Caracal Sighting

Great to see the camera trap doing its job. The black tuft of hair on the ears is the predominant characteristic of the Caracal, general reddish fawn in colour with a short tail and the slightly raised powerful hindqaurters. It is mainly nocturnal, but partly diurnal if undisturbed. Solitary, except when mating or females accompanied by kittens. It hunts mainlt small to medium aninmals,ranging from mice to even bushbuck ewes. It also catches reptiles and birds. The gestation period is about 79 days and she can give birth to 1-3 kittens with a birth weight of 250Kg.

Going Batty

A small family of Mauritian Tomb Bats have taken up residency in the eaves of the outside Lapa at the Bush House. Insectivorous they have excellent eyesight and sometimes hunt by day, hopefully they will bring down the mosquito population.

Camera Trap reveals all.

Spots in the bush, once again we have not been dissappointed with the new camera trap. Spotty was seen at her favourite place where we had just had a picnic a few days before with friends. You can see she was already hunting at 08:45 and it was still quite light. A Warthog family has a burrow which is just in front of her so its not surprising that this is part of her territory.

Last night again 15mm of soaking rain making for a very slippery ride even in 4 wheel drive(Genaro would have loved it) Roads have taken a major pounding and look like the lunar surface in places. Maintainence will start again after the rainy season.

New additions to the family

What a wonderful surprise to find that our small family of Giraffe has added to their brood. We were blissfully unaware that the female was pregnant and with one of the longest gestation periods (450) days it was truly unexpected. We would like members of our extended bush family to send in suggestions of names for the little male, his half brother born in August of 2007 was named Goldie so any suggestions would be welcome.

Rainfall

Kwa Mmatau has experienced the wettest season for many years. The 450 Ha lost to fire last year looks like a manicured lawn which now attracts all the plains game grazing on the new young shoots.
All the dams without exception are full and overflowing waterbirds are gathering and the Spurwing geese are back as well as the little Grebe.