MANAGERS REPORT

Dear Friends

February has been another wonderful summer month with temperatures going into the mid and high 30 Celsius. We have not had as many thunder and lightning storms as last season, but a lot of rain as mentioned in the previous reports.

The bird life in and around the camp has always been very productive, from the Yellow and Red billed horn bills knocking on the windows early morning with their beaks, announcing their presence, to the black masked weavers and paradise fly catchers building their nests and raising their young in the trees above the decks and pools. The cliff mocking chats are also present all year round hopping amongst the big boulders and in the rafters chatting non stop.

We have a pair of Paradise Fly catchers nesting at Room five with three young in the nest. As well as a black masked weaver nest under construction in the adjacent tree.

We had the Hill and Mott families stay with us in August last year. Whom in a family effort, wrote the below poem to recite for all in the Boma one evening.

From Seattle to London we traveled to see
The boldest and best big five Sa Fa Ri
Sun downers would chase the night drive chills
We’re living it up in Madikwe hills

This is a poem to honor rangers
With great time spent we’re no longer strangers
Victor and Gary led us boldly through the bush
As we sipped chilled champagne and sat on our tush

Late one night some lions we did see
There was a buzz of excitement from the whole family
My daughter asked Victor “Are those lions dating?”
Wise Gary replied “No darling, they’re mating!”

Close to lions, leopards, hippo and buck
Out intrepid rangers would maneuver the truck
But the best thing Gary did for me
Was always finding a safe place to pee

On travels we’ve covered millions of miles
What warmed our hearts the most are the African smiles
So, Victor and Gary our bush bashing duet,
Our trip to Madikwe, we’ll never forget.

Molatedi community project

We had the blue prints drawn up for the new crèche to be built and are getting quotes for building material and labor to estimate the cost of the project. Please see the link ‘Activities’ and ‘Molatedi Village’ for more information.

We are looking forward to a very busy Easter holiday season this March and hope to see a few familiar faces back at the Hills.

Tom and Enid has just been with us for their fifth visit to spend three nights, before heading off to Leopard Hills for what must be their tenth or so visit to celebrate Leopard Hill’s tenth birthday. It is always a pleasure to have clients come back year after year and keep in touch and up to date with the happenings in the lodge and the reserve. Also a very happy birthday to Leopard Hills, ten years is a great mile stone.

Hennie and Adrienne de Clerk
General Managers

BUSH BUZZ

Another year is well on its way and it is hard to believe that we are feeling the chill in the air around Madikwe. A chill that means a change in seasons!

Slowly but surely........the sun becomes a bit more lazier in the mornings, rising now after 06h00 am.....a big red ball of fire on the Madikwe plains, it really is a sight to see. But leaving behind a glorious sunset, with a wide array of colors that reflect off the clouds..............AFRICA!!!!!!

It has been a month of confrontations, from prides of lions, to lions and buffalo, to wild dogs and lions............ and that is just to name a few of the exciting highlights that our guests experienced at Madikwe Hills.

But first for some buzz about the bush...................The Batia brothers, are still alive and are actually doing very well.....They are still with the Dipello Pride.......and the last sighting we had they were feeding on a young zebra. The Batia brothers and the Dipello pride have had to move to another part of the reserve...after their first offspring (Ditaba and Sepedi) took over their territory. Nice to see that these old boys are still around!!

For the guests who were fortunate to see the wild dogs......well we have a bit of sad news. It is now confirmed that the Collection Pack (6 dogs) has had another mortality, a female that was injured in the clash between the 2 packs in January 2008......died of her injuries.

On the other hand, the Dwarsberg pack is still going strong. Being non-territorial animals, they have been known to cover up to 50-60 km in a day, and they are still giving our guests a great show of there hunting skills and social behavior.

The Dwarsberg pack chased a Kudu female through the staff quarters early one morning and killed it right next to the generator room not bothered by any of the staff in the surrounding area. The Kudu was to big to finish in one seating, which meant the dogs stayed in camp for three days spending their time eating on the kudu carcass, going for a drink at the water hole and resting in the grass close to the carcass in order to protect it should any other scavengers come close.

Madikwe Plains is still teeming with wild life and therefore attracting a lot of lion attention. We had an awesome sighting of one of the Khetumetsi youngsters, running around the plains chasing anything that moved. Even the Egyptian Geese had to move on to a safer spot to feed. While the lioness was watching with anticipation to see if the young cub has inherited any of her deadly hunting skills.

Sadly our Cheetah sightings are rare at the moment, with only 2 cheetahs in the reserve; it is quite difficult to have regular sightings. The terrain in Madikwe Game Reserve is not really ideal for cheetahs, as you might well know they need open grasslands to hunt. They are only active in the diurnal hours, avoiding contact with lions. We are waiting in anticipation to hear if there will be new introductions of cheetah into Madikwe Game Reserve this year.....we will keep you informed!!!!

One of the best sightings for the month Frans and his guests were following the tracks of a small pride of lions for about 45 minutes, where after they found them lying in the middle of the road. It was an adult female with her four cubs. After a few minutes he realized that something was not right with the female. She was extremely tense and nervous. When they started to look around they noticed another pride approaching from a distance. Five minutes passed with the second pride still advancing. When the prides got close enough to see and smell each other everything was quiet!

The two lionesses stood up instantaneously and the challenge was on. Growling, roaring, and a quick but not too violent confrontation took place. The cubs scattered into all directions and some of them tried to hide behind the vehicle. It was over as quickly as it started with the youngest of the lionesses retreating to safety with her cubs.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter. We will update you with more bush adventure next month.

The Madikwe Hills Ranger’s Team