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Did You Know – Cocktail Ant

Lacey / September 7, 2011 / No comments

See below the factsheet for the South African Cocktail Ant

Category: Albizia camp, Bushwire, Did you know?, Environmental Awareness Course, Our animals / Tags: accommodation near game reserve, Albizia camp, animal factsheet, educational, Environmental awareness course, hluhl, hluhluwe-imfolozi, hluhluwe-umfolozi, school trips, south africa, south african animals, south african insects, umkhumbi lodge

Goodbye and good luck Gizmo!!

Lacey / September 1, 2011 / No comments

Great view over the water for Gizmo

Well, the day has finally come where we say goodbye to Gizmo.

Home Sweet Home

In case you missed it, Gizmo was one of the original snakes in our telemetry research project. Unfortunately Gizmo was just a little too small and did not react well to the telemetry unit after the Surgery. There was only one thing to do, let Gizmo go without the transmitter. So back into surgery a few days later, the transmitter was removed and Gizmo returned with us to convalesce.

Gizmo has been getting stronger by the day and has even managed to put on enough weight to shed! So we thought it high time we let him go once more in the bush.

Gizmo tentatively looks round

At first he seemed reluctant to leave his Hluhluwe hotel (namely the garage atUmkhumbi Lodge but then instinct got the better of him and he was off.

After a brief stop in the water – which judging by the speed he left it was cold!! – he ducked into the long grasses to hide from the sun.

Gizmo the forest Cobra gives us one last smile before slithering away

Be careful Gizmo!

Bye bye

Category: Bushwire, Donald Schultz, Forest Cobra Project / Tags: accommodation near Mozambique, accomodation near hluhluwe-imfolozi, bush accommodation, Bush lodge, bush lodge in South Africa, Forest Cobra, forest cobra relocation, Forest Cobra Telemetry project, Gizmo the Forest Cobra, hluhluwe accommodation, Re-release, snake relocation, south africa, south africa snakes, umkhumbi lodge

See you soon!

Lacey / August 13, 2011 / No comments

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!

Category: Bushwire / Tags: accommodation near Mozambique, bush lodge in South Africa, Guests, hluhluwe accommodation, south africa accommodation, umkhumbi lodge, visitors

Goodbye to some more new friends

Lacey / August 2, 2011 / No comments

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!

Category: Activities, Bushwire, New friends / Tags: accommodation near Mozambique, bush lodge in South Africa, Guests, hluhluwe accommodation, south africa accommodation, umkhumbi lodge, visitors

New friends

Lacey / July 30, 2011 / No comments

At Umkhumbi lodge we like to think of our guests as friends. We travel too and we know that nothing beats feeling truly welcome where you are staying.

The downside of this is that it is always sad seeing them leave. But leave they must as they continue their travels through South Africa.

Today we say goodbye to two new friends.

They thoroughly enjoyed their game drives to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi nature reserve, thankfully it is only a 35 minute drive from Umkhumbi Lodge so they didn’t freeze on the way to the park in the open game vehicle. 3 of the big 5 were spotted, and despite seeing multitudes of animals they were eluded by the cats.

As much as they enjoyed the game drives, they were more than happy to delay the start of one to have a cooked breakfast with us on the lappa.

Come back soon!

Category: New friends / Tags: accommodation near Mozambique, bush lodge in South Africa, Guests, hluhluwe accommodation, south africa accommodation, umkhumbi lodge, visitors

Bella the Impala

Lacey / June 13, 2011 / No comments

Here at Umkhumbi Lodge you are likely to see Bella wandering around the rooms munching away at the grass.

Bella is our hand-reared Impala.

Bella cannot have been more than a couple of weeks old when she was brought to us. Unfortunately Bella’s mother was attacked by a predator and young Bella was found nearby with cold, wet and weak with her head stuck in a fence (even today you can still see a slight scar).

Little bit by little bit we were able to feed Bella from a bottle, and were overjoyed to watch her get stronger. As she got stronger so did her personality, and she was all to eager to come stomping into the house to cry and cry until she got her bottle.

To our delight as Bella got older she began to venture further and further into the bush exploring and looking for food although she did still follow all of the staff and guests when she couldn’t find anything she fancied.

Far from being the tame little impala she was when she wandered freely in and out of the house, Bella no longer seeks out human interaction (it would appear the Nyala are more fun).

She is however perfectly content to block your way on the path, moving only at the last minute. Rest assured you can get some amazing photographs as she wanders freely around the paths instead of hiding in the bush.