Idube News Articles

July Newsletter

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:49:17 +0000

We are now in August and can already feel the temperatures rising as spring approaches. Migratory birds such as the lesser-striped swallow and Wahlbergs eagle are returning to the area and by the end of the month the knob thorn acacias will be in flower.
Since the sad events of the last newsletter, Spain won the first African world cup and there has been plenty of action here in the bush and our visitors have been rewarded with some fantastic sightings.

There has been a shift in power in the lion population since the death of one of the Mapogo male coalition up in the northern Sabi Sand. The remaining five males regrouped here in the west and were seen together frequently even spending a night outside the lodge roaring. The five males then moved in a north easterly direction across our boundary. Something then happened between them and the new coalition in the north, and only three of the males returned west, a fourth returned about a week later – heavily battle scarred, the fifth has not been seen since and is probably dead. This leaves four of the original six males with about half their original territory, luckily for us most of that territory is our traversing area! With the new males in the north putting pressure on the prides up there we saw the return of the Tsalala pride (3 females, 1 sub-adult male and 5 young females of 14 months) to our traversing area. They were obviously trying to bring their youngsters deep into Mapogo territory to protect them from takeover attempts from the so called Majingalane coalition.

The first sighting we had of all four remaining males together after the fight was at a buffalo kill north of the river together with the Ottawa pride. It can be noted that the two young Ottawa males were kept away from the area by their fathers, and as they are approaching the three year age mark, it will not be long before they are pushed out permanently.

The Ximunghwe pride has lost all but the three youngest cubs but the females have been seen mating with the Mapogo males since then. The lodge was visited by one of the Ximunghwe females a 10h30 one morning, she was trying to catch the nyala close to room 5. This after she had caught a waterbuck just NW of the lodge but lost it to her Mapogo mate!

The big story of the past few weeks has to be that of a big male giraffe that was found just to the north of the lodge one afternoon – very dead! We are not sure why he died but it is possible that the huge male leopard we call Xindlevhana (small ears) had something to do with it as he was found feeding on the carcass. It is possible that the giraffe was sitting ruminating and the leopard surprised it and it fell whilst trying to stand….
Xindlevhana is not our friendliest or most relaxed leopard. He prefers to charge the vehicles and hide so we left him until dark when he is more approachable. That evening he was seen feeding but by morning the hyena clan had taken over. The next night the leopard was back along with some porcupine, then the hyenas returned and so the story went on until the arrival of the Mapogo lions – first 2 then 3 then all four and then the Tsalala pride also joined in creating havoc as the males did not immediately recognize them!
The lodge has had some visits from the local elephant population recently, with one bull having learned the art of unhooking the gate to let himself in! A bit of work has been done on the fences to avoid a repeat of this! Other elephant sightings have included herds swimming in the river and various dams and plenty of funny antics from youngsters as they interact with the cars.

The leopard sightings in the area have certainly not diminished with the loss of Makubela. In fact one week saw a total of 18 different leopards being found in our traversing area, this without some regulars such as Shangwa Female, Kasahane (Lisbon) Male and the Tai Dam female.

Obviously the leopard on the giraffe was a highlight but we also had some brilliant sightings of Hlabnkunzi female leopard and her 2 cubs both on and off a number of different kills. Hlabnkunzi was also pushing her boundaries more into the area vacated by Makubela, as was Mabirri. Both were seen on Idube property on more than one occasion.
Interesting interactions were noted around the Ravenscourt (Sindile) female who we are seeing more and more these days – her son, the Xinzele male, continues to be accepted by her and her younger son despite being nearly three years old. The younger son is almost at the age of independence already yet regularly all three leopards are seen together interacting happily.

Another confusing interaction was that between the Xindlevhana male and the new young male Mashiabanj. These two were seen showing no animosity to one another after the older male stole a kill from the Xikavi female and the young male came to see what was going on. The two males have no relation to one another that we know, Mashiabanj has come all the way from the Londolozi/Malamala boundary.

Tegwaan male was heard mating with the Hippo dam female in some deep thickets but she is so shy there was no good sighting of the two.

About a month ago one small cub that we presumed to belong to the Metsi female was seen but nothing again since and we were wondering if she still had a litter. This was confirmed a few days ago when tracks for a female with two cubs were found and followed, leading to Metsi with a duiker kill. The cubs were still shy and at most were just movement in the grass but it is good to know that they are there!

The buffalo in the area have been fairly quiet with the big herd not being seen for a while. The resident dagga boy bulls have made the rangers and trackers work for their sightings but that makes the sighting even more rewarding!

There were sightings of Serval, genet, white-tailed mongoose, civet and jackals often on the evening drives and rhino were seen almost daily.

For those of you who are avid followers of our wildlife our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/idubeloge and twitter profile: http://twitter.com/idube_lodge have regular sightings updates during the day and a weekly roundup can be found on our blog: http://idubelodge.blogspot.com you can also find regular video updates at http://www.youtube.com/iduberobtheranger or http://www.facebook.com/rtrwildlifevideos

If you are not up to finding us in the social networking world, this monthly newsletter will still be a feature here on the main website!
Until next time,
Best wishes,
Rob The Ranger

LATEST LODGE NEWS

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:38:31 +0000

Winter hit us hard this year, but amazingly did not last too long, invariably though, by saying this, I am cursing us, and we are sure to feel the full wrath of icy winds over the coming few days. Those that have visited us in winter before, can attest to the fact that there are marked temperature changes between the hours that the sun is above the horizon, and when it is below the horizon. Winter abated to a degree from the middle of the month, but knowing that August is now upon us, we have not been too rushed to pack away the fleeces, jackets, gloves and beanies. Daily temperatures averaged well into the mid twenties, and the sun provided an extra bit of comfort on the days that the temperatures were a little lower. Herein lies the advantage of our winters, clear blue sky, with a bright sun overhead. Drives are still going out at 06:30 in the mornings, and those that may still be planning a visit over the next month and a half or so are well advised to bring the winter warmers along as essential companions out on the open vehicles during drive times.
Early July saw the end of the Soccer World Cup, and what a pleasure to have had a few Spanish guests at the lodge a few days after the famous victory. Congratulations to the Spanish team and country for your sportsmanship, and ultimately becoming deserved victors of this World Championship. The tournament had us running around at the lodge, and occupancy levels only started dropping nearer the end of the month, once the Tournament specific travellers started returning home to their various countries. Luckily I can report that we are again busy, and to compliment this the drives have been just as eventful and busy.
The vegetation is now starting to resemble a true winter landscape, as the green colour fades from the plants, and is replaced by the brown and tan textures of desiccated grass and leaves. The risk of runaway fires becomes a head ache to the staff as we are constantly on the lookout for any puff of smoke that may indicate the start of a fire. To combat the destructive possibilities of an encounter with such a natural disaster, we have a burning regime whereby we try to rotate burning different blocks each year, to prevent the fuel load (Dead grass and Leaves), from building up to dangerous levels. This is done, because of numerous reasons, too many to mention here, annually. We have already burnt one small area close to the lodge itself, and this should act as a natural fire break, preventing any damage to the lodge, should a runaway fire be encountered. We will be burning 2 more areas of the reserve over the coming weeks in compliance with our yearly burning schedule.
The lodge though, is still looking beautiful, bathed in the emerald greens from the evergreen trees and lawns that are privileged enough to be watered regularly. This is also done with guest comfort in mind, as the dust would become overbearing were we to leave the grass to die in the lodge. August sees the arrival of the winds, this due to shifting high and low pressure cells over the Indian and Atlantic oceans that occur with the changing seasons.
Rob will be able to give you a detailed run down of the animal activities that were witnessed out on drive this month. I will just touch on a few notable points, to keep you interested, and entice you into opening up his newsletter and reading about many of our phenomenal sightings.
The month started on a sad note, with the death of a legendary leopard female here at Idube, namely the Makubela female, who had spent the better part of 6 years using a core territory based around the lodge. She was, as could have been read from last month’s letters, injured in a fight with a much larger male leopard, from which she did not recover. We have over the last month though not had a shortage of leopard activity around the lodge, and it seems that we will soon be seeing regular confrontations between 2 males that are being seen more frequently around the lodge, both of whom are staking claims to the prime area around the Lodge.
With an ever growing young female ( Mambirri’s Daughter) in the south, we are all hoping that she can come and fill the vacuum left at present by the absence of Makubela. There is also always the young blue eyed daughter of Shangwa that has been independent for about 4 months now that could also fill the void. Only time will tell when and by which leopard the vacant territory will be filled.
Elephants have been seen more and more around the lodge premises, as they come to one of the two large water points on opposite sides of the lodge. They have made their presence known, rather unpopularly, by breaking into the lodge to get access to the succulent green vegetation within the boundaries.
There was also a dead giraffe encountered just north of the lodge this month. Wait, am I saying too much, I should probably leave some news for Rob. What I will say though is that at least 2 leopards, 3 Male Lions, 12 Hyaenas, and 2 Porcupines were seen feeding here, we managed to get some phenomenal pictures and video footage of them, and posted them to the newly created online updating centres.
Technology, Blogs, Facebook groups, and Twitter were the buzz words around the office this month. Not the usual, lions, leopards, zebras and giraffes, although there were plenty of them to be seen.
I must admit, being a Bush Person, the new challenge of currently getting up to speed with all the online advertising and updating, that we are attempting to streamline, has posed more of a challenge than initially expected. Make no mistake, I am not totally in the dark, but without the help of Rob, we would still be struggling to get pages registered, let alone being able to post updates at will at various times during the day. What am I on you may be asking yourselves?
Well, we have taken the tech leap, and have registered and opened Fan/Group pages on both Facebook and Twitter. Added to this, Weekly blog updates will be loaded onto our newly created blogspot.
Personally, the time that I spent away from the western sector of the Sabi Sand Wildtuin, before returning in February this year, was frustrating from the perspective of wanting to know what was happening to the different individual animals seen on a regular basis out on drives. Hours were spent trolling around the different websites of various lodges to try and get an idea of what was happening. We have thus started the above mentioned pages, to give regular updates, that those of you who may want to follow the animal antics, can and further to this, we will be posting general updates from the lodge and the reserve as well. I know reading about new buildings isn’t quite as exciting as reading about a Lion Kill, but this all contributes equally to the lodge and its operation, and we want to be able to share all Idube news with you at any time. Updates will include written posts, photographs, and video footage. For a full experience we thus now have many options for you to follow:
www.facebook.com/idubelodge is our Facebook page, please join us to get your daily bush dose. This page is linked with our Twitter account: www.twitter.com/idube_lodge and all posted updates will thus also be visible here. Our blog spot can be found at www.idubelodge.blogspot.com
Rob has for a while now been a regular poster on Youtube and Facebook, and his posts which include updated video footage captured out on Idube drives with guests can be accessed at www.facebook.com/rtrwildlifevideos and www.youtube.com/iduberobtheranger
I have also started a new blog, which will feature images taken over the past few years of working in this area, and new ones that I have captured since February. I will be posting features such as daily events, game drive happenings, and lodge specific updates on a regular basis. This can be found at www.big5africansafari.blogspot.com

Please join our pages, we are sure they will only enhance your experiences that you have had, and are still to have at our little paradise. We look forward to making your acquaintance on the net, before personally, when you come and visit us.
Regards
Rudi Hulshof and the Idube Private Game Reserve Team

June Newsletter - A Tribute to Makubela

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:16:45 +0000

We now are in July, the coldest month, and the month of the FIFA World Cup Final. Over the past few weeks the lodge has been inundated with football fans eager to experience the uniqueness that is the African bush in-between games.
Luckily for our World Cup visitors the past few weeks of sightings have been as exciting (if not sometimes more exciting) as the tournament has! There were rhinos fighting, elephants playing, 2 different male cheetah were seen, the big buffalo herd came around, leopards were everywhere with one drive totalling 7 leopards in only 2 sightings, the Ximunghwe pride had a couple of different kills and showed off their 7 cubs beautifully and the Ottawa pride were also seen often.There were great sightings of leopard cubs – Hlabnkunzi's, Makubela's, and Mabirri's, 5 male lions were seen together and four of them shared a buffalo kill, there were hippo sightings galore and there were even sightings of lesser-known creatures such as serval, civet and genet. All in all a top month for game viewing!

There were reports from the north of the death of one Mapogo lion in a fight, the remaining eastern Mapogo rejoined his brothers in the west and the coalition is 5 strong again!
I would usually elaborate further on these magnificent sightings, adding anecdotes like Ronald being charged by the Xindlevhana male leopard or the drive where we drove into camp for breakfast but left again before getting off the vehicle TWICE! However recent events in the lodge have changed the newsletter I started writing a few days ago and instead of raving about the wonderful game sightings I find myself writing a Tribute to an Idube icon – the Makubela female leopard who sadly passed away inside the lodge grounds on the 6th of July 2010.
Death is an integral part of nature and we always try to be impassive as the lives of the animals are fraught with danger but regular visitors and newsletter readers will remember Makubela as the resident territorial female on Idube for the past five years.Before that she was often in the lodge as a cub, with her mother Shangwa and her brother Tegwaan male and this close bond between leopard and lodge leaves us all deeply saddened at her passing.

Makubela was one of a litter of three cubs born to Shangwa in December 2003, the first litter to be born in our area after I started at Idube. One young male of the litter was killed at only a few months old and it was soon after that that Shangwa started to use Idube as a safe haven for her cubs. It became quite common to have plans for the romantic honeymoon boma dinners cancelled due to leopard cubs sleeping under the deck there! At least one morning game drive was delayed due to the fact that three leopards were chasing nyala around the lodge and there was no need to leave to have great game viewing!
It became common for the game drive to return to find small leopard tracks in the dinner boma, sometimes even on the bar surface as well!
The cubs started to gain their independence at 14 -15 months and Makubela found herself moving on the outer limits of Shangwa's territory, this included Inyati lodge (where she famously dragged a kill up onto the thatched roof of their old entrance gate) the eastern portion of Dulini and central Idube. The place where she returned to most often was the area around Idube though.
During this time of early independence she was often reported as chasing staff in Inyati, at Idube however, she was always well behaved posing for pictures on the mound by the pool or sitting in the dead tree across the drainage line opposite room 4. I remember one morning during coffee before drive she walked right up to the meeting area to have her picture taken!
At this point she had not yet been named but her habit of sleeping up trees in the Makubela donga (the drainage in front of camp) soon gave us the obvious choice of name and Makubela it was.

I have many memories of Makubela in and around the lodge – once as we were returning from a walk the group got to the bar and suddenly all the nyala in the lodge scattered and ran towards the pool, Makubela in hot pusuit. I ran after the leopard with guests in tow , in time to see the nyala duck under the deck around the stilt poles that raise the floor from the ground, Makubela was unable to change direction in time and ended up crashing into the pole head-first! She shook herself off and turned to us with what can only be described as an “I meant to do that” look before crossing the swing bridge and disappearing into the bush!
There are a few times that she passed through camp during lunch and I was not on drive so on more than one occasion I followed her out of the gate armed only with a hand-held radio and walked with her until the drives started out and I could radio in her position

Another great story is the morning she was found sleeping on room 3's deck during morning wake-ups. She moved off with no incident but was seen later at the big mound by the pool. After drive we found a kill in the big tree between room 3 and 4. By now there was no sign of the leopard so Richard Kelly, Titus and I decided to move the impala carcass safely away from the lodge grounds whilst Andy watched. Once Richard had dislodged the baby Impala from the tree I started to drag the carcass (so as to leave a scent trail) to a better position with Titus in front and Richard following behind. Just meters from our starting point Titus suddenly stopped and pointed - there in the long grass was Makubela watching us with great interest! I remember lifting the kill and asking “Is this yours?” before placing it on a prominent tree stump next to me and moving away quite briskly! At no point did Makubela seem concerned that all these humans were interfering with her meal and she showed no animosity towards us, not even a growl.

A similar scenario played itself out in the lodge soon after she had given birth to her last litter of cubs, this time with a sub-adult impala and again close to room 3. Makubela had returned to her kill during breakfast and I had slowly moved up to the base of the tree she was in to film her feeding, she took a good look at me before continuing to feed. After a few minutes there was movement on the breakfast deck as guests tried to get a better view and this disturbed her, she jumped out of the branches and disappeared. This led me to realise that just as we recognise the individual animals in our area, they too must get used to certain people they come into contact with, why else would she let me approach her to film but run at movement 30m behind me?
Again the kill was removed and Promise and I dragged it to the big Schotia tree at Shadulu dam in front of the hide. As I climbed the tree with kill in hand I realised how easy leopard make it look, when it is in fact an incredibly hard act....
Within seconds of us leaving the carcass tightly wedged in the fork of the branches Makubela reappeared from nowhere and went up to check her food, satisfied we had left it in a good position she descended and went to sleep at the tree base.

Her record as a mother was not good having lost her first three litters to a variety of factors – lions, hyenas and other leopards mostly. Her most recent litter was on the way to being her first successful one – both cubs passing the 6 month stage successfully, and like her mother, there were numerous times that the cubs would be left in and around Idube for safe-keeping. The past couple of months gave us many opportunities to see the leopard family grow and develop to our delight.

The last few weeks have seen the story go sour, starting with the loss of the male cub early in June – the family had a kill just across the boundary to the east, the cubs were visible from our side as they relaxed in a large marula. At some point during the day the oldest Mapogo male lion came across the scene and the cub was not fast enough to get away and Makubela returned to Idube with only one cub remaining. There were still great sightings of the two leopards close to the lodge up until two of the Mapogo stole another kill from them. After this there were no reported sightings of the young female although there was some hope as tracks for what could have been her were seen close to where Makubela was found shortly after.

It was a few days after this that sounds of a major cat fight were heard around the lodge at 5 A.M. The rangers coming down for morning wake ups had a quick view of what was probably the Lisbon male leopard leaving the lodge via the mound by the pool. Soon after Makubela was spotted at the top of the big tree by the main building. At this point there was nothing to worry about as she did not seem too badly hurt and everybody expected her to come down and leave the lodge later in the day. She did come down but only later that night. The next day – the 6th July. Makubela was seen sheltering between the big boulders in front of the reception and it was there that she passed away. The lodge she grew up in, the place where she always felt safe was the place she had chosen to spend her last few hours of life on this earth. Idube was her home and it always will be, her memory will live on in the many photographs and videos that people have taken over the years. R.I. P. Makubela – Queen of Idube.

OK back to being impassive... The loss of Makubela means that an unoccupied territory is avaliable just at the right time for Mabirri's young daughter who is ready for independence now. We have also seen the Ravenscourt family pushing more west recently and when the Ravenscourt female was still known as Sindile, she once called Idube home too, perhaps we will see her moving more regularly to our area as well. So as far as future sightings go there is plenty to look forward to.

Until next time,
Best Wishes,
Rob The Ranger