17th January - The Floods!!!

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

16 January - Lion Cubs!

Photo of the Day

 Morning Drive

(Herold)

Lion (2 Mahlathini males, 1 female, 3 cubs) / Motswari – Shlaralumi River Road

Buffalo (3 dagha boys) / Motswari – Bush Braai Road

Afternoon Drive

(Herold)

Lion (2 Mahlathini males, 1 female, 3 cubs) / Motswari – Shlaralumi River Road

Elephant (1 Kambaku) / Peru – Long Road, Flooded Crossing

Daily Synopsis

After Herold told me that he had seen cubs this morning, I was dying to get on afternoon drive. It explained why the lioness had been so unhappy with Herold and Diff’s presence on foot yesterday morning.  Herold got all new guests today, which meant we could go back to the sighting. By Three ‘o clock, the Foam Nest Frogs were chirping and the wind had picked up, it didn’t take long for the heavens to open, and although we desperately need the rain I can’t say I was too chuffed with it. However, taking this blog seriously and not wanting to miss out on cubs, I wrapped up my camera in a black bag and even donned a poncho! We headed straight for the area of the lion, where they had now dragged their buffalo kill into the riverbed. As we approached, the rain lifted and the sun peeked briefly through the clouds…I couldn’t believe our luck! One adult male was tucking into buffalo ribs (we could hear the crunching!) while the other waited his turn. A few meters away lay the proud mother lioness with her three cubs. The cubs had been a little nervous this morning with the presence of the car, but this afternoon they barely seemed to notice us as they played with each other, fought for milk and groomed.  The buffalo kill was almost finished, so I really do hope they will stick around, as it was a beautiful sighting!

There had been a pre-drive sighting of Kuhanye near to camp, so we decided to investigate. We had also heard bushbuck alarm calls and started in that direction first. We found the bushbuck, doing what it does best; hiding in the bushes! And although we searched for quite a while, all we found was Kuhanye’s tracks. Hopefully we will have more luck tomorrow!

Herold then decided to follow up on the Jacaranda Pride that had been spotted earlier. On the way, we bumped into a solitary bull elephant, who was clearly not in the mood for paparazzi and he moved off. General game was sparse due to the weather and all we found was a small bachelor herd of waterbuck. Once again, we only found the tracks of the lion, which had unfortunately moved into a very thick area. On the way for a drinks stop at Lover’s Leap we came across a small python resting half on the road. It wasn’t very mobile due to the cold and we were able to snap away. Although the rest of our drive was relatively quiet, the lion cubs certainly made up for it.

15 January - Lion Around

Photo of the Day

 Morning Drive


(Herold.)


Lion (2 x Mahlathini males and 1 Timbavati female with buffalo kill) /  Motswari - Wedge River Road

Afternoon Drive

Herold's shot of Makepisi

 The trackers and myself followed the lion tracks right back towards concrete crossing where we suddenly heard the low growl of a lion warning. Not even 10 meters in front of us the Jacaranda pride stood up startled, stared intently at us and moved off. I think they got just as much of a fright as we did. It was certainly a satisfying dose of adrenaline for the afternoon and once back on the vehicle, we were able to have a wonderful sighting of them lying around in an open grass patch. As the sun went down, the pride became more active and prepped themselves for their evening hunt.

We headed back to camp, finding a Lesser Bushbaby jumping from tree to tree on the way. As we arrived back at camp, just to top off a wonderful drive, Diff spotted a tiny chameleon off on its nighttime endeavors.

I am also posting a couple of other pics of Makepisi from previous sightings; he really is one magnificent cat!

Buffalo (breeding herd) / Argyle - Peru Entrance Road

Lion (Mahlathini male with buffalo kill) / Motswari - Wedge River Rd
Lion (Jacaranda Pride; 2 females and 3 cubs) / Argyle – Peru Entrance Road

Leopard (Makepisi) / Mbali – Java Mbali Road

Daily Synopsis

Hello everyone, It is Andrea here, the ‘blossoming apprentice’….thanks Grant! So I am just helping out for the next two days until Chad gets back. I don’t get to go on all the drives so I am posting a couple of images from the drives I do go on in the next few days, as well as sharing a couple of photographs that I have taken over the last 3 months. As you know from following the blog, Motswari is an incredibly special place and I cannot even begin to describe how amazing it has been working up here for the last while, so hopefully my photos will do all the explaining.

Herold’s cat finding mission continued this morning and as Herold and Diff followed the tracks, the lioness came charging out at them! I wish I had been there. They found the three lions on a buffalo kill not far from camp.

I joined in the afternoon and we started by heading straight to the buffalo kill. The lion had dragged the kill deep into thick bush and all we could get was a brief visual of one of the males. We then headed towards Argyle where we found a small breeding herd of buffalo. One of the males looked very nervous and started sniffing and running, Herold thought it was a little strange so we followed him and came across fresh lion tracks. I joined Diff and the rest of the trackers to follow up on the tracks while Herold took the guests for a sighting of Makepisi, the young male leopard. Just as well I left my camera in the car and Herold got a great shot!

14 January - In Search Of Cats

Morning Drive.

( Herold.)

Leopard ( Kuhanya) / Motswari – North Motswari Camp.

Afternoon Drive.

( Herold.)

Leopard ( Makipi's Brother – Name Pending.) / Mbali – Dead Marula Rd.

Daily Synopsis.

Herolds mission for the day was to find cats whether they be spotted or tawny. He got off to a good start when he found tracks for one young lionesses thought to be the White Timbavati Female, around Motswari. With there being very few vehicles driving we sent out a tracking team to help. They spent their entire morning plus a good part of the afternoon following the tracks in a complete circle and by the end of it they had tracks going everywhere as the White Lioness tried to track down the Jacaranda Pride who's tracks turned up during the morning. Although they did not have success with Lion some good did come of tracking them around camp as they found our local resident Leopard Kuhanya sitting up in a Marula Tree North of Motswari, watching them walk around in circles.

With one of his cats in the bag Herold was focused on once again following up on the Lions. Being very warm there was a good chance they would have moved to a water source in the area. Unfortunately a heavy afternoon downpour ruined those chances and washed away the tracks as well as giving everyone a good shower. The afternoon was to be a quiet one and shortly before sunset they picked up on Makipi's brother which was an afternoon saver.

Tomorrow is D-day for Herold as the majority of his guests leave after morning drive, lets hope our Lion come to the party.

I'll be heading on leave early, take advantage of the quiet time, so I've left the sightings updates in the more than capable hands of our blossoming apprentice Andrea. As she will join at least one drive a day I'm sure she will be able to bring you a story or two, plus all her beautiful photo's. Till next week, ciao.

13th January: A Time To Rest!

Pic of the Day.

Morning Drive.

( Herold & Andrea.)

Elephant ( Breeding Herd) / Peru – Mbali Dam.

Afternoon Drive.

( Herold.)

Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Mbali – Buffalo Kill Rd.

Rhino ( 2 x Males)

Elephant ( Kambaku) / Peru – Lion Pan Rd.

Daily Synopsis.

With all the lodges quietening down after a very busy Christmas Season the break from drive was a welcome rest to most of us. It would however appear that our animals have also felt the effect of constantly performing for the past couple of weeks and are now also taking a deserved break.

On morning drive the guys once again found the large breeding herd of Elephant bathing in Mbali Dam nearly in the exact same spot as they had been found the past two drives! They must be the cleanest Elephant in Africa! None the less it is always a special sighting and one that guests don't often get to experience, so a lot of time was spent with them. Although the rest of morning drive was quiet on the “ Big Five” front their was a lot of general game about to keep the guys busy.

Afternoon drive once again saw even fewer vehicles head out but at least the sightings picked up. Herold was after Rhino and that is exactly what he found himself so once again his guests were very happy and he could spend the rest of his afternoon taking in whatever came his way.

Tomorrow will find him looking for cats, lets see if he has them as well trained as he does the rest.

I've posted a couple of pics below from some of my drives during last week, give the blog a little colour!