Tracking is one of the most important skills of a great guide. These are one of the most telling signs (but there others!) when it comes to knowing what animals are in the area, which way they are heading, and how close they are. Tracks show you the species, as well as the moving pace, and many other clues.

So, this track is clearly a cat track. Given the large paw size as well as the large paw finger sizes, as well as the depth of the tracks (due to the cat’s heavy weight), this is a very clear lion track as Pierre spotted it a few days back.

Our guides at the Vuyani Safari Lodge constantly look out for these tracks, as they tell a story, and to the trained eyes, these stories are unfolding in their minds, while the untrained eye barely spots these clues. Learning to identify the most common tracks (such as lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, …) and in fact any others, is a lot of fun, and our guides are always happy to show and teach our guests. With hundreds of species on our reserve, one never runs out of new tracks to learn about!

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Justine just sent in the photos she shot last week when she spotted the cheetahs on our safari game reserve for the third time last week. These are the closest photos we have ever managed to take of a cheetah on our reserve, and this cheetah is a particularly beautiful animal.

She was very relaxed around the vehicle, so she must be offspring of a cheetah from another busy game reserve, so she is used to seeing vehicles and know they do not present danger. That is great news, as she will pass on this behavior to her cubs, ensuring that the unique safari experience that we have on our reserve at the momemt is enhanced even further in the future.

So what is unique about the cheetah, and why is it classified as endangered?

The cheetah is the fastest animal on earth, reaching speeds of up to 115 km/hour on distances of up to 500m! So they combine two things that other cats don’t achieve at the same time. Extraordinary speed (the cheetah is much faster than a lion), and somewhat more endurance (the lion cannot keep up a chase for up to 500m). That said, the cheetah is a smaller animal, and therefore it is vulnerable to other cat predators, and so the survival chances of cubs are also smaller. The cubs also require a lot of training before they can set off on their own, and Cheetahs’ hunting techniques are very sophisticated. Timing and tactics is everything, and this is an acquired skill. Cheetah mothers spend a long time teaching!

Another interesting fact: the genetic diversity of cheetahs is very low, as it is believed that they went through a period of inbreeding during a bottleneck period at the last ice age. As a result, a skin graft from any cheetah used on any other cheetah is not rejected. That’s how low the genetic diversity is. This has caused low sperm numbers, birth defects and other issues leading to higher cub mortality. That said, the claim that cheetahs are endangered because of this is probably false. Cheetahs did very well for thousands of years after the ice age, and so it’s more recent troubles must be caused primarily by other factors: human activity and habitat destruction on a massive scale, as well as hunting and targeted killing by farmers are the main culprits.

Today, only about 12,500 specimen are living in the wild, in 25 different African countries primarily. The numbers seem to be stabilizing, and is some rare cases, to be rising, but only very modestly. So the fact that the number of cheetahs has risen so fast on our reserve, as the increased occurrence of sightings suggests, is of great importance to this threatened species. and quite simply great news.

Tourism does indeed protect nature!

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Andre got back yesterday from Johannesburg, with some newly arriving guests (Andre is one of our chauffeurs for all airport transfers), and as soon as they entered the safari game reserve, on their way to the lodge, they ran straight into the elephant herd. Now that’s unexpected!

Amazing for our guests to enjoy one of the best sightings possible, right as they arrive. That’s a strong start to their safari adventure indeed! Simply amazing.

We have a 15-strong herd of elephants, with about one baby elephant born every year, so the herd is growing nicely. The conservancy is over 36,000 acres large now, so the herd can grow for many more years, as there is more than enough space for them. Quite the opposite, we should have more elephants, as their role in keeping a natural balance (and clearing the bush) is paramount.

Enjoy the photo of one of them, as photographed close-up yesterday. At the Vuyani Safari Lodge, you do get really close to them!

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Justine just emailed in some of her most beautiful shots last week. I was taken aback by the beauty of the animal diversity that we have now on our large reserve. Our guests at the Vuyani Safari Lodge really do get their money’s worth! African safaris don’t get better than this.

I remember, several years ago, that it would take days to spot some of these animals, but in the meanwhile the animal numbers, and range of species, has grown so fast, and the knowledge of the guides have improved to the level that we see some of the world’s rarest, and most beautiful animals, on a very regular basis. we recommend a minimum stay of 5 nights at the lodge, and the optimal length of stay is probaly 6 nights, as it allows for one of our popular guided day trips to the Kruger Park as well.

Anyway, let’s look at the shots!

First off the familiar Southern yellow billed hornbill. Made famous by “Zazu” in the Lion King, this is a very distinct-looking bird. One of their local nicknames is “flying banana”. 😉 There are plenty of them on our reserve. They feed the breeding female that has “locked” herself (for safety) inside a dead tree (typically), as the entrance has been closed with facaes from the inside. If the male dies during this period, then the female starves to death as she cannot get out without the male opening up the hideout from outside or feeding her through a small hole that was left for that purpose. To love means to trust!

Next up is this beautiful shot of an equally beautiful owl. This is a pearl spotted owlet, part of the family that groups most of the owls, the “typical owls”, or Strigidea. Other owls are the “barn owls” family of owls.

This owl hunts at daytime, which is why one can see outside of night time. I always find owls to have the most penetrating stare one can imagine. Almost spooky.

Here a shot of some rutting impala (always fighting those!). Early on in the season, but they are already at it. Females must have a right laugh looking at this behavior … but don’t forget, it’s all for you ladies!

Very skittish, hard to spot, but we have a family of dwarf mongoose living behind the boma at the lodge, so they can be observed there. Cute and social animals!

Below a baboon pondering about the meaning of life … what’s it all about? Or did he just get dumped? 😉

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Vicky and Chris stayed with us in early April this year (a couple of weeks ago), and they had a great time here!

In her words: “Chris and I had the time of our life! Our experience in SA has exceeded our expectation 10 folds and you guys had played a big part of it. There are too many highlights of our trip, but the braai is right up there! BBQ, bonfire and the star gazing were just out of this world (in London). It was such a shock to come back to the cold and rainy England, though, the weather meant to be beautiful and sunny this weekend (not by the looks of it while I am writing this email however).”

 

 

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A few days ago, enroute to the Vuyani Safari Lodge from the staff village, our general manager Craig ran into a cheetah mother, near the dry river bed, with its cubs. The cubs are about 2 years old, so they are about to set off on their own.

The cheetahs were very relaxed, just the mother being a little careful. What a delight! This was the first cheetah sighting last week, and things only got better. By the end of the week, three different cheetah mothers had been seen. Just 4 years ago we knew that there were cheetahs on the reserve, due to tracks, but none had ever seen one. We now see them regularly each month, and it is an incredible pleasure to be seeing them do so well. It is definitely good to not “overstuff” the reserve with lions, so that there is plenty of habitat for the truly rare cats such as the cheetah.

OK, enough talking, here the photos! They are a little blurry, as Craig took them with his Blackberry phone camera, but still decent. They were very close. Craig: get yourself a Nokia Lumia 920 with a decent camera on! 😉

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Hi guys!

Mike’s mother sadly passed away a few days ago, so he had to go on leave for a little while to sort things out. Our thoughts are with him!

In the meanwhile, Justine has stepped in for a couple of days, as she is a (well) trained guide. And, wow, she struck it lucky! We have seen three different cheetah mothers this week alone (most ever!), all with cubs, so I don’t remember receiving better news than this ever. The cheetah is such a rare and endangered species, and to see this species doing so well on our reserve is truly magnificent. This is what the reserve is all about: create a sanctuary for some of the world’s rarest animals. The cheetah is one of these, and what a gracious and beautiful animal as well. All land owners of the Blue Canyon Conservancy should (I am sure they are) be proud of this achievement, as the blueprint of this 36,000 acre conservancy was all about just that: creating a large reserve in the middle of the Greater Kruger Park area with a biodiversity larger than anywhere in the world. According to several biologists, this seems to have been achieved now. It is supremely gratifying to know that we at the Vuyani Safari Lodge can show more different animal species on this safari reserve than anywhere else in the world. We have spotted many of the very rarest African animals on the reserve (of course sightings of some of these animals are naturally rare), such as the brown spotted hyena, the ground hornbill, cheetahs, wild dogs, leopards, and several other rare stork species as well.

Here a few photos of some of the sightings over the last two days.

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Mike, our new game ranger, was looking for the lion pride for 4 days, and after getting close several times, finally got our guests a fantastic visual of the entire pride 3 days ago. A big round of applause of all guests, as this was a spectacular sighting, with all of them very relaxed and in open sight. (the lions, not the guests. The guests were very excited!)

The dominant male, the “boss”, is indeed growing into an enormous Cape lion, and seeing them all together is again and again an awsome sight. The little cubs are not cubs anymore. They grow up so fast, as our safari reserve with over 36,000 acres is so large and with all the plentiful prey opportunities, they are looking strong already.

It was amazing to see them move slowly through the riverbed, right in front of the game driver. I will update you regularly on future sightings, as more females may be introduced, and the cubs leaving the reserve, potentially some time in the future, in order to conquer their own territory. They are looking very strong and healthy, so they should do fine. Updates will be published here!

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A few days ago, while out on safari with our guests, ranger Pierre ran into the lions who had just made a rare Kudu kill literally seconds before turning up. Please see the photo below taken by Pierre as he witnessed it! Just awsome!

Lion kills are very rare phenomena to witness on an Africa safari (it is not uncommon to see lions on our safari private game reserve of course!), but as lions spend 20 hours out of 24 sleeping/resting, and only 4 hours hunting, and usually they eat fast, it is a very rare sighting indeed! This is the second lion kill we see within 6 months, so that’s very good!

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Rina was on the deck two days ago, making a phone call for an order for the safari lodge, when she witnessed a drama, a drama maybe small in our eyes, but a truly disastrous day for another creature.

Rina spotted a golden orb spider, sitting in a nearby bush, having caught a locust (but to me it looks more like a praying mantis, in fact I am 99% sure it is a praying mantis).

What turned out an amazing day for the golden orb, has turned out a fatal, and last day for the victim. As terrible as it is, this is nature, and it is fascinating to see the smaller events (it doesn’t always have to be a lion kill), when one wants to look closer.

We have a lot of praying mantis at this season, so it is a welcome meal for a golden orb. Golden orbs are actually beautiful spiders, and absolutely not dangerous to humans. They sit in their webs high on in the bush and trees, waiting for insects to get caught in their incredibly sophisticated and elaborate webs. If they are disturbed, or the web is damaged/destroyed, they quickly disappear into the bush. Some people don’t like the idea of spiders, but this one (as pretty much all spiders!) stays away from the lodge, and one can see them on game drives high up in trees. Golden orbs disappear in the winter (June/July/August/September), and then slowly reappear on our safari reserve after that. They are at their largest size in April/May. But as said, these spiders present no danger to humans, and in fact they are very shy of humans. And they have an incredibly important role in the biosystem in Africa!

Another interesting fact:  the web material produced by the golden orb is 5 times stronger than Kevlar, and it is much lighter. It has always been used by local tribes to produce fishing rods, and now it has showed to be an excellent bullet proof vest material, as it is very light, and shows huge shock absorbtion abilities.

The strength of this material is so large that a piece the size of a pencil can stop the momentum of a fighter jet and bring it to a halt when landing on an aircraft carrier. Scientists are struggling to identify the chemistry of this material that is elastic, non-sticky, light and yet incredibly strong.

Watch this space!

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