Author: Focus Online Dev

Warm greetings to you all!

Spring is in the air and life is just beautiful! August has been a terrific month for us here at the Lodge with lots and lots of old friends returning for a second or even third visit! We welcomed back people like the Barnards, Summerlees, Rebuffos, Varneys, Piechotas, Gomersall, Heuslers, Adams’, Shonborns and Kurlands.

No words can describe our delight when a familiar face enters our front door! We immediately go to our archives and dig up photos and memories of a previous visit and obviously try to turn the return visit into an even more memorable occasion than the previous one. A great example of this is of little Erin Kurland who took three years to come back! How wonderful to see that gorgeous girl again. We first met her when she was only three years old. How she has grown!

For those of you who have not been to Tuningi…… Come soon! Such a lot of return guests should show you that we are doing something right!

It is of course not just the Lodge, the service and the friendly staff that secure return bookings, it also has a lot to do with the amazing job our highly qualified Game Rangers do in showing off the abundance of game in the Reserve.

August seemed to produce the most fabulous lion sightings with some very awkward behavior like climbing trees, wrestling, taking mud baths, pretending to be leopard, killing enormous antelope, etc. Here are some guest photos.

Some more detail on the sightings from Grant:

We have been extremely lucky this month with animals around the lodge. With no rain and no water in the small pans around us the elephants, buffalo lions and even black rhino were regular visitors to our waterhole at the lodge.

But the most exiting of them all was when the Kgala Etali brothers killed a big eland bull just outside the lodge. I actually woke up one morning around 3:00 from the commotion outside. We only saw the evidence on the morning drive.

Eland are the largest antelope and can weigh up to Kg 850. They didn’t even move the carcass into shade or cover. I just think it was to heavy and knowing male lions they are very lazy.

We had fantastic interaction between the boys and a lioness that joined the feast after two days. The great thing about this sighting was we could see how everything disappeared gradually and how the scavengers were waiting patiently for the boys to finish up and go. Even the vultures were hanging around in the surrounding trees. Sadly they never got a chance to get down for some real action. At one stage one of the males used the vehicle to stalk a snooping spotted hyena. Lions in general hate hyenas but male lions have an obsessive grudge against them but most of the time the hyenas are one step ahead.

In the afternoons there was very little action and we mostly saw them eating early morning and in the evenings. For the rest of the time they were digesting in a deep sleep. They were there for about 5 days before they decided that they had enough. They really did a good job of finishing the carcass.

The only they left was the head and vertebrae and a few ribs. We went back on the fifth morning and found a few hyenas chomping away on the bones. These guys have extremely powerful jaw muscles and are capable of cracking open some really big bones.

That is more or less how this Madikwe CSI scene unfolded with all the evidence disappearing in front of us.

One afternoon we had the most bizarre sighting of black lions at one of the dams in the north. We arrived there and found three lions buried in the mud busy eating something. We couldn’t see what it was but we gathered that some antelope was thirsty and got stuck in the mud. In nature it works like this: one’s loss is the other one’s gain.

We went for sundowners with the idea to return to the dam and hopefully the lions would be out of the mud, and oh boy were they out in full force and feeling really sorry for themselves. This just goes to show that lions do scavenge as well.

We all thought that these lions woould never be the same again but we saw them the other day and they do look a little better.

Will chat soon
Grant

Well, if you are still not convinced that you should come and visit us soonest, I rest my case!
Have a wonderful September until we chat again!
Warmest regards
The fabulous T-team

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest greetings to all of you once again

As always, time has flown by as quick as lightning. It feels like just last week that we have sent out our last news letter.. I think it is because nowadays we are all communicating regularly on Facebook.
It is just wonderful to be in contact with so many of you on such a regular basis. We just love seeing our Lodge and some of your game drive experiences featured on your photo albums. Those of you that have not joined us yet, please do so right away! You will be updated with all the best sightings of the week, the who’s who of the lion prides, the cutest new baby photo’s, the politics of the wild dog packs, the elephant escapades, the best holiday deals, our chefs latest food trends and much, much more!

July was as wonderful and exciting as every other month of the year.

The only big difference was that South Africa ended the World Cup of Soccer in GREAT style and that we celebrated Nelson Mandela (MADIBA)’s ninety second birthday on the 18th of July. All South Africans joined in a notion of ‘DO GOOD FOR 67 MINUTES” to honour this incredible man.

We at Tuningi made vetkoek and minced beef for the children at our pet- project at Suppingstad pre-school and took some hot chocolate with as a special surprise!

To round it all off, our by now, legendary guest, Hillary Wylie, donated money again and helped us to buy nice soft mattresses for the little ones to sleep on in the middle of the day. Some more donations by Monita Laurent and Ron Delmont, helped us to get them all new hand gloves and warm socks! How WONDERFUL it feels to be able to spread the love!!!

Back at the Lodge…..

The game viewing has been magnificent as usual. One evening we were joined by the whole Mica pride for sundowners! What a beeeeg surprise! We all had to grab a drink and jump back into the vehicles, just to sit quietly and watch the inquisitive youngsters nosing around our tables full of juicy snacks!

On another day, to our huge excitement, Gavin found the only cheetah still alive in the reserve. What a rare sighting! We are so relieved to see that he is still in super condition and going strong.

The African wild cat was also spotted on more than one occasion, but let’s hear what our new ranger, Christo had to say about his first month at Tuningi :

“As a new addition to the T- team I still have to pinch myself everyday to make sure I am not dreaming. Working at the most amazing lodge with people that welcomed us with open arms into the T – team family still feels a bit unreal.

Talking about unreal, the game viewing this month was out of this world. We had various breath taking sightings of the Kgala males mating with some of the females in the park, (so pretty soon we should have a few more little yellow fluffy things running around).

Thlou dam also offered us the best of Madikwe, with large herds of elephant and buffalo congregating around the dam everyday. This is due to the fact that this late in the winter most of the smaller dams and pans have already dried up. This assembly of elephant and buffalo offers us remarkable animal interaction and sometimes tears of laughter as the baby elephants mimic their older siblings in chasing the buffalo around with a bewilderment of shrill trumpeting and little ears flapping.

Some of our more rare animals also made unexpected but very much appreciated appearances. We were very lucky to spot brown hyena on a few occasions, not usually viewed during the day, as they are nocturnal animals, and also had the most astounding African wild cat sightings, rarely seen as they are highly endangered and quite elusive.

The wild dogs also contributed to the wonderful sightings we’ve had recently. Definitely the most mentionable was when a pack of 12 dogs chased a kudu in to Thlou dam (yes, Thlou dam is cooking) where they killed and then proceeded to devour the young kudu bull and then played around the dam, sometimes right next to the game drive vehicle.

We went back to the dam early one morning to see if we could locate the dogs again, but to our surprise we found two young male lions with some of the remains of the kudu that they had dragged out of the dam and were desperately defending their steal from a clan of hyenas. We watched in amazement as the lions time and again charged at the hyenas to keep them away from the spoils. We realized again, that if you are desperate, you have much more guts than what is good for you! Even if you are operating in a crowd…..

Just can’t wait to get out there every day!
Remember to join us on Face-Book for our daily updates and best photos of the day!
See you soon
Christo

Well, just to round it all off…

A huge piece of our lovely bush was destroyed last week by veld fires which we all had to fight for three consecutive days, sometimes till after mid night as it was also threatening to burn down our lovely Lodge!

The most amazing thing is, though, that all the horrible blackness and devastation that the fires left behind, has already started turning in to a new green wonderland. How wonderful NATURE is. By next month Spring will be here, all will be green again, hundreds of little flowers will start pushing their colourful little faces to the surface and lots of chirpy migratory birds will be appearing on the horizon as they come back to our warm and sunny weather.

If you still have not been here, Do not hesitate! Make that booking today. As our quote of the month says: Why not???
We can’t wait to meet you!
Until we chat again
The friendly T-team!

For enquiries please contact :

reservations@madikwecollection.com

Warmest greetings once again from the African Bush!

We hope that you are well and that you have all had a great mid- year break! In South Africa June was all about the soccer World Cup! Hundreds of thousands of soccer fans arrived in our country in droves and the vibe has just been unbelievable! Most visitors not only found the soccer exciting, but also took some time to discover our beautiful country. Needless to say, we entertained many of them here at Tuningi and as always gave them a chance to experience up close and personal encounters with our fantastic wildlife!

We also introduced them to warm and flawless service, fabulous traditional cuisine, the best of South African wine and as always, ensured an all over unforgettable holiday! In a matter of days, some freezing cold weather changed the lush green vegetation into a dry looking grey and brown landscape. This has noticeably thinned out the bush and made for even better game viewing than we were used to before! It is espessially easier to spot leopard when the bush is less dense and our guests were spoilt with quite a few of these very special treats!

Once again, the Tuningi rangers showed their amazing talents in tracking even the most elusive of animals. This time it was Gavin who found the fluffiest little new born lion cubs hiding in the bush. As with tradition in Madikwe, the ranger who finds new cubs first gets to name them and with all the soccer fever in the air this month they were named after the World Cup soccer ball and are called ‘THE JABULANI CUBS’. They are four weeks old now and we expect to see more of them as their mother gradually starts to allow them to walk around with her as they get a bit older. It is just awesome to see such cute little gems in the wild and something everyone hopes for on every drive.

It seemed as if this great find was a sign of more lion sightings right through the month, so I asked Grant to give you an update on some of the incredible stuff our soccer fans experienced! Over to him, then….

On Tuesday morning we drove for hours before we actually saw something. These days, the winter chill is quite cutting when we leave on safari at 6:30 in the morning. We went out in search of lions . Normally we stand a better chance of finding them in the morning because they are still active and walking around. After our 3 hour drive we decided to go back to the lodge for breakfast. The whole morning we had been following signs of the south western pride but couldn’t locate on them.

Then as we were heading back I spotted some zebra not far from the camp and could see something was unfolding. I switched off the cruiser and could hear the alarm calls of the zebra and the birds. As we drove on slowly I saw the blood-stained face of a male lion in the yellow grass. I then knew we had just missed the kill. We drove in and found the three males busy feeding on the zebra.

We could see the brothers were extremely hungry so they didn’t even flinched when we drove in. We didn’t stay long and went for breakfast. After breakfast I told my guests that we should go back there. What a sighting we had. As we drove up I counted not 3 but 7 lions hanging around waiting for their own piece of the zebra. The interaction was amazing between the 3 different groups of lions. The Lenyalo males made the kill and then Mutuzi brother and sister with the Muratie males joined in. The Muratie males got a piece of the action because they are a coalition of 2. It was the Mutuzi’s that did not succeed. The young female was not confident enough to take on the males.

After a while one of the Lenyalo males decided to drag the carcass off into cover. That was when the action started. The reason he dragged it away was because the other lions had made a move on his food.

This was really the month of the lion. Our lion sightings were spectacular. It was late afternoon at Tau dam in the south west of Madikwe and we were bathed in golden light. The adults were still sleeping at the back of the dam so the youngsters decided to come and amuse themselves at the edge of the water. These are the Maropeng youngsters and they have grown quite a bit. They are 9 months old now. From a lion’s point we did not do too badly.

The picture below is Thlou dam in the north. For the winter it doesn’t look too bad. We had very late rainfall this year and this is the result. Well this is me for now. Come and join us on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates on our safaris in Madikwe.

Till next time!
Grant

Well, as you can see, there is never a dull moment here at Tuningi!
Come and visit us soon! We guarantee that you will have an unforgettable holiday!
Until next month!
Warmest regards
The T-team

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest greetings once again from the African Bush!

 At last, Autumn has arrived in all her glory, Leaves are falling on the ground in spectacular colour displays of orange, yellow and red. The early mornings and evenings are freezing cold, while the days are beautifully crisp but nice and comfortably warm.

We have had a very exciting month as our Executive chef, Marita Pelser, won the first ‘CHEF OF THE YEAR’ competition launched by Judi Dyason, who trained most of the chefs at the community lodges and Peter Channing, a director of the Madikwe Collection.

All the Collection lodges took part and were judged by Stephen Billingham, President of the South African Chef’s Assosiation as well as the Honorary president, Martin Cobald. Fabulous food was presented, all with a South African theme and Tuningi walked away with the trophy.

Well done Marita!

We also hosted the famous ‘White Zulu’ of South Africa this month! Johnny Clegg was here to perform ‘unplugged’ in front of sixty of our guests.

Although the weather threw us a curve ball or two, we never gave up and moved the venue from the bush braai site to the warmth of Tuningi’s Lapa at the last minute. What a huge success! Everybody just loved it and are already begging for another show.
Make sure not to miss something like this again. It truly was an unforgettable experience.

Instead of asking one of the Rangers to tell you about their sightings of the last month, one of our guests was so kind to let me have a look at the journal she wrote during her stay with us.

Here is a small extract from it. I thought you would like to hear about Tuningi from a guests perspective, for a change. Thank you so much to Rona Train, all the way from the US of A !!!

“As the only guests, we were given the prime suite with the best view of the elephant walk. Often photos online are deceiving and the actual accommodation is disappointing. In this instance, the photos did not do justice to the suite. It had a lovely huge bedroom with a king bed artfully draped in mosquito netting, plenty of storage, a stone fireplace opening to both the bedroom and large bathroom, a grand tub (with three rubber duckies), two sinks, and as the website indicated, the shower actually was outdoors but secluded. In fact, Grant told us we were staying in the best facility on Madikwe Reserve, and we began to believe it. After unpacking, we took quick naps and walked the slate stone path to the lodge for lunch.

It was the first of the beautifully presented and delicious meals we enjoyed at Tuningi. We had a chance to grab a few more winks before our first safari drive. We learned that the word ‘safariya’ is originally Arabic and describes a voyage or expedition during which discoveries might be made. Our first discovery was a baby puff adder, which Grant picked up by holding it behind the jaw to expose the fangs. This is the most venomous snake in Africa, and because its jaws are not hinged, can ingest rodents much larger than you would imagine. A beautiful yellow hornbill flew to a low branch for us to admire. Since this is not the mating season, both males and females look alike. When the time is right, males develop brilliant plumage to attract the girls.

Grant’s primary quest was for lions. He told us that he had been searching for them for three days, and a previous group had walked their legs to stumps in vain. Walk??? Not us. With the aid of radios, the various trackers could keep in touch and alert each other to their sightings. Lions are one of the few carnivores on the reserve, and will trap and eat anything they can. They look for the largest prey, such as wildebeest or rhinos, but an unlucky impala will do for a tasty snack. Grant showed us lion tracks, and was determined to find the source.

On the trail we spied a striking crimson-breasted shrike (a bird) just passing through. It became apparent that there was an actual road system through the bush. Wide red dirt roads led to narrower dirt roads which led to parallel but easily visible ruts which led to intermittent ruts which led to just plan scrub. And Grant fearlessly and sometimes very quickly drove us through them all in search of awesome sights.

Having confidence that a pride of lions were at a watering hole, Grant introduced us to an“African massage” as we bounced over a very rocky path to our destination. And there they were: 2 moms and their 1-to 2-year-old sons and daughter. The fathers were not in the area. From the swell of their bellies, Grant deduced that they were thirsty and lethargic following a good feed. They drank, they rested, they moseyed around a bit, and we found them fascinating. We had been warned to remain seated if we saw lions, but nothing else about our presence seemed to attract their attention in the least. We saw a large herd of impalas crossing a road in the distance, and wondered if the lions were up for a snack. It was interesting to observe the mother lions take notice of the herd, but they were too far away and the lions were not hungry enough to take action. Lions are powerful but not especially fast, so are cunning hunters who ambush their prey and depend upon surprise for their success. The impalas were not in striking or ambush position, yet we heard the alarm sounded by the impala lookout, warning the others that danger lurked nearby. Being unable to approach the waterhole, the impalas made do by grazing the salt lick. The white salt was visible in the dirt, and Grant told us that the animals also lick the iron from the red dirt.

We began our journey home and came upon elephants beginning to cross the road. We stopped to let them pass, watching them strip leaves from branches and gather huge trunkfuls of grass as they progressed. One very mature girl turned and walked right to our van, and I was ready to crawl under the seat for safety, until Grant assured me that to them we were just scenery. Sure enough, she just lumbered past us and kept going. I did note her extremely creased and wrinkled hide, and remarked that this is what happens to those who get too much sun.

As sun was beginning to descend, we re-traversed the rocky massage road and spied a rare sight: a mother white rhinoceros and her child. They were truly prehistoric, and did not choose to wait for us, so we didn’t have a long time to view them.

From a distance we caught a quick glimpse of kudus, similar to impalas but with very large ears. And frequently we saw zebra families. They are absolutely beautiful. Their markings are distinctive and unique, with black and also grey striping on white. Many even are beige instead of white across their back and sides. We learned that they identify each other by the unique striping of their rumps, sort of like zebra bar codes.

Our afternoon safari had lasted three hours, and by the time we returned it was 6:45 p.m., very cold, and dark. Our body clocks were very confused, and we were grateful to defrost with an alcoholic beverage and a wonderful dinner set in front of the warm fireplace. Following Grant’s recommendation, I chose the ostrich for dinner. It is red meat, mild and not gamey tasting, and very lean. The cherry sauce probably negated the low calorie count.

A very hot bath prepared us for a wonderful night’s rest, and we agreed that the previous 13 hours had been a memorable introduction to South Africa.”
Rona Train

We surely hope you have enjoyed that!
We will be running around all over the place this month as we will be hosting the World Cup Soccer and all the fans coming from all over the world.
Keep well until we chat again
Kind regards
Heidi and the fabulous T-team.

For enquiries please contact :

Hallo once again to all of you!

Winter is finally upon us! The only thing that is hiding this fact, is, that the bush is still completely green and lush, exactly as it has been the previous months. It seems as if we have skipped autumn this year as there is not a single golden or orange colored leaf around! Although the temperature has fallen significantly, it has continued raining right through the month of April as if it was the most common occurrence. The leaves will only start coloring, once the rain stops. After that they will fall slowly to the ground, thinning out the bush for even better game viewing than we are used to already.

Even though there are still lots to eat out there at the moment, the migratory birds have stuck to the program and felt the need to leave us for their usual greener pastures. Every April we stand in awe as the bee-eaters, swallows, rollers and some eagles all gather their guts, and fly away, often for hundreds of kilometers.

European Bee-eater		European Roller

These bird species are dependent on insects, flowers, fruit and seeds for sustenance. Food-sources like these are invariably at their highest concentrations in warmer areas, allowing birds that migrate to have a better chance of survival, particularly if they have to breed – possibly needing as much as 30% more energy then, than usual

Migration also has the spin-off of making life easier for birds that stay behind, resulting in less competition for scarce resources. Some species take a leisurely trip, stopping frequently at places of interest along the way. They take up to two months to get from South Africa to Europe. Others do not mess around, covering the 13 000 km in less than three weeks. Route selection is based upon food requirements, resting places, landmasses and prevailing winds. It still remains to be known how the birds know where to go, though. It is just one more of Mother Nature’s wonderful secrets.

Wahlberg’s Eagle

The Parks Board has just finished a game count in the park which showed us all that Madikwe as a Nature Reserve, is truly a great success story.

Amongst lots of other exiting game sightings, Grant and his guests had the privilege of watching some lions fight over food one day, and I asked him to tell you all about it.

We could really feel the difference in temp. Winter is on our doorstep. Driving slowly along I got the update that there were a pride of lions not too far from where we were. The grass was wet so I knew they would prefer to walk in the road, so we took our time to get there. We found all the females lying in the road and the one male next to the road. This was the Tshaba, Sebabas and Tsholo male.. This pride roams the north western sector of the Park

I saw that it was only the Sebabas there and that the Tshaba was missing. After a while, we spotted her, pursuing some zebra but with no success. They all got up and moved east along the road then all of a sudden they all turned north. I could see they were on to something. Suddenly all hell broke loose. They stumbled upon the two Serety males whilst busy eating on a wilde beest. They were caught off guard and the Tsholo male used the situation to his advantage.

To our surprise he chased off both males and really climbed into one of the Sereties. His brother ducked and abandoned him. The Sereties are very inexperienced in contrast with the Tsholo male who already has quite a few fights behind his name. The sounds and everything was majestic! We felt so small while we watched this scene unfold. It happened so quickly that I was too slow with the shutter. While Tsholo chased the Sereties around, the females with one young male took advantage of the situation and started munching on the food. The big male returned and all the females made way except the young male…..BIG MISTAKE !!!

Tsholo showed his full fury and took it out on the youngster. He was already pumping with adrenalin so it was even worse for the youngster. But if he knew his place he could have avoided that hiding. We all thought the youngster would back off but he kept his ground and Tsholo allowed him to stay on the carcass. The lions were on a roll after their victory. A black backed jackal paid dearly with his life for coming too close to the feeding lions. We spent a good time with the cats while they were feeding. What a morning we had.

Cheers
Grant”

Last but not the least!
Remember to book in for the weekend of 28 May. The wonderful Johnny Clegg, a real South African icon will treat you to an unplugged musical experience around a fabulous campfire in the middle of the bush! Do not miss this opportunity!

Also please watch out for us on the 26th of May on SABC 2. Tuningi will be featuring on the Afrikaans program ‘ PASELLA’ at 07h30.

Well, until next month when we chat again!
Have a wonderful Mother’s Day and keep planning your next trip to Tuningi.
We can’t wait to see you again!

Warmest regards
The T-Team

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest greetings to you all once again!

Here at Tuningi, we are constantly teaching our guests to look past the tip of the finger. If the sight of the blue skies start filling you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the bush suddenly has the power to move you, if you find the air exhilarating, if an animal is killed right in front of your eyes and you actually get to understand the reason and live the moment even if the violence upsets you, then you must rejoice, for your soul is finally alive!

What a wonderful month we have had! The game viewing has been so awesome, with all kinds of exciting and rare sightings been recorded by our rangers, that I decided to ask Gavin to tell you all about it in his own words!

WOW!!!

Firstly, the lions…..
Well the Tshabalala females and their now 5 month old youngsters are getting on extremely well, and are growing bigger, and bigger as they have just been weaned off of their mother’s protein rich milk, and are now subsisting on fresh meat.

The Tshabalala’s are finding wildebeest completely irresistible at the moment, as we witnessed at the beginning of the month….. It was a windless evening with all but the night jars’ soothing calls in the distance, when we located the two lionesses in full stalk mode and as I swung the spotlight to the north I noticed a big herd of wildebeest grazing happily in the long green grass unaware that their biggest foe was about to make an incursion into their tight knit circle. We were observing their sleek body lines as they weaved in between the bushes downwind of the wildebeest, when suddenly from nowhere the wildebeest scattered in all directions with one of the females in hot pursuit of the lagging wildebeest caught totally by surprise. The dust eventually subsided with no visual of the lionesses or the wildebeest when a loud bellowing noise erupted out of the bushes to my south. I quickly turned my spotlight in that direction and there she was hanging tightly on to the throat as the struggling wildebeest finally succumbed to the brute force of one of the strongest predators in the world.

The guests with me at the time were so fixated on what they had just seen that they were completely speechless for about ten minutes after the wildebeest had died as I reassured them that the “ death of one, is the life of another”. The lionesses then suddenly stood up and presumably went to fetch the cubs. The next morning the carcass was empty with only a hyena and a jackal finishing off the scraps. This pride has killed no less than 6 wildebeest this month with two in one go on one occasion. So if the females keep going at this rate the cubs seem to have the survival odds stacked in their favor.

The prides from the north west and east of the park are also doing very well and they have been seen mating last week, so in three months time, we may have new bundles of fur running around !!

Sitting at the waterholes in the park have given us many awesome sightings of the big herds of buffalo, elephant, zebra, wildebeest and rhino which make their appearance at the waterholes on a daily basis. The elephants and rhinos especially love the mud baths on the hot afternoons which help them beat the heat of the afternoon sun as well as ridding them of the parasites which reside on their pacciderm skins.

Large journeys of giraffe have also been a big bonus as you are driving around the park looking for the elusive leopard; they have a sense of calm about them as they stroll around in search of some juicy acacia trees to nibble on. Two giraffe were also killed by three young male lions and the Mica pride from the east giving amazing interactions between the brown and spotted hyenas fighting each other off for the remains of the carcasses.

As far as the wild dogs go, things couldn’t get better!!
The Dwarsberg pack (14 dogs) have been terrorizing the impala populations in the park, killing and devouring the antelope on many occasions in full view of our lucky guests who were brave enough to get up on these now chilly mornings.

On one occasion at Vlei pan, we were following the Collection Pack of 6 dogs for about 20 minutes observing their stealth and speed as they charged after a herd of impala when they disappeared in a northerly direction. We then decided to go for a sundowner in one of the open clearings and just as everybody started sipping on their gin and tonics and enjoying the variety of snacks on offer, one of the guests who went behind a bush to “mark her territory” came running back towards us with a rather bewildered look on her face shouting “ HYENA……HYENA…. !!!”

We all looked back at her with great amusement, only to see a wild dog chasing an impala at high speed right passed our drinks table, with the rest of the pack in hot pursuit.

So we ordered the guests to jump into the vehicle and leaving our table, drinks, snacks and all to follow the dogs. The wild dogs ended up chasing the hapless impala into a waterhole with only its head sticking above the water. The dogs were all running around the water’s edge with great excitement trying to reach their prize.

Well…… it wasn’t long after that, when one of the dogs jumped into the water towards the impala and grabbed it by the throat and unceremoniously dragged it to dry land when 6 hungry wild dogs ripped it apart in spectacular fashion. Five minutes later there was only a few bones remaining.

But wait, it gets better!!!!

All the excitement and giggling noises the dogs made drew the attention of none other than…. THE MICA PRIDE!!!

Yip, now the dogs themselves were in grave danger as the lions started stalking the dogs that were blissfully unaware of the impending danger. It was just about dark now, and the lions would have the upper hand with the deteriorating light conditions. The lions were now only 30 meters away from the dogs and creeping ever closer when a loud bark echoed into the cool night air….. Lions charged……dogs fleeing everywhere!!!

Luckily, all the dogs managed to escape the lion attack and the situation was neutralized leaving the lions to sniff around the scene of the crime to find not much but a few bones. This was one of the most amazing moments we have ever witnessed in the bush. Anyway, we returned to our sundowner tables to reflect on what we had just seen.

That was not the end of the wild dog sightings, as we were once again following the Collection pack around one morning relentlessly searching for a meal when we heard the high pitched giggling sounds of what could have only been the Dwarsberg Pack. The Collection pack froze dead in their tracks with ears outstretched in the direction of the noise.

Suddenly they all took off towards the raucous with us hot on their heels only to find the Dwarsberg pack ripping an impala to pieces. What happened next was a colossal clash between the two packs of dogs of which neither me or Grant had seen in our ten years of guiding. There were dogs everywhere, chasing each other at high speed around the vehicles and screeching and howling at each other as they obviously were not enjoying each other’s company. Words cannot describe to you all what we witnessed that day but it lasted about 25 minutes before we lost the visual of them moving south away from us.

To close on the wild dogs, the Alpha males and females from both packs have been seen mating at the beginning of the month so in about two months or so they will be giving birth to anything between 5 and 10 new born pups, which will boost the population of what is the rarest carnivore in Africa at the moment!!

I told you it was WOW !!!

Anyway….. to round off a great month of game viewing the leopard sightings in the park have been getting better as well with the very relaxed female from the south making her appearance on several occasions not far from the lodge and if you are lucky enough to see her she is the ultimate pinnacle of every safari.

So……. Make your reservation!!! Come to Tuningi and you too can be witness to all the ongoing saga and drama of the African Bush ……………………
Kindest regards to all of you,
Until we chat again.
Gavin.

On a completely different note! Lord Madikwe, as we love to call him, came for yet another visit to Tuningi.

Greetings to all of you once again from the African Bush!

We hope that you had a wonderful, romantic Valentine’s month! At Tuningi our guests were spoilt with romantic bubble baths complete with floating rose petals, more than enough bubbly on ice, and of course, dinner to die for!

Although everybody just loves the special touches in the Lodge itself, it is still the Game viewing that gets the adrenaline going! The number and variety of large and small animals on view in the open in Madikwe (as well as some other parks in Africa) are unrivalled by the rest of the world. To be in the middle of an African landscape teeming with wildlife is an unforgettable experience, further enriched by the realization that humankind evolved in just such a setting. But to fully appreciate what you see on safari, you need to know the animals that make Africa unique. Learning to recognize the species is just the first small step. Our highly qualified rangers tell the fascinating stories of each of these animals, so that our guests have the means to understand their behavior. The more you learn, the more fulfilling your safari will be: and the more you will understand why we need to safeguard the survival of African wildlife for generations to come!

As every month before, we also had some extremely exciting game drives again this February. One morning, we were following the large pack of rare wild dogs and could clearly see that they were on the hunt. We followed them for a while until we bumped into another game drive vehicle also trying to get a glimpse of them.

As we were watching, a few of the dogs came rushing around a corner, chasing a wildebeest straight into the vehicle! To our surprise, they were using the vehicle to assist them in their hunt. The wildebeest was too fast, however and made his escape, only to have more dogs following in hot pursuit.

All this happened so fast that we could not keep up with the chase in the vehicles. Minutes later, we bumped into chaos though…. They have managed to chase the poor wildebeest into the corner fence of the park, this time with no chance of escape! 14 dogs were all trying to share in the feast. It took less than ten minutes for them to finish off the kill and move on looking for their next target.

On another day, we also had the whole pack of wild dogs hanging around at the lodge’s private water hole. They all must have had enough to eat the previous day, as they arrived at Tuningi early in the morning and spent the entire day lying around the water hole, relaxing and gathering their strength. How nice, to lie by the swimming pool with a cocktail in hand, blissfully watching one of Africa’s rarest species….

On another occasion, we arrived at a kill of a few days old.

One of the huge male lions in the park, Tsholo, had killed a buffalo and her baby all in one go. This is quite an amazing feat, for one lion on his own, as they usually rely on the female lions to help them with the kill. He ate himself into a stupor and then made way for his brother, Mateya, to come and share in the feast.

Some of the most interesting animals to watch in the wild are most definitely the baboons.They have so much character and can sometimes just behave in the funniest ways! This creates some fabulous photo opportunities! We found this little baby abusing his mother in such a relaxed manner that she did not even mind! Baboon mothers keep their babies close to them for up to six months. You often see the very small ones clinging onto their mom’s tummies or the older ones jockey riding on their backs. They will play around in

little kiddies groups, but as soon as the mother calls they will hop back into the safety of her arms.

The Chabalala lion sisters were also seen on a few occasions.We are so happy that all five of the babies they had between the two of them are still doing well. They are now five months old. In lion families, you are very lucky if your sister falls pregnant at more or less the same time as you; because you can then fend for your babies as a team, and one day have a nice big family pride!

I end this month’s letter with a beautiful poem by Emily Dibb :

When you’ve acquired a taste for dust
The scent of our first rain,
You’re hooked for life on Africa
And you’ll not be right again
Till you can watch the setting moon
And hear the jackals bark
And know that they’re around you,
Waiting in the dark.

When you long to see the Elephants,
Or to hear the coucal’s song,
When the moonrise sets your blood on fire,
You’ve been away too long.
It’s time to cut the traces loose
And let your heart go free
Beyond that horizon
Where your spirit yearns to be.

What more can I say??
Make that booking, and come and visit us! The Easter holidays are around the corner!
Until we chat again
Warmest regards
The T-team!

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest greetings to you all for the first time in 2010!

We hope you had a fantastic holiday in December and that you are now happily back home or at work and have settled in for the New Year.

Here in South Africa, we are extremely excited about the year ahead of us as we are getting ready to host the World Cup of Soccer in July! The whole country has been standing together for the past couple of years in getting our infrastructures sorted, our facilities upgraded, our roads fixed up, new stadiums built, more accommodation upgraded, etc, in order to make this event as successful as humanly possible.

This is one of the greatest opportunities for a country to showcase itself and of course also all of its tourism attractions!

Enter, Tuningi Safari Lodge! We cannot wait to welcome all the soccer fans, firstly to our beautiful country, and secondly to our beautiful lodge!

As usual, just to remind you all of the high standards we have set ourselves once again for the next year, I am going to let the guests do the talking this month and share some of the feedback we have had in the last two months. This way, you will see that it is not just us loving our lodge, but that the actual guests are raving about it and forever planning their return visits! You will notice below that some of this feedback is from guests that were already on their third and even fifth visit to Tuningi!

“We had a fabulous time- a great start to our honeymoon! The hospitality was fantastic- food was awesome and so elaborate, had a great time at the lodge with massages and outside shower!”

“Game drives exceeded our expectations by miles! Harry and Gavin, you both were awesome, and we had a fantastic time on all of our drives – the wild dogs were our highlight!!! Tuningi was a fabulous experience and we would love to come again! Everyone was so nice and it was lovely to meet all of you!
Thanks!”
Ahana and Rushabh
Hong Kong
Dec 2009

“We came back, as promised!! Awesome game drives, Harry! Amazing hospitality- AGAIN! Thanks to you all! The boys loved Julia (babysitting) and all the other friendly staff and the kiddie’s bumbles were the best! Thank you one and all. Already looking forward to returning again!”
Sue, Gary, James and Fergus
Dec 2009

“Thank you for a profoundly enjoyable holiday. Your attention to detail is second to none. Grant’s infectious enthusiasm, professionalism and sense of humour will stay with us – most especially: ‘Chameleon, static, approach with caution!’

Will be back for sure!”
Richard, Debbie and Polly Caines
England

“Thanks so much for an amazing stay at this fantastic place! The children had one of their best holidays ever and so have we- the parents. Loved being here! Will recommend to ALL our friends!
Love,”
Gerard, Camille, Alexis, Arend and Adam Versteegh
London

“Fifth visit- Still great! Beautiful hospitality. Wonderful game drives! We shall return- AGAIN!!!”

Jean, Malcolm and Ben Hewitt
UK

“What a wonderful stay! Couldn’t have been more comfortable, Relaxing and friendly. Grant was awesome!”
Breadon and Stefanie
Australia

“Our first experience of Safari and everything was wonderful. Such great welcome and the staff so friendly, and Gavin was SUPERB! And a great thanks for all the efforts to celebrate Carol’s birthday in style”
Huw and Carol Davies
Wales

 “ Second visit – Another magical visit to a truly magical place. I will be back (again)!

Congratulations to all the staff and people associated with this Lodge. A superb effort by everyone to make Tuningi a slice of heaven! What was amazing and really sets Tuningi apart is just how consistently friendly and genuine the staff are. It makes the stay so pleasant and really facilitates the relaxing process. The game drives with Gavin were truly fantastic!”
Alistair and David
Canada

Well, I am sure that after reading all of the above, you will realise that a visit to the beautiful Tuningi Safari Lodge is an absolute MUST! Now is a good time to start planning the holiday of a life time! We can’t wait to meet you. We will spoil you, pamper you, feed you, educate you and are sure that you will leave here with unforgettable memories and a huge urge to return for more! Please also remember that we are one of the very few lodges that take children of all ages! We will teach them things that no school will ever be able to do!! All you have to do is to contact our bookings office as soon as possible!

On a completely different note!
As most of you know, by now, we have a very special place in our hearts for the little pre- school in Supingstad, where most of our staff comes from. This is a little town on the outskirts of the game reserve where people do not have lots of money at all. Although lots of the inhabitants from this little town have found work in the Game Reserve, there is still much help needed from all of us to get the children educated and on their feet!

We took a day off last month, bought a lot of colourful paint with the help of Hillary Wylie,(one of our all time favourite guests) and popped over to school to go and liven up the building a bit! Great fun was had by all!!

We hope that you all will have a fabulous and romantic month of February and that we will see you soon. Do not forget to go and find Tuningi on Face Book as the guys are doing an almost daily update on their adventures in the bush!!

Until next month!
Kindest regards
The T-team

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest greetings to all of you in this very last month of the year!

We hope that you have had an awesome holiday, a blessed Christmas and that the New Year will bring you lots of love, adventure and prosperity!

December has been a very busy month for us here at the Lodge, and although we have had a wonderful Christmas ourselves, this festive period is always a lot more ‘Oh, oh, oh!’ than ‘Ho, ho, ho!’ for us bush babies living at Tuningi!

It goes without saying that our guests get to join in all of the astounding sightings and wonderful adventures we get up to every day!

In December we still saw every animal on every guest’s wish list, but it was all mostly about the new born baby animals found around every corner and the astounding way in which the abundance of colorful birds are building nests everywhere. There is the most wonderful cheerfulness in the air, as most of them have found new love and have started extending their families, too. In short; Nature is setting the mood at the moment, and that is one of pure joy and excitement!

I asked Grant to tell you in his own words how they found the new born baby lions:

“As most of you probably know it is the rainy season and that means there are plenty of little hooves (and 20 little paws…..but coming to that) running around. At the moment there is an explosion of baby impala and wildebeest. When we go out early mornings and we stumble into a herd of impala or of wildebeest the first thing you see is the babies all clustered together in a crèche almost on top of one another to keep warm. There will be one or two adults to keep an eye out while their young are sleeping.

Now for the big news! We have been missing the two Tshabala females for quite some time now. We have seen no tracks or signs of them. Until one morning I found one of them walking towards Phiri hill and I could see something was different in her behavior and appearance, she was clearly lactating with dirty nipples. That only means one thing…..NEW CUBS! After that morning we haven’t seen any trace of them anywhere. At least we knew they were still alive and with a few new additions to the pride. That got us all buzzing and more determined to find them. The morning of the 10th of November myself and Gavin decided to go south and see if we could get lucky with some lions.

In the distance I could see a few small figures running around and bouncing up and down. At first I had no clue, when a large tawny shape appeared from underneath a Buffalo Thorn with ears flat, snarling lips and tail twitching up and down when she saw us. Then I knew it was them!! I started counting 1,2,3….and there were 5 cubs with the 2 females. And I quietly said: “Well done girls”. I could see they were very skittish and aware of the vehicle. It was probably the first time these cubs have seen a land cruiser.

I got on the radio and called Gavin to come and join. We didn’t really follow them because the mothers are so overly protective. So we gave them space and they went back to the hill where they were born. Gavin and I and even the guests were so excited! Because I was the first ranger to find them I got to name them as well, so I decided on Maropeng youngsters. That means Place of origin. Before lionesses give birth they leave the pride for a few weeks and seek shelter on a rocky outcrop or thick cover where she then gives birth. After the birth she moves the cubs to a safer place. The reason for this is to get the cubs away from the scent of the birth; hyenas and other lions pick it up very quickly. When the cubs are strong enough to keep up she will go and introduce them to the pride and the males. The Maropeng youngsters’ fathers are the Kgala Etali males.

On the 27th of December I went out to look for a leopard the guys had spotted the previous night on the Western airstrip. We drove along slowly scanning every Marula tree and bush. My eye then caught fresh lion tracks on the road. I followed them for a while and they went off on an elephant path. I left it there and then Malcolm spotted a Red Hartebeest. We stopped to view him and we could see he was focused on something, so we waited a few minutes. Then I heard it to our right. Cubs fighting over food! What a sound those little ones can make. I got out of the vehicle and walked in about a 100 meters. I stood behind a tree where I could see clearly how the cubs were dominating one another over the fresh wildebeest. The lioness saw me and kindly asked me to back off in her own loving way. We then went in with the vehicle. The lions backed off from the kill and I switched off. It wasn’t long before the hungry cubs returned and gave us a sighting of a lifetime. What a Christmas present!! Hope you guys enjoyed the big news!
Bush greetings from Tuningi Grant

Well, there you have it from a Ranger’s heart!

All of us here at Tuningi want to thank you for your continued support through the years, and want to assure you once again that it is the highlight of our year when we see you guys coming back on a return visit!

Please don’t stop coming and send your friends, because your friends will be our friends in a minute! We can’t wait to see you all in the New Year!
I am sending you photos of all of us to remind you of the warm and friendly people who make up the UNFORGETTABLE TUNINGI TEAM.

We are busy setting up our Tuningi profile on Facebook and thus would love to change the ‘one way’ newsletter into a ‘two way’ conversation. Please be on the lookout for that!

Until we chat again next year.
With warmest regards
Heidi and the T-team

For enquiries please contact :

Hallo to all of you once again!

What a month !!!
As you may know, November is a wonderful month of the year with all kinds of new beginnings and promise as the bush is singing aloud with ecstasy.

The weather has been superb this month, with a lot of rain which fell in the beginning of the month with over 100mm of rain in 4 days, but since then it has just been extremely hot creating some awesome cloud formations late in the afternoon giving us the most amazing sunsets while sipping our sundowner G & T’s overlooking the luscious bushveld.

It has been a little later than last year, but the impala and wildebeest have finally dropped their youngsters, and are now starting to form nursery herds which look something like legs and ears all over the place bouncing in the early morning as if to celebrate surviving another predator filled night in Madikwe. These little beauties are like little walking snacks to all the predators which sometimes catch up to two or three out of a group at one go. The wild dogs in particular cause havoc amongst these nursery groups when they happen to bump into them! Although it seems cruel, it is just Natures way of controlling the numbers.

The birdlife has also kicked into overdrive with all the migrating species saturating the air with their beautiful songs and lots of normally inconspicuous birds all of a sudden flashing around in bright reds and yellows!

Some birds change their colours seasonally, for breeding purposes. A good example is the masked weaver that is now to be seen all over the reserve. At the moment they are bright yellow, where, for the rest of the year they are just dull looking little grey birds! As soon as they are ready to breed, a metabolic pigment production takes place from special pigment cells in their bodies (called chromatoblasts). As soon as breeding is over, these cells stop producing colour again, lying dormant until the next season – much like pulling the plug on a paint machine!

Other birds, like whydahs and widow birds, also exhibit a total change in plumage seasonally. They develop long long tails to show off their great beauty to the females. These tails are not only a hindrance to movement, but also put the bird at risk to predation, so they lose the tail and just moult into a nondescript ‘eclipse plumage’ when not breeding.

As far as the big 5 sightings have gone, it has been a bit of a bizarre time with a dead rhino, a dead elephant, and a dead leopard……

The first to go was the male leopard “Lesole” which means soldier in Tswana, and met his peril when he suffered a serious kick to the bottom jaw by a zebra. He sought the comfort of a very deep ravine just north of the lodge to spend his last moments in Madikwe. On examining his remains, we found that his canines were very worn down and we estimate him to have been about 13-15 years old which is very old for a leopard, as they usually only reach the ripe age of 12. This was a very sad moment for us rangers as we have spent many an hour in the bush tracking him down to showcase the “pinnacle” of every safari.

“We salute you “Lesole”, and hope you will return in the legacy you have left with the cubs you have produced over the years !!!! ”

The rhino, which was a 3 year old female was killed by a coalition of 4 young male lions believe it or not, and provided some amazing game viewing as they worked their way through this huge feast for almost 5 days. This carcass also attracted some hyenas of the spotted kind as well as the brown version interacting with the lions as they squabbled over the spoils. This is a sighting which very few people have witnessed and is even very seldom heard of in the natural world.

Our final, out of the ordinary, fatality last week was a young elephant which had succumbed to something still unknown to us as the blood sample was sent off to the ecological services for analysis. Anyway, it also attracted lions from far and wide, as they observed the circling vultures, using them as an indication of a free meal somewhere. The Ghostly leopard “Sipooko” was also seen in the vicinity of this carcass and we had one or two glimpses of him lying in wait for the lions to move off. Yes, leopards will scavenge, but is rare.

Well, enough of the dead kind…

We have also been treated to many sightings of the large pack of wild dogs which are lurking around the lodge at the moment, and we are pleased to report that they are fit and healthy and moving from strength to strength as it is open season with all the newly born impala, kudu, zebra and wildebeest. As said before, they are killing up to 4 impala every day with the odd kudu in between.

The smaller pack is also doing extremely well and has even provided us with an explosive kill of an adult kudu right in front of the lodge. The Mica pride has provided us with some breathtaking moments letting us observe their skillful ways of first surrounding their prey and then attacking it from two different angels. Although, the wildebeest escaped this time, it still left us all speechless for a while…..As they say, it is the survival of the fittest!

On a totally different note.
Natalie has very artistically planted a tiny cactus in a teapot on her front porch. A ‘Familiar Chat’, which is a tiny little bird with a wiggling tail, decided to move in and build his, rather untidy little nest right on top of the display. The female promptly laid her three little bright blue eggs in the scruffy nest and a week ago three fluffy baby chats appeared, forever waiting for mom to bring some food! We are so privileged to have been able to observe this whole process so closely- (or rather close to home?)

This month we have once again realized that we have been blessed with an incredible heritage and that we do not show enough appreciation for all that we have been given. Our Tuningi Christmas Wish is: That more of us will take some time out and spend it in Nature re-familiarizing ourselves with the smells and sights and greatness of it all. By doing this we will surely be compelled to treat it better!

Happy Christmas to all of you! Until we chat again.
Kindest regards
The T-Team

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest greetings from all of us once again!

The best news of the year is that the rains came early. October is usually the most arid month of the year with the most common topic in conversation being the expected day on which relief will come in the form of a big, fat thunder storm.

Well, this year we were spoilt rotten. We had 70mm of rain in September, with a fabulous top up of another 50mm in October. This means that an abundance of colour has appeared in every possible form, from butterflies and grasshoppers, to blossoms on the trees and a thousand different little wild flowers between the shrubs. Every kind of insect we know has reappeared after the winter months and is now buzzing around like little jewels in the sky. Just a little bit of early rains has turned Madikwe into a full blown paradise! As so many times before, we stand in awe of the magnificence of Nature.

With all the abundance of food and water in the rainy season, it is the best time for the animals to give birth to their young. We have already had the privilege of viewing some of these precious babies last month, but most will be born during November and December. On one specific drive, we found a Black Backed Jackal mom with four beautiful little new born pups. This was just amazing as she and the pups became so used to all the vehicles viewing them during the whole month that we got to take the most precious photos of them as they grew day by day.

Another rare find was the ostrich mom, also with four darling little children. The female usually lays five or six eggs, but it is most unlikely that they will all hatch properly and grow to adults eventually. The birds are often polygynous breeders, with the male having numerous mates that lay their eggs in one nest. There is usually a dominant female which tends to dominate the daytime incubation often pushing competitors’ eggs to the periphery of the nest. This not only means that predators lurking around the nests are likely to grab the eggs of subordinates, but these peripheral eggs are also not incubated properly and won’t hatch – allowing the dominant female to monopolise the next generation. No wonder this specific mother was moving around with such a look of achievement on her pretty face!

Talking about babies….

The little wild dog pups that we found in their den in June, are now 5 months old and running around all over the reserve with the rest of the pack. Boy, and how they have grown. They are almost just as big as the adults. See the difference in the photo of one of the little ones, taken just five month ago, and the most recent photo below! Unfortunately there are only six of the seven pups left as one washed away in the Groot Marico River as the group were crossing straight after a thunder storm in the beginning of the month.

News for the Twitchers:

We have finaly taken a photo of the ‘yellow morph’ of the Crimson breasted Shrike. This is one of the most exciting occurances ever to come across in Nature. This was the first one of its kind we have ever seen in Madikwe.

Sometimes, a recessive gene can cause the amount of melanin to vary in the cells of the feather, resulting in normally red plumage becoming yellow. This is called xanthochroism ( Latin for yellow coloured) and locally is occasionally apparent in the black- collared barbet and the crimson breasted shrike. This is a bird every bird lover is dreaming of ticking off in his bird book.

Another fabulous rare sighting was that of a Northern Black Korhaan very rarely spotted in our region, unlike the commonly seen Red Crested Korhaan.

For the rest of you, just to tickle your tastebuds, another fantastic photo of a female leopard we found early one morning lazing about in a tree….. Our leopard sightings are picking up by the month as these most elusive of all the animals are getting more and more relaxed around the game drive vehicles.

As you can see, Tuningi offers adventure, things of great interest, lots of knowledge about the bush and all of this to our guests staying in the best of homely, luxurious accommodations.

The quality of our Lodge’s standards of service is in direct proportion to our commitment to excellence.
Make your booking now. You will remember this holiday for the rest of your life!

Kindest regards
The T-team.
Instead of our usual kids art, we show you some pictures of our younger visitors having a great time at Tuningi!

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