Upgrades, Wildlife Courtships, and Safari Spectacles
For those of you who have visited us recently, you will have seen the new dam and you may have enjoyed a bush breakfast alongside it. This month we have begun building a wooden deck that juts out to the north of the dam wall. This upgrade will add to the bush breakfast set up and give us an ablution facility. We also have four new spotlights that illuminate the dam so that we can observe nocturnal activities.
Two of our Secretarybird pairs have begun building their nest atop an acacia tree in the south. There has been much courtship taking place and sticks are being gathered to get ready for new chicks. Many of our groundbird species have been spotted with their chicks. The cryptically coloured youngsters are learning key survival strategies like how to find food in herbivore dung!
The tallest land mammals have been our entertainment this month. We have been captivated by their playful sparring, mesmerised by their lanky strides and delighted by the newest members of each aggregation. Sundowners with a tower or journey of giraffes have been such a treat.
Morning drives are certainly colder and the sun is setting much earlier every evening. The impala rams have started their rutting antics, and we are seeing many grimaces of the flehmen variety amongst our mammalian males. The constellation of Orion will soon be dipping out of our night skies as Scorpio takes its place in the winter lineup.
It is absolutely one of the best months to be on safari, and Umzolozolo is undoubtedly the lodge to visit!
Head Guide Noleen Turner