MANAGERS REPORT

Dear Friends

The festive season and yet another year has come to an end. We have met so many new faces, first time visitors to Africa not knowing exactly what to expect as well as people who stayed at other camps on a previous visit. The magic of Madikwe has again casted its spell leaving everybody wanting more and planning their next trip back to the bush.

Thank you to all who has visited us at Madikwe Hills. We had another great year with many new friends and memories to last a life time. We are looking forward to 2009 with new challenges ahead, not sure what the world economy is going to do, but in the end everything workes out as it always does, with a few surprises and new avenues along the way, just to keep life interesting. We hope to see you back very soon.

Love was indeed in the air as we had another wedding at the Lodge this month, this love story deserves the title of a best seller or should be a hit at the box office.

When Joanne told me (Drienie) the story of her and Sean’s love & relationship and how they met, it was like I was sitting in front of the big screen at the cinema.

 

 

This couple have been together for 16 years.  I know, looking at their pictures, you’d wonder, how is that possible?  They are one of the very few, or should I say, they are the first couple I know of that fell in love with their soul mate at the age of 13, and knew that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

While doing Joanne’s hair, she spoke of Sean as her best friend, in sync and inseparable. They decided to have a private Bush Wedding, as this is what their love represents, the exclusivity of “them”.  Joanne looked stunning and Sean’s eyes spoke of this, as she entered the Boma to pledge her love to her best friend. No words could describe the perfect picture they have been painting since childhood and now framed with three words. . . .husband and wife.

Iain Mulligan also asked Sarah Ridgway for her hand in marriage…….which she gladly and teary eyed accepted. We wish them all the best in love and happiness for the years to come.

Molatedi Project

Thank you to the following people who contributed towards the project.

Ewa & Gerald Pane, 
Valerie Owen,
Carolyn Owen,
Anne Grethe Kittilsen,
Ian & Karol Hamel,
John, Bradley,
Karen, Eleanor & Corbin Simas,
Julie Turner & Daniel Smith,
Eva Frank,
Greg & Jane Aldridge, 
John & Eva Aldridge

The initial project is coming to an end now with the opening of the crèche scheduled for the 12^th of January. The job is done but never completed. We are already planning the expansion of the crèche adding to the new structure and then moving on to the play area which is almost non existent and in need of a make over.  I will keep you updated on the opening and new developments.

Staff member of the month

Congratulations to Sophy Matlapeng who has been voted for as staff member of the month. Sophy started as a room attendant and worked her way up to the position of chef in the kitchen. Sophy is mostly responsible for the baking of fresh bread and pastries in the kitchen.

RANGERS REPORT  

 Pieter

Late one afternoon we found the breakaway wild dog pack.  This pack now consists of four dogs of which one is the alpha male from the previous Collection Pack.  After following the four dogs for quite a distance on the road they decided to head off into the bush.  It was too dense for us to be able to follow them, so we circled around the block to try and locate them again on the other side.  As we got to the spot where we thought the dogs would come out we saw some impalas running towards us.  We waited for a while in anticipation of something big to happen and sure enough it did.  The dogs came running towards the impalas and when we managed to catch up with them again, they were busy devouring an impala lamb.  Within minutes the entire impala lamb was gone, nothing even left to indicate that there was a kill in the area.  We stayed with the dogs until nightfall when we left them to disappear into the dark.

Jaco

It has been another wonderful month of summer here in Madikwe. Everything is green and beautiful, but I am afraid, very dry indeed. For the whole month so far we only received about 50mm of rain. This is classified as a semi-arid area with an average of only about 400mm a year, but it is still dry by any terms. Some days our hopes will rise with some clouds on the horizon accompanied by some lightning. Even late at night lightning and thunder would shake our beds and wind will bawl through our windows to at least give us some relief from the unrelenting heat. But all to end in disappointment as we wake up to a still dry and parched earth. That is until the 29^th of December 2008. Our game drive started out with a couple of clouds on the horizon. I decided to head to the west of the reserve to go and look for leopard. A small patch of blue clouds started to pour out rain in the distance. More clouds started building and soon the whole sky was a deep dark blue mass, just hanging there, waiting. I saw that trouble was brewing and started to head back. We drove to an area that we thought would be clear of any rain and decided to have our sundowner drinks. Dark blue, welldefined clouds hanged above us and to the north of the reserve. A guest even commented on the pretty and sharply defined edges of the clouds. While we were standing there watching the horizon and the beautiful cloud formations.  I saw that the clouds started to get “blurry”. Funny, I thought for a second until it struck me. The cloud has burst and the blurriness is in fact billions of liters of water crashing down towards us. The first lightning bolt hit the hot earth and thunder exploded in all directions. This was our signal to get moving. More lightning struck the earth and rippled upwards into the clouds spreading like a spider’s web over its surface. The sound of thunder came chasing and sounded like a bomb going off with aftermath running through the hills like a freight train from the abyss. The sound made our bodies tremble and rain reached us like water poured from a bucket. We raced to roads that were graveled so that we won’t get stuck and only then we could slow down to appreciate this most amazing event. In the south the sky was clear and the sun had dipped to below the cloud line. Bright sunlight illuminated the storm as it raged on, pummeling the earth with life giving water.

 

The colors were breathtaking and the contrasts were striking. What an amazing sight this was that we were witnessing. As the sun set even further and the storm moved towards the north where the sky became the most incredible crimson red. I almost felt like I was on a different planet. We headed back to the lodge with renewed respect and awe at natures power and at its infinite beauty.

Frans

Merry Christmas and a happy new year. Our Christmas kicked off with a bang this year. On Christmas Eve we were again blessed with a wonderful leopard sighting. We sat with him for about 45 minutes. Then two days later more leopard, wild dogs and black rhino were seen in rapid succession. The leopard sightings we had for the last month were incredible for the reason that in contrast with other such sightings these ones were of extremely relaxed animals. The one little male actually went to lie down in the shade of one of the vehicles that was parked there to view him. Everybody had to wait for him to leave for the nearest shady rock before we could leave. No one dared starting their engines next to this most shyest cat of Madikwe.  We are so happy to see that our leopards are becoming so relaxed here in Madikwe. We hope that the New Year will bring even more beautiful sightings of them and that the pending Masters degree study by Jaco will exposé their secret lifestyles and get them to trust us even more.

 Werner

“Aaah”, “oooh”, “cute” . . these are only a few words and sounds we’ve been hearing a lot of from the back of the game drive vehicles during the last month. The bush is full of babies wherever you look. The impala females have started lambing a little over a month ago after a six and a half month gestation. The wildebeests also started a few weeks ago after their little longer eight and a half month gestation period. Warthog, lion, zebra, elephant, rhino, jackal and giraffe babies are also seen regularly even though they aren’t seasonal breeders.

 

 

Because of this abundance of young pray animals around our predator sightings have also been outstanding this month. Leopard, lion, wild dog and hyena has regularly been seen feeding on the plentiful youngsters around. Saving energy is what it is all about for most animals, but especially so for predators. Taking down young, old or injured animals is generally easier for the predators and in the same time keeps the gene pool strong for the animals preyed upon. Average day time temperature for the month was around 34`C with some days going into the high thirties.

From us here at Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge and all our animal friends we wish you all a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year and hope that all your dreams and wishes come true.

Regards
Jaco Becker & the Madikwe Hills Ranger Team

Animal Sightings for December:

Lion   149
Leopard   8
White Rhino   73
Black Rhino   5
Elephant   113
Brown Hyena  19
Spotted Hyena  33
Buffalo   24
Wild Dog   19
Hippo   15