MANAGERS REPORT

Dear Friends and Colleagues

Well the rains seem to be continuing and the bush has continued its massive transition in a lush green oasis. Due to the weather conditions, we have not been experiencing the usual high temperatures for this time of the year, but none of these factors have had any adverse effect on the Game viewing, quite the contrary in fact.

It has been good to see so many familiar faces back with us this month, we have enjoyed your company back with us at Leopard Hills, and we hope it will not be too long before you return to the Lodge again. It was wonderful to welcome Horst and Jo Engel back with us again, one day we will get the timing right and I will make sure we are here for the total duration of your visit.

The Lodge

We have been carrying out a mini revamp on the rooms and are in the process of re-doing the floors and changing some of the interiors. It is essential we are proactive in our approach to keeping the facilities to a standard that had become synonymous with Leopard Hills’ reputation, but at the same time keep things the way they are, and the reason that we have so many friends returning. The changes will be subtle and in keeping with the existing facilities.

Employee of the Month

It is with great pleasure we announce Octobers Employee of the Month goes to Luckson Nkuna for our Maintenance/Gardens Department, well done Luckson, well deserved we are very proud of you.

Community Development

It has been a slow month on the Community Development side of things as we finalise the building plans and tie up the lose ends as far as the contractors go. The main thing is the Children, and they are doing very well, and I think very excited about the move to a new facility. It is an exciting stage for everyone, as this has been in the planning for so long; we are on the eve of such an important development that will bring so much to these youngsters’ lives, and none of this would have been possible with out so many generous donations.

If there has been one thing I have come to realise having spent so many years in the bush, nothing happens quickly and some of the frustrations we face are enhanced due to our remote location. However, I have come to realise that the hard work and patients that is put in now, lays the foundation for the future and it is vitally important that we do this the right way, to ensure we are not faced with problems down the line from here. We must never forget why we got into this challenge in the first place, and that is to add value to lives so less fortunate that our own, and this was never something we were going to take lightly, and on a short term basis, we are in this for the long term. I don’t think any of us could have imagined how big this commitment would become in such a short space of time, but it has, and gladly so. So when frustration raises its ugly head, we must see this as a challenge and not a deterrent, and move forward in a positive light, we have big plans to fulfil and many young dreams to help realise, so on we go with all your help and support, thanks again to you all.

Watch this space, who knows, maybe next month we will have news of some construction taking place, and we look forward to bringing you month by month pictures of the progress as things take shape.

Rangers Report

This months Rangers Report has been compiled by Marius and the Team, and some exciting news as a new Pride of Lions have appeared form nowhere, adding to the already volatile set up amongst the resident Prides.

We would like to thank Marius for all the pictures in this Report and thank you to Horst Engel for his elephant pictures.

Until next month, we wish you all well and we look forward to up-dating you in the November Reports.

Duncan and Louise Rodgers
Operations Director and General Manager

Rangers Report

The African bush is looking absolutely awesome and there are various species of wild flowers all over the reserve after the rains that we received in the last month. Once again we had some phenomenal sightings and Duncan even had some great action on a staff drive. The two unknown females that we wrote about in the last two months were identified as the Shalala pride that came from a neighbouring property and are now almost resident in our traversing area.

Leopard

With the amount of young female leopards that we are seeing in our traversing area it came as no surprise that on a morning drive, the Makubela female leopard and the Ntshile female leopard had a massive fight. Female leopards are very territorial and even though their territories overlap they will not hesitate to defend it at all costs. In this instance, both females walked away without injury.

Talking about leopards we are also still seeing an impressive amount of young male leopards as well. On an afternoon drive my guests and I saw an unknown male leopard lying in a Boer Bean tree at Robson’s dam in the furthest Northern Part of our traversing area. On the same drive we had a fleeting glimpse of yet another young male leopard in the Sand River, unfortunately the leopard disappeared into the thick reeds and it was impossible to try and get an I.D of the animal. We are currently busy compiling a leopard I.D kit for all the leopards seen in our area and this will be published soon on our website.

Hannes and his guests had a sighting of Makwela female leopard just after she killed a wildebeest calf, she left the carcass to fetch her female cub but the cub was nowhere to be found. Makwela leopard kept on calling for more than half an hour before the cub eventually made an appearance. After their usual greeting ceremony they headed back to the kill and to their surprise two hyenas had stole it. Unfortunately unlike previous occasions Makwela was not able to steal back any of the wildebeest.

Lions

As mentioned in my introduction the two female lionesses have been identified as the Shalala Pride that moved in from the east and some great news is that the young male lion from the Ximungwe Pride has joined up with them.

Duncan, Louise and the staff were having sundowners at Wallingford Dam when two hyenas came down to the waterhole and started wallowing in the mud. Shortly after their arrival another 5 hyenas joined them and they started contact calling. An amazing spectacle, while enjoying a cold beer, to have seven hyenas calling all around them, with the additional spectacle of a very large male hippo yawning in the middle of the dam. After about twenty minutes, the hyenas moved off slowly over the dam wall, and much to Duncan’s surprise, a lioness and sub adult female appeared from the direction the hyenas had headed. Climbing back into the vehicle and driving around to the other side of the dam to have a better look at them, they were shortly followed by another lioness and a sub adult male, all looking in very good condition, and all had full bellies. While they watched the pride drinking, a deafening cacophony erupted in the bush to the north of them, and the shrill cry of the hyenas alerted them to the presence of a kill. Making their way through the bush, they came across the clan on hyenas pulling the remnants of a kudu kill to pieces, a kill that the lions had obviously been chased off moments before. What started off as a brief stop at a waterhole for sundowners, ended off being a major event and a memorable evening for all.

For the first time we where fortunate enough to see the 5 Mapogo male lions, the 2 females from the Sand River Pride and their 5 cubs all together. The lionesses made a wildebeest kill the night before but the males managed to take it over. The females then moved off the next day just to kill another wildebeest in the Sand River.

On another occasion the Sand River female and their cubs were feeding of a wildebeest kill when nine giraffes decided to join them. Being very inquisitive the giraffe’s walked straight up to the lionesses and kept on starring at them. At first the little four month old cubs ran off but one of the females was quick to call them back, the two older cubs then started to stalk the giraffe. The two females ran after the cubs and pinned them down before they got a massive kick by one of the giraffe. It has been documented on many occasions where giraffe have kicked lions and with a single kick they will break an adult lions jaw with the greatest ease.

Cheetah

We had several sightings of our male cheetah in the last month. The cheetah spends a lot of time in the northern part of our traversing area and managed to kill an impala. We are hoping that with the re-establishment of the clearings that this endangered cat will once again be as prolific as it used to be in our traversing area.

Elephant

After the good rains that we have received, many of the elephant herds have moved away from our traversing area. The movements of these pachyderms are well documented and herds will travel hundreds of miles over a period of time utilising the whole of the greater Kruger National Park.

Buffalo and Rhino

The big herd numbering hundreds of buffalo spend allot of time in our traversing area. The herd moved around mainly in the southern part of our traversing area and even came as far north as Leopard Hills Camp. We are also still seeing many groups of bulls all over our traversing area and even recorded a group of 30 bulls close to camp one afternoon.

Some fantastic sightings of rhino this month over our whole traversing area, on an afternoon drive my guests and I were pleasantly surprised when we saw a crash of 6 rhino at Big Clearing on our northern most cut line. This is to date the biggest group of rhino that I have seen in the northern part of our traversing area.

Specials

Another month of great sightings of the smaller mainly nocturnal animals, we had sightings of civet cat, honey badgers and a serval cat. Most of the migratory birds have returned and the beautiful songs of various cuckoo species are heard all the time, most of the bee-eater species have returned and we are still awaiting the return of everyone’s favourite the woodland kingfishers. Raymond and his guests had a prize sighting of a martial eagle feeding of a black mamba.

Sightings totals for the Month

Elephant:35 Rhino:31 Buffalo:22 Lion:45 Leopard:43 Civet:1 Cheetah:3 Honey Badger:2

Note: The above sightings totals reflect the number of individual sightings of animals, not populations of animals in the area. e.g. If we see a herd of 12 buffalo this is noted as one sighting. These sightings are then tallied to get the figure reflected above.