October 2004    

1. Africa Update

A load off - one tonne and a thousand eggs later: The beaches at the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park on the east coast of South Africa are being overturned by the Leatherback and Loggerhead turtles - females, from far away waters, have returned to their nesting ground to renew the cycle - laying their eggs with unblinking dedication and dogged determination. The massive Leatherbacks and smaller loggerheads can be observed, in the company of trained local guides, laying their eggs in the warm summer sands in the evenings under a starlit African sky. St Lucia, a world heritage site, is a biologically diverse paradise, with five ecosystems brimming with wildlife activity - read more.

Of booze and beasts: Remember the scene from film director's Jamie Uys' "Beautiful People", where elephants and baboons get intoxicated after feeding extensively on the over ripe Marula fruit? Amarula Cream, a cream liqueur, is the second-largest liqueur in the world, and is the most exported alcoholic drink in Africa. Amarula Cream has teemed up with the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) in an effort to heighten conservation issues in Kenya - serving as a media tool, and donating a percentage of bottles sold to the KWS - read more.

From fruit to cosmetics: Marula Natural Products was started in 1995 in South Africa. Today it markets to companies in South Africa and globally. What started as an empowerment initiative is now a commercial enterprise, with domestic and international sales of $1,2 million anticipated into 2005. Most well known as the fruit that 'drives elephants mad' when dropped to the ground and lightly fermented, marula is a much-loved tree in the veld in Africa. The Marula Natural Products company is an eco-friendly, low-tech enterprise designed to uplift women in rural communities and provide a sustainable income for families in the tribal lands of the Limpopo valley - read more.

$ 50 million grant for Madagascar: The World Bank has pledged a further $50 million grant towards the third stage of Madagascar's National Environmental Action Plan. This is the largest grant of its kind in the Bank's 60 year history. The grant will assist in defining threatened habitats, declaring these regions conservation sites and involving local communities in the management of these areas. Reforestation and alternative fuel usage are also on the agenda. The Bank, in conjunction with WWF, Conservation International and the Wildlife Conservation Society has made considerable progress in the first two phases of the project. Madagascar is a teeming hotspot of biological diversity - a naturalist's delight due to the fact that so many species here are found nowhere else in the world. Lemurs (primates) are but one of the fascinating species found among its gnarled rainforests - read more.



2. Ranger Report from the unique and splendid Mana Pools, Zimbabwe

Chikwenya Camp reports:
Transformation continues in September as the hot wind blow-dries us. The Kigelia and Wild Mangos bright, almost fluorescent, lime greens set a contrast to the stark dry landscape and the maturing grey green of the Albidas. Apple ring pods ranging from green peach through to scarlet, some even edged with deep purple, fall to the ground with a rattle-thud - sounding to the hungry elephants like sweet wrappers to children. The scarlet of the Flame Combretums is gradually giving way to a mass of creamy pods capping trees in an unlikely blond toupee.
Bird wise, the Crowned Eagles first sighted up the Sapi last month seem to have taken over a White Headed Vultures nest in a baobab tree. The family of Natal Francolins territorial to the Camp are getting more brave by the day and sneak up behind the buffet to join the Bul Buls for crumbs at morning tea. The Black eyed Bul Buls have new outfits as their breasts are stained red by the flame creeper they have been feasting on.
Big Cat viewing started with a big bang early when some lucky guests got to watch our now resident group of 6 lions hunt and bring down an adult Eland near Sterile pools. We all went out there to find them having partially gorged themselves, lying on the bank along Grasshopper Creek under a Sausage tree with its roots exposed from the bank. Countless herds of Elephants are crowding into the area as water and food become scarce up in the Jesse. They gather in great numbers in the Albida woodlands frantically gathering up the rattling pods and crunching them like potato crisps...


3. Client Comments

South Africa, Kruger National Park:

Zuma Zuma
Hello - thank you for your help during my South Africa booking. The holiday has been very nice. We made 2.500 km, but we saw also Swaziland. Kruger is always nice. I think that to see a 3 months old elephant with his mother is unforgettable. I also stay very well in Zuma Zuma. Next trip will be in Botswana and I hope that you will help me again. Many thanks and my regards.
Barbara Poli (August 2004)



4 day Rhino Walking Safari
Hi, Great time in africa?? We really enjoyed it and it's hard to sit in my office now! The walking safari was really amazing, we learned a lot of things about the people and the ecosystem, we saw the Kruger in another perspective: for me this was the 2 time in Kruger, for Vincenzo the 5th but to do a walking safari and to stay with the people in camp was a different and unforgettable experience. The hospitality of all the people was great, the professionalism of the trackers and guide also.
Ciao, Eros Rizzoli (July 2004)