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 Hello
Valued Guests and friends
We would like
to extend our sincere thanks for your continued
support over the past season, we enjoyed having you
here.
Well, at last
I can say that the spring is here. I know that it
officially starts on 1 September, but those of you
that were here around that time, will agree with me
that spring had definitely not sprung yet. From 28
September, for a week on and off, we had the most
amazing rain. A total of 125mm (mostly soft, soaking
rain punctuated by heavy thunderstorms.) The result
is that the harsh, desolate windswept moonscape of
two weeks before has been transformed into a fresh;
dust free Tuli Game Reserve again.
It only
started showing signs of going green a week later
and at the moment everything is exploding into
various shades of greens and other spring colours.
The fresh crisp mopane leaves are gradually covering
all the bare branches, the ground is once again
covered with a green mat of plants and the most
spectacular of all, are the dazzling bright yellow
Mopane pomegranate shrubs (Rhigozum zambesiacum)
in full flower.
On Sunday 21
October, the day after our boys retrieved the
William Webb Ellis Cup at the Stade de France, I
went for an early morning drive and found myself
driving through a sea of green and gold. The devils’
thorn plants had suddenly come into bloom –a
dazzling mass of green and gold, it was almost as
though the veld was also celebrating the Springbok’s
triumph!
I think the
early rain has fazed all the migrant birds, and as
yet, the only spring bird I have heard is the Klaas’
cuckoo and that has only been once so far. Not even
a Red chested cuckoo yet! Talking of early rain,
this is the first time in 22 years that rain has
fallen in these parts in September. These early
rains were fantastic and will help a lot if we get
follow up rain. As usual though, they caused their
usual bit of pandemonium. A couple was staying at
Mohave camp and were temporarily marooned as the
Mohave River came down in full flood. We had to
postpone two groups’ bookings and suggest to another
that they leave early as to avoid being stranded
here.
We have had an
exceptionally busy season, the busiest by far since
we have been here. Trails picked up very nicely, we
averaged two trails a month since March. I
sincerely hope that all of you that participated on
trails enjoyed it as much as I did.
 The
Elephants, as usual top the scoreboards with the
number of sightings and the usual excitement and
adrenalin rushes that often goes with them. Late one
afternoon in August, I was on my way home from
Mohave camp and stopped to look at a herd of
elephant moving towards the Motloutse River from the
dam. Initially I saw a herd of about twenty, within
minutes the twenty turned into two hundred,
approaching me like a wall. It was awesome - this
mass of elephant in a cloud of dust silhouetted by a
magical sunset. I just sat quietly and let the whole
aggregation move around me on their peaceful,
contented march.
Lion sightings
have definitely become more regular. Recently, a
large male spent the night at Mohave camp and gave
Gregor and Ulrich Maurach some interesting viewing
for two days. I went to have a look at him on one of
the afternoons with our dogs. He had been lying
close to Mohave all day. When we got there he was
still where he had been in the morning. We watched
him for about twenty minutes, until he decided to
get up. To our amazement, he got up and walked
straight towards our vehicle – which started the
dogs barking at him. He is obviously not fond of
dogs and immediately crouched down on his belly,
started growling at all of us and flicking his tail
from side to side. With Lion bait in the vehicle and
a hungry lion eyeing us out just before darkness
fell, I decided that discression was the better part
of valour and we moved on home.
There have
also been some great sightings of Cheetah. They
seem to really thrive here. At the moment we have at
least 12 in our area –2 females with 5 cubs each.
They are mostly seen in the region of the dam and
around Mohave camp.
Of late, we
have some good concentrations of Zebra, Wildebeest
and Impala.
One of the
most interesting sightings I have ever had was a few
months ago, between Musth and Mohave camps. I was
driving along and suddenly saw what at first
appeared to be a huge beehive on the ground; it
seemed to be moving though. I stopped and then saw
four jackals milling around this seething mass. The
beehive turned out to be a group of banded
mongooses. The jackals had been harassing them and
they couldn’t escape, so rather than run, they all
grouped together and climbed on top of one another,
individuals moving from the top of the pile to the
bottom and moving around in circles giving the
impression of being one big body in motion. The
writhing pile was about 600mm high by about 400mm at
the base. The jackals were visibly uneasy at this
mass of mongooses that only moments early had been
individually chasing in separate directions. Once
the mongooses separated, the jackals swung back into
action – giving chase. Same story again, the
mongooses were still too close and felt threatened
and formed the beehive defence again, getting the
same uneasy reaction from the jackals. Eventually
the mongooses opened the gap and escaped the reach
of the jackals, who I think, had lost nerve with
this intimidating mongoose behaviour. I have never
seen this kind of behaviour before, but it is
logical, as a lot of mammals, reptiles and birds
make themselves look larger than they are to try to
intimidate their enemies. If anyone has seen this
kind of interaction before please let me know. I’m
most interested to hear what the circumstances
were.
 We
have teamed up with Adriaan Louw (a former colleague
of mine from Kruger National Park days) to offer a
Tracking Course over four days – the routine being
very similar to our four day Wilderness Trail.
Adriaan is a highly respected and most qualified
tracking instructor, a fascinating person to learn
from and great to spend time with. Contact us if
you are interested in learning more about tracking.
Our regular
Wilderness Trails resume from 27 March 2008 and we
have some places available on the first trail, so
please let me know if you are interested in joining
it.
Well folks,
that’s about it for now, I could carry on writing
about what goes on here as there is so much to tell
about our Tuli Game Reserve, but I’m sure you don’t
have the time to keep on reading.
Once again,
thank you all so much for your support and we look
forward to seeing you all again soon.
Regards
Craig and the TWT team
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