With our trips to Zimanga sadly postponed to next year, we asked Charl Senekal, the man behind the reserve’s unique photographic opportunities, to give us an update on what’s been happening in our absence.

Hi to everyone from the southern tip of Africa.  Never in a million years would we have thought that the world’s pause button would be pressed so suddenly, and at times we still feel the need to pinch ourselves to make sure we are wide awake.  As terrible as this pandemic is, it did allow all of us on Zimanga to put in some real hard yards and implement a few drastic changes (for the good of course!) to several of our hides, plus the results of our photo boat are improving on a daily basis. 

Summer gave its last gasp with a few boiling hot days, but this was often a cue for us to head to the main lake looking for swimming ellies.  In the heat we wished we could join them but the hippos and crocs kept us to more realistic states of mind and we rather sat back, enjoying the elephant bulls’ play-fighting antics and dodging the occasional trunkful of water should an elephant stray too near the boat.  Or maybe it was the other way round…

Both our overnight hides were given a fresh lick of paint, as we do annually before the busy season, but Umgodi also had some drastic changes made to the outside, departing from the original layout and in the process creating something which we will probably in the long run implement at Tamboti as well.  Its great when a plan works out the way it has but we would rather not spoil the surprise.  The dry season is slowly revealing itself (though its still unusually green for June) and the action at the overnight hides is bound to get better as the drying soil and sunny days absorb the last surface water around. 

The lions provided us some spectacular sightings from both overnight hides (as you can see from an image taken by our 12 year old daughter Elize of one of the male lions against the stars) and for a period of about a week even made Doornhoek homestead their own.  Not the area around the homestead but the actual homestead.  They ended up regularly drinking from the pond, but also found the walkway and bridge at the front door the ideal elevated resting spot – as we found out to our surprise one afternoon!  It comes as a shock to the system that one needs to be careful the second you open your front door!  As some say, this is Zululand not Disneyland.

Another major change took place at the Lagoon hide, where the Lagoon was adapted to more closely reflect its original design.  We had lots of fun working in the water in perfect autumn weather, and the entire operation took us nearly a week to complete, moving in excess of 35 tonnes of sand by hand.  The end result is drastically different from the design many have experienced, but is again every bit as good, if not better.  The birds are in full agreement and with lovely calm days now upon us, few things beat the tranquillity of spending a large portion of one’s day in the Lagoon.  Crocs have been regular visitors together with a goliath heron which is not a bird we see every day from the hide.  And then there are the jacanas, herons, plovers, kingfishers, thick-knees, ducks and geese, even the insect life and occasional water monitor, all which go about their daily lives around the lake and pond.

But it has not all been work.  Our first video collaboration took place and the amount plus quality of footage gathered by 4 vehicles out on safari surprised even ourselves.  We tried to relay a message about people postponing their trips rather than cancelling them but at the same time got carried away in the fun of just being out there and experiencing nature.  The videos can be seen on https://vimeo.com/402519736 and https://vimeo.com/405480828.  It is definitely a great team project which we will tackle again in future

And then a huge highlight of the few quiet months has been the introduction of a new cheetah female, and whilst she is still relatively shy our guides are working their magic on her through daily hour-long visits, sitting quietly nearby.  She has already calmed down after the ordeal of capture and transport all the way from the Eastern Cape.  We believe she should be ready for release from the large holding enclosure near the main lake in a few weeks’ time to supplement the number of cheetahs roaming around the reserve.  The boys are magnificent as always and were spotted (excuse the pun) right at Main Lodge’s entrance this morning as they explore the western hills – an area which they do not frequent that often.  Jika has been lounging around the river and the south and sadly there is still no sign of cubs.

In between tackling alien plants, and it is amazing how many you find once you start looking, plus operating a recent addition of a mechanized mulcher to get rid of encroaching bush thereby opening new areas for grazers, this period has by no means been dull.  All these changes are without a doubt for the best though the most satisfaction we can get from it is for others to experience it alongside us who appreciate nature just as much!  But we are confident you will enjoy it with us again soon.

Please stay safe during this time as lockdowns are being eased and we hope to share this with you all again during better times

Charl Senekal, Zimanga