December 2011 – Newsletter
Well that was our first Christmas and new year at Nkurru and what a ride it was. We had great fun with everybody. Having the fireplaces blazing in the lodge just before Christmas with cold and rainy days. But even with that we had a great time.
We also got our rifle at last after many months of waiting. So we did our first bush braai again in a long time and had a great time, I must say the insects are quite hectic around the lanterns on the table, but nonetheless we had a great time as zebra and wildebeest grazed around us during dinner.
Things at the lodge are going great with no major changes during the festive season. All the major maintenance issues are up to date. We will recap in January on the clean up at the building site and get the whole staff area in order with the boma and braai area. The guys are busy moving into their new rooms and are very excited about it. In the beginning of December I also redid our whole garden at our house with new grass in front and back, you are welcome to pop in when you are at the lodge next time. I also started a small herb garden that got sponsored by Simon Dabbs , thank you Simon ! We will see how long we can keep the klipspringer out.
We had just over 40mm of rain for December and everything looks great. We also had a beautiful full rainbow the one afternoon over the Inselbergs. Was one of my most special scenes in Madikwe ever.
Sighting wise we cannot complain. We got treated to magical African scenes here in Madikwe once again. I am not sure if all of you know about Ditaba Sepedi that got killed by the Lenyalo males a while back. It was time for them to give the rains over. The North East of the park is ruled by a coalition of three now and they are busy mating with the females in the east.
The Etali female had 2 new cubs and she hangs around Tholo dam. I am sure that some of you who have been to Nkurru the last 2 months can really see a difference in general game numbers since the lions have been reduced. It is great seeing herds of everything around. The relaxed Maukeng male leopard is also still around and treat us every now and then to a great sighting.
Every now and then we get treated to some or other special moment and one of those days were at Tholo dam where a big bull elephant played around with some lions.
I am sure some of you will agree that it is nice staying out a bit later in the morning and see what is happening at the waterholes. This specific morning we passed Thlou dam later then normal and we found some lions , ellies and rhino at the dam with some general game.
Here’s a few photos of what happened out there:
Hope you guys have a great new year and may all good things come your way in 2012.
Warmest Regards
The Nkurru Team
August – Nkurru Newsletter
Lodge news
Well its been 4 busy weeks at Nkurru, but all great and exciting. We have settled in getting around lots of things. The two klipspringer in camp had a baby so they are three now. Their names are Klippies -Dad, Coke-Mom Ys-baby. As soon as I get a photo of them I will put it on the site. We have changed all the products in the rooms to Andrew’s new Beauty Factory products the Earthbound Range. These products are fantastic….and yes I have used some of it as well 
Thank you Andrew.
We have started cleaning up in the back of the staff village and laundry, looking great so far. It is a great time of the year but we all wish the Tamboti trees will finish up dropping there leaves, Nick is permanently on his rake and broom flying around after the leaves. We haven’t put up another Nkurru cam yet, still working on a plan against the elephants. News from the Kitchen, Monique and Gabriel are working magic so be prepared to pick up a few kilos when you are at the lodge next time.
Water hole sightings :
- Lions
- Elephants
- Buffalo
- White and black rhino
- Leopard
- Brown hyaena/ spotted hyena
- a lot of general game
- The scops owl is calling around the waterhole every night.
We had a big Birthday bash at the lodge on the weekend of the 20th of August, went for breakfast at Madikwe Gardens and had a spit on the fire. For Simon’s birthday we Notched 4 rhino, 3 white and one black. It is great that more people get involved in the conservation and protection of these animals.
Park and Game drive news
It is that time of the year again, FIRE, FIRE AND MORE FIRES ! On the 27th of August myself, Nic and Godfrey help fighting fires in the South East of the Park started at 22:30 till 13:30 the next day. It was the biggest man made back burn in the history of Madikwe. It is amazing how quickly a fire can spread. Luckily no one got hurt and no lodges got burnt down.
The sightings the last while were fantastic and the lions in the South East with the new cubs made sure we had great experiences.
It is great seeing the cubs and the fact that they are all ready so use to the vehicles makes it special for us. They are only 2 months old now. The Madikwe buffalo auction will also be taking place in the park somewhere in October 2011. The big herd around Thlou dam are hanging around The bush house and Thlou dam currently.
The females of the South East around Vlei Pan, the Jamala females have introduced the cubs to their fathers the Naledi males and everything went well. It is such a tense moment for the females when they do introduce them , but these two boys are so chilled out. The plan for the cheetah introduction might happen next year, Declan said. Well this our story for this month, below is a few images of some of the sightings we had:
It is great to be on the vehicle with people who shares the same passion of photography. We can try different things like shoot right into the sun and the results were great. Hope you enjoyed the Nkurru news
See you next time
Warmest Regards
The Nkurru Family
Nkurru Newsletter -July 2011
Hi everyone,
As you are all aware there have been quite a few changes at Nkurru lately. Myself and Monique just finished our first week, and everything went great. The staff are so helpful in all ways and we are settling in smoothly. The hand over we got from Gerry and Adele was so thorough from the maintenance to the office work, they really made the hand over easy.
There was a maintenance week the last week of July before Gerry and Adele left and quite a few things were worked on. Below are some of the major things that were completed :
- Main lodge decks were sanded and oiled
- Room 4 and 5 the decks were sanded and oiled
- New aloes were purchased at Madikwe gardens and replanted in front of the main lodge by he turning circle, it looks great !
- All the roofs and chimneys of the rooms were given a layer of paint again.
Just an update on our building project, everything is going well and we will start with the roof and plumbing on Thursday. As soon as it doesn’t look like a building site I will put some photos on the blog.On Wednesday we will oil the main lodge’s deck again and get everything ready for Duncan and Eva on Friday.We got our Land rover back from Nico and so far it is running smoothly.
Nkurru waterhole :
The bush clearing at the waterhole is an ongoing project and will keep happening when we have no guests in camp.
The last 2 weeks the water hole have been extremely busy from guinea fowl to the big elephants everyday. The elephants are really emptying the waterhole when they move in and are extremely protective over this source of life. Nothing can come close to the water’s edge. On Sunday we had a young bull there the whole day chasing of all the other species including giraffe. Species seen at the waterhole lately :
- Elephants
- Buffalo
- Giraffe
- Brown and spotted hyena
- Leopard, during conservation week
- Zebra, kudu, impala and wildebeest
- White rhino , every evening
News from our game drives :
The sightings have been great like always ! Since the South Western pride have been removed our sightings in the South are none existing regarding lions, so we don’t spend as much time in the south as always.
I must say the birding is still excellent down South.
We were fortunate enough to spend quality time with the Maukeng male leopard on Monday morning. He is probably the most relaxed leopard in the Park as most of you have seen him before.
Maukeng Male
Thlou dam is one of the most picturesque places in Madikwe with sunsets at the moment, nothing beats a winter sunset I am sure you will agree with me ? The Wild dogs are still around Tau lodge on the mountain Madonna. We haven’t seen the pups yet, hopefully soon. All we know is that the alpha female stays at the den most of the time so there should be pups. We are extremely blessed to have a yellow morph crimson breasted shrike on the northern fence line and he gives all the birders , serious or none serious, great sightings.
Well that is what’s been happening around Nkurru the last two weeks. We are looking forward in seeing you guys at the lodge. Just to let you all know I am also a keen photographer so don’t forget your camera :) I aslo try and do a regular blog on happenings in Madikwe, go and have look Grant Marcus Photography
www.grantmarcus.com
If you guys need any additional info don’t hesitate to contact us at the lodge at any time
See you soon
The Nkurru Family