Thakadu River Camp's Newsletter
Thakadu River Camp, Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa
"This Thakadu River Camp, where the spirit of the past whispers softly in the grass when the wind blows, and strange things can still happen on the banks of the Marico River"

Hello to all our valued friends, May 2008
It’s happening. The days are getting short. Waking up at 5am is cold enough to turn your breath into steam in the night air. You dress in a pair of trousers, two shirts, a polar fleece, and a wind proof jacket. You wrap a scarf around your neck, and ram your head into your Thakadu beanie. The ski gloves you brought from home somehow do not seem like overkill now. Then you shiver your way down from your cosy bed; grab a cup of strong, black coffee with 2 sugar (you need the extra energy) and get onto your game viewer. The blanket around you feels wet with the cold, but you lovingly wrap yourself in it. The first few minutes go by without a word. Just then, you spot a large shadow in the half light. Did it move, did the tree beside it rustle slightly? Then, as you stare, the outline of the first elephant for the day jumps out into your sight.
Elephant
Winter has finally arrived. The good rains of the past year saturated the soil, blurring the transition between summer and winter somewhat. We expect a good cold winter, not a bad idea if you take into account that some of our most aggressive parasites are not entirely fond of the cold. All over the Madikwe the trees have started to lose their leaves, painting the mountainsides in brown, ochre and gold.
We’ve had some massive movement in our elephant population of late. Thakadu was besieged by a massive group of up to 150 individuals around camp for almost 4 days. This natural migration in search of better food brought them down to the Marico river in front of camp, and caused a couple of hairy moments; finding yourself stuck between two breeding herds of elephant in the dark is not a comfortable position...
From a ranging point of view, the winter time has always been a good period in the bush. The tall grass withers, and that in itself makes game viewing more productive in the winter. Point to the fact is our sighting of an African Civet at the Thakadu drift. This strictly nocturnal hunter is very hard to spot, as it only starts to move from 2 hours after dark. Being very shy and elusive, it walks around eating insects, small mammals and millipedes. They are one of the only species able to do this as millipedes are known to be quite poisonous. Another interesting fact about this creature is that it expels a very foul smelling and long lasting musk in self defence and as a territorial mark. This musk used to be used as a fixative in perfumes. Chanel No 5 anyone?
View over the Madikwe Game Reserve
On the birding front, we will start seeing the smaller fiches and scrub loving birds. We have also seen some African Shellducks on one of the waterways, a species that should have left a time ago. Sighting of the very rare melanistic form of the Gabar’s Goshawk have also been great. Not to mention the brown and black chested Snake Eagles that circles the sky periodically.
This is the time of year that the kitchen cooks up a storm of lovely, hearty stews, rich puddings and delectable hot meals. You have to try the oxtail potjie served with samp, maybe a good bottle of Shiraz to give you that extra warm feeling inside. Good company, good food and life seems rosy all of a sudden...
Until next time
Groetnis
Andre and The Thakadu Team

Please click here if you would like to subscribe to our newsletter.
webmaster develec.com