Zululand Rhino Reserve - Newsletter

I am sure that I speak on behalf of everyone in the Reserve in conveying our deepest sympathy to the Smit family on the loss of their husband, father and grandfather Koos.
Koos had an operation on his knees earlier in January but still ensured that he attended the meeting on the 1st Feb even though he needed crutches to get around. I am told that Koos never missed a meeting and his contribution to decisions and discussions were invaluable. From the day he joined the Reserve he was a very positive force. His opinion was valued and when work had to be done we could always count on him. He served as a Director of the ZRR and his valuable input is going to be missed by us all.

The rainfall recorded in the ZRR was more than double the 22mm recorded in Jan 2007.

January was a very busy month for all getting back to normal again after the hectic Christmas and New Year Season and getting children off to school. We experienced some exceptionally hot days and with the added problem of Eskom load shedding (or is it “Power Sharing” ) life was sometimes made difficult. However we have found that “blackout” evenings spent in our hammocks on the verandah are a very pleasant alternative to watching the evening news. Star gazing in the bush is amazing and I have seen 9 satellites in an evening.

Thank you to all who submitted the sightings listed below.
I encourage you all to send me anything interesting you see for us all to share and enjoy.

Unfortunately we had the sad loss during the month of a black rhino cow with an unborn bull calf on Okalweni. This was a huge loss!

Ryan had some very interesting sightings. He wrote the following:
“On Leopard Mountain we had another big python sighting going in and out of a hole. I got a beautiful leopard pic. on my game cam at Okalweni. This is the first picture of a leopard on the Game Cam.
We had 3 animal deaths, as a result I feel, of the heat on Sunday the 3rd February .   It went to 38deg. on my verandah which is normally one of the coolest places.
I got a rare Pic. of a suni at Budlweni on my game cam. on a busy trail which leads to water as well as photos of nyala females, red duiker, porcupine, bushpig, bushbuck females, baboon, nyala males and vervet monkeys.
The vultures that roost near my house are there every evening.    Whitebacked as well as lappet faced and obviously now know that this is their new “vulture restaurant.”

Other snakes observed this month were Mozambique Cobra, Vine Snake, Variegated bush snake, Night Adder and Puff Adder as well as a 2.5 meter python at Abu Madi.
2 male and 2 female leopard tortoise were recorded at Abu Madi and 1 female Natal Hinged Tortoise.
A very big Leopard Tortoise and 2 Hinge-Back tortoises were seen at Leopard Mountain.
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Mike from Abu Madi reported the following: “ The heat in January has resulted in an increase in reptile activity, .tortoise, terrapin, ,monitor lizards as well as skinks and geckos and a very beautiful Common Tiger Snake. Tiger Snakes are nocturnal and are sometimes attracted by outside lights were they can prey on geckos who in turn are attracted by the insects. They are orange-pink to dull salmon pink with dark brown to black crossbars or blotches on the body and tail, the underside is yellowish to orange pink. Although they look dangerous according to the book they have a “feeble venom that is of no consequence to man”

The collared bull elephant was seen drinking water out of the reservoir at Leopard Mountain and also at Zebra Hills.
The breeding herd of elephant cows was seen below Ryans house, actually JO’S house….
And a as well as at Intendele. Wayne and Rudolph had a lovely view of them walking along the riverbed below the lodge-a perfect viewpoint.

A new white rhino calf was born at Mooihoek, the sex is not known yet. Dale had a sighting of a new white rhino calf at Iqina, it is a female. This is the same female who produced a calf about two years ago in the same place.

Karen and Dylan managed to get a photo of the new black rhino bull calf at Malachite.

A young leopard was sighted by the game guards at Mkuze Nyala and a male leopard was seen by Willie.
A large warthog was killed by a leopard at the Manyoni crossing on Zebra Hills m at Smits drift.
A young impala was killed by a leopard at Mavela, vultures were able to get the left overs.
An unfortunate bushpig got himself stuck in the mud at a dam on Mkuze Nyala, a very fortunate leopard passed by pulled the carcass out the mud and snacked on the pig. Good use of such an opportunity

Hyenas found and ate an impala at Iqina.
Craig reported seeing a new waterbuck calf at Marco Polo.

Mike also reported that he was fortunate enough to observe a rock monitor digging a hole so determinedly that it allowed him to approach to within about 3 meters without noticing him. All of a sudden his head shot into the hole he had dug and appeared with a little running frog in his mouth. Mike advanced on him hoping he’d drop the frog (running frogs are rather special ) and while lashing at him with his tail he lost hold of the frog , who immediately turned into a “flying frog” not to be seen again.
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Gifford Pretorius was fortunate to see a honey badger at a hive near his Dads workshop early one morning.

The breeding herd of elephant cows was seen below Ryans house, (actually JO’S house)
and also walking along the river bed below the lodge.

Abu Madi were treated to a visit from the breeding herd of elephant who hung around for about two weeks and disappeared as silently as they had come. They weren’t so silent when they were unwittingly surprised at very close quarters in thick riverine bush, with the most terrifying and deafening scream, the larger cow came from nowhere not 15 meters away trampling trees and bushes as she came.

A female leopard was seen on Abu Madi and Mike suspected it killed a 4 day old wildebeest calf.
He added that he is a bit concerned about the unusually high number of young Impala carcasses he has been finding in one area of about 5 hectares, 9 in total this month. “I was unable to find much sign of how the animals were killed as by the time I found them, all that was left was skin and bone. However one had distinct sharp puncture marks on its throat which suggests the work of a Caracal. These highly efficient predators are capable of killing animals as big as an Impala doe as witnessed by one of our guests a few years ago. They breed well, are deadly on game birds and I predict that with in a very few years , unless something drastic is done about it now, very soon, you won’t be seeing many, if any Crested Guinea Fowl or Francolin in the Z.R.R. ,and that would be a great shame. I’ve noticed a decline already.” There is a concern that they may be impacting the Red Duiker as well.

Murray reported that friends of his had seen a breeding pair of Black Coucals with a chick,a European Golden Oriel,and two Broad Billed Rollers all on Mkuze West

Mike said he doesn’t know if those living in the Z.R.R. have noticed a couple of times this month quite a lot of birds of prey flying low in fair numbers accompanied by smaller birds as well as swallows and wondered what was going on. Well you can be sure the flying ants were out and they were feeding on them. It’s hard to imagine larger birds of prey becoming so excited by such small fare. Among them were Yellow Billed Kites, Steppe Buzzard and Tawny Eagle, at times they may be seen feeding off the flying ants on the ground.

A pair of Glossy Starlings, chose to nest in a hollow pole at the Abu Madi Bush camp this season. The pole happens to be only a meter high, 3 turquoise eggs were laid and within a week the eggs went missing , again they tried another 3 eggs, they too disappeared, undaunted they tried again only to lose their third clutch. It’s a wonder birds survive at all in the wild. Two lots of White Browed Robin chicks with 3 in each nest were observed but only one chick survived out of the 6. A Paradise Fly catcher who had built two nests were observed to lose both clutches to vine snakes and the same happened to the Scarletchested Sunbirds nests.

The Honey bees have also been very busy. You may have noticed their numbers at water points during the heat of the day. They have also been swarming, searching for new hives due to their swarms dividing or due to maybe having been recently robbed.

A lot of young grey headed sparrows have been seen about. The Red Billed Quelea chicks remain in small flocks as the adults seem to have moved on early this year. Other fledglings observed were Black Headed Oriole, Helmeted Guineafowl, Crested Guineafowl , Crested Francolin, Black Flycatcher, Forked tail drongo and also a young Pintail whydah chick being fed by it’s Common Waxbill Foster parents.

Also witnessed by Mike and a wonderful sight was a pair of Bateleur Eagle in courting flight, their acrobatic and aerobatic moves stunning to watch against a deep blue sky.
A Little GossHawk was seen flying late one evening weighed down by it’s kill which was nearly as heavy as itself.

The Crowned Eagle nest successfully occupied for ten years, that we know of, on Leopard Mountain has a chick in it again with the parents in attendance. They rear a chick every second year because of the long nesting period. Interestingly this Eagle is one of the few birds powerful enough to take off vertically which enables them to use the dense forest environment.

Black shouldered Kites were very common 20 to 25 years ago they could be seen every where perched on telephone poles or dry branches along the main roads but now they are a rare sight and one was seen recently perched in the Fever Trees on Abu Madi.

A lone Harlequin quail hen was seen thjs month and hopefully there are others so that we one day we can all enjoy seeing them.

An exciting sighting was a pair of Black Bellied Korhaan. A couple of red breasted swallows are to be seen near the old broken Demoina bridge on the D240.
An oxpecker feeding it’s near adult chick while on the back of a white rhino was an interesting sighting by Mike. Young Oxpeckers are easily identified by their dark bills. European Rollers are still about in fair numbers and a few Lilac Breasted Rollers can also be seen.

Clive and I observed about 30 European Bee Eaters at the Hide on Leopard Mountain.
Ground Hornbill were sighted at Mavela by Dries.

Karen noted that the redbilled oxpeckers are nesting now and we should be seeing a lot of activity in the nesting logs that we have been placed in trees near the following waterholes:

Chaos mud dam x 2                                           Smits drift dam x1
Nyamazeneni x1                                                Nyamazeneni x1
Manyoni dam (Zebra Hills) x 1                             Abu Madi Bush camp dam x1
Luthuli nyala dam x 2                                           Okalweni dam x 2
Tarfu trust Bush Camp x1
Please report to Karen if the Oxpeckers are observed using these nesting logs then it is an indication that the introduction was successful.

Bird sounds are really amazing – did you know that birds don’t have vocal chords?
They have a specialized sound producing organ called a syrinx at the bottom of the windpipe giving it two different sources of air from each lung.
Musical sounds are produced when air is forced over the membranes of the syrinx. Some birds can produce two sounds at once each from their different lungs.
Birds like the Crested Barbet can make a continuous sound without stopping to take a breath by expelling air from each side of the syrinx consecutively.
(If anyone else has some amazing bird fact to educate us please send them to me to put in the Newsletter.)

If you are looking for a nice lunch venue you might like to try the Hilltops Camp at Hluhluwe Game Reserve on a Sunday for their delicious Buffet lunch. It only costs R85 and the spread is really good as well as the beautiful view over the Game Reserve. (Bookings are essential.)

CRECHE:
The building of the Creche resumed early in January and has now been completed. Disappointingly no offers to assist with the building were received and so Ryan took on the whole task..

The crèche was completed on the 7th Feb. and Ryan reported as follows.
“We had the official opening today and the local minister blessed the creche. A number of his congregation sang hymns. Then Induna Mabuyakulu made a speech thanking us for what we had done. The toys, balls, writing equipment, arts and crafts, play dough, wildlife posters, cups and plates, and chalk were donated by Jo, Karen, Estelle, Ilze, Dylan and Ryan and large grass mats to cover the cement floor given by Leopard Mountain were put into the Creche and the keys were handed to the Induna.
All the kids (all 54 of them) were treated to a small party of chips biscuits sweets and cool drink.
The kids are 4 years old and under. A very happy morning was had by all.

The finished creche consists of a rock walled class room with a cement floor, black boards, a small store room and a toilet.   Outside I have made a seesaw, swings and a big sandpit.
Mrs Ivy Fakude will be the teacher.
The creche is called “Mbuzeli Creche” which is the Induna’s name.   Mom’s sister who owns “Sign Factory” in Empangeni donated the signboard which has the Creche name and the ZRR on it.”

Martha may be able to get donations from some overseas guests who stayed with them and she has offered other support which is greatly appreciated. If anyone else has anything to give please do so as these kids really have nothing. IT’S NOT TOO LATE .

All of us in the ZRR can be happy that we made the funds available to build this Creche.

I am sure that many of you have wondered how you would do on the program “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader.”
Well one 5th Grader when asked, “What is a crocodile?” answered as follows:

“The croc is specially built so long because the flatter the better swimmer. At the front of the crocodile is the head. The head exists almost only of teeth. Behind the croc is the tail. Between the head and the tail is the crocodile. A fierce crocodile without a tail is called a rottodile. A crocodiles body is covered with handbag material.
If a crocodile wants to eat you he first has to rinse you off before he can eat you.
The longer he bites you, the more it hurts. If you eat him he is a crocosatie.
The little brother of a crocodile is a lizard. The slow sister of a crocodile is a chameleon. And the crocodile also has a dead brother, called “Frikkiedile.”

Thoughts for the Month
“There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal triumph if you have the iron will and the necessary skill.” (Nelson Mandela)

If you have any suggestions for this Newsletter please don’t hesitate to send me an email on kathleen@leopardmountain.co.za. . If anyone would like to add other email address for wives, friends etc, please let me know.