Manager’s Report January 2012

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

Manager’s Report December 2011

I would like to start by saying that I hope all our readers had a wonderful Christmas time and a happy new year! May 2012 be filled with love, happiness and a whole lot of adventures! Maybe a few of you would even visit Elephant Plains again this year! We had a successful 2011 and we are looking forward to a busy 2012.

WILD PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Elephants by Marek and Monica, Poland (Elephant Plains Guests)

December turned out to be a scorcher of a month, but at least we also had some very good rains, which turned the surrounding bush into a wall of greenery. If you are on your way to come and visit, I am sure that you would be blown away by all the different shades of green. The other option would be to take a look at our Africam webcam, off course.  

We have noticed that there is a small herd of zebra moving around the open area, together with a herd of eleven waterbuck. The reason for this attraction could be the bigger waterhole, as well as the open areas that were recently cleared to the north of the lodge. We also have a hippo visiting the new waterhole and we are delighted that this project has attracted so many animals.

December also brought an interesting twist, with a very unexpected turn, as we had a somewhat unconventional guest in camp! Salayexe the leopard gave birth to her cubs underneath our African Health Spa deck. She kept us on our toes for a few weeks while she stayed underneath the deck, but luckily the deck is closed off towards the rest of the lodge. I must say that this was a cunning plan – she found a safe haven to keep unwanted predators away from her tiny cubs, while being guarded by an electrical fence on the one side and the wooden enclosure towards the rest of the lodge, on the other side.  The only way she could come and go was by crossing the fence on the riverbed’s side. We kept the door to the Spa enclosure locked at all times and let the new mom be. As leopards move their den site on a regular basis, we knew that this arrangement would not last very long. We are unsure where exactly her new den site is, but we do know that she moved it to an area outside the camp enclosure. We also had an incident that could have ended in a drama, but turned out to be a story of courage, with a happy ending. Because Salayexe’s new den site is thought to be situated close to the lodge, we see her on a daily basis. A few days ago, Salayexe found a cunning way to use an overhanging branch to enter Etienne and Marlet’s yard at their house. Because they have a three year old son, they keep dogs at the house, especially to warn them if there are snakes in the yard. They are also great friends of little Etienne – he is the only child growing up in the northern part of the Sabi Sand! The dogs have never caused any problems as the yard is fully closed off with an electrified fence and electrified gates. But, be as that may, Salayexe came to inspect the yard that she was never able to enter before. The dogs, being very protective of little Etienne who was playing on the lawn, started chasing her away. She turned around and grabbed Muis, the little Jack Russell. The barking of the other dogs must have given her a fright as she let go and left the yard just as quickly as she entered.

There are not many dogs that live to tell the tale of an encounter with a leopard, but Muis Swart is one of them!

Muis was rushed to Hluvukani Veterinary Clinic and five eager students got to work on her immediately. They did such a great job that she will fully recover! We would like to thank them for their help in this regard. If they could save a dog that was bitten by a leopard, while they are still undergoing training, I am sure that they will all make wonderful Veterinarians in the future. As an extra precaution, we have decided to redo the fencing and gates – they will be changed to a 3.4 metre high enclosure – the standard type of boma fencing that is used to keep leopards in when relocating them. This one would obviously just keep them out! The dogs have been moved into town until the new fence is up. There are not many dogs that live to tell the tale of an encounter with a leopard, but Muis Swart is one of them!      

We had a lovely time celebrating Christmas and New Years at the lodge. We had a full a camp for both these occasions and I am sure that our guests enjoyed the celebrations. For Christmas we had all the traditional delicacies on the menu, including gammon and turkey. For New Years we had a traditional South African braai. I must say that the lamb’s ribs were a favourite amongst our guests. We ended the old year with traditional song and dance from the Ringetani African Traditional Dance Group. As always, they were very entertaining and we could see that the guests enjoyed this experience immensely.

We have decided to acquire the services of a Food and Beverage consultant. We are excited to welcome her to the lodge early in 2012 and we are looking forward to her new ideas in the kitchen.  

With all the recent rains the lodge itself is looking good, especially the original camp garden. The rondavels in the original camp are not as big as the luxury suites, but have never been called small. They are a spacious, value for money option for travellers that would rather stay a few nights longer, than to have a separate lounge area and a view over the open area – which are the main differences between the two accommodation options.  The summer house in the original garden played host to a number of life changing moments lately. We were asked to prepare a romantic setting for a private dinner. All I can say is that she said yes when he asked the big question!

We have recently purchased a trap camera, which is a special type of motion detection camera that takes still pictures the moment that there is movement in front of it. This camera is weather resistant and we are moving it to different locations in the bush, taking pictures of the animals. We will start sharing these with you over the next couple of weeks.

Congratulations to all our staff members who celebrated their birthdays during the month of December. Annelize who works in accounts and reservations celebrated her birthday on the 15th. It seems like December is a kitchen birthday month with Roxanne, our head chef celebrating hers on the 20th. Glory, one of our cooks, and Linah, who works in the scullery, also celebrated their birthdays on the 21st and 24th. We hope that the year ahead will be filled with all the best there is!

From my side, I’ve had an amazing year managing this beautiful lodge. I am looking forward to a very successful 2012 as I already have a lot of plans for the lodge in the coming year. I hope to see some familiar faces returning to our piece of paradise. We are looking forward to welcoming you back and also to ensure that our first time visitors return again and again.  Last but not least, I would also like to thank all our staff members, who work very hard in order to make Elephant Plains one of the most sought after destinations in the Sabi Sand Wildtuin. You are all great and I am looking forward to another amazing year with all of you!

I now hand you over to Roxanne, for one of the delicious deserts we enjoyed during our New Year’s celebrations. A fresh spin to the all-time classical, Peppermint Crisp Tart. 

Peppermint Crisp Tarts

Peppermint Crisp Tarts

Crust

250 g Soft butter
½ Cup white sugar
2 Eggs
2 Cups cake flour

1. Cream the butter and sugar together. 
2. Mix in the eggs and flour.
3. Press dough into the muffin pans and bake blind at 180˚C until golden brown.
4. Set aside and cool completely.

Filling

2 Tins Caramel Treat
5 Peppermint Crisps
2 Cups Cream (stiffly whipped)
5ml Vanilla Extract
100g Castor Sugar

1. Fold the castor sugar and vanilla into the stiff cream.
2. Mix the Caramel Treat with the cream.
3. Crumble four of the chocolates into the mixture.
4. Mix the mixture well.
5. Spoon into the cases which have been blind baked.
6. Place on a cake stand or serving platter and decorate with the 5^th chocolate, which has been crushed.

Serve and enjoy!

That’s all from our side for this month! We hope to welcome you back to the lodge soon!

Wayne Dovey

Manager’s Report November 2011

I can’t begin to describe how hot it’s been during the past month. We’ve had some rain, but we are still in need of some heavy rains – especially to fill up the waterholes for the summer. The heat is so intense that the newly formed grass is already starting to turn yellow again. The animals are still looking great and it is that time of the year when impalas are the centre point of attention again. Yes, it’s baby boom time in the bush! It is interesting to know that impalas usually wait until the first November rains before giving birth. Most of the herbivores have little ones running around, so one hears a lot of “oh shame” or “ah cute” from the guests on game drive.

WILD PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Stalking Leopard by Jacqueline and Ronald Boevé, Netherlands

It’s bigger and definitely better! You’ve guessed right. We’ve made our waterhole on the open area bigger. If you where watching the webcam on the twentieth of this month, you would have seen the TLB working on the waterhole. You might ask: “Why?” Well, we said: “Why not?” We’ve had guests staying at our lodge, asking where exactly the waterhole is located as it was difficult to see from the lodge. We also noticed that when a big herd of elephants came to drink water, most of it was finished by the time they left. As some of you might know, the Kruger National Park is closing up some of their waterholes and making others bigger. This is not a bad idea at all. In the past when there were no man-made waterholes, the animals had to walk longer distances in search of food and water. But in the last few years it was thought to be a good idea to attract animals to certain areas by creating artificial waterholes and dams. Extensive research on the subject has shown that this is not ideal. Yes it did work, but some would say it actually worked too well. The animals stopped moving around and stayed in the same areas. This resulted in overgrazing, which left large areas barren. So by closing some of the waterholes, animals will need to move around once again and not overgraze certain areas. We have gone the same route as Kruger. We have stopped pumping water into some of the existing waterholes and have made the waterhole in front of lodge a bit bigger, so as to compensate in this regard. We also made them deeper. Over the years waterholes fill up with mud, causing it to no longer hold water very well. The TLB was used to remove all the old mud from the bottom and in the case of the open area waterhole, to enlarge it and use the mud to create a dam wall. Whilst we had the TLB here we also did a lot of road maintenance. For seven days we had it on site, fixing both dams and roads. As for the roads, most areas are very sandy, so when we have a lot of rain, the water flowing down the road will pick up sand particles and wash them away. Every second year or so, we make mitre drains, consisting of a speed bump with a drain next to the speed bump, diverting the water flow off the road. This helps prevent our roads from washing away. It is a lot of hard work, but it was great fun to get out into the bush for the week. We had some excitement when elephants had fun chasing us around the yellow TLB!

As you have read, we were hard at work this month, with everything that we are trying to complete before the big summer rains. We also have a team of eight professional bush clearers working on our open areas. Again, some might ask why we are removing bushes and alien shrubs. Sometimes, if the balance is not 100% percent, you will find that some alien plant species will take over an area, smothering the indigenous species. Over the past few years the open areas have been taken over by spike thorns and other alien plants. This particular species will grow in thick walls, not allowing animals to move through them, leaving an area that is underutilized, with no animals around. The other downside is that spike thorns itself have a very high tannin content, making them very bitter. Most animals will not eat this plant unless they are forced to during times of serious drought. So by opening up the vegetation we will start seeing a lot more plains game moving around the lodge and northern sectors of the property. In the past, controlled fires used to sort out these plants, but we are not that keen to burn this area. Firstly, it weakens the grass and secondly, we are not comfortable having a fire so close to the lodge. It is better to get a team of professional bush clearers to cut out all the unpalatable vegetation, leaving all the better tree species to flourish.

Congratulations to our staff members who celebrated their birthdays during the month of November. May the year ahead be filled with good health, happiness and all the best!

Louis celebrated his birthday on the 21st of this month. He is our barman and you would have noticed him serving drinks around the lodge.

Feitah celebrated her birthday on the 23rd of this month. She is little Etienne’s nanny and always has a smile on her face.

This month Chef Linda shares a delicious dessert with us.

Treacle Tart, served with peanut praline and coffee liqueur cream

Treacle Tart, served with peanut praline and coffee liqueur cream

Crust:

• 500g soft butter
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 4 cups cake flour

Cream the butter and sugar, mix in the eggs and flour and press into muffin pans.

Filling:

• 630g golden syrup
• 12 slices of white bread, crumbed
• 2 zested lemons
• 1 ½ tbsp. lemon juice

Warm up the sugar, mix with the bread crumbs (the mixture should be thick, not runny)
Add the lemon juice and zest. Spoon into the crust and bake at 180° C, until the crust is golden and the treacle is still sticky.
Add a dollop of coffee liqueur cream and peanut praline, serve and enjoy!

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

Wayne Dovey

Manager’s Report October 2011

October turned out to be another great month at Elephant Plains! We’ve already had some rain, which speeded up the process of the vegetation becoming greener. The trees have all got their bright, brand new cover of leaves for the summer. The grass still need a bit more follow up rains though. But as it is still the beginning of the rainy season, the grass still has plenty of time to grow lush and green. As always during the start of the rainy season, we get some violent thunderstorms with a lot of lighting and little rain. At this time of the year, we run the risk of a lighting strike that could ignite the bush, causing bush fires. After all the noise, we usually only receive a few millimetres of rain. This is just enough to settle the dust, but in the long run, it’s definitely better than nothing! With the ground being slightly damp there is a huge humidity factor present. High humidity levels can quickly become unbearable. But most of our guests love the heat, especially when they have winter temperatures back home. There is nothing like returning from holiday with a golden tan and therefore our guests are making a lot of use of the swimming pools. They are not just for cooling off, though! Both pools have a stunning view of the open area with the waterhole in front of the camp. Sitting in or next to the pool, they get to see a lot of game coming to drink at the waterhole. What more could one ask for? On many days the elephants stand in the dry riverbed just below the rooms and feed for hours, giving our guests the experience of a lifetime, from the privacy of our luxury suites. We also had the wild dogs kill some impala on our open area, which also made for a great sighting!

WILD PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Leopard by Robin Hester, South Africa (Elephant Plains Guest)

I was out in the bush myself this month again and boy, did we have some excellent sightings. I drive on special request from return guests. Being a keen photographer myself I would like to share some tips on wildlife photography and cameras. Our guides are all well trained in positioning the vehicles in order for guests to have the best possible viewing opportunities. They also consider the angle of the sun and if only one side of the vehicle has a good view, they would re-position it later on so that the other side can have the same quality sighting. Now, there are some people that have top of the range equipment and yes, they do get beautiful pictures with all the massive lenses and fancy bodies. But if you are not a professional photographer, there are some things to consider when going on holiday. At Elephant Plains we will safely get you up close and personal to the animals. So when you leave here with award winning pictures, you will still be able to brag, even though you might not have the biggest lens on the market. If you still don’t believe me, then have a look on our website at our guest photo gallery. Most of these pictures were taken with average cameras and lenses. If you are in a sighting and not sure what settings would work best, be sure to ask one of our guides, who would be able to help you with the appropriate settings. According to my opinion, rather go for a simple body and try to spend a bit more on the lens. For this, Canon and Nikon have lenses that are ideal for our area and it is all that we use for our photography. Because we get close enough to the animals you need nothing bigger for amateur photography. The one lens form Canon is the 70-300 and the Nikon lens is the 80-200. These are both excellent lenses that make any camera body’s pictures look fantastic. Sigma also has a 70-300 lens that is cheaper than the other two lenses, but with good light you will still get great photos.

We are continuing with our maintenance work on the rooms. Whenever we have a chance, with a room being open for a day or two, we go in, do some spring cleaning, give the decks a coat of varnish and also strip and seal the floors. If all you home owners out there thought that looking after your own house is a tough job, then step aside. Trying to maintain a whole lodge to the highest standard possible is quite another story! Most people think that working out in the bush at a game lodge is a holiday job, where it is all fun and games. But when things go wrong, as they sometimes do, we need to sort it out a.s.a.p. The challenge of this is that the nearest hardware store is about an hour and a half away!

As I have mentioned before, we have three junior rangers working here. Francois and Dawie did their EcoTraining field guide course last year and then came to Elephant Plains for their six month lodge practical. We liked them so much that we employed them full time and next year they will also be able to start guiding. Pieter was our newest EcoTraining recruit and he just finished his six month practical with us. He is now going to Mashatu in Botswana for his final course and then he will also return to Elephant Plains. We are excited to welcome him back on a permanent basis!

We did not have any staff who celebrated their birthdays this month. But we did have a very special lady’s birthday. Mrs Margie Swart celebrated her birthday on the 6th of this month. We truly hope you had a fantastic day and have many more years of happiness, love and fond memories when visiting Elephant Plains.

Chef Roxanne shares her delicious Tipsy Tart, an all-time favourite.

Tipsy Tart with Brandy Cream

Chef Roxanne's delicious Tipsy Tart

(Makes 24)

Ingredients

• 10 ml Bicarbonate Of Soda
• 250 g Chopped Dates
• 200 g Glazed Cherries, cut in half
• 500 ml Brown Sugar
• 3 cups Flour
• 10 ml Baking Powder
• 500 ml Boiling Water
• 250 g Raisins
• 250 g Butter
• 4 Eggs
• Pinch of Salt
• 1 cup Nuts, chopped

Method

• Grease 2 muffin pans and preheat the oven to 180°C
• Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the water and pour over the dates, mix well and leave to cool down.
• Mix in the raisins and cherries.
• Whisk butter and sugar together and mix in the eggs.
• Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder together and mix with egg mixture.
• Stir the nuts in.
• Spoon in muffin pans and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown but not dry, pour the sauce over.

Sauce

• 3 cups Sugar 500 ml Water
• 30 ml Butter 10 ml Vanilla Essence
• 8 tots Brandy
• 500 ml Water
• 10 ml Vanilla Essence

Boil all the ingredients together and then pour over the baked tarts.

Brandy Cream

• 2 Tots Brandy
• 500ml Cream

Whisk the cream to stiff peaks and then fold in the brandy. Garnish the tarts.

Serve and enjoy!

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

Wayne Dovey

Manager’s Report September 2011

The year is slowly drawing to an end and as I am writing this I can almost not believe it myself! Three more months and we’re in 2012. We have already had one or two storms that came roaring over the Drakensberg, thinking that we were going to have a massive rainstorm. But with all the wind we only got a few drops out of the whole show! It still made me happy to see the massive black clouds that could potentially have dropped its first load of rainwater on us! We are eagerly awaiting the first big summer rains. On the one hand this excites me, but on the other hand these lighting storms involve huge bolts of electricity hitting the ground. Once this happens, bush fires can start and spread within seconds. Fires in dry areas with huge amounts of combustible materials are very dangerous. I guess this is Mother Nature’s way of telling us that she is far more powerful than we will ever be and that we should always respect her. That being said, our fire fighting equipment is on standby and we can be on our way to assist at a bush fire in a couple of minutes.

We have been seeing good game during the past month. A few of the waterholes are now dry as a bone and those still holding water have been well utilized by all the animals in the immediate area. We even had a herd of a thousand buffalos drinking at the waterhole in front of the lodge! There are plenty of breeding herds of elephants that also come to drink in front of the lodge. I am sure that our Africam viewers find this very entertaining. On an average day we have about five herds of elephants feeding around the lodge at any given time, which makes bush walks a bit of a challenge some days. We finally had the two Tsalala female lions bring their new cubs into the area, but this later turned into a drama. I am sure that Morné will tell you more about this in his report.

The lodge is starting to look all clean and green, with a few paint jobs that are done and the bigger trees having lost all their leaves. I cannot tell you how happy I am that the leaf shedding episode is over! I just could not keep up with the August winds and the amount of leaves that can fall in a few seconds. One minute the wooden decks would be spotless and when I inspect the area again, it would be covered in fallen leaves – usually just before the game drive vehicles return from morning drive!

We did a bit of maintenance on all the sprinklers surrounding the lodge. As the grass is now once again starting to grow, it needs more water, especially during the warm summer months. We can already see the difference in the greener, lusher lawns. It is amazing how nature responds to the warmer weather and we can see it in the growth of the plants and flowerbeds all around the lodge.

Pieter Dannhauser, one of our junior rangers, is writing his F.G.A.S.A 1 exams this month. F.G.A.S.A. stands for Field Guides Association of South Africa. This is a theoretical exam to test your all over knowledge of the bush. We wish him all the best! A lot of people are of the opinion that field guiding (rangers) is a holiday job. That might have been the case twenty odd years ago, but today it is like any other profession. It takes a few years, a lot of exams and dedication, as well as practical experience to be able to say that you are a qualified field guide.

Those of you who regularly read our Sightings Updates on the Elephant Plains Big 5 Blog would have noticed that we do not give rhino updates any longer. This will now also be the case with Morné’s monthly Rangers Report. If there are rhinos on the webcam, we will also move the camera away, until they are gone. Rest assured that all our rhinos are still doing well and is in tip top shape. These are just precautionary steps we are taking to ensure that they stay that way. I think you would agree that we should all do our bit to keep our rhinos safe.

This month we had four of our staff members celebrating their birthdays.

Linky, who is one of our cleaning ladies, celebrated her birthday on the 5th of this month. Merriam, a small yet cheerful lady, who helps to keep the lodge area clean, celebrated her day on the 11th.Saphia, one of our cooks who work her heart out in the kitchen, in order to provide all the delicious food, celebrated her birthday on the 11th as well. Onnie, who helps us in the dining areas as a waiter, celebrated her birthday on the 16th. We hope that they all had great birthdays and that the year ahead would be filled with good health, happiness and all the best there is!

Chef Linda's delicious Oatmeal Crunchies

Chef Linda will share this delicious Oatmeal Crunchies recipe with us. These treats are kept at the Coffee station so that guests can nibble on them throughout the day!

Oatmeal Crunchies Recipe

• 4 cups Oats
• 2 cups Coconut
• 2 cups Sugar
• 2 cups Flour
• 50ml Syrup
• 400g Butter
• 30ml Bicarbonate of Soda
• 6ml Salt

Melt the butter and syrup together. Mix the oats, coconut, sugar and flour together with the bicarbonate and salt. Add the butter mixture to this and combine well. Roll into balls, compressing them a bit to hold their shape, and place on a greased tray. Press down slightly with a fork and bake @ 180 °C until nicely browned, about 10- 12 minutes per batch. Place on a cooling rack, they will still be soft, but will set as they cool down.

Make a cup of your favourite coffee or tea, serve and enjoy!

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

Wayne Dovey