Lion Roars

News from the Bush - July 09

2009-07-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

News from the Bush – July 09
Greetings everyone!
Another month has swiftly passed us, and we’re speeding on into August already! July was a chilly month for us on the reserve, as I’m sure it was for most of you.
Firstly, we would like to introduce our new Manager at Hlosi Chris Ferreira. He has settled in very well & we hope he will be part of the Lion Roars Team for a couple of years – at least!!!

We had an unexpected amount of divine rain, and it has really made a difference to everything around us. The vegetation is so green, and I’m sure the animals are grateful too! When the Aloes come out in flower, they are just so spectacular!
It seems every time I write my monthly letter there is a new addition – or about to be! As I promised, here is a special shot of Mum and baby! Just Note how tiny that little one is!

This month we have had fun & games with our Sub – Adult cheetahs. We had to dart them, as we are selling them, so we can bring in a new blood line. They have found a new home where they have similar values to us, so we are rest assured for their future.
We spent a good afternoon monitoring them and watching them before the Vets were happy. Once they were down all procedures were done as quick as possible, and then we loaded them onto the back of an open bukkie and were off to the boma. Once we got there the one woke up before the drug was administered to wake him up, so it was a bit of a shock to say the least when he got up! We were all told not to run, so I have to say that took courage from us all, but it was the right thing to do, as the sight of us all standing there kept him at bay. We all slowly backed out of the boma and we left the pair to themselves, as we watched quietly from outside. Once the Vets were satisfied the electric fence was switched on and we all went home. Electric fence or not electric fence – during the night they both jumped through the electrified strands and were free again!!!!
So needless to say a few days later the search began again, but this time we secured the fine better. We got the male easily enough, but the female was clever (as we are naturally!!) and after looking all morning we gave up. That night the boma next to the male was open – and she walked in herself, and we simply closed the gate in the morning!! So we have the pair safe in the Bomas and ready to go.

I took quite a few shots of the cheetah whilst the vets went about their business, and what really struck me is how beautiful these animals really are. The male and female are in such good condition and are particularly large for their ages.

I love this picture of the sub-adult male, the light captured his beauty so well. Then let us not forget our 2 cubs that are growing by the day and are full of nonsense! It is so funny to sit and watch them play! The stalk each other backwards and forwards and then one goes in for the kill!!
This picture was taken of Light foot, and I just thought it was a fantastic pose!We’re always on the lookout for those rare creatures that you don’t see very often, and luckily Stuart got to show his guests this awesome sighting of an Aardwolf. I must say, in all the years I have worked in the bush, I have never seen one.
Here are 2 pictures taken of Dani & Kapela our black rhinos. These boys are very inquisitive and like to come up to the vehicle real close for a look-see. As you all know with black rhino’s, they can be very aggressive, so we’re always ready to reverse at high speed if need be!
On a very different note, Lion Roars has put in place an Employee of the Quarter award. This is extended to all the 5 Lodges / Guest House. The winner receives a certificate, a luxury hamper and a floating trophy. This quarter it was awarded to Bukela. The winners were Welle 1 & Welle 2. For those of you that know Bukela, it is our favourite twins that always strive for the best. Bukela has received a 100% guest satisfaction over the past 3 months, with no complaints, so we are very, very pleased to say the least!
We are looking forward to a very busy August, and we are full steam ahead already. So once again, thank you to all the agents who are sending us your guests.
Trip advisor also got some stunning reviews on our lodges, which has in turn sent us some new guests. A big cheer for the team!!
From us all Take care & catch up again at the end of this very busy month!

www.lionroars.com

News from the Bush June 09

2009-06-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

We hope You are all having a great summer where us in the Eastern Cape in South Africa are trying to keep ourselves warm with the start of winter? Out on the Reserve our winter has definitely started - along with some fantastic rainfall. The reserve definitely needed it and it is awesome to see things turn green again. The animals are sure grateful!

Anyway, besides that it has been another great month, and alot of cosy fires to return to after each activity. Nothing like seeing your guests faces when they are met with a hot towel and a sherry to warm them up!

The reserve has had quite a few little additions in the past month. Creatures I always seem to forget to write about, but they are so fun to watch is our ostriches! We have got 9 new babies and they are going strong! Parents are on high alert in case our cheetah decide on a snack! (which they seem to be doing of late - perhaps their metabolism gets affected by the winter too?.........you know how us humans can't seem to stop eating in winter??!!)

We have a beautiful baby giraffe too, that is soo tiny compared to his mum that you can't help but 'ooh' and 'aah' as us ladies seem to do the minute we see a baby anything!!!

Our white rhino should deliver any day now, so will keep you up to date on that little bundle!

Our cheetah cubs are growing up fast and are so beautiful. Mum is allowing us to see them now quite close, without invading their space. The 2 cubs are so inquisitive and love to look at us! Then you see them quickly run to Mum like she has given the order to move on already!!!! Our guests have really had the most amazing viewing of Damara & her cubs and have left with awesome photos to show the family. We have attached some pretty special moments, that we got to see with our guests.

WOW - I have just been told we have a new baby elephant - born last night! There is restrictions on the viewing, as it is so little - but I promise you some beautiful photos of him/her in my July news letter!

We unfortunately had to dart one of our rhino again, as his transmitter had stopped working. But it all went well and he didn't even now the difference! Steve got to go up with the vet in a helicopter so they could get a clear shot to dart him. Whilst they were looking for him, Steve got some fantastic photos of Hlosi - and wow it looks good! He said it was a really awesome experience to have seen the reserve from the air, and fairly low down - so needless to say we were all a little jealous!

Anyway, as I said the darting went well and as our vets are so good at what they do - letting each person have a go at one of the many things that take place whilst the rhino is down - weather it be monitoring his breathing, or keeping him cool with water, or taking his temperature - it all counts and makes the guests feel ecstatic to have been part of the operation. So all good here.

Fishing has been quite fun this past month. Some of the guests that are in for a few nights have opted for an afternoon fish and have come back with huge barbel, which we have released into our waterhole outside the Lodge. Nothing interesting to pan fry, but certainly entertaining for the keen fisherman!

And before I end off, I have attached a couple of photos of some awesome shots of a visitor we had at Hlosi early the other morning. Some of us were standing just inside the dinning room watching him as he went about scent marking and as you will see.........what cats love to do best! This peice of news is sooooo exciting for us, and is definately not something you see everyday. Gotta keep some juicy news for the end of the news letter - can't have all the excitement at the top of the page!!!

Well, again, we thank all those operators that have sent us guests, and we look forward to a whole lot more!

Take care everyone & we'll catch up again at the end of July, with some more news from the bush!

Kerry and the rest of the Lion Roars Team

www.lionroars.com

News Letter from the Bush May 09

2009-05-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to write this next news letter, as so much has been going on!

I shall start where I left off - and that was just before we darted our big male buffalo 'daggaboy'. The day went very well, and our guests in at the time - who were on their honeymoon & first time to Africa, got to see it all happen & they got to inject the buffalo with his does of antibiotics & vitamins! So needless to say they were absolutely ecstatic about the whole event! It took at least 20 guys to carry him & that in itself was a struggle!
We all held our breaths as the doors were open for him to come out, because was mad! The vet hat to inject him with a sedative to calm him down!
We prepared a separate boma area for him from the other males, as we did not want them to fight - so when he was released he seemed very pleased with his new accommodation!!
So now our 5 buffalo await the next step, which will be to get a series of blood tests done to determine that they do or don't have any diseases. We bought them over with the knowledge that they are disease free, but in order to sell them on now we need a vets certificate. This is a long process, which can take up to eight weeks. Then, the boys will be ready for a new home on a different reserve and by doing this we will have created space for a new blood line to step in and become the dominant male.

The next bit of excitement we has last Friday was the darting of one of our Black Rhino 'Kapela'. We started our morning at 5am with spot lights and a coffee box!! It was fairly cold, so we wrapped up and began our search for Kapela. We eventually found him with the help of Stefan - one of our Rangers at Hlosi who spotted him from the kitchen window and called the sighting into us - ww were in the opposite direction of where he was!
We followed him and sat and watched him till we had conformation that our vet William Folds and the chopper were on it's way. During this time, Kapela behaved himself so well - he virtually sat in front of our vehicle, as if to wait with us!
The chopper arrived and the whole darting process was quick - he went down in a nice open space and it was minutes before we were by his side. 2 vets worked on him very professionally and calmly as all his vitals were continuously checked and water was continuously poured over him to keep him cool. The new transmitter was put inside him and whilst we had him down he was treated for ticks and given his antibiotics - which was administered by some German guests of ours.
Then, we were all told to clear the way and get onto our vehicles whilst they gave him the final injection to wake him up. To our advantage the wind was blowing away from him, so he could not smell that we were still there - because I'm sure he was wondering what this smell all over his mouth was!!! So as he woke up, all was well and he seemed fine - like nothing had even happened to him! Grateful, we left him and let him go about his day, but as we drove off he obviously got a whiff of us, and we was after us!!!! He knew we were the culprits that had been touching his beautifully soft body!! He chased us a good way until he was satisfied we had gone and carried on eating and doing what Black Rhino's do!
Later that day, he arrived at Hlosi Lodge and decided to camp outside room 6 where the owners of the Lodge got to watch in the luxury of their suite, sipping on an sunset drink!

Milo, who now thinks he is a huge hairy monster decided to sneak under the deck, whilst Kampala was near the Main Lodge eating, and he arrived in his stand up position, which sent Kapela into a flat spin and he left the spot with all legs in motion!! He couldn't get away from him quick enough! Such a funny sighting - with such a sweet little Meerkat!!

Our Lodge full of children this weekend have just been so entertained, not only by the fabulous stream of activities Rene & Stefan have laid out for them - which by the way, I think enjoy just as much as the kids do! But Milo has been the centre of attention - one can't help melting when you see him checking out the scene in his stand up position! Little character has no lack of love that's for sure!

Whilst is was all a hive down at Hlosi with very happy guests, we had mighty happy guests to at Bukela when 2 cheetah arrived at our water hole! I was thrilled of course because I had just welcomed 2 Irish guests, Dave & Aoife on honeymoon, and was explaining why we escort guests to their rooms after dark, and told them the list of visitors we often get, and one of them was our cheetah that love the water hole! (These 2 guests have also never been to Africa and were over the moon to just see a little tortoise on the way to their suite!!) And there they were just as our guests arrived for tea time at the main lodge!
We were able to get fantastic pictures of them from the outside Lapa, but to make sure everyone got a good sighting we all got into the landrover and rolled down the road to view them clearly. I waited in my office as I had a load of paper work to be finished - and lucky I did, as the 2 boys came strolling up the road towards my office - stood to check me out by the door way, and then carried on their journey!

And lastly, our best news of all..................this morning we welcome 2 baby cheetah our Amakhala Reserve! It gives me goose bumps just announcing that, because these little fur balls are so incredibly beautiful! Damara was found tucked away in the rocky out crop, and she allowed us close enough to see what she was hiding! We estimate the cubs to be 3 weeks old already. Attached you will see the photos we managed to get through the thick bush! For all us soppy souls out there, they are definitely an 'aaawwww ccuuuttteeee' moment!!

Whilst I go about my work here in the office, I have a nest full of gorgeous baby swallows that sound like they are desperate for Mum to return with something delicious to eat!!!! Never a dull moment around this place!

For now, I shall leave with that, and no doubt will have a stream of different things to share in no time at all!
Take care
From us all on the Amakhala Conservancy!

www.lionroars.com

News from the bush April 09

2009-04-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
Thought I would give you a little of our news from this exciting part of the world!!

April was a fantastic month, and Thank you to all the Operators that continue to supprt us. We had alot of fun with our guests, and for some of them that have never been in the bush, they were totally blown away!
Up at Bukela we had the whole heard of elephant arrive. Most of my Irish group was in by this stage and relaxing at the pool side whilst the elephant chomped on trees near by and casually sauntered around watching the guests do what you do whilst on holiday! But by afternoon we had 3 guests arrive to join up with their friends, and they thought it was the most awesome thing that they could not get to their rooms because there were elephant in the way!! They had 2 young bulls eating outside their room, so they were more than happy to borrow a jacket or 2 from their friends to go on the afternoon game drive!! We finally managed to get the guests luggae into their rooms that evening!!! So at least when they arrived back from drive we were able to show them to a nice warm room for a bubble bath!!!
The next day during their brunch the elephants were back - this time having a hay day at the water hole infront of our lapa. We were able to take the guests pretty close, and they all crouched in awe of the beautiful creatures, blissfully playing with their young and splashing each other with the cool water. I have attached a great shot for you to see.

On the reserve front, our gorgeous cubs have grown up alot and looking so funny! They are all hairy and kind of look like an ant bear from a far! Damara the proud Mum has done a great job in hiding them away from us, until she was ready for us to all take a peep - and I tell you being on a vehicle with these little babes in front of us, is like being with a vehicle of papparazzi!! The cameras are going hell for leather to get shots - they are just too cutte not to get carried away!! Damara is very happy for us to look at a safe distance, and we have put a rule in place that nobody gets closer than 75m, so that the cubs can get used to the vehicle and not freightend away. She totally posses for the camera, as you will see from the shots I have attached.
The 2 young male sub-adults are enjoying life out on their own, and are looking very healthy. So we have no worries that they will be totally fine.

Great news with the white rhino. They have been seen mating, so we can hopefully look forward to new arrivals early next year.
The youngest of our baby white rhinos look to gorgeous! He looks like he is wearing pyjamas that are too big for him!!!
We have seen very interest interaction between the balck &white rhino playing with each other, and with the buffalo. They seem to live in harmony with everyone, and are totally happy with life. No worries that we get quite close and sit for ages watching their interactions.

There are loads of baby Zebras around, and I just love them! You can imagine a childs rocking horse - with the long soft furry mane of theirs and being sooo small, they are truly beautiful.

My hungry baby birds above my office door have finally flown the coop and I'm rather chuft I must say! That Mum really had her work cut out for her, as they were always chirping at the tops of their voices for more food!!!! I did see her many times bring home fat worms or something just as delicious for them, but it never seemed to fill them up or keep them quiet for long!!! So our babes have flown the nest and fending for themselves. Good job mama starling!!

Hlosi continues to be a place of abundance and it is never quiet for long there. The elephant hear have also taken a like-en to the swimming pool there, and it is amazing to see them all at once gather around for a drink. Even the babies squash in for a bit of the action!
Our black rhino still love to hang about and watch what these strange guests get up to, and peacefully eat around the lodge very relaxed. Quite something to show a first time visitor. Our kids are besides themselves to see them so close.
The kids packages have been a great hit, and the kids love to spend time with our Rangers looking for bugs, or inspecting different animal sculls and bones. Their very own homemade pizza is also a huge hit!!

Naturally Milo our little Meer-kat is soaking up all the attention - from one loving clutch to the next. It is such a fun thing to take the kids out to find Milo some bugs! We move logs carefully incase of anything we don't want to see! and hope there will be lovely juicey worms or caterpillars or something underneath. And when there is, he just jumps in with such excitement for the meal ahead!!! He is too cute and you can't help love him.
My favourite shot of him is to see him standing on the edge of the outside deck facing the sunset and see his lovely silouhette - as if checking out if there is any danger lurking, or simply enjoying the view - as we all are!

After all the testing our buffalos went through (from my last news letter) we are very proud that our boys are very healty and TB free, so we can now start searching for some beautiful Gals to join the heard! Yay!

Our 4 twin suites at Hlosi are being refurbished as we speak, and look so rich and handsome with their new coat of paint. The rooms are looking great, and now with our beautiful Family suites, we really have stunning accommodation. I feel very proud to take our guests to their rooms and show them around.
We have also just got our 5 star grading renewed at both lodges, so we know we are doing a good job and we are on the right road for success!

So until next time, keep sending us those great people so we can share this all with them!
Enjoy the pictures attached.
Bye for now
Kerry

www.lionroars.com