Elephant Plains Game Lodge

Big 5 Sightings 13 – 19 February 2012

Posted by Marlet on Monday, 20 Feb 2012 in Weekly Big 5 Sightings | 0 comments

Our Big 5 highlight of the week (even though they aren’t part of the Big 5) has to be seeing two different packs of wild dogs in our traversing area this week.

Salayexe marking her territory - Morné Fouché

Monday, 13 February 2012

(30 °C)

A breeding herd of about 20 elephants drinking water at One Eye Pan
One buffalo bull resting at Pungwe Pan
Four Tsalala lionesses resting at Safari airstrip
Salayexe the leopard moving north From Rhino Ring North

Tuesday, 14 February 2012

(33 °C)

Two Nkuhuma male lions resting on Ngala open area
Salayexe and Tingana the leopards mating on EP floodplain
Four buffaloes feeding at Picanini Utah
Three elephants feeding on EP airstrip
One elephant bull feeding on Wetpatch
Three buffalo bulls resting in Rhino Pan

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

(34 °C)

Two Nkuhuma male lions resting on Ngala open area
Two elephant bulls feeding on MMM North

Thursday, 16 February 2012

(34 °C)

Salayexe the leopard resting in a Jackalberry tree at Grizzly Bear Crossing
A big elephant bull feeding east on Arathusa Main Road
Five wild dogs running around Robson’s boundary
One buffalo bull resting in the water at Picanini Utah Dam
A few elephant herds feeding around Central Road
The Nkuhuma male lions - Morné Fouché

Friday, 17 February 2012

(38 °C)

Two elephant bulls dust bathing on Wetpatch
One buffalo bull feeding on the northern side of Serengeti Manyeleti crossing
A breeding herd of about 20 elephants feeding on Marula Bult South

Saturday, 18 February 2012

(34 °C, 25 mm rain)

One elephant bull feeding on Marula fruits on Central Road
Salayexe the leopard resting in a Marula tree on the firebreak
Two Nkuhuma male lions resting just south of Wessels and Little Gowrie
A breeding herd of about 20 elephants feeding on Little Gowrie driveway

Sunday, 19 February 2012

(30 °C, 6 mm rain)

Salayexe the leopard scent marking on Mfezi open area
Three wild dogs running east on Gowrie Main
Two buffalo bulls resting in the water at Red Dam
One elephant bull feeding around Knobthorn Pan

Posted by Marlet on Monday, 13 Feb 2012 in Weekly Big 5 Sightings | 0 comments

This week I had some difficulty choosing a Big 5 highlight of the week. We saw leopards having a stand-off, two different packs of wild dogs chasing, killing and feeding on impalas, but it has has to be Salayexe and Tingana the leopards mating. Although it is sad that Salayexe once again lost her cubs, the circle of life continues as she is already attempting to create new cubs. We are holding thumbs that this time she would be successful in conceiving and raising them!

Mating leopards Tingana & Salayexe - Louis Liversage

Monday, 06 February 2012

(31 °C)

A breeding herd of about 10 elephants feeding on Londoz boundary
One elephant bull swimming in Big Dam
Three elephants feeding on Zebra Drive
A breeding herd of about 20 elephants feeding on Little Gowrie driveway
Kwatile the leopard resting on a termite mount west of Grasscut Road
Two buffalo bulls resting in the water at Kraaines

Tuesday, 07 February 2012

(32 °C)

One elephant feeding on MMM South
One elephant bull feeding on marula fruit on EP airstrip
A breeding herd of about 10 elephants feeding on Leopard Drift
Three wild dogs chasing impalas at Big Dam

Wednesday, 08 February 2012

(34 °C)

A breeding herd of about 20 elephants feeding on Safari airstrip
Two buffalo bulls resting in the water at Knobthorn Pan
Three buffalo bulls drinking water at Red Dam
Lamula the leopard scent marking on Londolozi boundary

Thursday, 09 February 2012

(35 °C)

One Majingi male lion and a lioness resting south of Wessels’ southern boundary
A breeding herd of about 20 elephants feeding on Little Gowrie driveway
Three leopards in one sighting! Mvula and Lamula the leopards having a stand-off at Ingwe Pan, with the Ostrich Koppie female leopard watching them.
One elephant bull feeding on A-Main
Ntima the leopard scent marking north of Misi Mati
Wild dogs on EP airstrip - Louis Liversage

Friday, 10 February 2012

(35 °C)

The four Tsalala lionesses with a zebra kill on Lowveld Link
A breeding herd of about 25 elephants feeding on Airport link
Two buffalo bulls resting at Red Dam

Saturday, 11 February 2012

(39 °C)

One Nkuhuma male lion feeding on a giraffe kill on EP driveway
One elephant bull feeding on A-Main
Nine wild dogs feeding on an impala kill on Rulani Road
A breeding herd of about 20 elephants feeding on MMM South

Sunday, 12 February 2012

(32 °C)

The Nkuhuma male lion still feeding on the giraffe kill on EP driveway
The pack of nine wild dogs hunting impala on EP airstrip
One elephant bull feeding on EP driveway
A breeding herd of about 10 elephants feeding on A-Main
Salayexe and Tingana the leopards mating close to Shirley’s / EP cutline
One elephant bull feeding on Robson’s boundary

Manager’s Report January 2012

Posted by Marlet on Thursday, 9 Feb 2012 in Manager's Reports | 0 comments

WILD PHOTO OF THE MONTH

by Ralf Schellenberg, Germany (Elephant Plains Guest)

As most of you would be aware by now, the Limpopo and Mpumalanga regions in South Africa were flooded during January. There was extensive damage in most parts of the Kruger National Park and alas, we at Elephant Plains could not avoid the water masses! Most of the region was declared a disaster area. I am glad to report though, that in comparison with some of our neighbours and friends, we were lucky and came away from this drama rather lightly affected. None of our guests were ever in any danger and thanks to all the staff working together (as the amazing team that we are known for) the crisis was quickly averted! I dedicate my report this month to the 2012 floods.

Here are a collection of images from the Flood. Please note that some photos were taken with a mobile phone.

[Show as slideshow]

There’s a saying that goes: “Be careful what you wish for, it might just come true!” Well, that’s exactly what happened during January. We were hoping for a lot of rain and boy oh boy, did we receive just that! On Tuesday, the 17th of January at two ‘o clock the afternoon, we got our first taste of cyclone Dando, which hit Mozambique earlier. At first we thought it was the rain we were hoping for so badly. But we were wrong. This was more than just your average rainstorm. The skies had opened up! It rained nonstop for the next forty-eight hours. During this time we received an excess of 520 millimetres. As the rain gage at the lodge (which can hold 100 millimetres at a time) kept overflowing, we are unsure exactly how much rain we had. To put it in perspective: the average yearly rainfall for the area is estimated at roughly 650 millimetres. Instead of receiving 650mm over a period of 365 days, we received a little less than that in just two days!

At two o’clock the Wednesday morning I got cold shivers whilst standing on our African Health Spa deck. What was happening in front of my eyes was out of this world. During my seven years at Elephant Plains I have seen the dry Manyeleti riverbed flow with water a few times. But nothing could prepare me for this. I had never seen so much water in my entire life! What was supposed to be our open area was now a dam of water as far as the eye could see. Our waterhole with the Africam was invisible, engulfed by a raging mass of water. Everything was under water and here and there you could see some tree tops. The water levels kept rising by the minute and at three ‘o clock when the water was a mere two meters under the Spa deck, I made the call that we should go and open the bar/lounge area and start making coffee for the guests that we were going to evacuate out of the luxury suites. On my way to go and wake the first guests, I gave the water level one more glance and saw that it had stopped rising. We decided to hold off the evacuation and started a night watch for the remainder of the evening. The staff took turns monitoring the water levels to make sure that it didn’t start rising again. At first light we did damage control in and around the camp. It was a nightmare. There was so much water all around us. The roads around the camp were completely flooded and the dry Manyeleti riverbed that you cross on the fence line was a raging river of about 400 metres wide. The first thing we needed to do was to organise evacuation from the lodge for our guests who needed to catch international flights later that day. Luckily we found a lone ranger of the sky. His name is Phillip and he came to our rescue as he agreed to evacuate our guests with his helicopter. They were taken to Hazyview and as far as we know everyone reached their destinations safely from there. I would like to thank him for his time and efforts; you will go down as a hero in the Elephant Plains book of history! Once these guests were out, we went to the river crossings to try and fix them, but there was no chance. The water was still too high to attempt anything and the last thing I wanted was to risk one of our staff members being washed away by the raging water. At four ‘o clock the afternoon, we had our second attempt at getting to work on the river crossings, but we just ended up getting stuck the whole time. We just managed to get the last vehicle out of the mud when the next lot of rain started pouring down. In no time at all, due to the fact that the ground was already so saturated, the water levels started rising again!

It no time the rivers were back to their monstrous levels and my stomach was tied in a knot. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but tree tops and water. By the next morning the rain had stopped. We were now able to really assess the damage. One of our rondavels got flooded by the huge amounts of water streaming from the car park. But the staff quickly jumped in, the furniture was pulled out and we began the clean-up. We were able to save the furniture and the room looks as good as new today. Luckily none of the furniture was permanently damaged. With one disaster sorted out, we went to the fence line crossing, only to see that half of the road was completely washed away. We tried to use a TLB to fix it, but it just kept getting stuck. Whist having no joy over here, I received bad news from lodge. Our wine cellar was filling up with water! Can you imagine that? The seepage through the ground was so great that it was flowing under the bar area, pushing the water up through the wall sockets, as well as a crack that had formed in the floor. The water just kept on pushing up, filling the cellar ankle deep. As an end result we had to knock a hole in the wall to let the water drain out… By Thursday we had managed to get the fence line crossing “crossable” for four wheel drive vehicles. The crossing has not stopped our guests from getting to the lodge, though. They now need to park their cars at the Gowrie Gate and are fetched from there with a game drive vehicle.

On a positive note the flooding showed us that our roads were luckily up to standard. During the first two days, when everything was flooded we obviously could not do any game drives, but as soon as the water levels went down sufficiently we could drive on the roads again. We needed to fix a few mitre drains that was washed away, but all in all our roads were not damaged badly. This just goes to show how important regular maintenance is. The bush is still too wet to attempt off-roading, but our sightings have been good and therefore we do not need to risk getting stuck in order to see the animals. Our dams also held up amazingly well and although one or two walls were slightly damaged, none of them broke.

The other positive factor is how absolutely stunning the bush is looking at the moment. We are surrounded by a wall of greenery. The grass is so tall that the lodge is almost invisible from the outside. The animals are all in a great condition because of the abundance of food and water.

You would have noticed that the Africam is currently down. All the equipment was flooded and John is coming through to the lodge to install new technology in the next week or two.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful staff members for all their hard work during the floods. Everyone jumped in and helped where they could. It is good to know you’ve got so many loyal staff that has each other’s backs and we emerged out of this crisis with a feeling of camaraderie. Thanks guys, this is the stuff the Elephant Plains team is made of!

On a more delicious note, Chef Linda shares another mouth-watering recipe with you this month. These Lamb Pies are to die for and a definite favourite of mine. It went down well during the cold, rainy weather.

Chef Linda’s Lamb Pies

Chef Linda's Lamb Pies

Ingredients

1 chopped onion
3 tablespoons chutney
3 tablespoons tomato sauce
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons turmeric
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 kg lamb cubes
Puff pastry

Method

Fry off the onions with the spices until translucent, then add the lamb cubes and brown. Add the sauces and simmer until cooked, season to taste.

Cut rounds out of the puff pastry and place into a greased muffin pan. Add the lamb mixture and bake until the pastry is a golden colour. Serve and enjoy!

Well, that’s all from my side this month. Have a good one!

Wayne Dovey

Rangers Report January 2012

Posted by Marlet on Thursday, 9 Feb 2012 in Rangers Reports | 0 comments

I think I speak for everyone when I say that January 2012 will always be remembered. It was a very exciting, but also challenging month for us. As Wayne mentioned in his report, we had some serious flooding during January. I have been working in the bush for nine years now and I have never before seen so much water in an area that is usually quite dry. It was unbelievable to witness such a wonder of nature, but it was frightening at the same time. To see the usually dry Manyeleti riverbed in front of the lodge, overflowing its banks and spread onto the open area was really impressive. With the river being in full flood and the roads soaking wet and muddy, game drives were challenging. Even though our roads are very reliable, we could not go on drive for the first day or two until the water receded. You can just imagine how saturated the ground was after at least 520mm of rain in such a short amount of time. I have not seen the bush so wet in my life! Luckily, everything is back to normal now and we are looking forward to a jam packed February, full of exciting game drives! Just to humor you, our average maximum temperature for the month of January was 29 °C and we had a total of 570 millimeters of rain (most of it in 48 hours).

Elephant

Water masses in front of the camp

The elephant sightings were a bit quiet this month, due to the amount of water that is currently in the bush. There is no need to go to a waterhole when they get thirsty or just want to cool down, as there is a pool of water or a small stream around every corner at the moment. At this stage we see a lot of mature bulls in the area and some of them is also now in musth. During periods of musth mature bulls wander alone, in search of mating opportunities. The bulls rank order is determined by seniority and their reproductive condition. Although bulls normally wander more widely than cows, they sometimes stay in a certain area for months at a time. During periods of sexual inactivity they might be alone or in small groups. Elephants can live in virtually any habitat which provides adequate amounts of food and water and at the moment there is no shortage of any of these. The elephants also provide us with a laugh every now and again. Being January, it is time for the Marula trees to start losing their fruits, which is definitely a delicacy for elephants. It is a very special sighting to see the elephants almost stalking the tree from a distance, and then going in for the kill. Some in the herd will vacuum up the fruits already down on the floor and others will shake the branches, causing the fruits to pour down like rain. It is strange to think that an action so normal for an elephant can be so amusing to watch for us human beings.

Buffalo

This month there were still no breeding herds in sight, but we did have plenty of old bulls / dagga boys in our area. With plentiful food sources we are happy to see a lot of males by themselves, because there is no need for them to travel in herds to better their feeding grounds. They will once again join their original bachelor herds as soon as food availability becomes scarcer. Breeding herds have home ranges which can be anything between 60-1000 square kilometers or more, but it is not defended like territories. Buffaloes are not migratory, but move in response to seasonal changes in food availability. Routes between grazing, water and cover will be frequently used. Buffaloes will graze up to 8-10 hour a day and they need a lot of grass and water to keep them busy for this long!

Lions

This month BB rejoined the four young Tsalala females, or maybe I should rather say that she actually brought them back together again. In last month’s report I mentioned that the four younger lionesses got split up and nobody knew what happened to them. I am glad to see them back together and that BB joined them. The two young Nkuhuma brothers are really looking good and feeding well. They are getting bolder by the day by giving territorial calls almost every night, maybe because of the absence of the four Majingi males. We have not seen the four big boys for most of the month and when we do get to see them, they are on our eastern traversing area, very seldom moving this far west. In regards to the Styx and other Tsalala females, we have not seen them this month. It might be because they were south of the Sand River when it started flooding. They are possibly still waiting for the surrounding areas to dry out a bit. It usually gets tricky to try and hunt, while you’re stuck in the mud.

Southern Ground Hornbill perched in a dead Knobthorn tree

Leopards

Salayexe turned out to be a dark horse this month. She was seen attempting to mate with a male leopard at the end of January and this made us think that she had lost her cubs once again. But then we saw her a few days later, with what appeared to be suckle marks, so the verdict is still out on that one. There is an opinion that female leopards would sometimes feign wanting to mate in order to lure a male leopard away from the cubs if he gets too close to them. If she did lose the cubs, it could either have been the flooding, or because another predator killed them. As soon as we know for sure, we will let you know. The new dominant male leopard, who also fathered Salayexe’s previous cubs, got a name befitting his character: Tingana. Tingana means “the shy one”. We hope that he will become more accustomed to the vehicles over time. Tyson came into the area again in the beginning of the month, but soon moved down south, back to the core of his territory. Kurula is keeping a low profile at the moment, but when we see her there is no doubt that all is doing well as she and her youngsters are all in a great condition. Shadow is still as elusive as always. She is moving more north into her mothers’ territory. Ntima is still moving around and she was seen mating with the new male in the eastern traversing area. He is called Lamula – which means orange. He got this name because of the orange colour of his eyes. As we have not seen either Safari or Mafufunyana for a number of months now, they are both presumed dead.

Special sighting

For me, the most special sighting this month was definitely to see BB and the four young Tsalala females back together again. Two of the four are BB’s own cubs and the other two are actually her granddaughters. She did, however, raise all four of them very successfully, as her own. After they got separated last December, we were concerned about their survival as they were not old enough yet to start mating and therefore could have easily been killed by male lions frequenting the area. Seeing the Fantastic Five together again was great!

Did you know?

Lionesses in a pride with cubs of more or less the same age will suckle and nurse each other’s cubs.

Hope you enjoyed this month’s report. See you out on game drive soon!

Morné Fouché

Water

Posted by Marlet on Tuesday, 7 Feb 2012 in African Health Spa | 0 comments

With the recent flooding at the lodge, I thought that it would be a good idea to discuss water and its importance to the human body. It is a well-known fact that we would die in a few days’ time without water, but could survive a lot longer without food. This makes sense considering that two thirds of our bodies consist out of water. It must therefore be vital. Of the two thirds, only 2% actually signals dehydration in the body, as the rest of the water forms part of our brain material, blood and lungs.

Typical signs of dehydration – A dry mouth

- Cracked lips

- Constant headaches

- Fuzzy short-term memory

- Daytime fatigue, to name but a few.

Bottled water

Water forms a vital part of daily body maintenance and that is what makes it so important!

1. It forms the fluids that surround the joints to keep us mobile. It also moistens tissues, such as those in the mouth, eyes and nose.

2. It regulates the body’s temperature.

3. It plays a key role in the prevention of disease. Drinking your 8 glasses of water a day helps to flush out toxins from your body. This in turn helps ease the pressure on our kidneys and liver.

4. Water aids the breakdown of nutrients and minerals in order for the body to easier absorb these. It is here where I would like to say that all things are good in moderation. Too little water is not good, but too much water can prevent the body from absorbing the needed nutrition as it will flush it all out before absorption can take place.

5. It carries not only nutrients, but also oxygen to the cells.

6. Helps to regulate our metabolism and prevents constipation.

7. When it comes to the skin, water helps us to look younger and healthier. Our skin looks plumped up a glowing when our bodies have sufficient water supplies.

With most of our body functions being dependent on water, make sure that you get your 2l a day and try to get your hands on the best water you possibly can!

Remember, for every cup of coffee or glass of wine (beers and soft drinks also counts) you need to drink an additional glass of water.

My final words of advice: do not just look after your body, but also look after nature. In turn, it will supply some of the most vital supplements we need in order to survive!

Big 5 Sightings 30 January – 05 February 2012

Posted by Marlet on Monday, 6 Feb 2012 in Weekly Big 5 Sightings | 0 comments

Our Big 5 highlight of the week has to be the three wild dogs chasing and killing a juvenile impala right in front of us! We were sitting in the sighting, watching the impalas grazing when all of a sudden the wild dogs stormed in, caught the impala and finished it off in seconds.

The three wild dogs - Louis Liversage

Monday, 30 January 2012

(30° C)

Salayexe the leopard marking her territory on Ellie carcass Road
One elephant bull feeding on Kuala Bear Road

Tuesday, 31 January 2012

(32 °C)

A breeding herd of about 25 elephants feeding on Marula fruits on the EP Delivery Road
The Styx pride of lions resting on the southern side of Safari airstrip
Salayexe and Tingana the leopards mating close to Grizzly Bear Crossing

Wednesday, 01 February 2012

(33° C)

BB the lioness and the four youngsters resting on the northern side of EP airstrip
Two elephant bulls drinking water at Big Dam
Another breeding herd of about 20 elephants feeding on Londoz boundary
Lamula and Ntima moving west on A-Main towards Big Dam link south

Thursday, 02 February 2012

(33 °C)