Dear Friends

The year started of with a boom as we had lots of rain to green up the bush with lovely warm summer weather. We are looking forward to yet another good rainy season providing sufficient grazing which in turn promotes lots of offspring for the antelopes and other species 

Staff

 

Our staff member for the month of January was Bright Rubvuta. Bright has brought a new dimension of service deliverance to Madikwe Hills in the position of restaurant manager. He is a man who knows how to motivate his team and pay attention to detail, making the culinary experience at Madikwe Hills an experience all on its own. We thank Bright for his hard work and dedicaton.

Molatedi project

It’s 2009, a brand New Year, and along with it, it brought the excitement of joy, hope and love, encircled by new friends and generosity, bringing forth a dream come true.  Herewith the amazing story of the new and improved Mfoloe Early Learning Centre…………

Hearts warmed, smiles broadened – doors opened to a new colorful school, sheltered from the harsh African weather…   Herewith the fairytale of Madikwe Hills’ Molatedi Project…

All around the world, there are individuals or institutions in need of aid and we at Madikwe Hills wanted to make a difference – by starting right on our doorstep.

As Hennie went to different institutions in the Molatedi Village, he visited the Primary and Secondary school to drop off some sponsored equipment and products on a very cold, wet rainy day.  Little did he know what heartbreaking sight was to be displayed later on.  Upon arrival at the Mfoloe crèche, Hennie was faced with a horrid picture consisting of a corrugated iron building falling apart, only held up by wooden poles, eaten away by termites, a building being tossed back and forth by the wind, with rain pouring through glassless windows and a leaking roof.  A normal school day for the fortunate ones, but not for the little inquisitive minds, as they have to stay home on rainy days like these, and in the scorching hot summer they have to endure the heat under a tree, as the corrugated iron just gets unbearable to even breathe in.

This was definitely an institution in desperate need for help. And so the dream began with excitement, gratefulness and vision! Our dream was put onto blue print early May, and building commenced on the 3^rd of June 2008, with our hopes of showing our end result to the World the second week of January ’09.  As time passed we grew more excited and nervous, as we all wanted everything to be completed and ready when the new school term starts.  With the help of caring individuals & generous hearts, a building with sturdy four walls, a level floor, under a safe roof, our dream & vision was transformed into a colorful reality on 12 January 2009.

Together with the Community, Chief, Tribal Leaders and Sponsors, as far as USA, the festivities and celebration of this joyous day began.  The pride shone out the 18 young soul’s faces, all dressed up in white dresses and black suites, singing their hearts out and dancing to the beat of the song they practiced on the past couple of months, to show their gratitude for their brand new school! 

We are very happy to inform you that the project has been such a success that original registration total for toddlers was 18, and since the opening of the school it increased up to 29!  We also received a sponsor for the gardener that always tends to the garden without any remuneration.  He now receives compensation in the form of food and a small salary.

We thank all of you in helping us achieve this, and hope to keep this project maintained and let it grow for years to come as the souls that fill this new colorful school, is the future after all!

We look forward to the new challenges 2009 has in store for us and the ongoing enthusiasm for the project.  Sean Mulligan captured the evolution of this project from the first day on a presentation for you to view, please click on the link below.

Ranger Report January 2009

The first month of this brand New Year has come and gone, but left an impression on allot of us. We have received an amazing amount of rain (over 200mm) and we have witnessed in the last couple of days some extraordinary things about the bush and events that will stick in our minds forever. We have seen the predators at their best and they showed us what they are really capable of. Normally you would arrive at a kill when the animals are either busy feeding or relaxing next to a pile of bones. Not this time, we saw on no less than two occasions the whole hunt from start to finish.

With one group of guests, all they still had to see during their visit was the wild dogs. We had a reasonable idea where they were but it was a long way off and we had to commit to finding them. We set off early in the morning and drove to the south eastern part of the reserve. We came to the eastern fence and continued south along it to the area the wild dogs were last seen. It seemed like hours without finding anything apart from seeing the fence, a couple of impala and some wildebeest.  Suddenly we found a crash of rhino right in the south east corner and stopped there for a while watching them wallowing in the mud. We continued on and gave a passing glare to a group of wildebeest grazing of the road. I had to slam on the brakes when my eyes centred on that famous face with those unmistakable “Mickey mouse” ears. We found the dogs at last. Still trying to celebrate our discovery the leading dog starting running at full pace towards us and then passing us with great speed into the bush with the other adult wild dogs in close accord. My mind immediately flashed back to the herd of wildebeest we passed moments back.” They are going for the kill”: I thought to myself and quickly turned the vehicle around and raced off after them. It is very difficult keeping up with these guy’s I can promise you that, but we managed to keep trend and saw how they grabbed hold of a yearling wildebeest not 50m in front of us. We drove up to them and I switched the vehicle off. For the next 30 minutes we were all in shock and awe. Four of the dogs pinned the animal down while the rest just took a bite wherever they could find and tear of pieces until the wildebeest was completely disembowelled. The phrase “blood and guts” came to mind a couple of times I can tell you that. Eventually the wildebeest collapsed with shock and loss of blood (and intestines) and the inevitable feeding frenzy broke out. Not long when only the spine and head was left.  We were all gobsmacked to the brutality of it all. What a most unfortunate way for a creature to meet its end. Once again the other phrase comes to mind:” 

A week later I responded to a lion sighting very close to an area we call the plains. On our arrival we could see that the one female lion was very interested in some zebra’s not too far from her. They were absolutely oblivious of her and even more so to the next female we saw. She was literally on top of them. An adult wildebeest cow suddenly got her scent, but alas too late. The lioness accelerated like a snipers bullet towards the wildebeest and hit the proverbial bull’s eye even before the wildebeest could turn and run. With a deadly throat hold the wildebeest kicked frantically into the air and moments later silently gave up the struggle.  

These events will stay in your mind forever and it will remind you why they long ago called this place “Savage Africa"!

It has truly been a month of great interactions and sightings and another very exciting event was experienced  by our ranger Sam. In his case it was a bit of a tangle with a Black Rhino, an endangered species, which makes it even more memorable since there aren’t too many of them left in the wild. Here is his story:

After three days of rain in Madikwe, our morning drive was very quiet and we were driving through typical black rhino habitat. We were following black rhino tracks through thick sickle bush roads. Fresh scent marks and even more fresh dung at a midden told us that we are getting closer. I was explaining some interesting facts about all the fresh signs we were finding of the black rhino, when suddenly, this big snorting sound grabbed our attention and then all you could hear was a big crashing sound coming through the bush towards us. The bush opened like a curtain in front of us where this huge tank of a black rhino came storming straight towards us. He stopped about 25m from the Land Rover and then came charging again. Some people were screaming and others were too afraid to move as the rhino decided to break his charge and hurried back into the bush to disappear into the thick foliage. It was over faster than what it started. Our hearts were racing badly.  Fear and shockturned into nervous bubbling and excitement about the close encounter we just had!

As everyone can see there is lots of excitement here at Madikwe and we hope to report back to you again next month.

The Madikwe Hills Ranger team.