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8 December 2008
Hallo everyone

Another couple of months have passed and we’ve had a lot of new sightings.

First things first. The Wild Dogs have expanded their family to 21.Yes, 21. 8 new pups were born about 3 months ago in the “Saddle”- a small mountain range that they favour for their den site. The alpha female and a couple of baby sitters were looking after the pups, while the rest of the pack hunted everyday to bring food back to the den. The way it works is that the dogs that make a kill eat as much as they can run back to the den where the other dogs will lick their mouths to encourage them to regurgitate in order to feed the adults and the pups at the den.

It’s sad to say that there are only 6 pups left. They’re up and running and very playful with the rest of the pack members.

We had the old Batia male for 6 days at the lodge, eating a wildebeest. He took it over from 2 younger lions, a male and female called the Etali youngsters. He’s too old to hunt for himself so at the moment he’s just scavenging (eating anything he can find). The 2 youngsters came back after a few days and were lying pretty close to the male as if to tell him they want their food back. Nothing happened, as the old male wouldn’t allow them to take it over. It was a very exciting sighting.
The other Batia brother is in the Far East at the moment and he’s in other lion’s territory, so let’s hope he’ll be fine.

They are busy taking out some of our lions, because we’ve got too many. It’s all for the best, especially for the wild dogs as they are under a lot of pressure from all the lions.

The last couple of days we’ve had good sightings of 3 Leopards together. Mom and her 2 youngsters, relatively close to the vehicle, as they are sometimes very skittish. We’ve had good sightings of leopard at the waterhole about a month ago, but as the first rain came, there was enough water in the bush so they moved away.

The last 2 weeks we’ve had a lot of rain-about 100mm. The bush is incredibly green and in some areas you’d think someone planted grass.
After all the rain a lot of the swallows and bee-eaters have migrated back and the bird life is incredible. Leopard tortoise, chameleon and frogs are all in abundance. It seems like everything is coming alive.

It has been an incredible 10 months of game drives. I’ve learned a lot and will always be thankful for those I met along the way.

That’s me for now!
If you ever want to choose a reserve, choose Madikwe. It’s the best!!

Sue & Gordon's Notebook. (December 2008)

In the big wide world of business, we are all about to enter the "silly season", as
we call it - on the positive side, a time for celebration and laughter, but frustratingly, also a time when you can get nothing done because of well earned long holidays and business shut-downs, etc...

This period of "holiday mode" stretches well into January, for as we all know, one
cannot be up to full speed right from day one back at work - this is a process which can take many days and sometimes weeks to realise full potential again.

Out here in the bush, this year-end phenomenon doesn't happen. December and
January are busy times for us, but more than that, you actually often have to
think and check what day of the week it is. This question "what is today" happens all year round in fact, and has no bearing most of the time, unless you are needing to order something from a business in the city.

Although we are still only "visitors" at The Bush House every weekend because
of other business commitments, we do still experience this for ourselves. Every single day is special for what it brings, and every single day is different, but the "world" inside The Bush House and Madikwe is it's own world, and that is a significant part of the magic.

Following on from our last newsletter, the hyena collaring project has been put on hold temporarily, mainly due to the huge workload of the ecologist in the Reserve. We had several attempts at collaring 2 hyenas, but these were unsuccessful. The trips out in vehicles in the dead of night to find these illusive animals were of great interest, and we look forward to resuming this project once the "silly season" is over.

The rains have come to Madikwe, all be it late, and we must be grateful for
the good rains we have had in the last month or so. The bush is lush and green,
which is a fantastic contrast to the dry winter months. It is incredible how quickly the new growth comes after the first rains - literally within one week, you can only say "wow", when you first experience it.

Suddenly, birds are building nests, the insect world comes alive, both by day and by night, frogs are everywhere, and game species such as Impala and Wildebeest (Gnu) are all dropping their babies. It sounds like a cliche, but nature really is wonderful.

We could relay stories of game drives and visits to our waterhole over the past
few months, but you need to experience these for yourself. No two days are the
same, but we really enjoyed yesterday afternoon's drive with Andre, so here goes!

The sky was thick with inky blue-black clouds, and the threat of a rain shower was very good. It had rained the day before, and these afternoon storms are a welcome sight for us, knowing how important water is in this relatively dry part of Africa. We left the Lodge as normal, and initially Andre focused on the "little" things that make the bush so interesting.

Birds, dung beetles, and the black mamba in the road! We saw plenty of zebra,
wildebeest, and Impala with new-borns. Andre found us a lion kill - as gruesome as this can be, they do have to eat, and at sunset, there was the amazing contrasts of the dark clouds, bright green foliage and the sunset itself.

We avoided most of the rain that was around, and donned ponchos more as a
precaution to getting soaked. Sundowners were at the western airstrip, and
having stopped, Andre was busy setting up the drinks table next to the Land Cruiser, only to be interrupted by me shouting "Makanyane".

Makanyane is the Tswana word for wild dogs. The pack of 20, which had been at
the Lodge waterhole the previous evening, had decided to check us out, and criss- crossed the runway not more than 50 metres from where we were standing. (We really do need to change our game drive snacks!)

The dogs were no threat to us, and while they kept an eye on us, they were more interested in some wildebeest nearby. A bull elephant was also close by, and continued undisturbed with his intake of lush green vegetation. Saying "Cheers", "Good luck", or whatever your custom is, in the African bush in this way takes some beating! You need to come back and experience it for yourself!

Lastly, and we think of great interest to Bush House supporters, is that we have
installed a camera overlooking our waterhole at the Lodge. We did this mainly
with the intention of wanting to find out who visits our waterhole at night
between the time guests go to bed, and first light. This camera footage is
recorded, and shots will be posted to our website, and updated regularly.

The photographs are not perfect, but bearing in mind that we are talking about
night shots, still give you a good idea of who the night visitors are. Our website is www.bushhouse.co.za

Enjoy the webcam pics, and from all of us in The Bush House family, have a great festive season, and we look forward to seeing you again in 2009!

Gordon & Sue.

19 August 2008
Hallo everyone.

Almost 7 months at the Bush House and things can’t be better. Learning more roads everyday gives me the opportunity to view a lot of different animals. Where to start? I can tell you guys that the 2 old Batia males(17 years) are still going strong. Mating, marking territory and chasing away other lions in their territory. It seems like their territory is getting smaller and smaller but they’ve got everything under control. My first sighting of a male Leopard killing a fully grown Zebra was unbelievable. A very good sighting lasting for 3 days and a very, very big male Leopard.

Good news guys!! The wild dog pack of 14 is going to have some new members of the family joining them soon as they are busy denning. We all hope for the sake of the alpha female that everything will be a great success. Our waterhole has been very busy, having herds and herds of Elephant every day coming down for a drink. Buffalo at night, Black and White Rhino is also a common sight.

The 3 young male Lions called the Sereti’s are busy taking over some areas in the west and at the age of 2 and a half they’re really proving a point as they are also busy mating with one of the adult 6 year old females in the area. They hunt alone and need no help from the females. Very impressive!


Ok that’s enough for now. I’ll leave you with the last very good sighting we had. We saw Pangolin just walking around looking for ants and as I heard, some people spend their entire life in the bush not seeing this animal, so we were very fortunate. Unfortunately it was too dark for any pictures.
That’s me for now. I have to go and look for some animals to tell you guys what’s happening at the Bush House. Bye for now.

Reino

19 August 2008
Sue and Gordon's notebook.......

It's the middle of the night, and I can't sleep!! Sue said to me just before we
went to bed that it's my turn to contribute to the newsletter, and that's keeping
me awake!!! No, in reality, it is more to do with my reaction to the feather
pillow that I'm not used to, than anything else, that's got my creative juices
going.

Something we have learnt since our involvement in the hospitality industry is
that key people often move around from job to job, often for what we think
may not be good reason. You tend to question yourselves as employers when
this happens in the early days, but soon learn that in most cases, it is less to do
with you and more to do with the alure of some perceived "greener
pasture" at another Lodge.

Sadly, the time has come for Sebastian (Lodge Manager) and Dee (his good
lady and our Head Chef) to move on. We're pleased to say that their move
is nothing to do with the aforementioned paragraph, but more to do with
a great opportunity for them both to pick up the strings of a family business
in Natal. We wish both Dee and Bass all the success in their new venture!

Lydia has joined us in Dee's place, and Elrie and André as Beauty Therapist and
Lodge Manager. All are well qualified to ensure that we are able to continue
to deliver the kind of guest experience that The Bush House is now well
known for.

Lydia spent time overseas perfecting her trade as Chef, which for a young
black girl from a rural village in South Africa, on her own, must have taken some
"guts". Elrie is highly qualified in both salon treatments and reflexology - you
will have to come and visit - don't just take my word for it! André as FGASA
Level 2 (and almost completed Level 3) will bring his own expertise and style
to Guiding, as well as Managing the Lodge for us.

Reino has had many incredible drives of late - many involving the supposedly
illusive Leopards of Madikwe. Our only complaint is that we never seem to
be out on drive when these incredible sightings happen, but that's the luck
of the draw! By the way - something you never forget, should you hear it, is
the call of a Leopard - that sound of a saw cutting wood. When it is dark,
and the sound is close by, you really never forget it!! We had that experience
last night at our cottage behind the Lodge.

The waterhole in front of the Lodge has been brilliant for sightings in the
last few weeks. Because the Park is dry now in our Winter, animals have to
find water, and with this waterhole having been around for so many years, it
is well known to "the locals." Today was a mindblast, just as an example!

Elephants, elephants, and more elephants!! When they come to water, they
just take over. I guess you can do that when you pack a few tons of weight
behind you! The plains game (Zebras, Wildebeest and others) just had to
wait most of the day in the distance, hoping for a break in the continuous
stream of the elephant herds coming to visit. Just before dusk, they got
their turn, all be it briefly. The only visitors to the waterhole that did
make their own space for a while were three white rhino's at around midday.

Over the last week, our guests have been lucky to see Giraffe, Leopard,
Buffalo, honey badgers and more - all without setting foot in a vehicle to
go out on drive!

This is part of the magic of the bush. Unlike a Zoo, you never know what is
around the next corner, or what is going to make your day special tomorrow.
It is no always about the "Big 5" - for some it is also the birds and the "less
imposing" but yet impressive creatures that inhabit our little space of
Africa.


The Batia's (my favourite Lions) have been very active in our neighbourhood
of late. By way of some info for those who don't know the background; this
coalition of two males originated from Batia Pan in Etosha National Park in
Namibia. They were brought to Madikwe some 10 years ago now, and have
reached the ripe old age of 15 years, which for wild lions is incredible. These
two boys have been dominant in Madikwe for many years, and many of the
other sixty or so Lions in Madikwe carry their genes. The Ecologist in the
Reserve, Declan Hofmeyr, has identified ten to twelve younger lions that will
be re-located to other Reserves in South Africa, as well as a new coalition
of males that will be brought into Madikwe.

This move will ensure that the gene pool within the Lion population in Madikwe
is kept strong, as well as making space for new generations to come. Don't
worry about the temporary drop in Lion numbers - while we can never guarantee
specific sightings - you still have an excellent chance of seeing Lions in
Madikwe. As I write this, I have a mental picture of The Lion King, and the
other predators resident in Madikwe cheering and clapping our ecologist as
they get a little more breathing space within the Reserve!

That's it from us for now. Do visit us soon, and live the magic of our Lodge
and this fantastic Reserve with us and all our staff.


Gordon & Sue

P.S
We're busy with a hyaena collaring project at present to assist the
ecologist with hyaena research in Madikwe. More on this next time........

Gordon and Sue’s Notebook May 2008

Hello there from the Bush House.
Winter has finally struck. This year is not only very cold but with rain as well
Rain in May?! This continuation of rain has ensured that there are still lots of puddles and water in the Reserve generally which makes our precious herd of eles at our waterhole very scarce. The difference in seasons this year compared to last year is huge.

As you will have seen from Reinos’ update there have been great sightings in the reserve and we were lucky enough to share a very special one with guests last weekend. It was a windy, cold afternoon and we stopped for Sundowners earlier than normal. Whilst we were warming ourselves Reino spotted a white rhino in the distance. We all thought he’d move in a direction away from the vehicle- not this guy.He ambled right into the clearing we were standing in, looked us all up and down and sauntered off on the rest of his journey.He was totally relaxed – even bored by our group!It was incredible having him so chilled and so close.

In one of our previous newsletters we updated you on the fact that the ski-donk is now a sports model. Gordon and I needed to check on work being done at the solar pump so we took it for a drive .Helloo- it took us for a drive! As there is no roof the windscreen does not stay up for very long so the secret is to clutch onto the flapping seal on the one side of the screen and hang onto it for dear life. The drivers door flings open without notice and its most disconcerting concentrating on navigating the dirt path whilst periodically slapping the door closed. We both had a good aerobics workout by the end!

Although the reservations office do some of our bookings we like to do as much as we can ourselves. We feel it’s a great way to get to know the guests and to make it as personal as possible. My cell phone is always on me and emails are checked from early morning until late at night even on weekends.
However my most novel booking happened in the middle of the bush!
There were no guests in camp so we all went out for a game drive. Sebastian had the lodge phone with him which started ringing whilst we had stopped.
To get proper signal Sebastian climbed onto the top of the Cruiser to answer the phone.The phone then gets handed to me to discuss rates etc with the guest!
Clinging onto the roof trying to sound professional was a challenge in itself.

It’s hard to believe that we are almost into June – a year since we did the renovations. Time flies when you’re involved with a lodge.

Take care of yourselves, Send us your news and updates.
We look forward to having you with us soon,

Gordon, Sue and the Bush House Family


Hi everyone.
Reino here.

Starting at the Bush House about 4 months ago, a lot of things went through my head like will I be able to cope with all the challenges? Well, the answer is YES. It’s been an incredible 4 months!!

Getting to know the different prides of lions in the area took a while but it’s still difficult now to say what’s going to happen. On drive we’ll see the 2 old Batia males and half an hour later we’ll see the Sereti’s, which is a pride of 2 young males and 2 young females in the same area. It makes you think: should these guys be here in the 2 old males territory?

About 2 weeks ago we had a bush braai with guests and all went well the whole evening until we were surprised by the 2 Batias joining us for a piece of meat. I guess it was the seasoning the chef Dee used that attracted them! We also had a sighting of a pride called Tshaba( In Tswana which means to flee or go away) that killed a kudu and a couple of minutes later the Sereti’s took over the kill after the Tshaba female tried to fight them off. She had a cut underneath her one eye but nothing serious.

We’ve had a couple of leopard sightings the last month, which amazed me because as we all know, leopard isn’t the easiest animal to see on drive. One of the sightings was a young female that’s so relaxed with having the vehicles and people around her. Hopefully in the future she’s going to give us excellent sightings.



A herd of over 120 Buffalo is a beautiful sight to see with all of them crossing the road. The Elephants have been avoiding us for a couple of days at the waterhole but we’ve had a lot of rain so the water in the bush is still in abundance.

 

 

It’s an incredible experience at the moment for me to be in Madikwe and never in my life I thought that a lion would walk past the vehicle being less than a metre away. An Elephant bull touching the bulbar of the vehicle and walking away as if to say: good morning, nice to meet you!
The journey continues.

Bye for now.
Reino

Hi All Readers

With large amounts of rain falling over the Madikwe game reserve at the end of December, the bush is lush and green, which has been great for all those antelope mothers who have been raising young. It has not been all that great for the wild dogs of Madikwe.

With the wild dogs roaming around the game reserve nearby each other it is very seldom that they actually meet ; but when they do they often just exchange growls and barks before going their separate ways. Last month they met but this time it would be different. On the 31 January the Dwarsberg pack met the Collection pack, in an area in the east where a fight broke out, during which four wild dogs were killed, two from each pack. According to the field ecologist Declan Hofmeyer this is sad, but with the breeding season coming up we might see the wild dogs denning soon. Fingers crossed.

The Batia brothers who lost the territory in the east have been giving us some great sighting these past months in the west along with the Dipelo pride. The Dipelos are made up of a lioness and her three sub adult cubs which were fathered by the Batia brothers. She made her way over to the west from the east shortly after the Batia's arrived on the scene. This I can only think of was over fear that her cubs maybe killed by the new males who have now taken over the area where the 15 year old Batias once were kings. One morning we set out on drive heading south to where the Batias had been seen the afternoon before, we came across the Dipelo's stalking a herd of zebra. With all four lions well positioned and ready to pounce, on a zebra that had strayed away from the herd, I was sure we were going to see a kill. But this was not too happen as the zebra were startled and ran with great speed into the rising sun. But the sighs and groans from the guests didn’t last very long as out the corner of my eye I noticed these two bear like figures walking down the road, it was the Batias . They had startled the zebra. These old boys do a lot of hunting themselves but are often seen following the Dipelos hoping to feed on the fruit of their killings. But this time they would go hungry till the Dipelo female would make a kill three days later.

One of the first questions that always comes up whilst viewing white rhino are, “are there black rhino in the reserve,” to which the answer is yes. One afternoon I would prove to my guest that the rare and seldom seen black rhino was not just a myth. Whilst on game drive one afternoon I noticed what I thought was a white rhino with is head in the grass feeding. I engaged in low range and made my way off-road to get a better look , as we approached the rhino raised its head to look at us, I was amazed to see that this was in fact a black rhino that had decided to have a taste of grass. I have heard of this before but had never seen it. Sitting in the vehicle lost for words at this outrageous sighting I was stunned to see another black rhino come walking out of the bush followed by two others. What a great day four black rhino mingling with each other, rare enough to see a black rhino, but four is something that you don’t see every day. It just shows that aggressive animals who are said to fight with any other who venture into their territories, have obviously not read the books written about
them.

I could go on for hours about the sightings of leopard, black rhino, lion, buffalo and elephant I have had over the past few months, but I have a heart, so I am going to leave it at that. Now the rest of it is up to you! Hope to see you soon.

Sebastian

Gordon’and Sue’s Notebook February 2008

We are well into 2008 – as usual the year is galloping by!

The Festive Season was particularly special this year due to the kindness
of one set of guests who went out of their way to treat us at Bush House!
Martha and Sjoerd from Holland handed out gifts to all the staff on Christmas night. Even Mufasa was given his own set of chewy rawhide bones!
To have brought gifts all the way from Holland was such a kind and thoughtful
gesture- thank you both so much once again!

The new members of the family are as follows:
Reino has joined us as another guide, with his partner Lee being our administrator and relief therapist. Marlize is our Beauty Therapist who came on board two weeks ago. Ephrahim has joined us in Maintenance Welcome everyone.

Rain has been plentiful and the veld is thick and lush- here’s to serious fire breaks later in the year! Although there is a lot of water around we have still been having plentiful sighting at the waterhole in front of the Lodge. Yesterday alone the guests counted over thirty elephants coming down to drink.

As Bas has already told you sightings have been amazing. It really is great that the old Batia’s are still going strong and are often seen around our waterhole. They are Gordon’s favourites and have been so for many years.

Our old landi (Ski donk) has had a makeover- albeit unintentionally! She was being used to transport gravel from a neably quarry for the Lodge’s access road when the front end loader hit the top of the landi’s cab and seriously dented the roof. Lucas and Ephraim did some reconstructive surgery- removed the roof and now she’s a sleek sports model. This way your hair can blow in the wind as you are bouncing all over the road! Must admit she does look very funky!

We have started on all the paperwork for the process to build our house at the Lodge. This is a long and involved procedure but has taken a sad turn as our good friend and master builder Carel Oberholzer was tragically killed two weeks ago. His friendship and skill has already had a huge impact on the revamp of Bush House and his involvement in our new home will be sorely missed.

Last weekend we celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary and took over Bush House as guests! (A very strange feeling I must tell you) Family and close friends
joined us and it was a wonderful way to combine precious memories with new experiences and celebration. Even the Batias came to the waterhole to wish us well! After reminiscing over old photos we all agreed the hairstyles of 20 plus years ago are frightening by todays standards!! In this case change is really good – excluding wrinkles that is.

Keep the emails and photos coming in- we so love to hear from guests and share their photos and memories.

Take good care and hope to have you with us soon

Gordon , Sue and the Bush House Family

Hi all,

With over a 100mm of rain having fallen over Madikwe in the past month, you can only imagine how green and lush the bush is. Each day I notice a change as the bush grows more and more dense. This often worries people as they say it is harder to find animals, I say it makes for good photographs. As the past few months sightings have been some of the best, if not the best this year.

One afternoon we set out on game drive and stopped to view a herd of impala just in front of the lodge’s waterhole. We sat there for quite some time enjoying watching two sub adult impala rams fighting with each other. All of a sudden six warthogs came running out a hole they had been sleeping in. With warthogs running away grunting and squealing, I noticed this white tip of a tail sticking out from a bush near the warthog hole. Leopard, leopard, and leopard I shouted to the guests as the excitement took hold, as this beautiful big male steps out into the open to show off his beauty. I managed to calm down enough to get the vehicle moving behind him for a whole hour as he made his way through the bush in search of prey. He made his way though the bush like a true warrior marking his territory and stopping every now and then to listen for the call of any others males, who might dare to challenge him. As my conscience got the best of me we made our way out of the sighting to allow others to enjoy this amazing animal.

We have had several leopard sightings in the past few months, but due to the shy nature of these unique mammals not all have been as great as this one. One other leopard sighting that comes to mind was that of a female who had made a kill and had dragged it up a tree on top of an enselberg. Upon making our way around the other side of the enselberg to try and get a better look at this her, we discovered that she had a cub hidden in the rocks. They say curiosity killed the cat, and whilst this cub didn’t get killed, it did spend time looking at us trying to make out what we were before it made its way back into it cave where the mother had left it.



The nine wild dog puppies of the Dwarsberg pack are now old enough to move the distance the adults do, so there have been many sightings of the wild dogs all over the reserve. Some too far for us to travel to see, but we did have the pleasure of hosting the pack not too far from the lodge for about two weeks and even had them drinking at the lodge waterhole. As luck would have it we were out on drive in search of them, so we didn’t get to witness this but the staff back at the lodge had a great sighting. Sucking up my pride that evening around the bar as the staff bragged about the awesome sighting they had, I was determined to find them the following day. We had no luck the following morning, but that afternoon a call came on the radio what they had been found not too far from where we were. Upon making our way into the sighting I was surprised to see them devouring the remains of a kudu bull that they had brought down. Grinning from ear to ear it was my turn to brag to the staff about what we had seen. (He who laughs last laughs loudest.) We then discovered them the following morning not too far from where they had made the kill, still sleeping off the big meal they had the previous evening.

With the lion population in Madikwe doing extremely well, two males were captured last month and relocated to the Amakosi reserve in northern KwazuluNatal. Those of you who have visited Madikwe before may remember a lioness know as the Etali female and her three cubs. One of her male cubs somehow had injured his back leg and was battling to keep up with the rest of the pride. Unfortunately he was discovered a few weeks ago lying dead next to the side of the road.

On a happier note. With the great rains we have had and the abundance of food around, some of the antelope are preparing to give birth. Just two days ago we witnessed a new born blue wildebeest calf trying to stand and today another trying to find it’s mothers teats. I have also noticed many impala females on their own, which is common to see during the calving season as they move into thicker cover on their own or in small groups to give birth.

With the festive season here, I would like to wish all readers a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

Sebastian

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