Tag Archive for south africa accommodation

Amarok Arrival:

Friday the 18th November brings two families or our Amarok family weekend.

We have 4 adults, and 4 kids – it’s going to be fun!

Copper the Dog excitedly waits to make some new friends

Our adults are Solly, Lindy, Derryck and Charlene and are accompanied by Daniel, Trystan, Ethyn and Keagyn.

Entering Umkhumbi Lodge

Driving up the windy track to reception

The temperature is sweltering today here in Hluhluwe, with no sign of the rain that others on the East Coast are bragging about – stop hogging the rain guys, share!!

So, what else to do but have a couple of beers in the reception car park.

Putting the kids to good use

But enough relaxing, time to unpack the cars. Remember to watch out for the Nyala as you walk up the path.

It is hard not to smile as you walk down a fairylight path

One of the family units with interleading door between rooms.

After being shown to your light, airy and most importantly airconditioned room the only hard thing to decide is what to do next – a refreshing dip in the pool or a refreshing drink at the lappa.

After a few moments standing in the sun… Pool!

 

Did You Know – Natal Hinged Tortoise

Natal Hinged Tortoise Scientific name / Genus: Kinixys  Description: A group of tortoises who have a hinge between the 7 and 8th marginal scutes (plates) of their shell.  Diet:   Various - Grasses, forbs, indigenous fruits, succulents, millipedes, insects, snails, carrion and mushrooms.  Habitat: Occur in a wide range of habitats including bushveld, thornveld, savanna woodland, forest and grassland. Restricted to North Eastern parts of South Africa.  Breeding: Most recorded matings are Sep-Nov, but Natal Hinged tortoise has been observed in Feb.  Clutches between 2-10 hardshelled eggs laid in Nov-Apr. Bell's hinged tortoise lays several clutches.  Incubation 3-10+ months, hatching Sep-April.  Conservation: The Natal Hinged Tortoise is IUCN listed as 'Near Threatened' due to extensive habitat destruction  Different species within genus: - Bell's Hinged Tortoise; Kinixys belliana - Lobatse Hinged Tortoise; Kinixys lobatsiana - Natal hinged tortoise; Kinixys natalensis - Speke's hinged tortoise; kinixys spekii  Male or female: Avg shell length 155-210mm. Avg weight 600g to 1.8kg. Females larger than males. Hinge may be absent or ill-formed in juveniles   Did You Know:  - Tortoises are more active in the rain - Have lived up to 22 years in captivity

Did You Know – Suni

The latest in our quiz sheets! The Suni :)

Suni Scientific name:  Neotragus moschatus  Description:  A very small species of African antelope - can be mistaken for very young duiker. Very little is known about these reclusive animals.  Habitat: Rarely seen, found in dense woodland. Have a limited distribution usually in sandforest and coastal forest in North East of South Africa.  Communication: Usually thought to be silent, few reported cases of barking. When distressed will cry like a human baby.  Male or female: Approx 350mm high. Female/ Male  5.4kg/5kg Both have Light brown - chestnut coloured coat with white underparts and inner legs. Young are slightly darker. Rounded ears are pink inside, grey outside. Rams grow smooth tipped horns with deep ridges.  Behaviour: Usually diurnal, the Suni will hide the day away in a sheltered, shady spot.  Both males and females are territorial, with home ranges varying from 1-8 hectares depending on habitat suitability. Males mark their territory with the scent glands on their cheek (pre-orbital scent glands).  Diet: Feed from the forest floor on newly fallen leaves, flowers and fruit. Usually will feed at dusk and dawn.  Predators: Prey to many, the Suni use their camoflague and wait until the last minute to run away.  Life Expectancy Unknown  Did you know: - Suni sightings are even rarer than that of Leopard. - Suni have the largest pre-orbital scent glands relative to size of all African antelopes. - There are thought to be less than 1000 Suni in Zululand

First road cruise of the summer!

Well guys and girl, summer is now here, at least for us!

After a number of snake call-outs in the area we decided that the snakes were on the move making it road cruise time!

It was quite a quiet cruise with only one snake, sadly Dead on Road (DOR) :(
A real shame as it was a beautiful male puff adder.

 

 

But we did find plenty of sleeping chameleons, although we only harrassed one with the camera flash.

 

 

And loads of frogs!! This greater leaf-folding frog we brought home to take a photo of this morning.

 

 

But we also found lots of other frogs such as Rubber frog, shovel-nosed frog and a few of what we believe to be guttural toads.

 

For the furry fans out there, we also saw grey duiker, bushbabies, and a spotted eagle owl!

 

Things are hotting up here in the KwaZulu Natal, so the snakes should be moving soon. This means the next cruise can only get better!

 

10 – 14 days inclusive of;   Telemetry Project - Cobra and Mamba tracking - Basic handling and ID course for African snakes likely to be encountered - Herping night-drives/ road cruising - Field herping - Overnight field trip - Help with problem crocodiles (where available) - Tracking white rhino - Game drives at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi - Sea Turtle experience - assisting research teams - Call outs - removing problem animals from rural residences - Frogging  - Over 50 species!  Based at Umkhumbi Lodge - Hluhluwe with possible excursions to Swaziland and Mozambique

 

Serval at Umkhumbi Lodge

Good morning everyone! I hope you had a good weekend?

Our motion detect, night vision cameras (supplied to us by Brickhouse Security) have unfortunately not caught the Leopard whose tracks we found last week.

But what they did catch was even better!

Servals are reclusive and sightings are very rare, but thanks to the cameras we were able to capture this footage of the Serval here at our Hluhluwe accommodation near to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi game reserve in South Africa.

So, I hear you ask. How do we know that the Leopard tracks do not belong to the Serval? Well, we have found the Serval tracks and they are much smaller than the Leopard tracks, so there are definitely two different African cats at Umkhumbi Lodge.

Leopard!

New discovery at Umkhumbi Lodge today! On our daily fence patrol today we spotted Leopard tracks in the sand leading into our bushland. This explains the mystery as to why we had multitudes of Nyala (we didn’t even realise we had that many) on the path to and around the rooms this morning.

Being sensible creatures (at times) they were trying their hardest not to be where the Leopard is lurking.

We have set up a camera trap, so we hope to get some pictures to share with you soon!

Mixed berry compote pastry pie

 

Mixed berry compote served in a sweet pastry pie casing

topped with

ice cream and mint

Chicken and sweet potato

 

Chicken schnitzel and roasted sweet potato

served with

pan-fried carrots and a mustard sauce.

See you soon!

Time to say goodbye to some more new friends.

Staying with us for three nights Matt and Sheri managed to squeeze in not one, but two game drives. One of which they drove themselves, one of the the joys of Hluhluwe-Imfolozi game reserve is that you do not have to rely on a tour guide and can drive around at your own pace.

In addition to this, they took a short drive to the Cheetah rehabilitation place which is 30 minutes from Umkhumbi Lodge. The height the cats can jump during feeding is astounding and there always surprising little facts about the cats to be learnt. As if this wasn’t enough, you can also get close enough to the Cheetahs to cuddle them – ever heard a Cheetah purr before?

 

Okay, so I know it is neither Sheri nor Matt, but this is how close they got too!

 

At the request of Matt and Sheri, Anton took Gizmo (our convalescing Forest cobra) out of the garage to show them a few tricks.

 

 

 

 

Matt is a teacher and after telling Carly all about school in the Uk, he interviewed him to show his UK students what life in South Africa is like.

 

 

Shy at first, Carly soon started enjoying himself.

See you again soon!

Goodbye to some more new friends

This morning we waved goodbye to six of our new friends who came to stay with us at Umkhumbi Lodge.

 

 

On their last night at Umkhumbi Lodge they went on a night walk around the trail with us.

 

Armed with a UV torch, we took a stroll down to the trail and hunted for scorpions. Scorpions are unique with respect to the way in which they flouresce under UV light. Even the most plain looking brown and black scorpion becomes a beautiful bright glowing green colour.

 



It really does have to be seen to be believed.

It isn’t all scorpions however, near to our trail in the bush we have a clearing which is perfect for viewing the stars above. After years spent staring at the stars and daydreaming, Anton is able to point out various different constellations and our American friends were able to see the Southern Cross for the first time.

 

In addition to the scorpion walk our friends went on two game drives to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi game reserve. They saw most of the big 5 and even managed to see hyaena on their game drives this morning.

 

 

And as always, Copper the dog made himself a new special friend.

 

Come back soon and swap some more stories on the lappa with us!