Nkurru update and Newsletter for April 2013

May 9, 2013

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Hi Everybody,

Hope you are are all well.

I apologize for not sending out updates the last two months. But everything is going very well with all of us here at Nkurru.  Winter is right on our doorstep now so the mornings and evenings are  getting really chilli. It is time for some good red wine around the fire place. May it be a good South African wine OR, we just got some French wine in that was chosen for Nkurru by Michael Fridjhon. The idea with the French wine was to diversify our Cellar at Nkurru. These wine and Champagne are very well priced so next time you are at the lodge do not forget to try a bottle.

I would like to thank Mr Laurence Wernars for helping us out with the new vehicle. We received the new bakkie and it is making our lives at the lodge so much easier. We are also well on our way with the projects for this year at the lodge. The road inside the lodge footprint got resurfaced this week and is looking 100% better. A few humps were built for better run of so remember that next time you drive in.

Carlien the Ecologist came to see me the other day and we have to stop getting warthogs in for the leopard project. Due to the  possible TB in Madikwe. I will send you guys info on the TB as soon as I have all the info from Parks board.

No carcasses can come in or go out the reserve until further notice. We couldn’t get as many warthogs as I wanted to but the ones we got in worked brilliantly.

See below some of the Capex and other projects that are completed and running:

• Resurface of road inside lodge is done
• Received new vehicle and trailer
• Busy with solar panels for borehole
• All the decks are sanded and oiled
• Tv room and Kitchen are waterproofed and painted

 

 

All the staff at the lodge are doing well. Gabriel is enjoying his cooking course and are doing well.  Hopefully he can practice some of his new learnt skills on you when you are at the lodge.

News from the bush

Poaching have been luckily very quite in the park. So no news on that. The sightings around Inkwe pan are getting better and better due to the constant supply of water in the area. We have seen everything including a lion kill at the pan. The Bulaya pride are hanging around that area on a regular basis. The two Naledi males are moving more Nort west now and extending their territory and fighting with the Kgala male hoping to take over the pride up there.

 

The new Cheetahs are also doing very well and are moving around this place like it is no ones business. The reason for that is , they are setting up territory and looking for the females. The problem with that is that if they realize there aren’t any females after their extensive patrols they might leave  the park and I really mean leave the park , cheetahs are some of the best fence crawlers in the animal kingdom.  Madikwe is on the list for females but there aren’t any available now. These boys still have to cover quite a bit of ground before they can decide if there are females or not. So we are safe for now 🙂

 

 

The wild dogs are doing very well at the moment with both packs having pregnant females. In the small pack there are 2 females pregnant. See below the number of Madikwe’s wild dogs. Both packs are busy looking for denning sites.