Makakatana Bay Diaries

Little bit of this and a little bit of that

2011-12-17T04:31:00.000-08:00

This month has been full of beautiful sunsets, lush vegetation and the calls of the Hyena around the fire on some very special evenings.

To fill you in with what our rangers have been experiencing whilst out on the drives, I am going to share some of their reports from November onwards...

*As a precaution against the influx of Rhino poaching, we have made the decision not to report any Rhino sightings on a public forum such as this blog - Definitely does not mean that the we don't see them, we're just trying to do our bit to protect them and their location

04/11/2011
Crocodile sightings are less, you can tell that it is nesting season. They are all busy incubating and guarding their nests up on the sandy banks.
Spotted a Saddle-bill Stork along with the usual plains game.
- Louwrina

Crocodile sunning itself on the banks of the Lake

10/11/2011
Rain caught up with us a bit, but had a nice drive. Plenty of Giraffe and a big breeding herd of Buffalo with new babies.
- Louwrina

For a regular wetland drive, we saw a fair amount of game. For the first time since starting here, I finally managed to see the Elephant. Managed to spot 5 of them, but as they were in dense coastal forest, there were probably many more. On the way back, we did a small detour to try and find some Hyena.
We were lucky enough to spot one running across the road really fast!
- Riley

11/11/2011
Hot day on the boat with the usual sightings, plus 2 bull Elephant!
- Louwrina

12/11/2011
The boat cruise was beautiful. Nice and warm and with a very light breeze which made for a very comfortable boat cruise. As usual, lots of Hippo and some large Crocodile, along with a Saddle-bill Stork hopping along the banks trying to catch frogs and snails. A fish Eagle also swooped down on the water to catch a fish right in front of the boat. Bumped into two young Hyena pups on the way back to the lodge.
- Riley

15/11/2011
Great afternoon with perfect golden light. On the main road we had a side-striped Jackal run along the road beside the vehicle - playing and bouncing. Found the spotted Hyena with the spotlights on our way back and watched and listened in awe as the whooped and laughed around us getting ready for a night of hunting. The pups also came out and the Hyena were not even 10 metres from the vehicle by the time we left them!
- Riley

Side-striped Jackal

15/11/2011
Not too hot and a perfect day for a trip to Hluhluwe iMfolozi Game Reserve.
Plenty of Buffalo and a few other really fantastic sightings.
Best part of the day was an adult Cheetah with her 2 sub-adult cubs.
- Louwrina

18/11/2011
The afternoon drive was really colourful with the sun turning the sky into a spectrum of light consisting of purples and yellows with striking pink stretching through the afternoon sunset.
The usual plains game were spotted, but a new additional to our Summer visitors was a sighting of a Broadbilled Roller. Not too far from the main lodge was a great and rare sighting of a Serval cat.
- Riley

19/11/2011
Heading to the Eastern Shores of the lakes in search of the very specialised and rare Samango Monkey which can only be found in this pocket of vegetated sand dune on the northern coast of the KZN province. We searched hard and had plenty of rewarding sightings on the way, although by the end of the day we had managed to spot all three of South Africa's primate species: Chacma Baboon, Vervet Monkey and Samango Monkey.
- Riley

Samango Monkey peeking out from behind the leaves

20/11/2011
Had a nice sighting of the Hyena pups playing in front our our safari vehicle.
- Louwrina

21/11/2011
Had a bit of an adventure again with the boat as with all the rain we have been having, the lakes water level has risen considerably.
Our guests got to experience the wetland to its fullest by wading in sometimes knee deep water in order to board the boat! It was still amazing to see the boat as full as it is at the moment after 110mls of rain.
- Louwrina

26/11/2011
Had a nice scene between a fish Eagle and a hippo, teasing each other and antagonising each other until the Hippo gave up and left!
- Louwrina

2/12/2011
The morning started early and bright with the sun already warming up the wetlands. It was on our drive to work that morning that we found a large Hyene that ran in front of the vehicle and decided to run along with us for some time until it found the road it wanted to take in order to get home.
Whilst on drive, a Goliath heron took off right next to us and landed on the opposite bank only to have it harassed by a fish Eagle.
- Riley

3/12/2011
The main sightings were en route to the boat where as usual, if you are running late and have somewhere to be you will see everything!
Driving up to the boat, we were met with a large breeding herd of Cape Buffalo just off the road, feeding in the open plains.
- Riley

10/12/2011
Our special guests over the weekend were a young couple who were here to enjoy their weekend away - although the gentleman did have an ulterior motive and bought along a very special ring!
We had dinner down at the lakes edge and the moon which was at it's fullest shone over the water with not a wisp of wind.
The hippos grunted their approval the entire evening and watched on from the safety of the water, while our guests enjoying a very special night to rememeber.
- Louwrina

We would also like to wish all our guests, present and future, a very Happy Festive Season and please travel safe!

Spotting the Spots

2011-11-12T05:28:00.000-08:00

I stand by my belief that when you least expect it, or you are the least prepared, you will have the most amazing sightings. It seems that us bush folk are blessed with a curse - if you are late for a meeting, you will be stuck in an elephant traffic jam; if your wife is in labour, a hyena will pull down an impala while you are busy driving past on the way to the hospital.

These unexpected sightings will always be the best sightings, and there will never be any photographic evidence because you were not prepared!
This is exactly what happened to me on a routine trip into town.
We managed to survive Mtubatuba shopping and after picking up 4 year old Christopher from school in St. Lucia town, we headed for home travelling through the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
The previous few days it had rained continuously and after getting the vehicle stuck in the mud one too many times, I decided to take a route less travelled that also happened to be quite scenic.
I had our chef Karin, our waitress Rose and little Christopher with me in the vehicle, and when we came around a bend and I saw some suspicious movement from the corner of eye.
I shouted "Leopard" as soon as I realised what we were watching, and slammed the breaks, quickly switching off the ignition so as not to disturb the proceedings. It was a Warthog and fully grown Leopard locked in battle with the Warthog definately holding it's ground.
We watched them struggle for a few minutes although the Wathog did seem to be enjoying itself while it held the upper hand! Through the grass we noticed three little brown blobs making a dash into the longer grass near a small pond and we realised that the Warthog had 3 very new and tiny piglets.
After keeping an eye on the babies to make sure they were safe (and some of us in the vehicle had visions of handrearing 3 very cute piggies should anything happen to the mother...) we noticed some more movement not too far from where the piglets were now stashed away. It was another slightly younger and smaller Leopard!

Two Leopards having a go at a very big, proud, new, mommy Warthog.
Christopher by this time had lost interest and seemed kind of bored, started whispering my name "Syanne... Syanne... Can we bake a cake when we get back?"
"No Christopher! Watch the Leopards, your brothers are going to be so jealous when the hear what we saw" After 30 seconds of silence, his little voice pipes up:
"Um...Syanne?...look what I can do with my toes... Look...Look...Look...LOOK!"
"Christopher, this is very very very special to watch, you're a very lucky boy. You can show me your toes later"

We were indeed very very very lucky. The Wathog tussled a bit with the first Leopard, but the attack seemed a bit lighthearted from the Leopards side and it was all over in about 5 minutes with the second Leopard also attempting to bring the Warthog down.
Eventually the Warthog seemed to have had enough of the game and grunted for her piglets to join her before trotting off (yes, she never even broke out into a run!) with her tail up into the dense bushes, looking back every now and then as if to dare the Leopards to follow her.

What a great sighting on a very average boring day, and hopefully a sighting that Christopher will be able to remember for the rest of his life.

The life as a Ranger...

2011-10-19T08:21:00.001-07:00

There are times when the Rangers have a few hair-raising experiences, and guests are not even involved! These experiences happen quite frequently in our free time and make living out here in the bush so worthwhile and exciting!

One of the rangers Riley, had just finished his day of work which started at 4am in the morning when he took some guests for a day at Hluhluwe iMfolozi Game Reserve.
He finished relatively early at about 3pm and decided that he'd like to go take a look at how our resident spotted Hyena were doing.

After popping home quick and changing out of his uniform, picked up his private vehicle and took a drive out before the sun set for the day.

Riley stopped off at one of the hides and spent a few minutes just taking in the surrounding sounds, when the spotted Hyena started "whooping" nearby. "Whooping" is the term we use for the Hyena's communication call when they start going off to hunt in the late afternoon, and they keep in contact with each other through these constant whoops. Quite an eerie sound at night...

So off Riley went to to see if he could locate the Hyena from the direction of their calls.
Luckily enough for him, he stumbled across them not to far from the lodge where he parked the vehicle and watched them as they played around and generally psyched themselves up for the evening ahead. They weren't even 4 metres from his vehicle!
After spending some time with them, and the light now too dark to see any further than a couple of metres in the dusky haze of twilight, Riley decided to head off home.
This is when the vehicle decides not to start.

Cell phone signal is a little sketchy out here, and we are very lucky if our phones show atleast one bar of signal. Riley had no signal. Riley was surrounded by atleast 4 Hyena that he could see. The only option was to push the car in hopes of it being able to start.

This went on for about 2 hours. Riley pushing the vehicle and then jumping in quickly to see if it would start - not happening.
By this stage panic starts to set in and all the (un)likely scenarios are played through the mind. Riley had visions of a Hippo stumbling over and deciding the vehicle was a great scratching post, or of the Hyena circling the vehicle with blazing red eyes just like you see on the cartoons!
Eventually, Mother Nature decided to co-operate by letting the heavy vegetation clear in order for one bar of signal to reach Rileys phone so that he could send an SOS message and be rescued.

The second Ranger(ette) was luckily available and able to go out and save Riley with a jumper cable. The end of a very frightening night.
Of course Riley will tell you that he wasn't scared at all...