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Temperatures - Max 32 Min 4
Rainfall - 486mm (1/10/09-04/06/10)

The World Cup is now a distant vuvuzela blast away and we are left with fond memories of hosting people from around the world. We had guests from the U.S.A, Mexico, Italy, England, Australia and Puerto Rico to name a few. There were a few tears when Italy exited early from the competition but all in all it was a wonderful occasion.

Above are some of our staff who enjoyed a game in Nelspruit and proudly represented Bafana Bafana in their soccer gear. Goodness, in the middle of the picture with the South African flag, looked amazing and made it onto the front page of our local newspaper!

The wildlife also played ball adding to our guests’ South African experience. As always winter is proving to be a superb time for game viewing as animals tend to congregate around waterholes, making interaction between species even more intense and exciting to witness.

This has led to some interesting territorial disputes with our larger species such as rhino, lion and leopard. Below are some of the experiences we have shared with our guests.

This territorial bull rhino is exhausted after fighting off various bulls for a prime piece of territory in the heart of our property. His territory consists of three to four dams, good grazing areas and patches of grassland... all-in-all he is ruler of a piece of land that female rhinos find attractive, something he doesn’t seem too keen on giving up. Notice the Redbill Oxpeckers on and around his back cleaning him of any parasites. This is an example of a mutual relationship between bird and rhino; the bird gets a meal off the rhino and the rhino gets rid of any unwanted pests.

The lioness above is one of the stalwarts of the Machaton pride and has successfully defended her territory for more than a decade. You can make out the blood on her right cheek from a territorial skirmish with another pride of lions. Yet again her pride was triumphant! In an exciting update, a new pride has been sighted consisting of 11 lions led by two large black-maned males. This has led to our three dominant males roaring on a nightly basis and marking their territory extensively as they feel the pressure of a new pride entering the area. Guests at Tanda Tula have been serenaded to sleep by this night-time chorus.

Camp is proving to be popular with leopards. It forms the boundary between two resident females; one being the Zebenine female, who has one young male cub of approximately 15 -16 months, pictured above. The other female, Rock Fig Junior, has two young cubs of about 8-9 months (young female cub pictured below.) Both females have been seen in and around camp actively marking their territories and trying to lay claim to Tanda Tula. The permanent water source and abundant general game such as nyala, bushbuck and impala make this a lucrative hunting-ground.

Non-territorial species like elephant and buffalo have also been abundant across the property. Large herds of elephants have visited camp on a number of occasions making wonderful viewing from the bar and pool decks. Large bull elephants have been spotted following the breeding herds, trying to pick out females in oestrus.

Tanda Tula always seems to turn into an old-age home this time of year, with old bull buffalo making themselves very much at home in and around camp, utilising the riverine grazing and camp dam to keep them going through the winter. The old bull, pictured below, brings to mind the quote from Robert Ruark, "the buffalo looks at you like you owe him money."

Sighting of the Month

As mentioned camp has been a hotspot for leopard over the last month. The Zebenine female’s young male cub has kept the monkeys very busy around camp. The monkeys alarm calls have been heard throughout the month with this young male using Tanda Tula as a base. As he grows in confidence he will venture further and further afield until he is completely independent at roughly 2 years of age. At the moment though he is still dependent on his mother to provide for him. He has been seen chasing squirrels through the trees opposite the camp as well as trying his hand/paw at hunting a porcupine in the riverbed below the bar deck. All this playful behaviour is not going to waste as it is fine-tuning his hunting skills for later in life. If you look carefully in the picture below, you will see him in the branches of the apple leaf to the left, with camp buildings in the background.