We are at that time of the year again, winter has arrived! The bush is wearing its winter coat! We have the blankets and hot water bottles back on the game drive vehicles and game viewing has been spectacular! The trees and grass are not as lush anymore, which gives you a better view of all the amazing wildlife living around us. We had a wonderful month at the lodge with guests from all over the world. If you have some last minute safari plans, be sure to contact our reservations office for some last minute availability during our winter special rates. Come and enjoy an evening around the fire in the boma with us and witness the most beautiful night sky Africa has to offer!
In the beginning of May Etienne, Marlet, Amanda and I once again took on the journey to Durban to attend the annual Tourism Indaba. Our blue stand once again drew a lot of attention and we received loads of compliments. Marlet, Amanda and I even got the opportunity to meet the Minister of Tourism, Mr Derek Hanekom. Thank you to each and everyone who visited our stand. We met with loads of our well-known agents, but also got to meet a few new and upcoming ones. I am sure we will have many more years of good business relations with all of them.
With winter creeping up upon us, we see more and more activity at our waterholes. This month, the trapcam was placed at Kraaines Pan, west of our airstrip. The trapcam was left on the tree for only a week and boy, were we in for a surprise! During the week, the trapcam took 2300 photo’s. To choose only 1 was a difficult task. The rangers worked their way through the shots and identified 16 different animal species and a few hundred pictures of a moving branch. Amongst the hundreds of elephant, buffalo, warthog, zebra, impala, hippo, giraffe, hyena and wildebeest photo’s there were also wild dogs and 3 different leopards who visited the waterhole. Our trapcam picture this month shows two female leopards, Salayexe and her cub, having a drink.
This month we also welcomed a new lady to our team. Anel Louw joined our team at the beginning of the month. It did not take long for her to fit right in. She will be assisting in reservations when Amanda is on leave and when she is not in the back office, she is assisting guest in reception with her friendly smile.
As always, we had some staff birthdays to celebrate. I celebrated my birthday on the 3rd and just the following day, Oom Etienne Swart had his special day. Although Oom Etienne lives in the Free State, his birthday is still special to us. Then, just after the first two, Phillip celebrated his special day on the 5th. Phillip is part of the magical team keeping the gardens at the lodge in tip top shape.
To all our readers who celebrated their birthdays in May, I hope your day was filled with happiness and laughter!
Our recipe for the month is again one for the sweet tooth. Head chef Jacques shares this delicious recipe, which can be enjoyed any time of the day, or night. If you are celebrating a special occasion, add some liqueur to boost the flavour…
All the best till next month
Tersia
Fouché