Happy New year from the bush

The Holidays are over and we from Amukela want to wish everybody a Happy New Year and all the best for 2015.

The last few weeks were very busy with lots of nice and happy guests.
The weather is typical for summer, warm and sunny with now and again showers and cooler days. Most of the time there were nice sightings on the game drives and I saw lots of animals on my frequent trips to town to get groceries. Arriving guests were even surprised with a black rhino with calf! The lions were regularly heard again in the evenings and a few times we heard a hyena calling from right behind my house. On Christmas morning the guests got a elephant at the waterhole for breakfast.

Off course there were Christmas presents for the boys who had a lovely time this holiday.  The time flies and I can't believe the summer holiday is almost over already. One more week and school will start again. Niels will be going to third grade, Dennis can't wait to go to first grade and join the "big school" and little Felix will start with the toddler group.

 

Regards from the bush,

Miriam, Niels, Dennis and Felix

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