To read the full diary from when we started please click here
August 2011 - September 2011:
SUMMARY
In our time at the Lodge, we have …..
seen 35 mammal species at or near the Lodge, including the so-called ‘Big Five’ (and have seen one other species elsewhere in Balule Nature Reserve);
identified 114 bird species at or near the Lodge, heard 2 others near the Lodge (and seen 5 others elsewhere in Balule Reserve), and have seen quite a number that we did not observe closely enough to identify with certainty.
|
August 2011 - September 2011:
With the dryness of the end of winter (only one respectable rain shower in mid-August) and with many of the larger dams in the reserve relatively empty we have had excellent game viewing, especially of the herbivores. Waterbuck, giraffe, impala and zebra have been particularly frequent visitors. However, we have seen 20 mammal species in all: in addition to the four just mentioned, warthog, jackal, wildebeest, hyena, wild cat, kudu, duiker, civet, vervet monkey, lion, buffalo, baboon, bushbabies, scrub hare, tree squirrel and elephant. One male lion drank at the waterhole on 5th September.
Elephants have come past and around the lodge on six occasions, coming very close each time, but doing considerable damage to trees (especially blue-thorn acacia) in the process. We have heard four different owl species in an evening on two separate occasions and have had spoonbill, Egyptian geese and a fish eagle juvenile at or near the waterhole. Many other species have been regular visitors to the birdpool and to the garden birdbaths, notably blue waxbills, black-headed orioles, Burchell’s starlings, long-billed crombecs and Southern black tits; plus the ever-present hornbills and doves. We have started on two major projects – re-lining the splashpool and building new septic tanks and soak-away for Duiker Hut and the kitchen/staff quarters/office building.
|
