Author: Focus Online Dev

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!

 

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest greetings to you all once again!

We are so sorry that our August newsletter is coming to you a bit later than usual, but we were waiting for some very special photo’s we wanted to share with you.

You will find that this letter is completely different than those you have become used to by now, as we just could not resist showing off all the romance we were consumed with during August!

Where it all began?
A year ago, a lovely couple came to stay with us for a few days. Jeff asked us to please set up a truly romantic dinner for them one evening, and promptly asked Rika to marry him! It all turned out so beautifully that they decided to come back to Tuningi exactly one year later for the wedding!

Having travelled so far and brought with them all their family and best friends, we obviously had to go all out to make it completely unforgettable!

This is why we decided to stretch the whole wedding out over three days and to stage five events during the three days.

On the first night we had a full on Bush Dinner in the middle of the Game Reserve with traditional dancers to enhance the atmosphere.

The whole 5 star meal was cooked right there on the open fires and although it was very cold out in the bush, each chair had a blanket the guests could wrap themselves in, and fires were burning everywhere to create some warmth.

The bride’s dad commented that it felt as if they all landed in the middle of a National Geographic programme.

The next day was the BIG one!

We chose yet another spot in the middle of nowhere, only this time, with a beautiful view, for the exchanging of the wedding vows.

Chairs were set up and a proper isle formed for the bride to walk down with her dad towards her waiting husband to be.
They even had three bridesmaids and four best men to join them at the altar!
The comfortable winter sun was shining brightly all afternoon, after a really cold morning, and things just could not be more romantic….

After the formalities, we did pre dinner drinks around the fire in the boma at the Lodge, and the guests, who gathered from over 7 continents, had time to stand around and catch up a bit. By this time the temperature had dropped significantly and warm glasses of gluwein and a couple of snacks to whet appetites went down fabulously in between the flowing champagne.

 

Dinner was served inside the Tuningi dining room while the lounge area was turned into a stage for a full on Marimba band with more traditional dancers to get the party going.

Fabulous food, beautiful speeches, lots of friendship and love, rhythmic music and lots of dancing, created a perfect and unforgettable evening!

The next morning we all had breakfast on the deck at our sister lodge, Buffalo Ridge, before everyone departed to Johannesburg.

 

 

To end off our August newsletter, we thought we would share with you, the thank you letter we received from the gorgeous, happy couple who have since become our friends.

From: Rika Yano [rika.yano@db.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 11:11 AM
To: Claudia@madikwecollection.com; tuningilodge@mweb.co.za
Cc: jeff_olsonjp@yahoo.com
Subject: Thank you from Jeff and Rika

Dear Heidi, Peter, Claudia, everyone at Tuningi Lodge and the Madikwe Collection staff:

We have safely returned to Japan after a fabulous time in Africa and are now suffering a case of the “post-wedding blues”.

We would like to once again thank each and every one of you for making our wedding celebration so wonderful and special. We really could not have asked for a more perfect wedding. What you put together for us far exceeded any of our expectations. What truly impressed us was how seamlessly everything operated. On the day of the wedding, when we all thought that the weather might be too cold, you already had Plans B and C in mind and ready to go. You were flexible regarding our requests and attended to each and every one of our needs. We really appreciated the fact that when we asked for something, we only had to ask once and it was done.

We want to especially thank all the people who worked behind the scenes to help set up all the events, the housekeeping staff who was so careful with our wedding outfits, everyone who stood out there in the freezing bush serving us dinner, and all the dancers and singers who made our events so much fun.

A round of applause also goes to the chef & kitchen team. Every single meal was amazing and all the guests commented repeatedly on how delicious the food was. We felt like we were dining at a fancy New York City restaurant! Rika still cannot forget how tasty the beef was at the Bush Dinner.

And of course, how can we forget the many amazing game drives we had: the lions eating the eland; the wild dog pups playing around the den; the rhinos sparring for over an hour; a lucky sighting of a leopard two days in a row (three for some…); and the elephants at the waterhole. Grant and Harry managed to find every animal we asked for (including the giraffes on the last drive!) – they were the super ‘rangers on demand’.

At one point Heidi said to us, “you mustn’t worry about a thing”, and she was exactly right. What Tuningi did for us established a whole new meaning to the word ‘service’ that will truly be hard to beat. You all should be very proud of what you put together for us and our guests.

Once again, thank you so much for everything you did. You made our wedding absolutely fabulous!

Best regards,
Rika & Jeff

We are sure that all of you who are still planning your wedding day, have now gathered some new ideas.

Please contact us if you want to do anything remotely similar to Rika and Jeff.
We would love to help you plan your MOST special day, as well!

Next month we will get you updated with all the goings ons in the bush again!
We hope you have a lovely month of September and that we will see you all again soon!
Kindest regards
The romantic T-team

 

 

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest greetings to you all once again,

They say that things normally get worse before they get better! Well, we experienced living proof of this. We were slowly getting ready for sunny spring next month but we had it all completely wrong. Instead of warming up, we were surprised with some of the coldest days ever in this part of our country, with yet another ridiculously, out of the ordinary, bout of rain in the middle of July.

Just do not think that the weather could keep us from going out on game drives every day…. The fact that we were dressed up like Eskimos going out on a safari sledge every day just made it all the more adventurous. At least we knew that we would be welcomed back at the Lodge with a warm cloth to defrost the nose and fingers and a double tot of Old Brown Sherry to sort us out from the inside. The roaring wood burning fire, a steaming hot bubble bath and a glass of delicious South African red wine before dinner also helped a lot!

One would think that game viewing would be a bit difficult in these harsh circumstances, but to the contrary, it seemed to be as good as ever.

The most exciting find of the month was without a doubt the den of the newly formed wild dog pack. After all the fighting between the Collection Pack and the Dwarsberg Pack in the beginning of the year, only one of the Collection Pack survived. Luckily, she was welcomed in to a ‘breakaway group’ from the Dwarsberg pack. This new group of six dogs have now successfully denned and with luck on our side, found a big hole to den in, right next to one of the game drive roads. For the first time ever it is now possible for us to see the tiny little puppies way before they are four months old. The mother usually hides them so well that they are always already half grown when we get our first glimpse of them. Just see in the photos how fast they grow. The photos were taken within three weeks of each other and you can see how much they developed in three weeks.

What a privilege to witness the successful breeding of one of Africa’s most interesting animals; an animal threatened by extinction. Depending on how large the pack is, wild dogs can have up to 18 pups at a time. This tiny pack of six dogs now has six puppies. We suspect that the Dwarsberg pack, now made up of around twelve dogs, is also denning at the moment, but we have no idea where they have gone into hiding. How wonderful it would be if they can also bring another eight or ten new babies into this world??

Talking about babies….. We found this very playful, gorgeous little white rhino baby and his mom running around and rolling in the dust one early morning. We just could not take enough photos of the little guy.

The white rhino cow seeks dense cover before calving and remains secluded for several weeks before she resumes her usual home range and routine. The calves can stand within an hour of birth but remain a bit unsteady for a couple of days. They already begin grazing when they are only two months old and are weaned at one year. White rhino mothers are fully equipped to protect their babies against all predators but one….human beings.

One afternoon on our normal sundowner stop, we were joined by some uninvited guests. Just as all the drinks were packed out; two lions came happily strolling towards us from the thicket. Needless to say, we all had to jump back onto the vehicles and wait patiently for them to satisfy their curiosity before we could quench our thirst!

More fantastic news is that the Etali female is still looking after her four cubs wonderfully. We do not get to see them too often, but it is as if she comes out just to brag a bit every now and then. And to get a photo of all four of the busy little bodies is quite a trick! As we have told you in previous newsletters, she is a single mother, operating on her own and always hunting and fending for herself and her cubs, unlike other female lions that usually stay with their sisters or cousins. She is one of the most amazing lion mothers we have ever come across in our careers. To bring up four cubs even in a huge supportive group of lions is very unusual, but to do it on your own is almost impossible.

As usual, we have had the opportunity to host so many of you and had the chance to get to know and love your kids. We have made heaps of new friends, shared our passion for the bush and all things alive with you, fed you amazing, heartwarming, traditional SA food, and allowed you to just rest your soul.

These days we do not just take you on game drives. The guys will also take you on a bush walk if you like. Unfortunately it is very dangerous, which means that only adults can participate. Not just anybody can take a rifle and conduct a walk, there are very strict rules, certain qualifications and lots of shooting evaluations the guys have to pass first. The walks are not centered on the seeking of adventure or an adrenaline rush. The idea is to take you into areas of the park where the vehicles can’t go. We do not try and bump into big animals, but rather concentrate on the smaller, interesting things like dung, spoor, insects, nests, birds, grass, etc. As Grant always say: “ We speak dung fluently”.

An example of a conversation in ‘dung’ will be something like this;
Ranger stops at huge dung heap next to the foot path. “This is a rhino midden. It is not just a place they come to defecate, but it is where they communicate. It is like the internet chat room of the bush where the lonely hearts can leave their messages and see who is available, who is already taken and who is still too young for these kinds of adventures. A female will come here, leave a deposit and then a male will come a long and pick up the message of who his potential mates are.” If you find this interesting, you will just love a walk with one of our highly qualified rangers!

Well, it is time to say good bye.

Do not hesitate to pick up the phone and make that booking. We can’t wait to meet you.
And remember, if you return for your next visit do not forget to pack your walking boots.
With kindest regards
The fabulous T-team.

 

Do not forget to take a look at our fabulous kids’ art gallery!

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest greetings to you all once again.

Time surely flies when you are having fun….
June has been a truly special month for all of us. It is still, just not often enough, that we get to host a beautiful, romantic wedding in the middle of the bush.

Although it is hard work and takes up a lot of extra time and planning, we all just love it when a ‘bride to be’ chooses Tuningi Safari Lodge as the destination, to turn her wedding day into the most wonderful day of her life.

Believe me when I say that it is just amazing to exchange your wedding vows in the shade of a beautiful big tree with wooden hearts dangling all around you, the wind gently tugging at your hair, the birds chirping love songs in the long grass, huge, fluffy white clouds floating by…. It simply cannot get more romantic than that!

After the ceremony and lots of champagne, you get treated to a fabulous six course dinner in front of the Lodge’s roaring, wood burning fire. On your return to your cozy room, you will find your bath already filled with hundreds of rose petals floating amongst the fragrant bubbles……
This month, it was Tammy and Ryan Lindsay who got married here at the Lodge and in Tammy’s own words:
“Tuningi, you made our day special in every way. We will never forget our wedding day in the middle of the bush, warmed by the African sun and strokes of the afternoon breeze. It was all we ever dreamed of and more. We leave with fond memories, a desire to return, and new friends we will never forget!”

 

Back to the normal flow of things :
Last Monday, we woke up to cloudy skies and drizzling rain, which lasted for three days. What a great surprise! We usually receive our last rain for the year in March and then have to wait until November for the next bit of relief. After three days of consistent rain and ice cold weather we measured an unbelievable 80mm. (Talk about global warming and living Green…. The weather patterns all over the world are changing rapidly because we are not treating Mother Earth with enough respect and care.) Needless to say, the game drives were wet and a bit uncomfortable, but as always, we found the most amazing sightings just because we did not expect it in these out of the ordinary conditions! There were little puddles of water everywhere which made it easy for the animals to quench their thirst wherever they happened to be at the very moment.

We all know that cats do not particularly like water and they definitely hate being wet! Well, with this being the case, just as the sun came out after yet another rainy day, we found the most gorgeous female leopard lying lazily trying to dry out on the branch of a tree. We normally only see leopard at night with the spotlight, but this time it was in broad daylight. How awesome!

 

 

At least the rain made way for sunny days again and all was back to normal soon. One afternoon we found a brown hyena (which is a very rare sighting) trotting down the road with half a zebra in his mouth. He must have just stolen it from lions who were not concentrating properly or who had maybe just dozed off for a minute or two. It was hilarious to see him running as fast as he could but with his legs buckling beneath him under the weight of the lucky find. He had to stop and rest every five minutes, but got away with it and surely had one of the best meals of his life. The brown hyenas have to rely almost purely on scavenging for food unlike their spotted friends who often hunt in packs. For him to get his paws on this fresh meat must have been just wonderful!

Back at the lodge:

The Barn Owl who has nested in the Lapa in the previous two years, has moved her nest to the knock in the roof of the Tuningi Bar (also known as the PUB according to some Irish guests) this year.

She is a lovely bird who sleeps in the day and then almost without a single sound leaves the nest just after dark to go out hunting. We have often described this movement as more than a feeling than a sighting, because you can never say that you have actually seen or heard her leave the nest.
After further investigations, we have learnt that the Barn Owl – or rather our Bar(n) Owl- has flight feathers on her wings which are fitted with special silencers. The barbs on the leading edges of these feathers are unhooked, giving the feathers soft, comb-like fringes that break up the flow of air over the feathers during flight, muffling the sound of flapping wings. This allows her to remain silent as she swoops out of the bar and when she dives down to catch her pray.

The most exciting news is that she has now started to teach her three babies how to fly! They are just the cutest little things – forever looking down on us having a drink in the bar, and although they are extremely messy, we do not mind cleaning up after them for the great privilege of being able to watch them so closely – never mind the privilege they have of watching US closely as well…..

The other interesting thing about the bar(n) owls is that they have their own natural parabolic reflectors in the form of their round facial discs. These discs reflect and channel sounds towards their ears enhancing their hearing up to 300 times better than a normal bird, like a pigeon for instance. This helps them to pinpoint a sound very accurately in the dark. They are especially sensitive to sounds with high frequency, such as the rustling of dry leaves that would give away the presence of potential prey.

As soon as they can all fly well enough, the kids will sadly leave us until the mother will hopefully return to us again for her next breeding session, next year.

Well, until the next time we will chat again, we hope you are all happy and healthy and that you are busy planning you next holiday at Tuningi as we speak. If you are wondering where to find us, the zebra will show you the way!

Do not ever forget to get out more, relax more, and breathe more, and sometimes, when you have a minute, kick off your shoes and walk barefoot over the grass. You owe it to yourself!

Kindest regards
Heidi and the friendly T-team

P.S. More kid’s art!

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A warmest hallo to all of you once again.

April has been a wonderful month of fun filled sunny days and lots and lots of chocolate eggs, all over the place.

Although we are starting to feel a definite nip in the air in the evenings, the days are still comfortably warm and allow us to spend lazy hours reading our books next to the pool in the middle of the day. On other occasions you will find us lazily dozing off on the pool loungers while game spotting at the Lodges’ water hole.

On the 22nd of April, we celebrated ‘EARTH DAY’. We once again focused on the current mantra in the conservation world of :”Happy people on the fringes of the conservation areas”

I am sure that you all know by now, that Madikwe is one of the greatest success stories in this regard. The people living around our Game Reserve are some of the poorest in the world, but we have found a meaningful way in which to share the bounty of the Reserve and the Tourism Industry with them. We have created thousands of jobs, are providing education and teaching skills in all kinds of departments to our local communities. We are even helping some of the communities to run and uphold their own Lodges 100%.

We need , however, to continue educating our local communities, as well as the rest of the world about the importance of curbing overpopulation and recycling as much as we can, trying to stop climate change and planting as many trees as we can and most importantly to ‘Treasure Our Heritage’!!

If there was ever a time to support our scientists and conservationists with our money and our influence, it is now…

There is no doubt in my mind, that it only takes one visit to Tuningi, one sight of animals roaming free in the magnificent African bush, one mind blowingly beautiful sunset, one dinner around a roaring boma fire under the twinkling stars, one rhythmic song from an truly inspired traditional choir, one African thunderstorm or one roar of a handsome male lion to change a human being into a instant conservationist, and to inspire anyone to really try and make a difference.

This month, Gavin shares with us another wonderful day of game viewing at Tuningi.

Leopard VS Wild Dogs
Have you ever seen a leopard in the wild?
Most people in the world having travelled to the savannas of Africa will know that to see one of these most elusive cats is the pinnacle of every safari experience anywhere, anytime!!

My guests (The Cozzolino Family) have stayed with me now for 4 nights, and have been asking me to find them a leopard every day non-stop. So I set out this morning with “Mission Leopard” in mind as the number one priority. I decided to go and follow up on some leopard tracks I had found last night going east of the lodge. After driving down one of the dusty roads at a snail’s pace, searching and straining my eyes in the dull light of sunrise for any signs that she had been there, I found some very fresh tracks of the Mateya lion pride going south, instead. So, we followed the lion tracks toward the airstrip, still going west, and passed some very relaxed impala, wildebeest and zebra, all grazing happily as if they had never known that these lions had just passed within a hundred meters of them. By now the sun was just coming up over the Dwarsberg Mountains to the east, and gave that sense of a beautiful day that would unfold yet again in a crisp Madikwe Morning.

After a further 10 minutes of tracking the lions, I found them stalking something in the bushes to the north of us, but they aborted the hunt almost as soon as we got there, and re-grouped in the middle of the road, giving us some great photo opportunities in the perfect morning sunlight. We followed the lions for about 1 hour towards the Dam nestled in the ridge south of us until they clicked over into “play mode” providing us with some welcome entertainment as they chased each other all over the bush. We eventually left them drinking water at the dam, in need of a coffee break.

Coffee was, as always a treat in the bush and we listened to the morning bird song, exchanging our views on the behavior of the lion’s playful manner earlier.

As we headed out in an easterly direction after coffee and hot chocolate for the children, we bumped into some magnificent male elephants. About 4 of them were grazing in their full glory close to the vehicle. The sheer size of these beasts always seems to take your breath away as they go about their daily business of packing 300 kilograms of vegetation into their tummies.

So after we had left the elephants we were bumbling along the road when all of a sudden we saw 2 wild dogs, then 3, 4, 5, 6, all of them!!!! The whole Dwarsberg Pack was there in what seemed like a frantic manner jumping around and giggling to each other in high excitement. I told my guests that this was not normal behavior, and I knew something extraordinary was about to unfold…….

As we drove closer to the action, we discovered that they were jumping up at a shepherd’s tree in an attempt to reach something. This something was a LEOPARD, and its baby kudu kill which it had hoisted into the shepherds tree… (What an ironic name for the chosen tree). The dogs were harassing the leopard which was only about 2 meters from the yapping jaws of the dogs, until she jumped out of the tree abandoning the kill with the dogs in hot pursuit. My land cruiser was put into action, as we off-roaded after the commotion with some great speed following the dogs who had forced the leopard into another tree where she climbed right to the thinnest branch on top, looking down and hissing at the persistent canines. We pulled up next to the tree watching this once in a lifetime sighting unfold before our very eyes, taking photos of the scene.

The dogs were still persistent, squealing, giggling and yapping at this enemy of the bush. The leopard started to panic, and came out of the tree and right into the middle of the dog mob, and was extremely lucky to get only one or two nips to her hind legs before bolting off again with the dogs in hot pursuit. They had again forced the now, petrified leopard into another less robust tree still harassing the cat to bits.

The wild dogs after about five minutes eventually lost interest in the leopard and started moving back towards the shepherd’s tree where the kill had been stashed. This was the moment she was waiting for, and with one crazy jump leapt out of the tree from about 4 meters high hitting the ground with a huge thud accompanied by a loud grumpy growl. The grasses parted and she was off to safety…….

We then went back to the emotional dogs, as they were trying their utmost to get hold of one of the legs of the young kudu which was dangling out of the tree. One of the dogs managed to get hold of this leg, tugging it and pulled it right into the mouths of 16 hungry wild dogs. A feeding frenzy ensued with the dogs ripping the carcass apart in classic manner as only they can, and within 10 minutes the kudu was reduced to only a pile of bones.

This has got to be one of the best sightings of predator interaction I have witnessed in all the 10 years I have been guiding in the savannas of South Africa, and it will be remembered by me and Harry and the Cozzolino Family forever.

This just proves that the unexpected can happen at any time in the bush and is awaiting around the next corner…….

SO BOOK TOMORROW AND …. COME WITNESS THE DRAMA OF THE UNBELIEVABLE AFRICAN BUSH UNFOLD IN FRONT OF YOUR VERY OWN EYES!!!

Warm regards,
The T team

PS : Don’t forget to check out the kiddies’ works of art!!

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest Greetings to you all once again.

We just can’t believe that a quarter of the new year has already slipped by without us even consciously noticing. Here where we live in the bush, it seems as if we are just floating from one week to the next. The silence is intoxicating and the background music provided by the birds and the insects buzzing about calms you down the instant you arrive at the lodge. Now and then a flash of lightning or a crash of thunder grabs your attention for a minute, just to let you peacefully slip back into your previous state of contentment again.

Luckily, here at Tuningi, we are all for some excitement during each day as well. Enter, the two game drives you get to go on each day……

As February was the month of the Wild dogs, we could easily say that March was the month of the lion. Our guests were sometimes treated to up to four different lion sightings on one day and the Etali female showed off her brand new babies twice, as well!

With the two oldest lions in the park (the Batia brothers) now both dead, the two gorgeous Tholo-Mateya males have taken over most of their territory, treating us with their presence near the Lodge, often!

 

On the last day of the month, our rangers found the Dipelo and Shabalala females playing with each other in a TREE! This is an extremely unusual thing to see, and unfortunately none of the other lodges would respond to us calling them to the sighting as they all thought we were playing the (April) fool with them!

This month, we asked Grant to tell us about Etali’s new babies in his own words.

 

Lions: A mother’s love

This was probably the highlight of the year so far for me. On the afternoon of the 13th of March 2009 we stumbled upon a couple of lions in the road close to Tau Game lodge. It was the Etali female with her brand new 2009 models. There were 4 cubs. It was the second time I had seen them in that area. We estimated that they were only a few weeks old. What a great privilege it is to spend time with these small lions. Mom was very patient with us, but every now and again we would get a snarl from her just to let us know to keep our distance.

This is now her third litter of cubs. She is an awesome mother and provides for the youngsters all on her own; she has never been part of a pride. When she gives birth she goes into isolation and keeps the cubs in hiding. During these weeks they are very vulnerable to predation especially by hyenas and other lions.

When they are about ten weeks old the female will introduce them to the rest of the pride, but in this case the female is alone so does do this. She has two other youngsters from 2007 and they will surely meet the new cubs. When females are in estrus the female and male will go into isolation for between 2-5 days where they will copulate 2-4 times per hour during that period……a very long honeymoon. During that time they don’t really hunt or eat. They have only one thing on their mind and that is making babies. The gestation period is 110 days and they will have 2-4 but up to 6 cubs have been recorded.

 

Getting to the sad part now…………

On the day we found these beautiful new babies, one of the youngsters at the back seemed to have injured his left back leg. He really struggled to keep up. Every now and then mom and his siblings would stop and call out to him. He was very weak. I knew that the mother was worried because it was getting dark and that the slow pace would put them all in danger. She went back probably 8-9 times to nudge him on. Everybody on the vehicle was touched very deeply by the happenings on that evening……. that’s nature. I now understand how hard it must be for wildlife photographers not to interfere with the natural course of nature.

In nature a mother’s love can only stretch so far. If she decided to stay with him she might exposed all of the cubs to predators or other dangers. As it was getting dark we left with the feeling in our hearts of, ‘is he going to make it through the night?’ After that night we have seen the mother on her own again a few times, but haven’t seen the cubs again. She is really hiding them well, as a good mother does. Up to now, we are still not sure if there are four or only three left!

As the cubs grow older they will all sit together around the dinner table, and it will be every cub looking to devour as much of the kill as possible. They still have to share the feast with their siblings that are now one year old already.

If there are males around, they usually eat first, with the females to follow. Only then do the children get a chance. On rare occasions, a big male lion will tolerate a cub around his food. Etali, being a single mother, almost never has to fear a visiting male near her cubs after a kill. The father will make a rare appearance now and then but he is usually very tolerable of his own cubs.

We often see her with last year’s cubs and will let you know how the new ones are doing as soon as she lets us have another glance

Till next drive
Grant

Well, that is all from us for March. Please remember to book that holiday, you well deserve, as soon as possible!

Come and relax at Tuningi. Revive yourself, run away from your hectic schedule, lock away your watch and just give yourself over to the slow rhythm of the African bush. In absolutely no time at all, you will be hooked!

We can’t wait to see you!
Kindest regards
The T-team

PS : Don’t forget to check out the kiddies’ works of art!!

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest greetings to you all once again.

Although February was very wet throughout, we still had a fabulous time sliding around in the mud and testing our 4×4 skills to the full.

Usually the skies cleared beautifully in the late afternoons just in time for Game drive. The up side of this is that the cats and dogs were out to play on the roads every day as they do not like walking around in the long wet grass. This made for magnificent sightings all month long and for the first time in a while many of our guests had the opportunity to actually see a kill right in front of their eyes.

It can be quite emotionally disturbing to watch such a gruesome act, but it is always an amazing experience and something that leaves all speechless at the way Nature goes about its way. I will let Gavin take you through one of these once in a lifetime experiences in his own words.

Once in a Lifetime…….

Every now and again, you are blessed with some kind of pleasure in your life, and this is what happened on the 2 February 2009. I was on an afternoon game drive with only two guests from England, who had never been on a safari ever!

We set out with the intent of finding some of the more common species found in Madikwe such as zebra, impala, wildebeest, and possibly the odd elephant, when a call came on the bush telegraph … “WILD DOGS AT BRAVO 3 “. As I was already almost in that general area I took up a standby position for this sighting of the breakaway pack consisting of 4 dogs. Now, as anybody knows, seeing the most endangered carnivore in Africa, second to the Ethiopian Wolf, is something that would be enough to pleasure the most intrepid of safari goers, as only about 500 of these very charismatic predators survive in all of Southern Africa today!

So we arrived into the sighting with some very relaxed and docile looking wild dogs, as they were just resting in the shade, and the odd flap of their huge ears giving their presence away as the tall grass concealed them. Then there was a yawn……….

The dogs started stirring, and stretching their very lazy legs, they began scent-marking territory by spraying urine on the more prominent junction of the road we were at. They then decided to head in a southerly direction towards the lodge in the close vicinity, now looking hungrier and hungrier with each step.

We must have followed them south along the road for about 20 mins or so, when they changed direction again and started moving east towards a waterhole where I remember seeing some impala grazing on the southern bank a little earlier. Now every ranger in the worlds’ heart will miss a beat with the thought of wild dogs hunting and knowing that I had seen some impala in the area that the Dogs were moving into got me very excited. When we arrived at the waterhole we did not see any impala happily grazing, but instead we noticed this poor little wildebeest calf all on his own in the middle of a huge open clearing in full view of the Dogs……

The tension was rising as the dogs came into view of the wildebeest. And almost instantaneously their ears went FLAT !!!

One of the lead dogs was off….. Chasing the wildebeest down, and gaining on him quickly! The wildebeest’s legs were moving as fast as they possibly could with the African “Painted Wolf” fast closing in. At this point I told the guests that they should put their cameras on to “sports” mode as the action would be fast and furious. Little did we know….

They had chased the wildebeest straight into the water, or maybe the wildebeest was clever enough to run in there himself to get away from the snapping jaws of the now very excited wild dogs. The wildebeest then swam around frantically in the dam with the dogs wary of the water, and giving some very unique squealing yelps at each other. The wildebeest then found some shallower water where he stood and watched his enemy face to face.

This must be a sight that no animal would want to face, especially not with the most efficient carnivore in nature. The dogs tried to get at him, but they were too scared of the water, and backed off in frustration. This lasted about 2 mins when reinforcements arrived in the form of a territorial male wildebeest trying to drive off the dogs as they kept harassing the now shivering wildebeest.

The calf then tried to run out of the water thinking that the big male wildebeest would save him, but only succeeding in renewing the dogs’ excitement and determination, as they then pursued the fleeing calf with great speed straight towards the vehicle !!

The wildebeest was in a tight spot with dogs nipping at his rump and legs right in between our vehicles which seemed to resonate the blood curdling scream of the calf as he saw a gap and ran back to the water, and past the big guy making a feeble attempt at rescuing him, with dogs in tow.
(Check the expressions on the guests faces!)

This happened three times in and out of the water and around the vehicles with the big male wildebeest putting in more of an effort at saving the youngster from certain death .

This had now been going on for about 20 mins, and the dogs started losing interest in the calf now shivering with shock and cold in the water, and as quickly as they were interested, they were disinterested and started moving off in a northerly direction away from the waterhole, looking for another victim…..

And then the wildebeest made the fatal error!!

He started walking out of the water slowly dragging his now very tired legs through the water which made a noise, and in the distance the 4 very amazed dogs turned around, and upon seeing the wildebeest coming to land sprinted back to the scene, where the beginning of the end began…….

The cavalry arrived too late, only to look on as their family member was consumed by their worst fear.

These moments are some of the most emotional moments in any persons life, as our morals of life and death are something that most people question. But out here in the African Savanna the death of one will mean the survival of another, and if you have any safari experience, you will soon get to realise that watching something as brutal as a wild dog killing, is something that does not come around every day, it is probably a “ONCE IN LIFETIME” moment. So with that I just hope that these magnificent animals will be here for many generations to witness the same thing I witnessed on that day !!

So…… hope you enjoy these images, and get on to the site ( www.photo-africa.com ) and view more of these images (the more brutal ones) if you like.

Till next time, bush regards……..
Gavin

The Easter holidays are around the corner!! Make that booking now and give Mother Nature a chance to educate you and your family in her own special way…
Kind regards till next month!

The T-team

 

For enquiries please contact :

Warmest Greetings to you all once again.

The Festive season has left us all exhausted as it is by far the busiest time of the year in our industry. Although we are all a bit tired, we feel elated that we could share our wonderful lodge and game reserve with so many of you. Once again all our guests have gone home feeling pampered and revived. They have experienced the wild South African bush in its true sense and gathered enough knowledge and memories to last them a lifetime.

For our January newsletter, we have thought it a good idea to let our guests do the talking for once.

Instead of us telling you what you can expect to find on your next visit to Tuningi, please feel free to page through our visitors book….

‘Our third visit! I have a feeling there will be a fourth! Another great Tuningi experience. Thank you to Gavin, Heidi and all the Team. Brilliant drives including a truly memorable leopard experience that took the biscuit!!! Wonderful food too. Gentle, friendly, courteous service and beautiful singing in the Boma. So, thank you again. We shall be back……again!’
Malcom and Jean Hewitt, England

‘This weekend has been so fantastic. Tuningi and the staff made our group feel so at home ( we wish this was our home!) and our bush wedding was PERFECT. Exactly what we hoped for and the greatest memories.’
Lesley and Steve Gorman, England

‘Dear Tuningi Team. We had a great and peaceful stay in your Lodge! Everything was perfect! Thanks so much for the great gamedrives with Gavin, dinners, accommodation and nice events for the kids. We hope to be able to come back some day! Our holiday started much better than we hoped with seeing all the beautiful game.’
The Staleman family, Netherlands

‘A wonderful, wonderful place! We have had a fantastic time and are really glad we found somewhere that made our kids feel so at home. Thank you Grant for some wonderful moments in the bush!
The Fletchers, London, UK

‘Thank you so much for a wonderful 4 days. The service was fantastic, everyone was super friendly and we are sure that Gerry has some kind of 6th sense when it comes to finding the best animals….’
‘The Hicks and Theysmeyer families, Canada

‘Thank you for everything. We had a more memorable Honeymoon than we even thought possible. After spending a couple of days here I think that every human being should experience it in their lifetime.’
Ashleigh and Jim Garvey, USA

‘Truly Excellent!!! Game was spectacular. Many thanks to Grant for your first class tracking skills and driving- Food, atmosphere, service could not be surpassed. We will be back!!’
Pat and Mike Lewis, UK

‘Dear Tuningi Team. Thank you so much for making this a super fun holiday. I would specially like to thank Gavin for the game drives and Heidi and Adele for the shirt painting and all the other stuff we did!!!! I hope I can return one day. I LOVED it!!’
From Angus Bell (7years) UK

‘Thanks to all for the most awesome 3 days at Tuningi. Each and everyone has been so incredibly welcoming, friendly and hospitable. Grant and Monique, a special thanks to you both. You made our stay extra special. Wishing you all the best.’
Love from Ian, Jill, Linzy Miller,UK

‘What a wonderful experience that will remain with us for the rest of our lives. The friendly staff and Gavin who must be the best ranger in S.A. !! As Arnie says ‘ we will be back!’ Food, rooms, service was of the highest standard.
Ian and Simon, London

Well, there you have it—straight from the horse’s mouth.
Please remember that February is the month of ROMANCE!
Pick up the phone and make that booking today. Your loved one deserves to be spoilt rotten every now and then!!! Tuningi is ‘just the biscuit’ as Malcom would say!!

Please remember that return guests get preferential rates.

Can’t wait to see you all
‘Till next month,
Bush greetings,
The awesome T-team

 

For enquiries please contact :

 

December is always a busy time in the bush and this year was no exception. To compliment the festivities we hosted a wedding and, as always, the game viewing has been fantastic.

As all the Tuningi staff started gearing up for Christmas and New Year’s celebrations in the bush we were lucky enough to host a stunning wedding for some guests and their close friends and relatives. The wedding itself was intimate and was held at sunset out in the bush. The couple had the entire African landscape to themselves as the small group of guests witnessed the ceremony unfold.

The ceremony was followed by champagne toasts and a short game drive as the wedding party made their way to a surprise bush dinner. It is a breath-taking experience to arrive in the middle of the bush where the beauty of the scene that has been created by the Tuningi staff is only rivalled by a spectacular full moon in the African sky. The guests had the most phenomenal evening as they enjoyed five star cuisine and great service under a canopy of stars. A truly memorable event for all the guests and the staff at Tuningi.

 

After the wedding things did not slow down and the lodge has been completely fully booked as group after group of guests arrived at Tuningi for their African adventure. Apart from the luxury and service at the lodge, Madikwe’s wildlife also joined in the spirit of the season and we had the most amazing sightings.

This time of year you can always be assured of seeing large amounts of young animals. Many of the herbivores give birth during November and December which coincides with the start of the rainy season. As the rains arrive the vegetation is regenerated. Large herds of impala, wildebeest and zebra paint the landscape as the new youngsters find their feet on the grasslands around the reserve.

We have even been lucky enough to, on numerous occasions, catch a glimpse of some of the youngest lions in the reserve. At three months of age the four cubs are starting to move around with their pride on a more regular basis. It is a truly unique experience to sit and watch as these youngsters attack everything that moves – from a grasshopper to their mom’s tail. For many of the guests these young cats have been the highlight of their stay in Madikwe.

 

The two largest male lions in the west of Madikwe have also made their presence known during the festive season and produced some memorable moments for many guests. The Tshola-Mateya coalition seem to be in the process of expanding their territory and have been moving more north from their regular ‘home’ in the south. This is great for us as it puts these magnificent beasts in Tuningi’s immediate vicinity and promises some more great sightings in the future.

 

Madikwe’s true superstars are the Wild Dogs. With the six new pups now approaching six months of age it has been exceedingly difficult to keep up with these very endangered carnivores. It seems, however, that even these amazing animals were in a giving mood over the Christmas period. Between Christmas and New Year we saw the dogs almost every day. Christmas Eve was particularly memorable as we spent almost the entire afternoon with the dogs as they chased impala around and ultimately succeeded in killing a young impala.

Watching Africa’s second most endangered carnivore at work is a true privilege and we drove back to the lodge thinking that we have seen it all. Little did we know that the Wild Dogs had other ideas. After our drive on 30 December we were all at the lodge for a well deserved drink when we heard it. The unmistakable sound of the Wild Dogs hunting and then the sounds of a kudu in distress. We all ran out to the vehicles with the idea of following the sound but this was not even necassary.

As we came out of the lodge front door we saw them. The large pack of Wild Dogs had chased a female kudu towards the electric fence around the lodge and as she jumped the fence must have clipped and broke the top strand of wire. All the dogs followed in a frenzied pursuit and ultimately pulled down the kudu a mere 20 meters from the lapa at the main lodge. (For those of you who have visited Tuningi before, this all happened on the lawn just on the side of the main lodge as you arrive back from game drive.)

It was an almost unbelievable scene as all the staff and guests stood in awe as the dogs started their feeding frenzy. Many people visit Africa again and again and never get to witness something like this. Even though it is extremely brutal and we try and attach emotions to these kinds of scenes this is nature at it’s brutal best. Even though it was difficult to watch everybody resisted the urge to look away and as the evening wound down we all felt privileged to have witnessed such a once in a lifetime scene. The electric fence was fixed first thing the next morning but the memories of the second last evening of 2008 will be cherished and remembered for a long time to come.

 

As we reach the end of 2008 we would like to say thank you to all the people who have visited us during the last year. We have witnessed nature at it’s best. We have shared amazing moments. We have shared Africa.

As the sun sets on another great year at Tuningi we wish you tenderness for the past, courage for the present and hope for the future.

We look forward to seeing you at Tuningi in 2009.

Warmest regards,

The Tuningi Team

PS: As always we end of with a few works of art form our younger guests!

 

 

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