thorny bush, a tiny, delicate Namaqua dove flew up, disturbed by us walking past. Closer inspection revealed a tiny nest, a ridiculously flimsy platform of twigs balancing on the thorns. In the nest were two minute white eggs perfectly balanced on a few feathers, a beautiful sight, and a clear indication that spring is here.

Today I went back to photograph the nest, only to find already one tiny chick had hatched, a tiny creature barely the size of my thumbnail, quietly sitting under it’s tiny mother’s watchful gaze while elephants browsed a few meters away. Tomorrow I will check on the second egg, to see if another of spring’s miracles has arrived.

Spring is here, come and enjoy it with us.

Hope to see you soon

Garth