August in South Africa is generally regarded as the windy month, and this year’s certainly been no exception. The season’s changing as we’re going from winter into spring and with that comes the wind. It’s always a little scary, as at this time of the year the bush is extremely dry, and the outbreak of fires are in the back of all our minds.  Fortunately we have firebreaks in place and are all trained to deal with the sudden outbreak of a bush fire. For the most part bush fires are completely natural and allow the bush to regenerate fresh growth by removing all the old moribund grasses, that slowdown the new spring growth. Read More

Hello to all our loyal readers and Ulusaba family members. It is with great pleasure that I can tell you, that all is well in the bush. We are blessed with some winter rain which is always appreciated for the fact that it gets rid of the dust and also any extra water in the bush is well used.

On the wildlife side of things we have had a very interesting time where we once again had to sit back and let nature teach us how it works in the bush, a very interesting thing happened with our lions, you know by now that two of our six male lions (the Mapogo) went east and joined a pride there. Read More

Vuvuzellas, Bafana Bafana, the ‘diski’ dance, makarapas (World Cup crazy hats), and the biggest sporting event in the world. The 2010 World Cup is in full swing and the spirits of the people are high – South Africa is definitely the place to be!

Unlike the noisy vuvuzellas in the soccer stadiums we have the constant predator-like mating calls of the impala rams trying their utmost to herd females and defend their territories from other males. Winter is here and the crisp mornings provide breathtaking sunrises and awesome light for photography whilst the midday temperatures are moderate and pleasant. The chillier evenings are perfect for dining around a fire whilst enjoying some of South Africa’s best red wines from the cellar at Safari Lodge. Read More

The terrain of the bush with its lush green grass and beautiful full trees has begun to change ever so slightly as we edge closer towards winter.  We can see the grass beginning to become dormant as the leaves slowly begin to fall from the trees.  The sunsets have become truly spectacular due to the fine dust in the high atmosphere.  The mornings are beginning to warrant the use of warm jackets and in the evenings, a fleece doesn’t go out of place.  There’s nothing quite like setting out on a crisp morning game drive just in time to witness the sun appearing over the horizon perhaps accompanied by the call of a lonesome lion. 

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“Baby boom”, of the Sabi Sands is all that I can say. If it’s not in the staff village it’s all happening in the bush. At the moment all the predators are having cubs, it’s an incredible time for game viewing. The females of the Ximungwe lion pride have all started dropping, between three of them the cub count is up to seven and counting. Two of the leopard females have had cubs. Hlabinkonzi( Makwela’s last born before she died) has had two cubs and Makubella has had two cubs. So if cubs are your thing now is the time to come and another thing with cubs it means more mouths to feed so the predator prey interaction’s are definitely on the increase, and with a lot of the prey it is time to start making babies for the summer months so the males are a bit distracted at the moment so it gives the predators a good advantage. Read More

With autumn upon us, the bush is starting to change into beautiful colours; the views of the reserve from Rock Lodge are spectacular. Some of our migratory birds have already left to go back North.

Our pack of Wild Dogs have been doing really well, they have been seen fairly regularly. The Alpha female is heavily pregnant and we are hoping that they will den in the Western Sector. Read More

If you have been reading our blog religiously, you will know all about our lions, elephants, general game, etc.

Today I’m going to write about something slightly different. This follows interesting events on just one game drive.

We hadn’t been out for more than ten minutes when Pam, one of my guests wanted to take a picture of an animal track. At the next junction we found what we were looking for…

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