January 2010 – Nkurru Newsletter

Hi,

Before we get going with the first Nkurru Newsletter of the New Year we would like to wish you all the very best for 2010.  We trust that you have all had a relaxing festive season and that the holidays have left you recharged and ready for the coming year!

During the last few months it feels like the world has been spinning around more than once a day.  A lot has happened and even though the road has been long it seems that the end is almost in sight.  It seems that every newspaper and television program is doing a ‘year in review’ type of thing and that was originally the idea with this newsletter.  Now even though this seemed like a good idea at the time, I felt that instead of doing a huge write up on all the things that has happened at Nkurru during the last year I would rather just do a general kind of look at 2009 and then start focusing on 2010.

‘Damage control’ might sound harsh, but this is what it many of the days at Nkurru felt like during the last 11 months.  The Nkurru makeover started with large projects like the new Lilliput system, waterhole, painting the entire lodge, sealing the ant-hills and ultimately the reed bed.  These were mixed in with ‘we-have-no-choice-but-to do-this’ projects such as replacing all the septic tanks at the lodge and sending the game viewer to the doctor on more than one occasion.  Stressful, yes.  Necessary, absolutely but now that the dust is settling the lodge is better for it.

The one project that has spilled over from last year, and that is getting seriously annoying, is the lodge rifle.  To say that the lodge accreditation process and dealing with firearms control has been a sad comedy of inadequacies is being kind.  I have, up until now, had to email the same documents to four different people and I had to drive to Pretoria to drop off the same documents on three different occasions.  Today marks my return of phoning on a full time basis to try and get our lodge accreditation finalized.  In the interim we have purchased a new lodge rifle, after selling the previous one to Ivan, and it is waiting for us at a gunsmith in Johannesburg.  Hopefully soon.  Hopefully very soon!

Recently we completed another relatively large project which, I am personally very very happy about.  Adele and I will not benefit from this project directly but if one more person had to tell us that the taps in the rooms are leaking I think I would have run away!!   Yes, we have finally gotten around budget and time and the new taps have been fitted in the rooms!  The look great and work even better.  In a way this project, the last big one of 2009, brings an end to the having to fix everything approach and we can now finally start looking at improving the lodge rather than just fixing things.  Exciting stuff!

Overall the lodge is looking fantastic and this gives us a great foundation from which to start working in 2010.  We have already started looking at various projects and other CapEx items for the year and we will be liaising with Andrew Frodsham during the next month or so leading up to the shareholders meeting in March.  As soon as we have a workable document it will be circulated to everybody but in the meantime here are a few of the larger projects and items we have on the list:

• Thatch – All the thatch roofs need to be combed and patched.
• Vehicle – We need to look at the vehicle situation at the lodge which includes both the game viewer and a second vehicle.
• Swimming Pool – The pools surface is quite rough so we need to address this.
• Staff Village – We are planning to extend the staff village which will not only give each staff member their own rooms but also give us.

There are of course quite a few smaller items that we already have on the list but if you have any further ideas or input please email us at the lodge.

Game viewing has, as always, been amazing even though the last few months have been more about quality than quantity.  With a lot of surface water and very thick bush, spotting the more secretive species has proven to be quite challenging but Madikwe never fails to deliver.   Now that the operational things are falling into place we will have a little more time to do wildlife updates on the blog.  If you need more wildlife images and some photographic tips and techniques you can also visit Photo-Africa which I update every weekday.  On that, you can now download free African wildlife wallpapers for your desktop and iPhone fro Photo-Africa.  Click here to check it out and get yours today!

The new edition of my book, ‘Wildlife. Photography. And everything in between.’, is also now available.  The 198 page book contains more than 200 images and is available in soft cover, hard cover with dust jacket and a hard cover with the image printed on the cover and prices vary from R425 to R525.  For more information or to order a copy please email me.  If you have not seen the book yet there is a copy in the lodge which you can browse through when next you visit Nkurru.

On a personal note Adele and I would like to thank you all for your support during the last year.  At times it might have been challenging but to finally start seeing things fall into place is great reward for all the work that has been done at the lodge.

On that note we are also very excited about our upcoming holiday.  Now most of the times when we are on leave we are still running around to pick up supplies and in are in constant contact with the lodge.  From 12 January we will be taking three weeks of annual leave and this time we are really going on leave.  As a belated honeymoon and for my birthday we will be going to Bangkok for a week or so after which we are heading to the Drakensberg to do a few photo shoots at hotels and lodges.  We have not travelled much since starting in the bush and we are really looking forward to our Thai adventure.  We have been working hard at getting everything arranged at the lodge to make sure that things keep on ticking over while we are away.  No doubt we will worry about the lodge a bit, but I reckon it is going to be great to get away, clear out heads and ultimately come back refreshed and ready for the year.

As of next month the newsletter will again contain wildlife updates, images and updates from the lodge.  For now back to work as the rain continues to fall in Madikwe.

As always we look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at Nkurru in 2010!

Warmest regards,

Gerry, Adele and the Nkurru Team