Greetings Everyone!

Yes another month has passed – and so quickly at that! We have had a good October, beginning our month with a special 70th birthday celebration at Hlosi. Our guests really enjoyed it, from the fantastic game drives, to the Paterson Dancers in the evening, to the cherry on the top when the whole herd of elephant arrived at our swimming pool for a drink. Definitely a birthday weekend to remember!

Some of you will remember the story of ‘Shona’ the baby buffalo that we took in. She had lost her mother at birth and this little calf needed to feed, and fast. So we asked one of the other Lodge owners on the Reserve, Giles Gush, if we could borrow one of his dairy cows to mother our little calf until it was strong enough to be released into the herd of buffalo that reside on the Reserve. ‘Shona’ has grown up very nicely in 6 months, and is actually double the size of another 6-month-old we have in the buffalo herd. Just shows you how healthy cow’s milk is.

We decided it was time to return the cow back to its farm, and at the right moment when the buffalo herd was near to Kraaibosch, we would let the calf out of the boma area and let her integrate with the herd. This way she could have a normal life on the Reserve.

So this is what happened...... We separated the cow and the buffalo calf for them to get used to not having each other. There was about a week of bleating and moaning and then it started to quieten down, so we called on Giles to come and collect his cow. He loaded her up and drove all the way back to his farm – which is approximately 12km from the Amakhala entrance.

The next day on our way into town we got a frantic call from Richard Gush to say that this cow had broken out of the pen and was running down the N2 towards the Reserve. Richard was alone on this day, as everyone was out doing their thing, so he didn’t have many hands to capture her. She ran almost all the way back to the entrance of the Amakhala before he was able to cut her off and capture her. So we decided to bring her back and keep her in the boma for another fortnight – but apart from the buffalo calf. Thanks to this ‘grace’ period, we have now successfully parted them and our little ‘Shona’ is ready for the big world of the Amakhala! I will keep you posted on that in our next newsletter.

We have had some very nice rain on the Reserve – big thunder storms and good downpours, which have filled up the water holes nicely. It has also started some nice mud wallows. Check out the gallery for two white Rhino really loving the moment!

The rain always bring out the tortoises, which are just fantastic to see, especially when we get down and show the kids we have on safari just how amazing they are. See the gallery for some great shots of a group we had in, who had a great hands-on session all about tortoises, tracks, bones, water holes and fun in the bush. It really was a special day with the kids and they were in their element learning, touching and smelling what the bush has to show us.

Then on to a more serious story. Our female Cheetah has not been too well at all. We noticed deterioration in her condition which of course raised grave concern because of her 5 cubs. We called on William Fowlds to come in an assess the situation, and it was decided that we would need to feed this Cheetah ourselves, as she was way too weak to hunt on her own.

We had been monitoring her for a few days and we noticed that she was passing very liquid stools, so we our Conservation team went in after she had moved on, and managed to get a sample into a test tube and send it in for a diagnosis. It turned out that she had a bad stomach infection and from there William knew what antibiotic would help her situation.

So we had to disguise the antibiotic in some meat which we had then take to her and get her to take it. She was very weak, so it meant we could get fairly close to her. One batch of meat was thrown to the starving cubs and one piece was thrown to her with the medicine inside. This ritual carried on for 3 weeks, 3 times a day, until she recovered. She has been off limits to the game drive vehicles whilst she was so ill, to give her a chance to recover. We only approached the area she was in using the conservation vehicle – which is a white bakkie – to ensure that she does not associate food with game drive vehicles.

During this time though we were able to get some magic photos. One cub in particular thought he should be the big brave brother and tried to look all big and fierce when we came in close. As you’ll see, these pictures were taken at the beginning of the whole process, so the cheetah were very thin. The female could only walk a short way before she had to lie down, where she would stay for hours. After a week or so of this, we could see a marked improvement, and she was definitely getting stronger, which made feeding her a little
tricky! She never took her eyes off us whilst her cubs ate.

We’re glad to report she has made a complete recovery and is back to hunting for herself, and was recently seen on the kill of a young Kudu – looking very fat and healthy! So great job done and a big thank you to William for his expertise once again.

Then we move on to some not so nice, but certainly beautiful visitors in camp! Check out the gallery for some pics of our Head Ranger Stu gently & carefully removing a Boomslang that was found near the office, searching for baby chicks in the new nests that hang from the branches of the trees. An absolutely beautiful specimen. We released him down by the waterhole, where there were plenty of places he could slither off to, to hide away!

Both camps have had some really lovely comments from guests, either in the visitor’s book or on Trip advisor. We’re grateful for the time guests take to give us this feedback. Here are some of our favourites!

‘Exquisite! Thank you for a magnificent stay, even the elephants treated us...Keep up the excellent service and personal touch. Looking forward to our next visit.’ - Garet & Elana Loest

‘Beware for what you wish for, it might just happen’ in our case it did, all of it! I had the best 50th birthday ever. Thank you, to all of you.....’- Tony & Lisanne

‘It has been a great pleasure to share the company of the Bukela Family. Your hospitality and sense of humility is encouraging. This is a place I would like to visit again with my family and can recommend to my friends. Keep up the good spirit!’

So with that, I will leave you with the last fabulous shot in the gallery (what a beaut!), and say that we will catch up again at the end of November!

Take care everyone and have a great month.

Kind Regards

Kerry