April 2007
 

Dear Subscriber

We are pleased to report that the rain that fell in April was the best we have experienced in the last 10 years. A total of 55 mm fell at Tremisana and 58 mm at
Marc’s Treehouse Lodge and Cheetah Inn.

The results are spectacular: grass cover is excellent, the trees are looking very green and the rivers and dams have sufficient water to last through the coming winter season. In fact, the veld looks as good as it normally looks in February.

It’s a good thing that we had rain as Kruger Park authorities had already introduced plans for water restrictions. We are very aware of the problem and all our chalets at Tremisana prominently display a notice encouraging our guests to try to save water. This may be achieved in a number of ways: avoiding lengthy showers; checking that all taps are properly closed; agreeing to not having towels changed on a daily basis etc. We appreciate the cooperation shown by all our guests.

On the negative side, the good rains have resulted in reduced game-viewing. It is amazing how an elephant (over 3 metres in height and about 5000 kg in mass) can so easily be absorbed into the bush. It also means that our game guides who conduct bush walks must be extra vigilant especially when walking near thickets and areas with dense vegetation - one simply never knows what may suddenly appear out of nowhere. In this regard our staff , including Ronald, will be going on refresher courses in rifle-handling in the near future. We have bought two new rifles and will be practising with them in the quiet season. In all the years we have been conducting bush walks, there has never been occasion to shoot an animal. However, we are aware of situations that have necessitated shooting by other tour operators. These have been mainly related to elephants. Every so often, a bull in musth (increased testosterone activity) will misbehave. I have personally witnessed such musth bulls vent their frustrations on trees and simply push these to the ground and walk away, without so much as a taste of a leaf. It is these musth bulls that must be treated with the greatest respect. In fact, our standing policy is for the guides to move away from any musth bulls they may encounter on a walk. The musth bulls let their presence be known via noisy bush breaking as well as a pungent odour. We respect our guests’ desire to approach on foot to take a decent photo, but, as indicated in the indemnity form that every guest is obliged to sign, final decisions regarding client safety is vested in the guide. We need to remind our overseas tourists that the elephants in Kruger are very different to their cousins in the local overseas zoos.
 



Our guides report a relatively poor month of game-viewing. The good rain has resulted in a dispersion of game. On a positive note, our guests have been enthralled with the “Autumn Madness ” of the impalas. April is the month of the impala rut and it is always entertaining to see the rams compete for the attentions of the ewes. The chasing around of both competitors and potential harem members leads to a loss of about 5 % in body mass of the dominant rams.

Perhaps the rain had another effect : Bongani reports that on 6 April, his tourists spent over an hour watching a pair of mating lions. Lions mate very frequently over a period of about 48 hours at the height of the lioness’s oestrus. About 20 km further on, at Rabelais waterhole, Bongani found a pair of hyenas mating. It was a first for him. They were not afforded the privacy of the lions in that a third hyena, another male, was trying his best to get in on the act and was making a general nuisance of himself. A baboon troop and two elephants were also at the waterhole but showed no interest in the mating hyenas.

Elvis reports his highlight as follows: “On 11 April, while on a night drive at Tremisana, we came across a pride of 17 lions. They were stalking some impalas and almost got one. I wonder what kind of hors d’oevre a single impala would provide for 17 lions... '

Elvis reports seeing some very large herds of buffalo. These move around in search of the most palatable green grass.

Charles reports a sad sighting: 'On the 27th April, two waterbuck bulls were fighting at the Mudzanzene picnic spot. It was a very spectacular display and was really appreciated by Charles’ guests. However, their enjoyment was curtailed when one of the waterbuck bulls was fatally stabbed and died in front of the guests.'

The following day, there was no sign of the waterbuck carcass and Charles believes that the hyena clan polished off everything. Later that day, the group’s spirits were lifted when a leopard and cubs were sighted.

Nelly reports that his highlights of the month as being the pride of lions at Tremisana ( all 17 ) on a giraffe kill right near the road and a group of five cheetah ( mother and four sub-adult cubs ) on an impala kill near Rabelais.



 

The increase in rainfall heralds the increased presence of the local lion pride. In April they vocalized almost every night as they went about their hunt. On the 29th April the two adult male lions of the pride pulled down a giraffe on a neighbour’s property. He was generous enough to call me and invite all our tourists to view the kill. It is good that the various lodges share their game-viewing highlights in this way.

I recall that when a lioness gave birth to three cubs near Tremisana Dam some years back, we were reluctant to advertise the fact as we felt that excessive traffic would frighten the mother lioness who might abandon the day-old cubs. Despite our best efforts, the news got out. We were pleased to have guests from other lodges on our property. As it turned out, the lioness eventually moved her cubs away. The cubs survived and we believe that these cubs are the two pride lions.. They certainly treat Tremisana property as their home.

At the beginning of April , these lions chased a buffalo into the top corner of the Tremisana property (where it forms a wedge with the neighbour’s fence). The buffalo broke through the fence and was pursued by the lions onto the main tar road. Fortunately Wynand, our Warden, was able to get the lions back onto our property, but the buffalo is still at large.



The crocodile at Tremisana Dam has returned. It disappeared sometime in early March and reappeared after the big April rains. It appears to be in good health and is feeding on the remaining catfish.

>> Click here for more info on Tremisana

The staff worked very hard in April as we had two long week-ends during which we were fully booked - every available bed was taken.

The popularity of Marc’s Treehouse Lodge has grown considerably of late. We are taking bookings from local South Africans at an unprecedented rate. We shall be adding two two-person tents to our accommodation.

The nyala are everywhere. They have become so tame that some of our guests believe we have bought them from zoos!

Not so the buffalo on the property. Although they have never caused any physical harm, they tend to remind us that they, not us, are in charge at Marc’s Camp.

We conducted two school camps in April for children from Summer Hill school. The children were thrilled to be able to see buffalo at close quarters on foot. Ziggi, who assisted with the senior classes, reports that one evening the buffalo came right into the adventure camp and drank from the swimming pool.

The children ran to their rooms and watched the buffalo from behind half-closed doors of their chalets. No amount of noise seemed to frighten the buffalo who took their time in leaving, completely unconcerned with the delay they caused in the learning program !

Marc’s Treehouse Lodge In the Media !
 

Marc's Camp- 'Getaway Magazine', January 1995
A Tree to Tree House Call - 'The Star' travel section, 27/01/07
Weekends Without Walls - 'The Money Standard', Standard Bank Magazine, Sept/Nov 2000
 

Did You Know ? We offer budget / backpacker safaris at Marc's Treehouse Lodge !

We had all rooms full over the Easter weekend and, judging from the comments in the Guest Book, a good time was had by all.

All four new rooms are now ready for the final touches. We expect to be able to have 21 rooms available for hire by mid-May.
 
We have ordered zebra, wildebeest and waterbuck for the property and will probably have these introduced by July. Because the property is small, we need to buy animals that are accustomed to smaller spaces.

We have been advised that animals that are used to much larger spaces may injure themselves if they are frightened and run into the fences.

A new brochure has been developed and will be used in marketing the Cheetah Inn at the INDABA trade fair in Durban in mid-May.

Click here for more info on Cheetah Inn

The website for Marc’s Treehouse Lodge is up and running. Please visit www.marcscamp.com. Each of the twelve treehouses is fully described and there are photos of both the interior and exterior. We shall try to accommodate your clients in their preferred treehouse of choice.

Exciting news is that we are busy negotiating traversing rights for Tremisana Lodge on a large portion ( over 1500 hectares ) of prime game-viewing land in Balule. The intention is to offer Tremisana as a destination where we can conduct a full day safari program. Normally this goes something like:

06h00 : Coffee and rusks
06h15 : Early morning game drive of 4 hour duration.
10h30 : Brunch at the Lodge
15h30 : High Tea
16h00 : Evening / night drive of 4 hour duration
20h00 : Dinner

We shall have access to radio and the warden of this section assures us that he will do his best to let us know exactly where the Big Five are.

Our plan is to have a 6 month trial run, and if it turns out to be as successful as we anticipate, we shall incorporate this as a regular feature of our 4-day and 5-day Tremisana safaris. More about this next newsletter.

Kind regards,

PIERO