The Month That Was...

Hello everybody, again apologies for the lack of a blog last week due to internet problems, this week we have for you the newsletter for the month of September:

As we move into October the temperature rises and the chance of rain increases, with this we should see an increase in the numbers of migratory birds as the insect life increases in accordance with the warm moist conditions. The rain should bring welcome relief to the landscape that is showing the first flushes of spring but needs some water to sustain this new growth. The impala lambing season is fast approaching, but this is also dependant on the rainfall – good rains mean that we may see the first few lambs as early as the end of this month, dry conditions could delay the season until as late as December.

The warmer conditions mean we have already changed to our summertime schedule – morning drive departing at 5:30AM and afternoon drive at 4:30PM, this means that our guests can relax during the heat of the day.

The past month has provided plenty of excitement during the game activities – both during drives and the walks.

The morning nature walks usually involve a leisurely stroll in the wilderness learning about tracks, droppings, plants and insects but recently they have been characterized by encounters with more substantial creatures. The warmer days mean animals are coming to water more often and Scotia dam is a focal point for the fauna around the lodge, this means that walks to the dam have come across:
Elephants bathing and swimming on a regular basis
Sparring bull elephants
Lions relaxing on more than one occasion
Giraffe coming down to drink
Hippo in the dam, often giving warning displays
Large numbers of general game – waterbuck, impala, wildebeest, nyala etc
One morning there was a big male lion from the Mapogo coalition that caused a herd of swimming elephants to panic and stampede from the water (luckily away from the walking party)

Predator activity around the lodge seems to have increased, with regular sightings of large carnivores – Lion, leopard and African hunting dog were all seen in the lodge grounds and Hyena tracks were spotted on an almost daily basis. The dogs caught a duiker in front of the lodge one morning before chasing impala through the premises, Hyena caught a nyala in the staff area one night and just this morning the lions caught a Nyala outside room 4 whilst the guests were out on drive, none of this is a worry as the predators mostly use the lodge during times of little human activity - they do their best to avoid us.

Out on drive there was also plenty of excitement, starting right at the beginning of the month when the Ottawa lion pride brought down a buffalo north of the river. The buffalo did note take kindly to being attacked and fought back fiercely, mortally wounding the old half ear lioness in the process. The rest of the pride continued the fight ignoring their fallen relative, eventually killing the buffalo. The wounded female retired to the cover of a nearby bush and later died. The rest of the pride fed well and moved on, a week later they showed that the loss of the old lioness had not affected them badly as the brought down another big buffalo south of the river. Later in the month we received a report from our neighbours that they had made another buffalo kill, hopefully the pride can continue to be this successful and stay strong.
Buffalo did not fare so well as the Mapogo male lions also were hungry this month! The older male brought down a young buffalo where he fad until one of the other coalition members came and replaced him, later in the month 2 of the males brought down a huge old bull buffalo which evidently stumbled upon the pair sleeping. Eventually the 2 males were joined by a lioness from the Tsalala pride 9the one with no tail) and one of the sub adult females of the same pride also arrived some time later. Reportedly the Tsalalas had come across the Ottawa pride and a fight had erupted, scattering the Tsalalas, which is probably the reason that only two of the pride members were present.
The Ximunghwe pride was also regularly seen, some of the lionesses were mating with individual males from the Mapogo coalition but two of them were often seen alone, it was hoped the two single lionesses had split to give birth. This turned out to be the case as both den sites were located and there at least 4 new cubs between the two females.

The leopard population has also been providing great sightings –
Mabirri’s youngster caught and at a guinea fowl next to the vehicle early in the month and she was seen with her mother on other kills quite regularly. At one point it seemed that she was going to be pushed away by Mabirri after thy had been seen being aggressive towards one another, Mabirri was also seen following the trail of the Kashane male one morning and we thought that perhaps she was ready to mate, all this turned out to be wrong and mother and daughter were seen together frequently after all this occurred.
Metsi female has been bringing her cubs out more frequently and we are finally getting to see the two of them quite closely, before long they will be as relaxed as Hlab’nkunzi’s youngsters.
The two Hlab’nkunzi youngsters were seen regularly both with the mother and without, they ate well throughout the month and we were lucky enough to be able to watch them attempting their first kill – a young bushbuck. Hlab’nkunzi herself caught the bushbuck but let it go, still alive in front of the youngsters. The inexperienced young leopards tried hard but could not get it right and I think the poor bushbuck just gave up and died of shock in the end. We also saw some attempts to stalk by the young leopards, the most successful attempt was on a nyala bull – one cub got very close before being seen. Less successful, but more amusing, were the attempts to stalk rhino and giraffe!
Also seen were the regular male leopards – Kashane, Tegwaan, Mashiabanj, Xinzele and surprisingly a sighting of a relaxed Xindlevhana, other females seen included Ravenscourt, Xikavi, Dam 3 (pregnant), Hippo Dam and daughter and Shangwa’s daughter.

The African wild dogs were seen regularly, unfortunately one of the pups was abandoned during the month bringing the total number down to 9, we did see them hunting and feeding regularly, apart from the hunts around the lodge mentioned earlier, averaging a kill per day. During the time that the pack was in the area they also managed to harass the male lion known as Makulu Mapogo, chase 2 leopards up a tree (Hippo dam and daughter) and chase rhino around!

2 different male cheetah were seen regularly and they also fed well and were seen mostly sleeping off big meals, one of them did complete a successful chase in front of us a couple of mornings ago, catching a young steenbok.

Rhino have been plentiful all over the traversing area with a large concentration around Ebony dam, just to the north of the lodge.

Elephants were plentiful as usual and some quite big herds were seen along the Sand River during the month. There have also been some massive bulls around the area but no big tuskers at the moment.

Hippo have been seen out of the water frequently recently - not a surprise at night but more unusual in the day. The hippo with the battle scars is still healing well and it is he who has been seen out of the water in daylight most often.

Large-spotted genets have been found often in the evenings on the burned areas as well as the white-tailed mongoose. Lesser bushbaby have also been spotted regularly, including one which seemed to be teasing a leopard (Mabirri’s daughter) by leaping from tree to tree above her and calling, just out of reach!

There was much more than this going on, as usual these are just a few of the many wonderful sightings that we have had here.
Until next time,
Best wishes
Rob The Ranger

The Week(s) That (Were).....

We start firstly with an apology for our lack of updates the past few weeks, this post will be a recap of the major points since the last post, and from here we can get back to the weekly updates.
The biggest talking point has to be the fire that swept over the property at the end of August clearing out the majority of the tangled dead undergrowth. A very large area was burned, right up to the lodge grounds, that whole area is now turning green and the grazing animals are appearing in numbers. The first rains of the season are not far away and when they arrive the nutrients from the ash will soak into the soil and help the regrowth. With the majority of Idube property burnt this new growth is concentrating the herbivores around the loge, this in turn brings the predators and just this week we have seen leopard, lion and hyena in the lodge grounds, the hyena actually made a kill close to the staff rooms this morning!
The new buildings are progressing rapidly, the structure is basically complete, the doors and windows are in place and the wooden decks are progressing well, plunge pools are being built by each chalet.
The problem of elephants coming into the lodge grounds seems to have stopped with a combination of new fencing, the fire and the arrival of spring it seems the eles are content to find food elsewhere for now.
The game drives have been fantastic, as always, and the main updates are as follows:

• The older Ottawa lioness with the half-ear was killed by a buffalo whilst assisting the pride in making the kill, the pride has not been too badly affected by the loss and less than a week later brought down another buffalo. The sub-adults in the pride are accomplished hunters and the group should not go hungry, the other adult female is the mother of the younger cubs so her presence should guide the group well in the future. (Remember the Ximunghwe pride was reduced to one lioness and some youngsters a couple of years ago and they are a strong pride now).
• The 4 Mapogos have spent most of their time in the western sector, between the Ximunghwe pride and the Ottawa pride, most recently MrT and Snip-tail have been mating with two Ximungwe lionesses
• The Ximunghwe pride lost the last two cubs, most likely to the claws of MrT, since then 2 of the lionesses have split from the group - hopefully to give birth! Any cuybs born now would fall under the protection of MrT as he is now fully reintegrated into the Coalition
• Buffalo have not been faring too well as the lions have taken down at least 4 adults and one youngster in the last few weeks.
• Metsi female leopard and her cubs have been seen more regularly, the cubs are still shy but tolerate the vehicles at a kill
• Hlab'nkunzi female leopard and her two cubs have been a regular sight and despite reports of one of the cubs being killed, all three leopards were seen at a kill recently.
• Hlab'nkunzi herself seems to have had an altercation with Metsi and was last seen with injuries to the head and neck, it seems they were just flesh wounds and she should recover easily
• Mabirri female leopard and her cub have been spending less time together and we may have seen the last kill they share last week. After the impala kill was finished the next time we saw the two together it looked as if Mabirri was chasing the Daughter away. Soon afterwards Mabirri was seen following the trail of the Kashane male leopard - this probably means she is looking to mate soon.
• Mabirri's cub has been making her own kills fairly regularly and should cope well with independence, one sign that she is still young is the fact that she was very intent on catching a bush-baby the other night - fun to watch but very frustrating for the young leopard as she found the agility of the small primate surprising!
• Xikavi Female leopard was seen throwing herself at the Xinzele male, he was looking most confused as at only 3 years old he is a bit young for all that attention. The next day he was seen alone, it seems Xikavi had gone in search of a male who knew what to do...
• Tegwaan male leopard has been increasing his patrolling area and managed to cover the majority of the Western sector in 24 hours - moving from the south western corner up to the north western corner and ending inside Idube which is on the center of the Eastern boundary!
• A fairly relaxed young female leopard has been seen frequently on the northern banks of the Sand river, her mother runs of at first sign of a vehicle so we have no positive ID as yet, she is the daughter of either Hippo Dam or Dam 3 depending on which one was mating with Tegwaan last month....
• Kashane Male leopard has been seen often on Idube and Savanna properties and has taken a liking to warthog meat - he killed one in the South and then another one in the wetland at the back of the lodge only a few days later.
• Two male cheetah have been seen regularly, all over the traversing area. At one point the two crossed through the same area only a few hundred meters apart, in opposite directions but neither one noticed the other.
• The pack of 10 painted hunting dogs were seen regularly and hunted extremely successfully during the time thy were in our traversing area - they killed at least onca a day, sometimes twice, the pups are already 2/3 of the size of the adults and if they continue to eat as well as they have been will be as big as the parents by the end of the year!
• Despite the spike in rhino poaching in the country this year our rhino population is unaffected and are seen regularly, here in the Sands the constant presence of the counter-poaching teams and the number of rangers out on drive keeps the animals safe from poachers.
• The elephants have been extremely happy with the arrival of spring and all the extra nutrients appearing, this does mean that the herds are spread out throughout the area and not concentrated around the water sources anymore, we still see them regularly, we just have to track a bit harder!

There was obviously a lot more going on than the points mentioned above, these are just the highlights- next week we will give you a thorough update on the sightings we see between now and then!

Best wishes,

The Idube Team

The week that was....(5)

After the elephant activity around the lodge last week, our maintenance staff are busy upgrading the electric fence around the lodge at the moment, it looks good and hopefully will put an end to the midnight raids by the bulls. the new buildings are coming on well, the windows are in and the roof tiles are almost complete, it should not be too many more weeks before we can open them to the public!

Our owners, Louis and Marilyn Marais, came up to visit this week with family. For them it was as much a holiday as it was a check up on the building progress.

There was not too much animal activity inside the lodge this week other than the usual warthogs (making a mess of the lawn), nyala and squirrels. There was a visit by a big hippo, feeding by the breakfast deck, during the day and we had a mating lion pair move through the staff quarters one morning. there were also lions roaring close to the lodge on Wednesday night.

During drives we had the usual high quality sightings, these included:

• Lions (Snip-Tail/Dreadlocked Mapogo and short-tail Ximunghwe lioness) mating just to the south of the lodge (the same pair that came through the staff area later in the day). This after Mapogo MrT had been mating with the same lioness last week


• Mabirri female leopard and daughter with an impala kill, they were joined by the Metsi female leopard (also Mabirri's Daughter) and there was some animosity between the three. By Tuesday night Metsi had left and we saw MrT arrive and steal the kill scattering the two leopards to the tops of the nearby marula trees


• The Metsi female leopard returned to her cubs on top of one of the granite hills and we got our first good look at the new youngsters, by now approx three months old - it was a view through binoculars and powerful zooms so not good for pictures or Id's


• The Ximunghwe pride's remaining cubs were safely under the watchful eye of their mother and the Makulu Mapogo male for most of the week.


• Hlabnkunzi female leopard was seen regularly trying to get food for her two cubs which we also saw regularly. She seems to have had little success in the hunting stakes although we saw her trying a couple of times


• The Ottawa lion pride were seen regularly. On Thursday they killed a nyala bull which upset a nearby elephant herd, we arrived to scenes of chaos as the lions were trying to eat and the eles were chasing them off!
• The Tai Dam female leopard was seen up in the north, it seems she had made a kill and was looking to find her son and take him back there. Whilst we watched she gave the full range of vocalisations right next to us. Later in the drive whilst we were having drinks we heard her calling again.
• The four Mapogo male lions had some disagreements about who would get to mate with the various Ximunghwe lionesses, one such disagreement saw MrT and the male with the bite marks on the back were so engrossed in one another's movements that the lioness got up and left them to it, both males roared to see if she would reply and when she did they decided she was too far and made up before going to sleep...
• Xikavi female leopard had an impala kill that we watched her feed on down in a steep drainage line, by morning she had lost it to hyenas
• There was a small breeding herd of buffalo in the area for a day or two, they were harassed by the Ximunghwe females and some of the Mapogo, judging by the tracks. No kill was made though.

The bout of flu that was going around the staff seems to have passed which made the week even better, Andries has returned from leave to take over from rob which means that the videos taken out in the bush will be appearing on the Internet soon -enjoy!

Until next week

Best Wishes,

The Idube Team

The Week That Was....(4)

The lodge has been under siege from elephants this week which can bee seen as both a good and a bad thing. It was great for sightings, especially for walks, with eles swimming in Schotia dam most days. It was bad for the lemon tree behind the kitchen which was almost destroyed by one of the midnight elephant raids one night!

The lodge was also graced by a visit from the Kashane (Lisbon) male leopard who came to drink at Shidulu dam during breakfast one morning and then retired to the shade of a nearby bush for the rest of the day.

A small amount of controlled burning was done on the north eastern corner of the property with a larger burn planed for this week, weather permitting.

The highlights of the weeks drives are as follows:

• The male cheetah with the under bite crossed onto Idube and killed an impala to the south of the lodge, he fed on the kill throughout the day before abandoning it to the vultures the next morning. He was seen for a couple of days before crossing back to the east.


• All four of the Mapogo male lions were seen together at the airstrip before splitting off in different directions again.


• The Mapogo known as MrT unfortunately got hold of one of the remaining Ximunghwe pride cubs, there are only 2 left now, he was later seen mating with one of the Ximunghwe lionesses close to the western boundary


• The Shangwa female leopard was seen north of the river, she seemed to have been in a big fight and was sporting many battle scars, later in the week the Ravenscourt female was seen also showing battle scars so it seems that the two had a confrontation over territory.


• Hlabnkunzi female leopard and her two cubs were seen regularly, the highlight being seeing all three leopards feeding off an impala carcass at the same time, a very unusal sighting as leopards usually feed in turn.


• Tegwaan male leopard joined the Hlabnkunzi family at the same impala carcass later on before all four leopards were disturbed by the Ottawa lion pride sometime overnight, the morning after Tegwaan and one of the cubs were up a tree with the lions beneath whilst Hlabnkunzi and the other cub were found a bit further away. Eventually mother and both cubs were reunited and the lions moved off.


• The Ottawa lions were seen before the above sighting all over the northern part of our traversing area, this after they finished the big kudu bull the killed last Sunday


• After losing one of the cubs the Ximungwe lionesses split up and two of them moved north with the remaining cubs an Makulu Mapogo in tow.


• The Tai Dam female leopard was spotted up in the Northwest corner, she was with her son, a leopard that we had not seen for a long time and had thought perhaps was dead, the pair were moving with a purpose and eventually led us to a bushbuck kill close to the northern boundary in the Kloof river, the next day they had both moved on.


• Mabirri female leopard and her cub were spotted pushing their boundaries north into Idube again, the cub was left for a few days on our property as mum went off hunting, this is great news as the youngster gets closer to independence. the unoccupied territory around Idube can only remain vacant for so long...


• The female rhino with the long horn and her family were regular visitors to the northern part of Idube as were at least 6 other rhino making the ebony dam area the best spot for rhino viewing in the area!

So all in all it was another awesome week, the only downside was the bit of flu going around the staff!

Until next week,

Best wishes,

The Idube Team

The Week That Was....(3)

This past week has been an exciting one here at Idube, the guest numbers have been high - people and animals! there were a couple of nocturnal visits from a big elephant bull who found a way to bypass the electric fence system (by opening the gate!) and this kept us busy, both trying to persuade him to leave and cleaning up the debris. There were often hippo tracks found through the lodge grounds in the morning but luckily nobody came face to face with the animal itself. Lions came through the lodge more than once - first the Tsalala pride of 9 animals on the way to the giraffe carcass, then a Ximunghwe lioness chasing the resident Nyala past room 5 before the morning walk and now as I write this the 5 sub-adult females of the Tsalala pride are at the hide at Shadulu dam, by our dining area!
Ranger Promise and his tracker Elliot returned from a break to relieve Andries and Titus, great sightings awaited out on drive....

• This week saw a total of 18 different leopards recorded: Tegwaan male and Hippo Dam female (mating); Xikavi female, Xindlevhana male and Mashiabanj male together with a kill!; Ravenscourt female, Xinzele male (her son) and Ravenscourt young male (her younger son) together with a Nyala kill; Mabirri and Daughter with an impala kill, Hlabnkunzi and 2 cubs with an impala kill; Dam 3 youngster running into the river; a new shy female in the south and most importantly the first confirmation of Metsi female's litter - 2 approx 9wk old cubs found with mum at a duiker kill, very shy though. I will try to upload our Western sector ID kit in the coming days so you can get an idea of who is who! For now check out the facebook page Sabi Sand Leopard Identification for pictures
• The Tsalala pride killed a wildebeest just south of the lodge.
• The four Mapogo male lions finally made their way to the giraffe carcass just north of the lodge where they were joined by the Tsalala pride, there was some agression and confusion between the lions as the younger members of Tsalala had not seen their fathers for a long time, it all ended well with Makulu Mapogo and two of the older lionesses finishing off the last scraps before leaving the carcass to the vultures
• The Ximungwhe lionesses who have lost their cubs were back in oestrus and two of them were seen mating with the Mapogo males during the week.
• Big herds of elephants were widespread in the area, as were rhinos.
• Buffalo bulls were spotted in small groups in many places across the traversing area and it was a lot easier to find them this week!
• The Ottawa lion pride returned from the east and this morning killed a huge kudu bull just on the northern edge of Idube property
• A Ximungwe lioness killed a young waterbuck close to the lodge and was chased off by one of the Mapogo males, she was the lioness who ended up chasing the Nyala in the lodge later the same day!
• Some of the leopard interactions in that first list of sightings were unusual: Xindlevhana male and Mashiabanj male did not fight or even growl at one another, there was more interaction between them and Xikavi - who made the kill. the Ravenscourt family continue to amaze, Xinzele is almost 3 years old but continues to be welcomed by his mother and younger brother, something that I cannot remember having happened in any other leopard family on record!

There were also some eventful morning nature walks, an activity that we usually point out as not being about the larger animals Despite this elephants, hippo and lions were encountered on more than one occasion!

Look out for the next update, this time next week,

Stay well,

Regards,

The Idube Team

July Newsletter

July Newsletter

Winter hit us hard this year, but amazingly did not last too long, invariably though, by saying this, I am cursing us, and we are sure to feel the full wrath of icy winds over the coming few days. Those that have visited us in winter before, can attest to the fact that there are marked temperature changes between the hours that the sun is above the horizon, and when it is below the horizon. Winter abated to a degree from the middle of the month, but knowing that August is now upon us, we have not been too rushed to pack away the fleeces, jackets, gloves and beanies. Daily temperatures averaged well into the mid twenties, and the sun provided an extra bit of comfort on the days that the temperatures were a little lower. Herein lies the advantage of our winters, clear blue sky, with a bright sun overhead. Drives are still going out at 06:30 in the mornings, and those that may still be planning a visit over the next month and a half or so are well advised to bring the winter warmers along as essential companions out on the open vehicles during drive times.
Early July saw the end of the Soccer World Cup, and what a pleasure to have had a few Spanish guests at the lodge a few days after the famous victory. Congratulations to the Spanish team and country for your sportsmanship, and ultimately becoming deserved victors of this World Championship. The tournament had us running around at the lodge, and occupancy levels only started dropping nearer the end of the month, once the Tournament specific travellers started returning home to their various countries. Luckily I can report that we are again busy, and to compliment this the drives have been just as eventful and busy.
The vegetation is now starting to resemble a true winter landscape, as the green colour fades from the plants, and are replaced by the brown and tan textures of desiccated grass and leaves. The risk of runaway fires becomes a head ache to the staff as we are constantly on the lookout for any puff of smoke that may indicate the start of a fire. To combat the destructive possibilities of an encounter with such a natural disaster, we have a burning regime whereby we try to rotate burning different blocks each year, to prevent the fuel load (Dead grass and Leaves), from building up to dangerous levels. This is done, because of numerous reasons, too many to mention here, annually. We have already burnt one small area close to the lodge itself, and this should act as a natural fire break, preventing any damage to the lodge, should a runaway fire be encountered. We will be burning 2 more areas of the reserve over the coming weeks in compliance with our yearly burning schedule.
The lodge though, is still looking beautiful, bathed in the emerald greens from the evergreen trees and lawns that are privileged enough to be watered regularly. This is also done with guest comfort in mind, as the dust would become overbearing were we to leave the grass to die in the lodge. August sees the arrival of the winds, this due to shifting high and low pressure cells over the Indian and Atlantic oceans, that occur with the changing seasons.
Rob will be able to give you a detailed run down of the animal activities that were witnessed out on drive this month. I will just touch on a few notable points, to keep you interested, and entice you into opening up his newsletter and reading about many of our phenomenal sightings.
The month started on a sad note, with the death of a legendary leopard female here at Idube, namely the Makubela female, who had spent the better part of 6 years using a core territory based around the lodge. She was, as could have been read from last month’s letters, injured in a fight with a much larger male leopard, from which she did not recover. We have over the last month though not had a shortage of leopard activity around the lodge, and it seems that we will soon be seeing regular confrontations between 2 males that are being seen more frequently around the lodge, both of whom are staking claims to the prime area around the Lodge.
With an ever growing young female ( Mambirri’s Daughter) in the south, we are all hoping that she can come and fill the vacuum left at present, by the absence of Makubela. There is also always the Young blue eyed daughter of Shangwa that has been independent for about 4 months now that could also fill the void. Only time will tell when and by which leopard the vacant territory will be filled.
Elephants have been seen more and more around the lodge premises, as they come to 1 of the 2 large water points on opposite sides of the lodge. They have made their presence known, rather unpopularly, by breaking into the lodge to get access to the succulent green vegetation within the boundaries.
There was also a dead giraffe encountered just north of the lodge this month. Wait, am I saying too much, I should probably leave some news for Rob. What I will say though is that at least 2 leopards, 3 Male Lions, 12 Hyaenas, and 2 Porcupines were seen feeding here, we managed to get some phenomenal pictures and video footage of them, and posted them to the newly created online updating centres.
Technology, Blogs, Facebook groups, and Twitter were the buzz words around the office this month. Not the usual, lions, leopards, zebras and giraffes, although there were plenty of them to be seen.
I must admit, being a Bush Person, the new challenge of currently getting up to speed with all the online advertising and updating, that we are attempting to streamline, has posed more of a challenge than initially expected. Make no mistake, I am not totally in the dark, but without the help of Rob, we would still be struggling to get pages registered, let alone being able to post updates at will at various times during the day. What am I on you may be asking yourselves?
Well, we have taken the tech leap, and have registered and opened Fan/Group pages on both Facebook and Twitter. Added to this, Weekly blog updates will be loaded onto our newly created blogspot.
Personally, the time that I spent away from the western sector of the Sabi Sand Wildtuin, before returning in February this year, was frustrating from the perspective of wanting to know what was happening to the different individual animals seen on a regular basis out on drives. Hours was spent trolling around the different websites of various lodges to try and get an idea of what was happening. We have thus started the above mentioned pages, to give regular updates, that those of you, who may want to follow the animal antics, can, and further to this, we will be posting general updates from the lodge and the reserve as well. I know reading about new buildings isn’t quite as exciting as reading about a Lion Kill, but this all contributes equally to the lodge and its operation, and we want to be able to share all Idube news with you at any time. Updates will include written posts, photographs, and video footage. For a full experience we thus now have many options for you to follow:
http://www.facebook.com/idubelodge is our Facebook page, please join us to get your daily bush dose. This page is linked with our Twitter account: http://twitter.com/idube_lodge and all posted updates will thus also be visible here. Our blog spot can be found at http://idubelodge.blogspot.com
Rob has for a while now been a regular poster on Youtube and Facebook, and his posts which include updated video footage captured out on Idube drives with guests can be accessed at http://www.facebook.com/rtrwildlifevideos and http://www.youtube.com/iduberobtheranger
I have also started a new blog, which will feature Images taken over the past few years of working in this area, and new ones that I have captured since February. I will be posting features such as daily events, game drive happenings, and lodge specific updates on a regular basis. This can be found at http://www.big5africansafari.blogspot.com

Please join our pages, we are sure they will only enhance your experiences that you have had, and are still to have at our little paradise. We look forward to making your acquaintance on the net, before personally, when you come and visit us.
Regards
Rudi Hulshof and the Idube Private Game Reserve Team

The Week That Was.... (2)

The past week at Idube has seen the return of Managers Rudi and Melinda from leave - just in time for stock take! We also had a visit from new extended Idube family in Kobus, Magda's boyfriend, who came all the way from Namibia to see what the lodge is all about (and to visit his lady!).
The winter burning season is upon us and since Rudi's return the block around the lodge has already been burnt and plans are underfoot for some larger block burns in the coming week. Fire is important for the regeneration of the bush and areas need to burn every couple of years to prevent the dead combustible material building up to dangerous levels and also to give new growth space to flourish.
There was not as much animal activity around the lodge this week with the elephants having moved on to other areas of the property. The usual nyala and warthog families were around along with the tree squirrels, plated rock lizards and the boomslang (tree snake) who lives in the tree outside the office. There were also nighttime sightings of a male leopard and hyena up around the staff quarters.

The sightings out on drive were phenomenal as always and included:

• The four Mapogo male lions and the Ottawa pride finishing off their buffalo from last week
• One of the Mapogo (MrT) mating with a Ximunghwe lioness for a few days before being displaced by his older brother with the snipped tail tuft.
• The males split up and were roaring to locate one another giving us all a magnificent experience!
• Hlabnkunzi female leopard and her cubs with a bushbuck kill and later in the week a duiker kill. The cubs were also seen alone chasing birds around a fallen tree.
• Hlabnkunzi was also seen pushing into the vacant territory Makubela left meaning she may move closer to the lodge soon.
• Mabirri female leopard and her youngster were seen interacting with hyena at an impala kill.
• The Ximunghwe lion pride killed a wildebeest at Marula dam to the south of the lodge, their cubs were there at the kill, reports of four youngsters seen outside of game drive times were not confirmed as only three were seen during drive.
• A large male giraffe somehow died and was found being fed upon by Xindlevhana male leopard. Another, younger, male was seen in the vicinity - possibly the young son of the Ravenscourt female. Xindlevhana is usually very shy but we were able to get some good views of him at this sighting. He is truly a huge animal and there is a possibility that he may have surprised the giraffe as it was sitting ruminating and managed to kill it himself! We will probably never know what actually happened but the ecologists and vets did come to take tissue and blood samples from the carcass to check for disease.
• There was plenty of hyena activity at the giraffe carcass in the early mornings with many vultures waiting their turn in the surrounding trees.
• Xikavi female leopard was seen with a bushbuck kill, she also had a run in with the Ravenscourt female a day later.
• There were many rhino sightings and the female with the huge front horn was seen regularly.
• Some very large elephant herds moved through the area, some with tiny (compared to the adults) babies.
• Buffalo were harder to find but there was a wonderful sighting of 15 old bulls moving through the bush one morning
• This morning the week was concluded with the first sighting of the Tsalala lion pride for nearly 2 years, the pride crossed in just to the south of our access road. It was the first sighting we have had of the youngsters and also the first time we had seen the older lioness with no tail known to some as 'BB'

There will be another update next week,

Take care

The Idube Team