Safari Blog

The latest camp newsletter from Duba Plains and the Tsaro and Skimmer prides:

The two Duba Boys, estimated at just over 16 years, are still doing very well at the moment. One of them has been seen limping quite badly and there was a period of a week this month when he was not seen at all; apparently this is an old injury from few years ago caused by a buffalo horn. This male reappeared but in pretty poor condition. Their longevity has amazed most of our repeat guests who did not expect to see them still alive! Although there is a slight evidence of deterioration on their bodies, age is only slowly working on them. The Duba Boys have been holding the dominancy in the area for about ten years now which has been aided by two main factors: they have an excellent prey base in the buffalo herd and have not had threats or challenges from other males for a long time. This has assured stability in the area so far. There was a time when we were all anticipating a challenge from the five males from the Skimmer Pride (in the neighboring territory) once they left their natal pride. It now seems like they have gone in a completely different direction, because it has been more than six months since seeing them at all. This in a way is against what we were hoping for as attached to the Duba Boys as we are. It is imperative for successful genetic breeding that a new generation of males takes over the territory in the near future.

Junior (the two year old male with the Tsaro Pride), has provided his own surprises to both the guides and guests. He seems much bigger in size compared with what is expected for his age. In September he made his second solo kill (after a first in August). With his eagerness to initiate hunts (doing it the right way now), he is proving himself a valuable and useful member of the pride. However, he seems to have also developed a penchant for initiating fights within the pride and recently scrapped with the silver eyed lioness who he appears to target specifically. Junior is now a big lion who no longer tucks in his tale and retreats when being growled at by the Duba Boys. He has been seen growling back, and 2 days ago he took one of the boys on in a severe fight that lasted about a minute without him giving up - rather the Duba Boy did ? interesting times and a bit of a turn up for the books?

The young female cub in the Tsaro Pride (9 months) is also still continuing to participate a lot in hunting, after being missed by the swinging horns of a buff last month. This time she was taken on a several meters chase by an old dagga boy (buffalo bull) - had she not made a quick decision to escape into the palm island the whole thing would have ended in disaster. The silver eyed lioness has cubs at the moment, though her offspring have still not been seen.

The rest of the Tsaro Pride is doing very well and are in good shape at the moment with three major groupings being seen on a consistent basis: 2 females and junior; 2 females and the 9 months old female cub; 'Silver Eye' mostly alone due to her having the cubs and meeting up with the others only when hunting and feeding. There has been substantial conflict between the lionesses on the carcasses - a new and unprecedented development in the pride and one that we shall continue to watch with interest.

The Skimmer Male that was in the Duba Boys and Tsaro Pride territory last month has again appeared in the area this September. This time he did not spend his time just wandering around and made good use of the incursion ? he was caught in action mating with one of the Tsaro females for a very good period of 3 to 4 days! This incident happened along Molapo Road, which is the territorial boundary of the two prides. After mating, he disappeared for a while, and then came back into the area, and walked a distance of 7km (about 4 miles) into the Tsaro Pride territory, all the way up to Kabole Pan which is just after the bridge. This means he pushed way into the territory of the Duba Boys and was not looking settled at all (as he was aware of what will happen if the Duba boys come across him), leaving the next day for safer ground.

As I mentioned above,interesting times

Hi Brett,

Arathusa was absolutely fantastic !!!

The accomodation and food was excellent, the safari's were also great. We saw leopard and lion at 3 different times, and cheetah once , besides all the other game of course.

Thank you so much booking us in there at such short notice, and I certainly would not hesitate in recommending Arathusa to anybody who wants to have a fantastic South African safari experience.

Once again thank you for all your help.

Brett recently asssisted a repeat guest from the UK with her safari in Botswana. See her feedback below:

Dear Brett,

I had an extraordinary time in Botswana, really wonderful. All the camps were fantastic, all with thier own character. You were right about moving to three different areas of Botswana - the scenery was quite different in each place, so it enhanced the experience.

And the view from the air whilst flying in between each camp was breathtaking...and I had a swim in the Delta on the last day which was very exhilerating! The Royal Livingstone is the most beautiful place to stay - the location is perfect and I felt like I had stepped back in time. Thank you yet again for all your help.

Kindest Regards,

Sally visited The Royal Livingstone Hote at Victoria Falls, Savuti Camp in the Savuti Channel, Little Vumbura in the northern Okavango Delta and Jacana in the heart of the Okavango Delta.

Recently one of our guests had a medical emergency whilst on safari in a remote corner of northen Botswana. Fortunately our guests had medical and travel insurance prior to traveling and were able to be airlifted out of the safari and to a medical facility in Johannesburg.

The above situation is a reminder why it is so important to ensure that you have sufficinet medical and travel insurance before traveling. Especially when traveling to remote destinations.

News from SUNSAFARIS is that Lance and myself will be visiting the Honeyguide Safari Lodges, Kings Camp and Savanna Tented Lodge from the 17-20 November 2007. In addition to having site inspections of the camps, we will also be holding our AGM - what better place to hold it than at the Kruger Park!

In addition, from the 11-17 December 2007, I will be visiting Camp Moremi, Camo Okavango, Xugana Island Lodge, Savute Safari Lodge, Chobe Game Lodge and Chobe Savanna Lodge. On the way to Livingstone, I will also have a site inspection of the Islands of Siankaba.

Brett assisted a US Mother and Daughter with a short safari to the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Read their feedback below.

Dear  Brett,
 
Hannah and I had an awesome time at Baine's Camp. The staff were wonderful, the food was outstanding and the wildlife superb.  I highly recommend a visit to the Okavango Delta for anyone!  It is truly an amazing place. 
 
Thanks for arranging everything for us!
Jeanne 

Brett assisted an Irish couple with a 2 week holiday through South Africa. Read their feedback below.

Hi Brett,

Just wanted to send you a big thank you for aiding us in what turned out to be a holiday of a lifetime in amazing South Africa.

This holiday far exceeded our expectations in every regard. All the accommodations and placed we visited were top notch and we left everywhere feeling as if we were leaving family members behind especially on Safari and in Blyde River Canyon Lodge.

Primi Lodge was excellent, as was Ocean's 11 and Avondrood in Franchhoek.. 

Also it was great to know that we had the backup of someone to call if we cannot follow simple directions...

I can't recommend Chapungu enough especially Estiann our guide who is one cool dude and a superb guide. Got quality viewing of all 5 big ones and witnessed a stalk, hunt, kill and devouring of impala by lions. Also the off roading ability was tremendous. Strongly recommend him to your clients!!!

Shonga was a little disappointing in that you cannot off road in Kruger but this disappointment was purely down to being spoilt in Chapungu. However it was an excellently run safari lodge with quality food and attention to our needs.

We will definitely be coming back and will recommend you and South Africa to everybody we know...

Thanks for all your help.  

Regards

Colm & Clare

Brett assisted a couple arrange a 5 night safari at Savanna Tented Lodge and Tanda Tula in the Greater Kruger Park. Read their feedback below:

Brett

We had a fantastic time, everything was well organized and we thoroughly enjoyed both locations…Thanks for your work in making this a great holiday. And heres hoping SA can do it at the RWC……for the southern Hemisphere

Brad

Lance assisted one of our regular guests (who loves safaris as much as we do!) on a safari through Kenya. Read her feedback below.

Renate recently assisted a gentleman from the USA with a walking safari itinerary. As luck would have it, both Renate and Charene were booked on the same safari as an educational, so they all got to know each other very well over the 3 night itinerary! Read Glenn's feedback below:

Brett assisted a German couple on a short 3 night safari at the Thornybush Game Reserve in South Africa. These guests dates were set as they had already booked their stay in the Kruger National Park. If guests are self driving through the Park, then they should aim to visit the private reserves afterwards as opposed to before their own self drive safari. Read their feedback below:

Hi Brett,

I've never been better - except for I had to leave Africa the day before yesterday!

Our stay at Chapungu was absolutely perfect. We have to thank you a lot for offering us this lodge. We had the best time. Extremely nice people (the whole staff was very helpful but also relaxed and easy-going... you know?). The guides (ranger, as they call them) and the Tracker did an extraordinary good job and helped us to experience their world of wonders. They shared theit substantial knowledge about all the surroundings with us so that I had the feeling of learning a lot about. We had the chance to see so much wildelife so close that for me, as a European who is not used to so much wildlife, it was unbelievable. The service in the lodge was very good. All the facilities, the rooms: perfect. I don't need more luxury then this.

The food (for me as a vegetarian) was not perfect but good. No real complains about this.

Our stay in Chapungu made our stay in the Krüger Park itself looking a bit small and less adventurous. Next time I would do it the other way round. First going to the National Park by myself, then enjoying the professionality of a private game reserve.
But anyway... thanks again for helping us to find this perfect place! I can recommend Chapungu to everybody else without restrictions.

Best regards,

Lisa.

Brett assisted a couple from the USA with a safari through Botswana in September. Read their feedback below.

Hi Brett,

We arrived home last night from England but I wanted to get an e-mail off to you.

Thank you again for all  your hard work in planning our Safari. We had an amazing time and Steve has been working on his computer since we arrived home. He is so excited about our photos.

I thought I would write to you and give you our feelings about some of our experiences.

Duba Camp was great. We arrived for an afternoon ride. That morning, a pride of lions took down two adult and one baby buffalo. They said that had not happend in several years. We were able to see the pride feeding on their kill. Because of the kill, all the buffalo were gone. We never did see any buffalo at any of our camps. The tents at Duba are very nice and it is a well run camp.

We liked Sandibe also. They were very sweet there and our last night they surprised us by putting candles all over our room and setting up a private  dining table there for us. I am sure you had something to do with that. We did not like the Nxebega Camp. We felt that the tent was a bit too primative. We also were not particularly happy with our ranger there.

Our favorite camp was Savuti. The accommodations were fantastic. The tent was wonderful. I liked the elevated walkways. The watering holes right in camp made for some fabulous animal viewing. Our ranger there, Thuso, was the best. He really seemed to make and extra effort to view animals and he was so knowledgable and informative.

Steve and I both feel that Wilderness Safaris do a better job overall. If we were ever to go on Safari again, I would only book camps that they run.  Every aspect of their camps seemed to be a step up from the CC Africa camps.

Victoria Falls was interesting. The hotel was lovely. We took a day lunch trip to Livingstone Island and we did the small boat ride at sunset the next day. All was fine with our visas and we didn't have to pay extra costs. Several people we met at camps had to pay for visas. One couple had to pay $100 per person to get through immigration.

You can let future guests know that the craft market near the falls is a great place to stock up on gifts to take back home to family and friends. We brought home some lovely wooden bowls and annimal carvings. They were happy to take US dollars.

Aside from a couple of our inter camp flights being a couple of hours late, the schedules of getting from camp to camp were perfectly arranged. The bush pilots were terrific. I am not crazy about small aircraft but it was interesting, flying from camp to camp. I don't know how they schedule people all leaving on different days, going to different camps. We really do appreciate all the hard work you must have done to schedule our trip.

Thanks again for all your hard work. We loved our tripand it was truly a life changing experience.

Adria and Steve August