15 December, 2017

Ziwani Escapades

Weather
No rains the whole of last week. We hope this is a short rain break, because the animals still need a lot of rain to make the grass grow higher. If the rain stops now, then it’s not good for the animals because there won’t be enough food them.
There are a few elephant herds in the sanctuary which means that some of the natural dams in the park have dried up.
Temperature
16’c morning
31’c at midday
23’c at sunset

Our New Dam
Our dam has been renovated recently. From the western side, the view is magical with the sun’s rays reflected in it surrounded by the yellow fever acacia trees. Our guests tell me “You’re lucky to work here”.   


Just after the dam was finished, 90 per cent of the hippos and crocodiles returned including ‘Big Daddy’.

It’s breeding time for the crocs. We have seen several females finding suitable places to lay their eggs. Good mothers sleep on the eggs for 90 days without eating anything. Careless females lay eggs and leave, exposing their nests to Monitor Lizards and Banded Mongoose to dig out the eggs.

Bird life is doing well. The geese have migrated to the natural dams in the sanctuary. From the restaurant our guests enjoy watching helmeted guineafowl drinking water at the dam.




Predators
Lions
Four lions were spotted this week near sign number 43 on the way to Kitani River. No photos captured.

Cheetahs
 A female with one cub was spotted near Lake Solomon. The pictures were taken by phone, so not possible to get them.




Written by Stephan Lekatoo

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