MANAGERS REPORT

Dear Friends

September is the start of spring, leading us into the hot summer months. This year it seems as if we went straight into summer and skipped spring completely with temperatures already in the mid thirties Celsius. Our rain is expected any time from mid October to as late as February, but as I am writing to you we are experiencing majestic thunderstorms and the rain is bucketing down over Madikwe.

This is hopefully an indication of a good rainy season making food available in abundance and with that follows a fruit full breading season which is always good news in any reserve.

We have received some generous donations towards the pre-school in Molatedi. Some money has been put forward to purchase crockery and cutlery for the scholars as well as some food for daily meals which will be provided and delivered to the school on a monthly basis.

We would also like to thank Joy and Lon Keces for their sponsor towards Lemogang Modisane as well as Tom and Sharon Rhodes whom has sponsored Tshepi Maimane for their school fees up until April 2008. Your contribution is much appreciated and makes a huge difference in the lives of these two kids assisting them with their education.

A current project for the school is to build a sand pit for the children to play in.

Over to the rangers for their monthly update on the bush.

Hennie & Adrienne de Clerk

RANGERS REPORT

With smell of the Stinky Sheppard’s Tree blossoms ( Boscia Foetida).....the mating display of the Red Crested Korhaan( Eupo dotis ruficrista).......the flight of the Cream striped owl moth (Cyligramma latona)....and the choir of the frogs at the waterhole... our senses are set alive.....SUMMER IS ON THE WAY!!!!!!

After a very long dry season, we have waited with open arms for the rainy season to start. In Madikwe Game Reserve the annual rainfall is approx 550mm per annum, but this past season we received less than 200mm of rainfall. In some way this has been a blessing for game viewing and movement at the camp.

The waterhole in front of Madikwe Hills has been regularly visited by herds of Elephants and Buffalo, with the Lions taking keen interest in the Buffalo herds, giving the guests some awesome sightings from the decks of their rooms. Regular visitors such as Giraffe, Zebra and Wildebeest have also been a daily occurrence. A small herd of mountain reed buck also made their way to the water in front of the main deck for a sip of water, which was a first for us.

We also had the Wild dogs take down and devour an Impala in front of room three one afternoon to add to the excitement in camp. Madikwe plains is soon to be teeming with wildlife again, with the transformation from barren black cotton soil plains to lush green grazing plains for the zebra's, wildebeest and springbuck.

The new take over coalition of the Ditaba Sepedi male lions has been successful as these two 9 year old male lions are now the dominant pair in Madikwe Game Reserve....having a huge territory to cover.

Sean and Samson two of the guides have had great luck with leopard sightings....2 male leopards in 2 days, one with a warthog kill the other with an impala kill.

One of the highlights of this month has to be the successful breeding pack of wild dogs (LYCOAN PICTUS) that has been seen with 10 four month old pups. And so far so good, with regards to the survival rate of these pups.....all 10 are dong very well. They have been moving den sights quite often and are now in the Tswene Valley.

And even more good news is the arrival of our long awaited 5 female wild dogs for the 3 boys in the Boma. The Field Ecologist for madikwe Game Reserve put them together in the Boma to analyze the bonding behavior between the males and the females, with a fence separating the different genders. With much excitement the males Scud, Lucky and Tattoo did a lot of investigating with their new neighbors for about 2 weeks. The day finally arrived this month where the fence that separated them was dropped, allowing the dogs to "sniff" each other out after been fed some tasty Bushbuck and Impala separately.

There was an agonizing 10min wait, after which the females started to investigate. One 18 month old female was first, she paused at where the fence was and proceeded cautiously to where the males where feeding and brought smiles when the rest followed her. A little nip from the sub dominant male was quickly resolved by the alpha male and they all rolled in each others feces (a good sign of positive interaction in wild dog society).

We are waiting in anticipation as to what will happen when the new pack of dogs interact with the breeding pack, and what the fait of the pups will be. So all in all it has been a very exciting month of game viewing, and now we have summer here.....and we are all sure it will be a month of wild sightings.

We also say goodbye to Michael Argall, who is unfortunately leaving Madikwe Hills and we wish Michael all the best for the future, and we are sure he will do very well at his new lodge..

The Madikwe Hills Ranger’s Team