A busy time at Amukela Game Lodge

It is a busy time at Amukela Game Lodge with animals, guests and all the things we have changed.

Although we don't see the elephants as often as we used to this winter they are still around and the last couple of nights we heard branches breaking again.
This Sunday they came visit us again...







The warthogs still come graze on our lawn and we often see kudu and waterbuck at our dams.

Our terrace looks very nice now with a new couch and chairs to relax and watch the waterhole.

We also have a new dining table and chairs.

The first rondawel has also been completely renovated and all rondawels got some nice chairs outside.

 

Regards from the bush

Miriam



It was a busy week here on Amukela. The giraffes stopped by several times and the elephants were also seen more then once. We also saw impalas, duiker, jackals and beautiful birds. As icing on the cake we had a lonely bull buffalo.

It is still lovely winter weather, giving us beautiful mountain views during the day and breathtaking stars at night.

Off course we also had guests at our lodge who enjoyed all this.

Regards from the bush
Miriam

Family visit

The second week of June my oldest sister with her husband and my parents were here to visit us.

We had a wonderful week with lots of time spend together and a lovely outing to end the week.
The children really loved all the extra attention; putting things together with their aunt and uncle, playing on the swing with grandma and talking to grandpa.
Especially little Felix was a big fan of his "opa" (the Dutch word for grandpa). All day he would call "opa, opa, come..."
I guess I don't have to say that he grandparents loved spending time with their grandchildren.

During the week when the kids had to go to school I went shopping with my mother and sister. Off course my family wanted to see the children's school so they all took turns picking them up with me. On Friday my father joined us for a special fathers day assembly at school and we had a braai and campfire that evening. When it got too cold we went inside to watch the World cup  football match of the Netherlands against Spain which the Dutch won!

On Saturday we went to the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center (HESC) and went for lunch.

Unfortunately that was the end of the week already and they had to go back home, but we had a great time together and made lots of memories. It was fantastic to have them here for a while.

regards from the bush

Miriam

Elephants and power outage

Yesterday was a great day here at Game Lodge. We had two of the Big 5 visiting us! 

First a big elephant came to drink at our small dam. He was followed by two smaller elephants. 

While the smaller elephants walked away the big elephant stayed in our riverbed to eat. 

He walked up the path leading to our small gate and I could make a nice picture of him standing right in front of the gate. 

While browsing he walked along the fence almost to our house before turning back. 

In the meantime there were elephants at the other side of the lodge at our big dam and a buffalo came grazing at the small dam.

While the elephants moved on the buffalo stayed around and spend the hottest time of day in the mud at our small dam.

Then we heard branches breaking from the side of the bush camp. The elephants were still around and were now on this side in the riverbed. While eating the came close to the bridge before turning back.

The whole show had lasted most of the day and we enjoyed it very much!

Around 4 the power went off. It was still off when it started to get dark so we collected candles and lit them. The kids enjoyed playing games and telling stories by candlelight.
At 7 suddenly the light went on again. It was a nice ending of a beautiful day.

Regards from the bush
Miriam

Whoohoo it's winter!

I know, a lot of people will think this is strange. Who is happy it is winter? Most people like summer better. But when you live here in Balule in the Lowveld in South Africa the winter is a lovely time, especially after a long hot summer.

Here in the Hoedspruit area the winter is nice and warm with average day temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius (77 Fahrenheit). The nights are "cold" with average about 8 degrees (46 Fahrenheit), but the advantage is that you can sit around a cozy campfire.

Officially it is still autumn but this transition period is less present then for instance in the most of Europe and here we mostly just talk about summer and winter. May is the month in which the leaves start falling, our Baobab has lost a lot at the bottom already. The Impala Lily also loses it's leaves and the first flowers appear. 

Soon the bush will look dry and bare, less attractive but very good for game viewing. The winter is a good time to travel to South Africa. The dry bush makes it easier to spot the big 5 and animals are more active because it is not so hot. The temperature is very nice and the weather is very stable without the rain that can spoil the fun in summer sometimes. The mountains are very clear and the stars are even more breathtaking then in summer. Because of the cooler temperatures and the absence of rain there are almost no insects and no mosquitoes.
All in all the winter is an ideal time for a holiday to South Africa.

Personally I enjoy the cooler temperatures very much, just as the fact that you can wear your "winter clothes" for the cold nights. Summer clothes do not get packed away though, during the day the shorts and T-shirts come in handy! The cozy campfire and the beautiful stars and Milky Way are every time special again.
Still I know that in only four short months I will be happy with the warmer mornings (especially if you have to get up at 6 to get the kids to school). For now I enjoy the winter though and I hope many of you came to share this special time with me.

Regards from the bush
Miriam

An elephant at my gate!

It was a busy week with animals here at Amukela.
On my way to and from school I saw giraffes on a daily basis. because of all the rain last week they prefer the higher area of the Marula road with less mud.

 A warthog family comes in our camp regularly to eat from the grass. Normally this only happens in winter when food is scarce but this family doesn't seem to mind my presence.








I also see lots of zebra's and this curious kudu on my way home.






Then some elephants come to visit our waterhole. It is always nice to see these giants but when the biggest one takes a dust bad right in front of my open gate I can't help but wonder if I should have closed it...

rain and raging rivers

After a reasonable dry rainy season we got lots of rain in the beginning of March.
In 2 days we had over 200 millimeter rain and the dry rivers started to flow. The leeuspruit, that runs through our camp, was one of them. The first day it was already a nice stream and the kids loved playing in the mud.

When we got more rain that night the water flowed over the bridge at the Sable road leading to our lodge. Luckily that morning when the children had to go to school the water was down enough already to cross. The debris on the bridge showed how high the water has been. one of the trees in our riverbed was leaning over quite a bit and we had to cut some branches to be able to cross our bridge.

The Zandspruit river in Raptors View took longer to go down again and lots of children could not come to school that day. Although it is dry now for quite a while already and it was even hot today and yesterday, the Leeuspruit is not entirely dried up yet.
The road on our side of the reserve is a bit damaged but not too bad. At other places the road was inaccessible for a few days.

Luckily the dry winter lies ahead of us now.