Big 5 Sightings 07 to 13 May 2012

Our highlight of the week is seeing 2 male cheetahs on the Nkhoro open area while feeding on a Kudu kill. This is a very rare sighting and we are fortunate to have seen them at this close range.

Two male cheetahs feeding on a kudu. Photo by Willie Woest

Monday, 7 May 2012
(29º)

• A herd of about 300 buffalo resting around Simba Dam
• Shadow, female leopard walking East from Matandaluka Pan

Tuesday, 8 May 2012
(31º)

• Herd of 300 buffalo resting in Ram Pan
• Salayexe, female leopard walking around E.P. Lodge enterance
• Tingana, male leopard cent marking East along A-Main/Big Dam

Wednesday, 9 May 2012
(33º)

• 9 Wild dogs where hunting an impala and after an unsuccessful hunt they picked a fight with 4 hyenas
• An Elephant bull feeding on a Marula tree on the fire break
• Herd of about 20 elephants drinking water at Simba dam
• Herd of about 10 elephants feeding North at Grissly Bear Crossing with about 300 buffalo’s feeding South in the same area

Majingi male lion with impala kill. Photo by Morné Fouché

Thursday, 10 May 2012
(29º)

• Breeding herd of about 300 buffaloes feeding on Saseka and Milkberry junction
• 9 Wild dogs resting on Gowrie Main close to Little Gowrie driveway
• Ntima, female leopard with a grey duiker kill close to Ingwe Pan
• 2 Cheetah males feeding on a juvenile kudu kill on Nkoro Open
• Breeding herd of about 25 elephants feeding on EP open area

Friday, 11 May 2012
(28º)

• A breeding herd of about 30 elephants feeding on Shirley’s/Safari cutline
• A big breeding herd of 300 buffaloes resting on E.P. Southern boundry
• Salayexe, female leopard with a big male impala kill on The Island
• Styx lion pride moving west from Tree House pan
• 1 Majingi male lion feeding on a male impala kill north of Tree House pan

Styx female lions with cubs. Photo by Morné Fouché

Saturday, 12 May 2012
(28º)

• Breeding herd of about 300 buffaloes resting on Big Dam Link north
• Moya, female leopard scent marking on E.P. Southern boundry
• 1 Elephant bull feeding on the Northern side of Safari Airstrip

Sunday, 13 May 2012
(30º)

• Salayexe, female leopard, scent marking East from Pungwe Open
• Tingana, male leopard walking East on A-main towards Big Dam
• Styx lion pride, resting at Knobthorn Pan
• A breeding herd of about 200 buffaloes sleeping on Knobthorn Open
• A herd of 10 elephants feeding on Zebra Drive

Manager’s Report April 2012

WILD PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Little pyjama horse. Photo by Lotte and Bernd Deifuss, Denmark (Elephant Plains Guest)

April was, once again, another very productive month at the lodge. We finished the general maintenance on all the thatch roofs and also made a few changes to our bar and lounge area. We blocked the lodge out for two days and in this time we had to break down the old fireplace in the lounge, build in a new gas fireplace, plaster the wall and repaint the whole lounge. While we were at it, we also repainted the dining room, as well as the wine cellar.  Whew! It might sound impossible, but we did it! Of course, we had the help of a very special team of builders, who worked tirelessly to get the job done in the allocated time. Thanks Quartz Construction, you did a great job! I must say that the end result was worth it all. The rooms look brand new and we are happy with how it turned out.

Although we are in the midst of autumn, moving into winter time, the surrounding bush is still lush and green. This is good as it means that there will be enough food to keep the animals through the winter. The dams are still quite full, so the animals won’t have a problem with food or water during the next few months. Because the grass is still too green, we haven’t been able to burn firebreaks around the lodge yet. We will have to wait for it to dry out some more in order to be able to burn sufficient breaks.

Ellies. Photo by Louis Liversage

Early morning and evening game drives are starting to get a bit chilly, but we have adjusted game drive times accordingly. We also supply guests with blankets on the vehicles and later on in the season we will also start using the hot water bottles to warm the game drives up. During the middle of the day temperatures are wonderfully mild though. Some guests say that it’s so warm that it feels like summertime and a lot of our overseas visitors use the ample amount of sunlight to relax next to the swimming pools.

We have decided to change from Land Rover game viewers to Toyota Landcruiser game viewers. We now have a total of five game viewers in our fleet, with the last one being converted in Nelspruit at the moment.The basic reason for making the change was the fact that the Landcruiser is a bit longer and wider than the Land Rovers, creating more space and comfort for our guests on the vehicles.

Trapcam photo of the month

We have decided to add a Trapcam photo of the month to our reports. The Trapcam is strategically placed in the bush, or at a waterhole and each month we will see which interesting photo we can share with you! This month we caught a big buffalo bull walking around inside Leeukuil, while drinking water during the middle of the day.

The month of May is synonymous with the Indaba Tourism Show in Durban. This year the show will take place from 12-15 May. We are excited to go down to Durban, meet with all the role players in our industry and to establish some new contacts as well. Like last year, Etienne, Marlet, myself and Tersia will be there. Our stall number is DEC2E04, so if you are at Indaba 2012 and you do not already have an appointment with one of us, please feel free to drop in at any time. To everyone travelling to Indaba, have a safe journey and we are looking forward to seeing you there!

To all our guests who celebrated their birthdays this month, we hope you had a fantastic day filled with love and laughter. May your future hold many more! At the lodge we also celebrated a few birthdays. Simon celebrated his birthday on the 1^st of the month. He is one of the gardeners, who work hard to make the gardens look stunning. Etienne celebrated his big day on the 13^th of this month. Etienne is the owner, who loves this lodge more than anything. Janine celebrated her birthday on the 18^th. She is the lady who works front of house. She will be the friendly face you first meet when you arrive at Elephant Plains.

We often have guests with special dietary requirements staying at the lodge. But we never let a food allergy stand in the way of a delicious dessert! Chef Roxanne shares a mouth-watering recipe for guests with special gluten free dietary requirements this month.

Gluten Free Fruity Cheesecake

Gluten Free Fruity Cheesecake

Gluten Free Biscuit Base

• 50g Butter (Soft)
• 40g Gluten Free Cake Flour
• 30g Sugar

Cream the butter and the sugar together, add the flour and mix together into a dough. Roll in golf ball sized rolls and then press onto a greased baking tray like you would normally do with biscuits. Bake at 180˚C for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Cheesecake

• 2 cups Cream Cheese
• 1 cup Cream
• 1 cup Castor Sugar
• 90ml Gelatine soaked and melted into 30ml Water
• 2 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

Mix the above ingredient together and set aside. Crush the biscuits that were baked earlier. Mix together with 50ml melted butter. Press into a standard Cheesecake form, pour in the Cheesecake mixture and place in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours, or until set. Decorate with fresh berries and sugar lace.

Serve and enjoy!

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

Wayne Dovey

Rangers Report April 2012

The month of April signals autumn and the beginning of the winter season. The mornings are now noticeably cooler, the days are still mild to warm, but there is a definite chill in the evenings. We started using blankets for the morning and afternoon drives, but it is not quite cold enough for the hot water bottles yet. We also changed the game drive times from departing at 05:30am to 06:00am in the mornings and 16:00 to 15:30 in the afternoons. As it gets lighter later in the mornings and darker earlier in the evenings, we want to make sure that we have ample daytime light to view all the magnificent animals! The average maximum temperature was 28 °C and we received a total of 13mm of rain. Last month, I mentioned that it was the start of the rutting season and now this month rutting is in full swing, with impala males definitely not holding back in the fight for dominance and the right to mate. This time of the year the males from different antelope species will reunite with the female groups for mating season. Unlike the impalas, they do not have to go through the rutting process. We were really spoilt with good wild dog and cheetah sightings and the nightlife was unbelievable with awesome genet, civet and porcupine sightings. We also saw some smaller feline species like the African wild cat and caracal. To top this all, we ended the month by discovering a new hyena den on EP. Although there is only one cub, the den is a source of entertainment for young and old during game drives!

Lions on a log. Photo by Willie Woest

Leopards

With the leopards there is a definite change in the air. Shadow is now trying to expand her territory, but her mother Kurula has got plans of her own.  She is preventing Shadow from expanding more northeast into her domain and by doing so Shadow is forced to expand more south. If Shadow goes more south she will reach Salayexe’s territory, which might not be such a good idea. Thandi, Shadow’s sister, is also doing very well and her young male cub is getting more accustomed to the game vehicles. It is about time now as he is already bigger than his mother! Kurula’s two cubs, Xivindzi and Xivambalana, are spending more time apart from each other, but she is still there to provide a fresh kill every now and again and to make sure that they stay out of harm’s way. Salayexe is still doing well and was seen on regular basis this month. She has also taken over Nyaleti’s old territory, as she has moved out of our area. Ntima was full of cuts last time we saw her, which proofs that she was in a fight, but she is still marking her territory, which is a good thing. Tingana has got his hands full at this stage with two young male leopards that are also looking for a place to call home. One of the young males is Matifuma, the son of Nyaleti and Tyson, and brother of Mati and Moya.  It looks like the big man Tyson has left us for good as Tingana’s territory is stretching south of our southern boundary, where Tyson was once in charge. Mvula is starting to become the main man between the other males as he’s slowly pushing Lamula more south. Mvula is now in the prime of his life and really looking good, but it’s just a matter of time before a new stronger and younger rival comes in to challenge him.

Lions

On the lion side we had wonderful sightings this month. The four Majingi males were seen when  they killed a buffalo, finished it off almost in record time, just to move on again in search of females and to make sure that they had no challengers. The Styx pride is doing really good and the five cubs are growing fast. The Styx females had a rough time in raising cubs to adulthood as they have only raised two cubs in the last 5-6years, because of the change in pride take-overs. It really looks promising that all five might pull through this time. The Styx pride was seen on a regular basis this month while relaxing in the shade and also stalking prey. The two Nkuhuma lionesses and their two cubs have provided us with wonderful sightings. These two females have mastered the art of killing buffaloes, as they managed to kill two this month. For only two females to do that takes skill, determination and no room for error. The two females broke away from their original pride for the safety of the cubs, as the Matimba males are the current dominant males of their pride. They would definitely kill the cubs that don’t belong to them. If the cubs can survive for another two years the females might rejoin the pride, or alternatively start their own pride. For now, they are out of harm’s way, but still have to be cautious because if they go more south they will move into the territory of the Majingi males. They will also kill the cubs. The two young Nkuhuma males were very illusive this month and didn’t stay for very long before moving on again.

Buffaloes

Genet. Photo by Morné Fouché

The big herds have returned to our area! We have seen nice big herds this last month, mainly because food sources are starting to deplete. The smaller herds will join up to form bigger herds and sometimes in drier times, bigger herds will join and form mega herds. When mega herds form, it helps against predation as they have safety in numbers with the group being stronger. The lions will know better than taking on big breeding herds and they will rather go for the older bulls that left the herd or old females who can’t keep up with the herd.  A few females are coming into oestrus now and the big dominant bulls will follow them around and fight with other bulls. For each dominant male there will be 10-15 females, but it is very difficult to mate with all 10 or 15 females. You will find that this leaves a gap for some of the younger males to get a chance and mate with some of the females.

Elephants

We had very good elephant sightings once again and the waterhole in front of the lodge is getting popular with the elephant herds because there is always fresh water for them. Also now with all the nice green wild date palms in the riverbed, they come and visit us at least 3 times a week. With the heavy rains we had some of the flood plains turned into marsh areas, which are a haven for any elephant herd, with lovely grass and ample water. We saw a big female with very interesting tusks this month. The tusks are growing towards and past each other in front of the mouth, below the trunk. With that flexible trunk she is not struggling to feed herself or to drink water at all, even though it looks as if the skew tusks are preventing her from getting food into her mouth. Next time you go to the bush and you see a herd of elephants, take the time and look at their tusks. At least one elephant out of the whole group will have skew tusks. When the elephant is still young it can sometimes happen that they damage the root canal and then one or both tusks can grow out skew. It happened a few years ago in East Africa where a young male elephant managed to split both his root canals and then instead of one tusk per socket, 12 splintered tusks started to grow out of the two sockets. An elephant uses the tusks to break off branches or strip the bark off of trees. It is also used for fighting, but it is not imperative to its survival to have tusks.

Highlight of the month

The highlight this month is definitely Mvula the male leopard, who killed an impala right in front of our vehicles. We followed him for quite some time before he saw the impalas and started stalking them. It felt like eternity, but he moved very quietly while inching forward, bit by bit. He disappeared for a few minutes and then, with lightning speed, he came out from behind a bush and before the impala’s could react it was too late. A leopard can reach a top speed of 90km/h on short distances. To see the hunt from start to finish is always special because it can take anything from five minutes to a few hours and you can never tell what the outcome might be till the end.

Did you know?

Unlike his fish-eating cousins, the Pied Kingfisher and Giant Kingfisher, who prefer mainly fish, a Woodland Kingfisher’s diet consists mainly of small insects.  .

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

Morné Fouché

Big 5 Sightings 30 April – 06 May 2012

Our Big 5 highlight of the week was to see a breeding herd of elephants playing in the water at Big Dam. We did experience some high temperatures during the past week and they truly enjoyed the cooling down.

Young elephant bull cooling down in Big Dam. Photo by Louis Liversage

Monday, 30 April 2012
(30ºC)

• A breeding herd of about 150 buffalo resting on Central
• 4 Tsalala female lions walking west on Kimbians crossing
• 1 elephant bull browsing on Marula Bult Central

Tuesday, 01 May 2012
(34ºC)

• Tsalala female lions sleeping at 2nd Windmill
• A breeding herd of about 40 elephants playing in the mud at Boundary Pan
• A breeding herd of about 25 elephants walking east form Bushcamp West
• 1 buffalo bull feeding north on A-main

Wednesday, 02 May 2012
(29ºC)

• 2 Majingi male lions resting south on Pumphouse road
• 2 Matimba male lions resting north from Baboon Pan
• 2 Majingi male lions contact calling north from Pump track
• Tsalala female lions sleeping in the Morakeng at the rocks
• 1 Buffalo bull resting in the water at Gaby’s causeway

Young Hyena at EP den site. Photo by Richard Davis

Thursday, 03 May 2012
(30ºC)

• A breeding herd of about 40 elephants walking south from Horseshoe East
• Tingana, the male leopard, resting in the open area at Kraaines
• A breeding herd of about 10 Elephants playing in the water in Serengeti Pan

Friday, 04 May 2012
(34ºC)

• 3 of the Majingi male lions resting at Mnisi Mati, with a buffalo standing in the background
• Salayexe scent marking east along Londoz Boundary
• 1 Elephant bull feeding on EP open area
• The Styx female lions and their cubs sleeping north of A-main
• 1 Buffalo bull walking west from Lowveld Link

Buffalo bull and Hippo at Buff Pan. Photo by Louis Liversage

Saturday, 05 May 2012
(32ºC)

• Tingana, the male leopard, scent marking on Robson’s Boundary
• 1 Elephant bull feeding on Francolin Road
• Thandi, the female leopard, resting east of Little Gowrie driveway

Sunday, 06 May 2012
(28ºC)

• 10 Wild dogs moving south on Madash Road towards Wetpatch
• Salayexe stalking a scrub hare on Kuala Bear Road
• A breeding herd of Elephants feeding around One Eye Pan

Skin care during the winter months

Winter is officially starting to show its colours out here in the bush. For those of you who will be visiting us in the next few weeks and for the rest of you at home, feeling the cold slipping in under the door, here are a view good tips on how to take care of your skin during the cold winter months.

1. The first thing I notice as a therapist is how dry skin gets during the winter months.Go back to the basics; exfoliating before moisturising. Even the best moisturiser will not penetrate through dead skin, so soak in a warm bath at least once a week and make sure you give yourself a good scrub. Note that I said warm bath, as too much hot water can also dry out your skin.
2.  Secondly you will need a richer moisturiser than the one you use during the summer months. This does not only apply for your body, but also your face. Getting a moisturiser that has good hydrating properties is just as important. We tend to drink less water during winter and our skin can use the extra hydration source.
3. Another good tip is to cover up once you applied any moisturiser. The cold dry air tends to “steal” the moisture right back. Covering up gives it some time to penetrate.
4. Protect your skin against the freezing dry wind. If and when you can help it, avoid the wind at all costs. If you are joining us on safari, wear protective clothing. Prevention is better than cure.
5. Applying a layer of sunscreen on the still exposed areas is a good idea. The sunscreen is thicker than your standard moisturiser and will block out more of the cold air and keep your skin fresh and moist during your stay. Also remember that you can still get sunburn, even in winter time, so don’t take any chances!

If you are visiting us this winter, why not book a lovely massage at the African Health Spa. The massage oils we use will definitely help in moisturising your skin – leaving in smooth, supple and glowing!

Big 5 Sightings 23 – 30 April 2012

Our Big 5 highlight of the week would have to be when Salayexe the female leopard joined Tyson the male leopard on his impala kill and proceeded to feed with him! These two definitely did not read the handbook on normal leopard behaviour!

Salayexe lying on a termite mound - Louis Liversage

Monday, 23 April 2012

(25 °C, 12 mm rain)

• Salayexe the leopard still feeding on her impala kill at Picanini Utah
• The Nkuhuma lionesses with two of their youngsters, eating the last of their buffalo kill at Boundary Pan
• One buffalo bull walking north at Kimbian’s Crossing

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

(24 °C)

• Shadow the leopard with an impala kill west of Madashi Road
• The Nkuhuma lionesses and youngsters resting on Methlowani Road
• A breeding herd of about 15 elephants swimming in Simbambili Dam
• One buffalo bull resting on Saseka Road
• Salayexe the leopard still feeding on her impala kill at Picanini Utah

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

(27 °C)

• Salayexe the leopard finishing the last of her impala kill
• One buffalo bull feeding on the firebreak west of the Manyeleti riverbed
• A breeding herd of about 20 elephants feeding on Puffadder Road
• Two Nkuhuma lionesses and the two youngsters playing around at Knobthorn Pan
• One buffalo bull resting in the water at Rampan

Giraffes in the mist - Louis Liversage

Thursday, 26 April 2012

(26 °C)

• The Tsalala lionesses sleeping at Big Dam
• One buffalo bull resting at Boundary Pan
• A small breeding herd of 6 elephants walking east along the firebreak

Friday, 27 April 2012

(29 °C)

• Tingana the male leopard on an impala kill close to Sixes Road
• The Tsalala lionesses resting on Eastern Bank Manyeleti
• A herd of 5 elephants feeding west of Landcruiser Crossing
• One buffalo bull resting in the floodplain close to Tamboti Crossing
• An unknown male leopard walking north along Robson’s boundary

Saturday, 28 April 2012

(30 °C)

• Salayexe the leopard walking south from Arathusa Main Road. She found Tyson the male leopard on an impala kill and decided to join him.
• Tingana the leopard still feeding on his impala kill on Sixes
• A pack of 9 wild dogs hunting impala on A-Main
• Three Styx lionesses and one Majingilane male walking south along Annett’s cutline

Tsalalas lying in the Manyeleti riverbed - Louis Liversage

Sunday, 29 April 2012

(33 °C)

• Tingana the leopard walking north on MMM South
• The Tsalala lionesses unsuccessfully hunting giraffe on 1st Windmill
• A breeding herd of elephants feeding west from Shirley’s open area
• Salayexe the leopard stalking impala at Bushcamp
• A big breeding herd of about 150 buffaloes feeding from Serengeti Manyeleti Crossing