MANAGERS REPORT

Dear Friends

March has been a phenomenal Month at Madikwe Hills.

We had over 700mm of rain for the season so far with 200mm falling in two days on the 15th and 16th of March. This amount is equal to our entire rain fall for last season which was only 195mm. The bush is thick and very green with lots of food for the herbivores.

A change in season is slowly approaching with the morning drives becoming a bit cooler and one can see the leaves of a few trees starting to fall to the ground indicating the approach of winter.

Molatedi community project

I am very glad to announce that sufficient funds have been secured to start with the construction of the crèche in Molatedi. The builder is due to arrive in the beginning of May when the materials will be delivered to start the project. I will keep you up to date with some photos of their progress. Thank you very much again for all who has been involved in getting the project of the ground so far.

Staff

We wish Garry and Ellen all the best for the future as they are leaving us at the end of April. Big steps for them as they did not only tie the knot in February to become husband and wife but has also taken up a management position at a lodge in Zambia.

Hennie and Adrienne de Clerk
General Managers

BUSH BUZZ

A wise man once said.....” There is nothing to a place that remains unchanged, to find the ways in which you yourself have altered”
MR NELSON MANDELA

This month has to be remembered for an abundance of special game viewing for the guests of Madikwe Hills.

From a huge heard of Cape Buffalo stretching as far as the eye can see, to 4 male lions (Ditaba Sepedi and the Naledi’s) trying to mate with 2 adult lionesses......and vocalising making there presence not just felt but clearly heard as well.

The Collection Pack (5 adults), who had chased a female Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) through our staff village to our generator room, cornered and killed her, was back with the same agenda.

The Collection Pack was again seen about 1 week later at our water hole in front of the lodge, drinking and bathing. The guests had just got back from game drive and were having breakfast..........

“WELCOME TO MADIKWE HILLS”

While we were viewing them, they got very excited and in a split second they where off.......they had spotted a male Kudu a monster of a bull.

They chased him past the main deck towards the staff village, disappeared for a minute and came back again still hot on his heels towards room three. The Kudu took a sharp turn and ran in between the rooms towards the reception area underneath the walk ways. The Dogs stopped for a while, milling around not sure whether they should follow or not. They then gave up and went to the water hole for a drink of water where they lay waiting for the kudu to reappear. The kudu stayed amongst the rocks for a while looking very bewildered and confused, but started making his way back towards the opening between the two rooms towards the open clearing and of cause the pack of dogs lying about a hundred meters away at the water. As he entered the clearing the dogs was up and after him. They all headed south away from the camp, the kudu running for his life and the wild dogs chasing after their next meal disappearing into the thicket. The dogs where seen later that day with the carcass of a impala, which means that the kudu was the stronger runner and got away.......the male Kudu, was very lucky to escape, he would have been a three day feast for the pack of five Wild dogs.

Another rare sight in Madikwe Game Reserve is of the inquisitive Black Rhino ( Diceros bicornis).

Samson our trusty Tswane ranger, had a very up close sighting of a Black Rhino, with Johannes his ( tracker) having to take evasive action and jump on the bonnet as the rhino, stopped about 2 meters away from the land rover. Black Rhino’s are know for there inquisitiveness!!!!!!

Another special sighting was of a Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)....... it has been awhile since one has been seen. Gary found the Cheetah at a pan drinking, he was very relaxed. This cheetah is the surviving male of a coalition that met their fate, middle of last year......when 2 of his brothers were killed by some lions.

There are new plans this year to re-introduce, more cheetahs into Madikwe game reserve..............we wait in anticipation.

It is no secret, now that our Leopard (Panthera pardus) sightings are on the increase, this month was a particularly good month for Leopard sighting.

Sean had a big male leopard jump down from a Tamboti tree at about 13h00, on his way back to the lodge from the airstrip with his new guests.

Gary and Victor (tracker), one morning found a young female leopard in a Tamboti tree, with an Impala (Aepyceros melampus) kill, whilst she was feeding.

After a short while she jumped down ran off, leaving her carcass, safely in the tree away from lion’s and hyena. Samson found her a little while later not too far from her prized impala.

We do presume that there is a mating pair of leopards in the area, due to the male being seen carrying a piece of the carcass to go and feed, not to far from the female leopard.

Leopards are usually solitary animals, pairing up only to mate and then going there own way.

Those are a few highlights for the month of March........just too update you with a bit of BUSH BUZZ......

Gary had good sighting of the Batia brothers and the pride, that they left their territory with.....they are in excellent condition for 15 yr old male lions.

The new Coalition of Ditaba Sepedi, are still going very strong in defending their new territory.

There are a few females now that have gone into seclusion to give birth, after mating with Ditaba Sepedi.

There is a lioness ( Dipello female), who has a den on the little koppie behind our lodge and she is seen quite frequent on her way to the den sight or after a successful night of hunting.......a good way to start or to end our game drives!!!!!!!

We would also like to welcome Thomas to the rangers team, he joined us at the beginning of March.........we wish him all the best in his new team.

So until next month...................

ROBALA SENTLE

The Madikwe Hills Ranger’s Team

Sightings totals for the Month

White rhino:43 Black rhino:1 Elephant:26 Buffalo:18 Lions:36 Cheetah:1 Leopard:7 Hippo:2 Wild dog:14 Wild dog in camp:2

Note: The above sightings totals reflect the number of individual sightings of animals, not populations of animals in the area. e.g. If we see a herd of 12 buffalo this is noted as one sighting. These sightings are then tallied to get the figure reflected above.