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2007 : January | February |

     We have come to the end of March with one of the biggest and most dramatic storms that we have ever witnessed! When the rain did start, after dinner had been served under a starlit sky and the guests were safely tucked up in bed– we had over 100 mm in half an hour. The lightening provided a spectacle that we think has probably never been witnessed by anyone on earth! There were times when it continued for more than 5 minutes, a constant son et lumière (sound and light) show. Savanna seemed to be right in the eye of it.

     Unfortunately the rain continued through the morning game drive but the guests were not faint hearted and the afternoon drive was made even more interesting by the amount of times the Land Rovers had to be pulled out of the mud! They still had spectacular viewing of a cheetah on a kill and 6 male lions! The weather this summer has been exceptionally different from the norm – we have had almost 3 times our annual rainfall.

     The Shangwa leopard female and her 2 cubs have been spending more and more time in our area closer to the river. From what we can ascertain, she has 1 male and 1 female cub. Both are doing extremely well and seem to be growing at an incredible rate.

     In our last newsletter, we told you that Shangwa had killed a huge impala. The Ottawa male came in and joined her and her cubs.

     It was a magnificent sight to behold 4 leopards in a tree at one time! The Ottawa male, once he had eaten, would move away from the carcass but each time he returned he made a pathetic mewing sound. We have not heard this sound from a leopard before. It was as if he was begging for acceptance. They were on the kill for 2 days until the 6 new male lions picked up the scent, came in and stole it, scattering leopards in all directions.

     Mkwela is still being seen on a regular basis and as yet no sign of more cubs but we envisage that we will see her mating within the next 2 months. The Wallingford male still provides us with the most magnificent viewing and is being seen regularly. The Makubela female (from Shangwa’s last litter) is still trying to establish herself in a territory. She is still young and this territory will only be determined when she produces cubs, around 4 years old.

     We have had some very bad news concerning the Sand River Pride of lions. With all the recent rain and flooding that we have had, our western fence was washed away in certain places and the Sand River Pride escaped into the tribal areas.

     For 5 days, we tried to get them back with no success. They killed several head of cattle and it was believed that they were becoming a danger to the surrounding population.

     As far as we know, most of this pride had to be destroyed. This included the one-eyed female and most of the cubs. This will leave a gap in the Northern part of our property. We can only hope that this will be filled in the near future.

     The six new males are still throwing their weight around in our area and a fight ensued between them and the single male. He was quite badly mauled. It is only a matter of time before he will have to move out permanently or be killed. The Ximungwe Pride and the Ravenscourt Pride continue to flourish and the single male within each of these prides will have to watch out when these 6 intruders increase their boundaries.

     We are very pleased to say that we have now found a new hyena den, which is giving us some incredible viewing. It is a small clan as only 2 females have produced 3 cubs, 2 of about 5 months and 1 of 3 months. We can normally estimate the age of the youngsters by their spots, which appear around 5 months. We have not had a hyena den for about 2 years and watching these mothers and young helps dispel the bad press that they received from the “Lion King”.

     We are still getting a large group of rhino on the “ village green” at the back of camp. Up to 9 rhino have been seen at once. They are coming here for the short grasses as the area around the railway track has been mown.

     The side-striped jackals are still constant and the family that lives at the back is also there nightly.

     It is amazing to see all the swallows, congregating in their thousands on the telephone wires and preparing for the trip back to Europe for the summer.

     There has also been an influx of owls into the area. We are seeing large numbers on the evening game drives – up to 11 on one drive and as many as 5 different species. This is probably due to the huge rodent population due to the good rains. The owls are breeding well because of a large and healthy diet.

     Thank you for taking note of our new email address – lodge@savannalodge.com. We would also like to inform you of the new address to contact our reservations department. It is res@savannalodge.com. Thank you again to those of you who have been sending their special or amusing photos through to our website. Again, we would like to re-iterate that you send them to Christa at christa@mweb.co.za and not to the lodge.