MANAGERS REPORT

Dear Friends and Colleagues

 

 

I must say I am very glad the winter is now finally over and it seems as if we have gone straight into summer with temperatures already reaching a high of mid 30’ Celsius. In my experience we always start off with very high temperatures which seem to gradually go down in October and then increases again throughout the summer seas.

Staff

We wave Werner, one of our guides goodbye who has been with us for a year and a half. He has made a huge contribution to the lodge as well as the guiding team, especially with his knowledge on photography, which he shared with guests and staff. Tabie has been appointed in his place, who has been guiding in the Madikwe reserve for the past 5 years. We welcome him to the team and look forward to having him as part of the team.

Our employee for the month of September is Simon Manzini. Simon is originally from the lowveld which gives him an automatic inbred love of nature and ability to find a needle in a haystack as a matter of speaking. Simon is part of the tracker team and has worked in various reserves, building up a good knowledge of the bush apart from the ancestral knowledge on plant uses and remedies they grow up with handed over from generation to generation. Apart from being a great tracker, Simon is also a craftsmen and builder. Simon was not only part of the team who built our sister lodge Leopard Hills, but also the builder who built the Molatedi crèche which opened at the beginning of this year. We thank Simon for his valued contribution and look forward to having him on the team for the years to come.

Molatedi Crèche

We have finally had some time to unpack the shipping container sent to us by SKS kids from the Netherlands full of toys, prams, beds, furniture and much much more.

 

 

 

 

  

The month of spring has come and will surely leave behind some great experiences and good times. The fact that spring is upon us is evident all over the bush. Early in September Black Hook Thorn and Knob Thorn were in full blossom and they paint the bush the most enchanting cream-white colour. Their sweet scent is most powerful and intoxicating for both human and animals alike. Bees use full opportunity to gather the nectar from the flowers of the Black Hook Thorn and the honey produced from the nectar is watery in colour and granulates slowly and is said to be some of the best tasting in Africa.

The Black Hook Thorn (Acacia mellifera) is a low, branched tree with a more or less spherical crown. Black bark on the stem becomes ash-grey to light brown on the branches, bearing small, short, sharply hooked spines in pairs. It is probably one of the most malicious trees (along with the Three Hook Thorn, Blue Thorn and the Buffalo Thorn, to name but a few) in Africa, as most people who got too close to the shiny hooked thorns can confess. Once it has got you it will not let go easily. It has a shallow but extensive root system radiating from the crown, allowing the plant to exploit soil moisture and nutrients from a large volume of soil. The roots of the tree rarely penetrate more than 1 m and are easily uprooted by elephant. The generic name ‘acacia’ comes from the Greek word ‘akis’, meaning point or barb. The specific name (“mellifera’) means ‘honey-bearing’.

 

This tree is well used by indigenous people and offers some very useful products. Gum collected from injured stems is edible and relished by children, animals and birds, in earlier days the sap was mixed with the powdered larvae of the Flea Beetle for use on Khoisan poison arrows. Wood is used for axe and pick handles and the heartwood is termite and borer proof, so larger stems therefore make excellent fencing posts as well as general fencing because of the sharp curved thorns. A bark decoction is used for stomach-ache, sterility, pneumonia, malaria and syphilis.

 

 

The Black Hook Thorn is a commonly occurring shrub in Madikwe and the terrain preference is rocky hillsides with rainfall along seasonal watercourses, mixed with other trees. It grows well in black cotton soils and if left unattended, especially if grazing is heavy and no fires oppress and manage its spread, it may form dense, impenetrable thickets, 2-3 m high and sometimes hundreds of metres across, slowly taking over good grazing land. This is a truly remarkable tree.

 

 

We also received our first rains this month and with that some of the other tree species joined the spectacular display of flowers, producing brilliant colours and powerful scents. These trees include Tamboti, Sickle bush and Sheppard’s Tree not even to mention the array of wild flowers starting to bloom now as well. It is difficult to explain the feeling you get when that first thunder storm of the season is approaching. At first, during early afternoon the clouds on the horizon don’t look like much, but as the afternoon progress they grow and get closer and closer forming a thick, dark bank of clouds. You are always aware of this and look over your shoulder every now and again to check the progress. Not to try and get your hopes up too much but just to check if something might develop, ever hopefully (I haven’t seen rain for six months remember). Then, suddenly you hear the soft rumble in the distance. It is the most beautiful sound you ever heard and you think to yourself that the possibility is there. At that moment your whole body, mind and spirit lifts and you almost feel excitement like a nine year old would on Christmas morning. This feeling is reflected in the behaviour of the animals as well. Impala’s, zebra’s, and wildebeest run around crazy for no apparent reason. They jump and kick their back legs into the air chasing each other around with obvious pleasure. The excitement is tangible and most definitely contagious. At one point we saw a giraffe bull running straight past us at full speed like a hundred lions were after it, but nothing was chasing it. Then the first lightning hits and the brilliant flash gets everyone’s attention very quickly followed by an almighty bang and roar as the thunder rolled past us through the mountains like a monstrous freight train running out of control. At that point the wind turned away from the storm which is your last warning to get under cover or get wet, since in my experience that change in wind is your 15 minute warning to the incoming rain. We chose to get wet and how wonderful it was since it might be a rare thing this year with two very good rainy seasons behind us and a possible dry season.

 

 

 

Drought is predicted this year for Madikwe as a result of the ever growing El Nino effect over the Pacific Ocean. The little rain we received so far still has a long way to go to replenish the dry, post winter bush. However, the bush is patient and it welcomes every little drop it does receive. Even before the rain, one animal will always try to enjoy himself, no matter how dry it is. Some of our major dams still hold some water and elephants never pass the opportunity for a good mud bath. A large herd approached Kolobeng dam the other day and first they settled down to drink. They were thirsty and travelled far for this drink of life giving water. After a long time drinking you could see how their spirits started to lift as they received new energy from its cooling softness. It did not take long for the youngsters to take the lead and dive head first into the thick mud on the side of the dam. They were closely followed by the adults and all ensued to thoroughly enjoy themselves to the maximum. Watching this scene of utmost bliss brought smiles to our faces and we watched with longing eagerness and I think that some of us even contemplated joining them for a second or two. It is difficult to describe such joy so I will let the pictures describe the other thousand words.

Jaco and the rangers’ team.