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The Bush Telegraph
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Volume 5: January - March 2011 Page 1
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Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. ~ Lao Tzu
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Warm bush greetings to you all for 2011! With three months already gone,
we trust that the new year is treating you kindly!
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The only way for wildlife to tell time is passing in the bush is by weather conditions
and vegetation and to adapt accordingly. True to form, the sun is rising a little
later at 6am now and setting slightly earlier at 18h15. On most days, the early
mornings and evenings are becoming cool. The days remain hot with temperatures mid
to late 30’s.
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From November onwards, our rainy season arrived in full force. It was amazing to
see the bush and wildlife continue to flourish under these very favourable conditions.
Due to very high rainfall on the escarpment, the Klaserie River reached its highest
level for this season in January. After a very dry season, the Olifants River began
flowing heavily again due to high rainfall in the catchment area of the Olifants,
which is situated on the Highveld in the areas of Witbank and Middelburg. The river,
once again, became popular for hippo and crocodile sightings.
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The Klaserie River from Kitara Deck
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View from Kitara boma
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Entry 2
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Sadly, the rain was shortlived, and as you can see from below, our readings dropped
drastically from January to February. March showed no signs of bringing any relief.
The bush dried up before our eyes! The grass, while still long, but is now brown
and the raisin bushes, in an attempt to survive, have wilted in order to store water
for survival. The high temperatures and lack of rain is forcing the Combretum's
leaves to change colour early.
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Entry 1
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Rainfall Figures
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December
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Nzumba / Dundee
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89mm
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Kitara / Nyeleti
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125mm
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January
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Nzumba / Dundee
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131mm
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Kitara / Nyeleti
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106mm
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February
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Nzumba / Dundee
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31mm
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Kitara / Nyeleti
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31mm
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March
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Nzumba / Dundee
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20.5mm
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Kitara / Nyeleti
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19mm
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January saw the Marula trees throughout the property flooded with its fruit, what
seemed like overnight. As is the nature of this tree, the marula fruit drop while
still green and ripen on the ground. The entrance garden of Kitara was flooded daily
by a green and yellow carpet of pungent aromatic fruit as it ripened in different
stages. One could say it was raining marula's. Needless to say, the abundance of
fruit brought the vervit monkeys and baboons boldly into camp. Camp staff would
patiently rake up the fruit on a regular basis into the bush on the other side of
the entrance. On one morning, we had a determined bull elephant that would not move
for anything while he enjoyed a heap of delicious breakfast.
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Elephant near Kitara Camp
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In the middle of February, Wildcon Events and Safaris, who specialize in assisting
with a variety of animal captures with the view of conservation, brought a corporate
group to Kitara and Nzumba. Their main event, apart from conferencing, was the re-collaring
of an elephant. This is a very costly exercise and the Elephant Foundation in the
Timbavati relies largely on commercial funding to help sustain their project. The
group re-collared a female matriarch who happened to be on a neighbouring property.
To be able to be up close and personal to such a large and complex creature is an
experience of a lifetime and the group returned from the experience beyond excited.
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Entry 3
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We have had frequent sightings of different size herds of buffalo, from the lonely
old bull to herds of up to at least 50, throughout the property.
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Jacob holding the heavy collar
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Entry 4
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 Entry 5
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The infamous rhino and the poaching situation remains in the spotlight. From the
H.O.R.N (Help Our Rhinos Now) website comes the following: "Reynold Thakhuli, spokesperson
for SANParks, says the onslaught against rhinos in the game park is growing by the
day. Information obtained confidentially says several rangers have received death
threats over the past year. In at least two cases, messages were found with the
carcasses of rhinos. Rangers apparently also received SMS' and messages on their
cellphones.
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In one case, a letter was left on the carcass, and in another, the death threat
was written in the ground near the carcass."
The number of rhinos poached keeps growing, with the Pilanesburg also a very big
target. Whilst the numbers poached is still higher than the poachers caught, there
are a few success stories. Our sightings of rhino have been frequent and most of
our guests have enjoyed good sightings, a group of our guests even enjoyed an amazing
sighting on foot.
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We have heard about sightings throughout the reserve of the pack of 14 dogs - mostly
spotted in the southern region of HQ. At the end of Feb, 7 dogs were seen resting
at Nzumba Waterhole - well-fed and sleeping in the shade of bushes. They have not
been spotted in our area since then.
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Our cats have been pretty active, and the shy leopard graced us with sightings.
We have also seen relatively frequent leopard activity on Nkwazi Drive and around
Kitara.
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Entry 6
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The presence of lion activity has been good, with sightings around the Dunde/Nzumba
area, as well as frequent calling from the Timbila area. At this stage, we don't
have a settled pride in the area. On the 18th March all the cats came out to play!
A group from Nyeleti was watching 4 lions chase a leopard up a tree on Thompsons
Property, at the same time there were two lions at the Nzumba Waterhole and a very
skittish cheetah at the Dundee Dam!
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Entry 10
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General game sightings are constant, with herds of zebra, kudu, impala, wildebeest
and giraffe seen frequently around Kitara and Nzumba waterholes- all with youngsters.
The herd of wildebeest that reside on the Nzumba Airstrip had 5 calves this season,
which is wonderful. A strange sighting was a wildebeest at Wild Dog Dam. Perhaps
he is a young male trying to establish a territory, he hasn't been seen often enough
to establish his reasons for being there.
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Entry 11
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Entry 12
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Entry 13
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Here are some more photos to bring back some memories of what visits in the bush
are all about spectactular sunsets, all things great & small, & relaxing
& making memories!
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Entry 14
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Entry 15
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Entry 16
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Entry17
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Entry 18
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Entry 19
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Relaxing and making memories...
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