Greetings all!
Just a quick one, I am stuck in Johannesburg, but from what little information I have received from the Lodge, its been raining...a lot! More than half of our annual average rainfall in the last 24 hours! This has caused all of the rivers to flood, including the Sohebele River in front of camp to a level that hasnt been seen in over a decade! In fact, that river hasnt flowed past camp since 2004/5!!!
This rain is the result of Cyclone Dando that hit the Mozambique coast two days ago; the forecast is for more big rains today, but dying down tomorrow! Over 260mm have already fallen in the area in the last 24 hours, so you can imagine the effect of that much rain!
All of the rivers are flowing insanely strongly, and it will be interesting to see if the dams can withstand the amazing force being put on them!
The telephone lines are down, and i wont be surprised if the internet is down as Hoedspruit is also largely underwater!!!
It is difficult to know exactly what is going on being 500km away, but I will be heading back tomorrow to see all of this for myself (I should be on my way back now, but there is no way to get into the reserve)! There are also understandably no game drives in this rain, so the blog updates will be down for the next few days until the rain stops and the bush dries up!
If you are visiting the lodge in the next few days, please feel free to contact our head office if you need to make enquiries about the situation on 011 463 1990.
While we can never complain about rain, this is just a bit crazy! Going to make for an interesting year ahead, that is for sure!
Until next time, stay dry!
Cheers
Chad
Wow that's a lot of rain. Does this much water effect the game drives at all?
ReplyDeleteWow, got back and saw the aftermath of the floods!!!! Will post pics soon, but words cant describe what the rivers looked like!
ReplyDeleteMatt, yeah, the ground is too wet to drive, so no drives for the next few days - and even after that, the ground is so saturated that off-road driving will not be permitted for a couple of weeks...so yes, it will have some impact on our game drives and viewing, but we will make the most of it!
Will keep you updated with regards to what is happening...for now, the rain has stopped, several dams have broken, but the rivers are subsiding...access into the reserve is by air only at this stage, as the access road has been washed away!
Regards
Chad Cocking
Oh boy this must have been one heck of a rain fall. My husband and I have followed some of the News they are showing in Canada, but not much. So thankfully other ppl in the area have sent pictures and a few video's of different part of what its like their. And we were glad that everyone was safe and out of harms way. So has this ever happed like this before? I go that sometimes u get good down pours, but nothing to this extreme. And what about the animal? What would they have done durring this and what is the experience u believe u will get out of them, once it all passes?
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cathrena Westhaver
Man, that is a LOT of rain. Thanks for the feedback Chad.
ReplyDeleteI hope you all are safe, and that you can sort out all the damage.
Good luck, and keep us posted.
And oh ya, thanks Andrea for the great blogs while "The Chad" and Grant was away.
Cheers
Lourens
Thanks for the update Chad..look forward to your pictures of the surrounds...take care..Peter Velleman
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteWow what a lot of rain!!!!
Hope you are all safe and there is minimal damage to the bush.
Looking forward to seeing the pictures
Take care
Sue and Andy, UK