December 2009
We arrived back in Australia from Africa on Sunday afternoon to 43 degree heat and a drive back to Nelson Bay. We had left Savanna on Saturday having experienced some very unseasonal weather – rain and 12 degrees!! Thunderstorms can usually be expected at this time of year but not two days of continuous rain and cold temperatures!
We had a rewarding visit and so did Sandie who we sent over at the same time albeit with a different itinerary (more from her in a later edition). I particularly wanted to find out exactly what was going on in Zimbabwe from a tourists point of view. Hilary has written a story on the trip so I won’t go into detail but suffice to say that it was most interesting. Victoria Falls is well worth visiting. The hotels are still excellent with all services operating at a very high level of efficiency and no hint of any security or safety issues. The Zambezi was very low but it is to be expected at this time of year.
We then drove to Hwange national Park and stayed at two lodges – The Hide and Little Makololo. Both were of a high standard and the game viewing was good. The staff are just amazing. A light aircraft flight to Bumi Hills on Lake Kariba and a short boat ride found us at Musango Camp on a small island. Just a delightful place with great game viewing from the water of the lake in a comfortable boat. Next day we were on our way again in the light aircraft to Chirundu in the Lower Zambezi area. A one hour speedboat ride down the Zambezi to Ruckomechi in the Mana Pools National Park was great fun. Unfortunately the area was full of Tsetse Flies so we will definitely not be sending our clients there during summer. They closed on the same day that we left for the main summer shut down as roads are impassable during the rainy season. They open again in May.
The flight from Chirundu to Harare brought tears to my eyes as we flew over what used to be highly productive and very beautiful farming country. There is virtually no crop production now – just a few small patches where there was some irrigation. The lands have not even been ploughed!
Harare is still a basket case. We stayed with friends and they had no municipal water, electricity or sewerage. Instead they has a septic tank, borehole and generator and were thus were self sufficient. What a travesty!
In summary then we are very comfortable recommending our clients to Victoria Falls, the game reserves and Lake Kariba but we would avoid Harare and fly into and out of Victoria Falls. Both the general population and the border officials were most welcoming and we felt perfectly comfortable whilst in the country. Tourism is certainly on the rise and we want to be at the forefront of this advance.
This Message Stick thus has lot on Zimbabwe!
Postcard from Zimbabwe by Hilary
The down-grading of the travel ban to a travel warning much like that for the USA, prompts us to investigate Zimbabwe as a holiday destination and what better place to start than Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world and, it is claimed, the largest curtain of water in the world. The 1,708 meters wide Victoria Falls cascades in a single vertical drop through a fracture in the basalt rock into a gorge 103 meters below. This spectacle which has been accorded World Heritage listing, on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, has to be seen first-hand to be truly appreciated. Even at this time of year (November) when the flow is generally at its lowest (estimated to be merely one-tenth of that in April), it still succeeds in impressing as the smoke that thunders (direct translation of the local name, Mosi-oa-Tunya) still soaks us on our meander through the park admiring the rainbows and rainforest for which it is responsible.
The falls have been receding up-river for the past 100,000 years by eroding sandstone layers in the rock and forming the dramatic zigzag gorges. Geologists believe that the current falls are the eight in the series and it is expected that the plummeting water over the Devils Cataract on the Zimbabwe side will create the next gorge.
David Livingstone on documenting the “discovery” of the falls describes “a sight so wonderful that angels must have gazed down on it in flight” unknowingly gave birth to a wonderful tourist experience – the “flight of angels”, a helicopter flight over the falls, a truly breathtaking experience. The operators, Airzim, are very experienced and professional with many of the pilots having previous air force experience. Facilities are available for visitors to take home a video of the encounter, which would surely be a treasured memento.
In previous visits to the Falls, we have stayed at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge and, my all-time favourite, the Victoria Falls Hotel, so this time we decided to try another lodge just across the road from the Vic Falls Hotel, the Ilala Lodge. This is quite different to the other two but is a well maintained, comfortable boutique hotel about 10 minutes walk from the falls. The advertising literature describes it as providing distinguished accommodation in a gracious and secluded ambiance and we are pleased to find the claims are not inaccurate. We were treated to the customary warm African welcome and shown our room before moving to the veranda for lunch and to a table, shaded by an enormous laburnum tree where we were festooned with confetti-like petals the colour of sunshine from the cascading yellow blossoms as we watch the spray from the nearby falls rise into the already humid air.
The lodge has 32 standard rooms and 2 deluxe suites, all with air conditioning, overhead fan and satellite TV. The rooms are spacious with railway sleeper teak furnishings and patio doors leading onto either open lawn or a balcony which affords a view of the spray of the falls from the upper level rooms
After lunch it’s time to meet up with Sandie, who is staying at the Vic Falls Hotel (to check that their standards have been maintained despite the recent hardship encountered by Zimbabweans – thankfully it seems that they have) for our scheduled flight of angels. Leonard comes to collect us at the lodge in a clean well-kept combie as the chopper pad is a few kilometres outside the town. While we wait our turn, we peruse the inevitable horde of souvenirs offered by some enterprising locals, conscious that this is only the start of our trip, the 12 kg luggage limitation on charter flights and Australia’s need to be protected from possible undesirable inhabitants of wood, bone, horn, vegetable matter etc. However we cannot resist what has to be the world’s most unique souvenir, billion and even trillion dollar bank notes which once was legal tender and now sells for US$1 per note. Zimbabwe now uses US$, South African Rands (and probably any other currency they can get!) While we find it amusing to purchase these now useless notes, we can do nothing but sympathise with the beleaguered residents who have seen their life savings devalue and disappear with the stroke of a pen.
Our time in Vic Falls is too short to sample the myriad of activities available here such as white water rafting, elephant backed safaris, canoeing, bungee jumping (though I must confess that it’s not time shortage that prevents me sampling this delight!), flying fox, walking with lions. However we cannot resist a late afternoon walk in the National Park so we set off on foot from the lodge, only to be besieged by locals persistently selling their wares, which granted are beautiful but cannot be entertained at least at this point in our journey. We reflect that it would be so much easier to stand our ground in refusal without the ever-present anguish of compassion for a deprived people cheated by their own brothers in corrupt government and official positions and count our blessings at our good fortune to live in a land of plenty.
The entrance to the park is preceded by a tiny bridge with tree-branch rails into which is carved various images of animals and people. Once inside the turnstile, peace is interrupted only by the sound of the rushing, pounding water and the sweet trill of birds. Away from the reach of the spray, everything is dry and bare as tinder, shrivelling in the glare of the sun. The rain, which is due to start at the end of the month (November), will bring with it a green transformation for this parched parcel of earth. But as we near the falls the geography changes dramatically into the rich, deep green of rainforest vegetation which clings to the edge of the falls and is maintained by the constant clouds of spray that waft up from the gorge. This small ecosystem provides a toehold for no less than 70 shrubs and 150 herbaceous species, one of which bursts into our vision like the fireball it is, the fireball lily. It produces a huge 15cm, spherical flower head made up of thousands of tiny starry blooms in a stunning fiery red. Its shape reminds me of a huge dandelion gone to seed and the multitude of images captured on my (thankfully digital) camera attests to the impression it had on me!
As the hot humid air claws its way around the contours of my ample body and saps away the remainder of my energy, I plead exhaustion and we take a detour back to the lodge to refresh ourselves before dinner in its air-conditioned comfort.
In the marginally cooler evening we enjoy dinner, again on the veranda, to the strains of a couple of groups of the local musicians, one of whom give the most unusual rendition of happy birthday for John as the waiter presents him with a huge (and delicious) chocolate birthday cake. I’m not sure how we are going to sleep with that huge hit of sugar, but sleep we must as we are off first thing in the morning to Hwange National Park and Sandie departs to Zambia.
Tune in for the next thrilling instalment in the next edition of the message stick …….
News from Savanna Private Game Reserve
(With thanks and acknowledgement to Paddy Hagelthorn and the staff of Savanna)
October is a month of anticipation where the bush, animals and humans alike are all waiting for the summer rains to start. This month it all started with a bang, as our first rains consisted of one huge hailstorm which caused incredible damage to lodges and cars. The guests that were caught out on the game drive in this storm will probably remember it for the rest of their lives. Some of the rangers and guests who got hit in the eye of the storm had huge welts from very large hailstones raining down on them. This storm lasted approximately half an hour and everybody scattered for cover. As soon as it had passed over, all drives resumed as if nothing had happened. Over the next few days, we found a few birds that had been killed by these hailstones, but apart from that, everything and everybody seems to have survived. We then had another 5 mls of rain after this, which encouraged us to begin our burning programme. There has been no more since and we now wait with bated breath for the “real” rains to start.
This initial rain seems to have induced the impala to give birth and we have been seeing a number of youngsters since the 25th of this month, which is earlier than normal. From previous records, the females should only start giving birth in mid-November. Maybe they know something we don’t.
Again this month, the cheetah with the funny lip, Makumisa, has been visiting our area on a regular basis. What is amazing is that every time he has come over this month, he has been exceptionally full. He has come over, rested a couple of days before returning East out of our property again. Even though he is not the most beautiful of cheetah, he does provide us with some wonderful photographic opportunities.
Four of the Mapogo have been resident on our traversing area for the whole of this last month, possibly because two of the Ximungwe females are still coming into season and are receptive to the males. Contributing to this, we have also had two of the large buffalo herds on our traversing area and the lions have made numerous buffalo kills this month. Most of these kills have been young animals, so have not lasted for any length of time. We have thus had wonderful interaction between the lions and the buffalo, where on several occasions the herds of buffalo have chased the lions off, but persistence prevails and normally ends with at least one buffalo being killed.
As already mentioned, mating with the Ximungwe pride continues and we are sure that at least two, maybe three, of the Ximungwe pride are pregnant. The Ximungwe females caused a bit of a stir this month when they moved right to the north of our property which is unchartered territory for them. For one day, they also moved East out of our territory into an area they have never been to before. We waited with bated breath to see if they would return or whether this would be a permanent territorial change. Fortunately, they came back the next day, killed a waterbuck and returned to their original territorial area.
Once again, the leopard have provided us with some fantastic viewing and we are very happy to announce that Makubela has had another litter of cubs. We haven’t located these cubs yet, but she is lactating heavily and we really hope that this time she will be able to rear these cubs to independence. This is her fourth litter, having lost the three previous litters when the cubs were still very young. We have been seeing a lot of Mambiri and her cub this month and at one stage there was great concern, as we found her one morning with the cub and noticed she was limping very badly. However, this problem seems to have sorted itself out and she is now back to normal, providing us with exceptional viewing of herself and her cub.
The three young leopards from the North - Hlabankunzi, Metsi and Xikavi - have all been mating with the Tegwane male yet again. These frequent matings might continue for a while until such time as these three young females have established themselves in a territorial area.
The Thulamzanzi male leopard has also been seen regularly this month and his nomadic excursions into our property have taken him further and further afield. Wherever he goes, he is likely to be treading on some big males’ territory and he will be chased from pillar to post until he is old enough, big enough and strong enough to vie for a territory himself.
It almost seems as if there is a mini-migration happening of the wildebeest populations within our reserve. During this dry period, we have had an influx of herds of wildebeest moving onto our clearings. It is encouraging to see that the re-introduction of the wildebeest in the Sabi Sand has definitely boosted the numbers of our population, so that we currently have approximately 700 - 800 wildebeest.
More and more of the migrant birds are returning. We have not yet heard the familiar call of the woodlands kingfisher, but they have returned. Many of you will remember the white fronted bee-eaters that were nesting at the river at our popular coffee break stop. Many of these have now produced chicks and, as the parents come backwards and forwards carrying insects to feed their brood, we are getting exceptional photo opportunities.
On numerous occasions, we have shown the bravery of nesting birds protecting their eggs against intruders. This was witnessed again this month when a herd of buffalo came down to the water to drink and a pair of spotted thick-knees took on any buffalo that came close to their eggs.
Once again, we have had large herds of elephant in our traversing area and there have been a number of very small calves seen amongst these herds. With the greening up of the bush, it has hidden much of the damage that these elephants have done over the prolonged dry period.
A couple of months ago, I showed some photographs of an exceptionally old bull with one big tusk. An update on this male is that he is still alive and well, even though he tends to be slowing down a bit and remains in the areas for far longer than he would normally be there. There are a number of young but mature bulls that have joined him and seem to be protecting him.
A new website has been started by a number of guides working at various lodges to showcase some of their photographs. Many of you may recognize some of the animals on the site, so feel free to have a look at www.ashbyimages.co.za.
News from The Hide - Zimbabwe
We are well into our dry season now, but due to the amount of natural rain water still in the north of the Park, elephant numbers at our pan have not increased to the normal numbers for October. That said, there are still more than enough grey giants around to keep us entertained. At least the vegetation will have a break from the enormous damage normally done by the Elephants.
Our resident female leopard has been very visual of late and has even been seen having an evening drink down by our pan. The night before the annual WEZ game count, she was also seen crossing the vlei and early the next morning she was seen in front of the camp. We had 10mm of rain during the game count which changed the animals' normal patterns and very little was seen or counted in the 24 hour period.
It is with very heavy hearts that we say goodbye to our resident male lion, Mpofu. He died on the 2nd November under the platform on The Hide's concession having shown incredible strength and determination to live, even at the end of his life. At the ripe old age of between 12 and 13 years of age, he had a remarkable career and spent the latter part of his life in and around the concession. His skill as a hunter for killing both elephants and buffalo was unbelievable, a skill which thankfully he has passed onto his sons. He will be remembered by all who had the privilege to meet him and it will take us all a long time to stop looking for him on our game drives, such a part of life in these parts he has become. RIP Old Man.
We have a new local pride that is more or less resident in this area now. They have been named by Jungle Jane and amongst the names are Lorraine, Bridget, Kathy, Baylee and Scruffy. Barry encountered this pride, whilst on a drive by the platform with some guests. Scruffy took great delight in stalking the vehicles and then followed them around in circles. Mirek who is a return guest, was the only one not under a seat! We have also had this pride drink at the pan before dinner. Clearly they know how to put on a performance, so we look forward to lots of fun times with them.
Nicholas continues to be jammy on his drives and keeps his title as the "Luckiest Guide"! He had a great sighting of a gemsbok!
Ngweshla seems to be the "in place" at the moment and Pat Kelly has taken some wonderful photographs there. Well done Pat and thank you for sharing them with us. Pat was also lucky to be able to watch a lioness get chased to the top of a termite mound by an angry herd of buffalo, she realised she was in dangerous territory and found safety quickly. Pat also witnessed a hyena and jackal sharing the leftover scraps from a lion kill. The clarity of Pat's photographs is amazing.
We have been lucky to have been able to watch a Bearded Robin on her nest at the camp's workshop. All 3 eggs have hatched now, so let's hope the youngsters survive. Daffy has been doing a lot birding walks in the past few weeks. The bird life is as always unreal and often overlooked by the non birders.
Nicholas has just completed his final exam on the path to becoming a fully qualified guide. By all accounts it appears he has done very well but we wait to hear the news. Well done Nic.
Gary, from Friends of Hwange was lucky to be on hand to help Byron put a collar on a female leopard that often drinks from the bird bath at Jungle Jane's house. We look forward to hearing where she has been when the researchers get the download information off the collar. We'll keep you posted.
One of the most unusual sightings we have had is an elephant at Ngweshla that appears to be almost albino. Around its eyes, trunk, inside of its legs, is all pink! Its toe nails were also white. One never knows what’s around the corner in the bush!
Barry was lucky enough to see three painted dog while on a drive with the Waddy family early one morning. They walked straight past the vehicle along the road. Our group followed them for about 3 kms before they ran off into the teak forest to hunt.
As we reach the end of the year, we await the rains. The sweet smell of the wet bush and the long awaited relief for the hot and thirsty animals, the regrowth of the grass as well and the new life that follows with all the baby impala, wildebeest and zebra.
The Hide also features in the new book "1 000 Places to See Before You Die - A Traveller's Life List"
Consistently voted 'Best Tented Safari Camp' in Zimbabwe for 9 years
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We have finalised a number of great bookings this month and I know that all of you who are travelling soon are about to enjoy your “trip of a lifetime.”
Happy Safaris!
John
61 (0)2 4984 9747
61 (0)411 749 627
jma@destinationsafrica.com.au
www.destinationsafrica.com.au