| "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" |
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| Hello to all our valued friends, |
May 2008 |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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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... |
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| 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? |
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| 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. |
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| 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... |
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| Until next time |
Groetnis
Andre and The Thakadu Team |
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