Flowers in the winter

Here in South Africa we have several plants that get their flowers in winter time. There is the impala lily that first looses its leaves and then gets beautyful white and pink flowers. The aloes also bloom in winter and attrack lots of birds like the sunbirds and the crested barbet.

Porcupine in our camp

In the winter we regularly see the porcupine at our waterhole at night. This huge rodent has the typical black and white quils that are often used as decoration. The porcupine that lives around our camp has picked up the habit to come inside our camp. He digs a hole under the fence and he is in. Inside he has access to all those yummy plants and trees in our camp and garden. Off course we are not so happy with the latter. Porcupines dig up roots which causes plants and trees to die and he makes a mess in your garden. Willow is also not happy with the porcupine coming into our camp. Just as with the warthogs she believes that all animals have to stay outside the fence, everything inside is her territory. Porcupines are night animals so he only enters the camp when everything is quiet and everybody is in bed. As long as he stays far enough from the office, where Willow sleeps, there is no problem and he can do whatever he wants and leave undetected. But if he decides to eat closer to the office Willow hears him and starts barking. The porcupine seems not impressed as if he knows she can’t get out and even seems to tease her. Some evenings he is early and we are not in bed yet when Willow starts barking. When we go to check it out we sometimes see him hastely shuffeling away when he hears us.

Regards from the bush,

Miriam

Warthogs on the lawn

It is winter and although the bush is still quite green, the nutrients in the grass are getting less now. All animals are looking for the best and greenest places to eat. From behind our fence they look at our lawn with greedey eyes but most animals don’t dare to come in to eat. The warthogs are the bravest and they venture into our camp to feed on our lawn, especially at the end of the winter when food is scarce. It is not uncommon to see a mother with one or two halfgrown piglets grazing on our lawn when the lodge is quiet.

As said it is still early winter and the bush is still quite green, but nevertheless the first warthogs have attempted to come in and we have seen the rare daredevil walking into our camp. Our dog Willow doesn’t like it, this is her camp and all other animals have to stay outside the fence. Luckily she is not brave enough to go after the warthogs and she just barks at them from a safe distance. When it is later in the winter and food is getting scarce we will lock her inside when the warthogs carfully walk into our camp. Although we will not feed them, after all they are wild animals that have to survive on their own, we do not begrudge them the green grass of our lawn.

And honestly, it is actually quite nice to have a warthog on your lawn…

Regards from the bush,

Miriam

Winter in the lowveld

It is June and that means it is the middle of the winter here in the lowveld. On 21 June the southern hemisphere has it’s shortest day and June/ July are generally the coldest months here.

Now are winters here in South Africa very mild. Although there are areas where some snow can fall, it is more an exception then a rule and here in the lowveld the winters are even warm. Sometimes, after a very cold night, we see some frost on the grass but this quickly dissappears as soon as the sun rises.

When I take the kids to school at half past six in the morning it is “only” 6 degrees Celsius en we find it very cold. When I leave school at half past seven the temperature has already risen above 10 degrees and in the afternoon we often get 26 degrees.
It happens quite often that I sspeak with my family in the Netherlands and that it is here warmer in winter then in the Dutch summer. Despite that, the average African will dress warm with a coat, scarf, hat and even gloves on these “cold” mornings. Many tourists are surprised about this since they don’t find it that cold but once you live here you get used to the heat. Everything below 20 degrees Celsius is “quite cool” and below 10 degrees it’s just freezing cold. During the day it is very nice, especially in the sun, but I wil be glad whenit is August again and it starts to warm up….

Regards from the bush,

Miriam

Wild dogs in Balule

Last week we had a great week for game viewing. Our guests saw four of the big five on their game drive and the rhino they saw the other day when they came back from an excursion.
On their second game drive they saw wild dog.  We had buffaloes under the bridge, lions roaring closeby and elephants around the lodge. The highlight for me was when I saw a wild dog next to the gravelroad when I took the kids to school one morning. Two weeks ago we saw three wild dogs that chased a young kudu in our fence. I hope to see these magnificent creatures again before they mive out of the area.
Regards from the bush,
Miriam