2005 : January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November |
2006 : January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
2007 : January | February |

     2005 Ended on a high note with a full camp of wonderful guests. Dinner was on the deck under a clear and starry sky and we all enjoyed the singing of the Mabarule Youth in Action Choir and the Jelwana (Shangaan for porcupine) Dancers. These dancers were introduced to us by one of our trackers, Patrick. This form of dancing is known as Xibaqa, a mixture of Zulu and Shangaan movements, and is very impressive with spears and drums.

     During the first week of January, any idea that we might suffer a drought this year was put to rest as 330 mm of rain fell in four days. As a result of this, the bush is looking amazingly green and very lush, and the waterholes are all full.

     This has proved especially wonderful for the elephants and the guests have been spoilt with incredible viewing of young bulls, sometimes as many as four at once, romping, splashing and chasing each other in and out of the dams. We are seeing large herds of impala with lots of babies and the survival rate so far has been extremely high. With the good rains, the impala population is flourishing and their sleek coats and immaculate condition are evidence of the wonderful season that we have had. No doubt, with the lions concentrating more on the wildebeest, they have been given a greater chance.

     The female cub from Shangwa’s last litter, now 2 ½ years old has been given the name Makubela, after a drainage line that she is often found in. She is doing extremely well, killing on a regular basis, and makes up a huge portion of our leopard viewing. Contrary to our last newsletter, we are pleased to say that Mkwela does still have her cubs. Three have been seen, and her unusual behaviour pattern, where she has been spotted mating with the Wallingford male, indicates that she is still trying to confuse him into believing that the cubs are his. To top this, she has also been seen mating with the “ugly kinky tailed male”! The plot thickens - women can be very devious!

     The Ravenscourt Pride of lions was seen chasing a wildebeest into the waterhole near the lodge. For over an hour the wildebeest in the water stared at the lions on the bank. The lions, unwilling to get their feet wet, paced the bank waiting for the wildebeest to come out. The cubs, being rather more adventurous and impatient would enter the water up to their knees but no further. Eventually, one lioness, sick and tired of the wait, bounded out to the wildebeest, grabbed it by the throat and dragged it to the bank where the pride made short work of it.

     The Ximungwe Pride also continues to flourish on wildebeest and it is amazing how quickly all the cubs are growing. Even with this major culling, we are still seeing herds of up to 25 wildebeest and in one herd we have also seen at least ten babies.

     The bird viewing, with so much food around, has continued to be sensational. With the major winged termite population being so high because of the heavy rains the birds have been feasting as have animals, such as jackal, mongoose, genets and bush babies. On game drives it has been quite an experience to sit near a termite mound with the flying termites, and have as many as 1000 swallows swooping in and out amongst the guests. They are so accurate at catching their prey, very few termites get away. Their ability also to navigate through this mass of flying bodies is incredible. Eagles sit peacefully on the termite mound itself, gorging on the termites as they emerge from the hole.