Category: Tuningi Safari Lodge

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!

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!!

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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 :