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Newsletter
September 2009.
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the September 2009 newsletter from the animal kingdom. |
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| In a period of 3 weeks
there were 3 kills on Amukela land in August. |
| First there was a leopard
that killed an impala-ram in the riverbed right below our house. A week later
a leopard |
| killed an impala on our
neighbour's property, and dragged his prey al the way to our land! |
| The next morning I
dragged the carcass to an open area close to our waterhole were jackals
feasted on it that night. |
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few days later an old zebra
was killed by lions, not so far from our camp. |
| When we went to have a
look the next morning there were only some vultures eating the last bits |
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| Then
there was the young elephant
in musth. He got into a fight with a bigger bull and broke his neck. |
| The warden was called and
in consultation with nature conservation it was decided to put the
elephant down. |
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next 4 days the pride of 18 lions had an easy meal, just as the jackals
and numerous vultures. |
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On 3 September Niels
became 3 years old! |
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This was celebrated on pré-school with a birthday cake |
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and
party pack made by Miriam. |
|
Newsletter March 2010 |
Niels got to blow out the
candles and after the cake, |
| Newsletter
December 2009 |
he handed out the party
packs to all the children.. |
| Newsletter
September 2009 |
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| Newsletter
June 2009 |
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| Newsletter
March 2009 |
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At home Miriam and
Tinyiko decorated the lodge with |
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balloons
and while our staff Nicolus and Tinyiko also had |
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some
cake, Niels unpacked his presents. |
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It was a very nice day and
we all enjoyed it! |
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Dennis, now 9 months old,
is also doing very well. He is crawling now and able to stand up since
2 weeks. |
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He
is a very happy baby and as you can see he enjoys |
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the
swing! |
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He
just got his first tooth and is starting to eat with us. |
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Although
the warm meal somtimes can be difficult, he |
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likes
to eat and whenever he sees us eating he lets us |
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know
very loud that he also wants some. |
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Good news on the astronomy
front; we have bought a brand new
telescope! |
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It
is a 254 mm. Dobsonian,
complete with eyepieces |
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and
a moonfilter. |
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A
new world will open for us and our
guests with this |
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magnificent telescope. |
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Jupiter can be seen very
clearly now because it is high in |
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the sky, and its
light has to pass through less of the earths |
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atmosphere. |
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Scorpius
still can be seen although it is getting lower in |
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the
sky now. It won't be long before we can see Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades
again. |
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Have you ever visited a
rehabilitation centre for wounded and orphanaged widl animals? |
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The Moholoholo
rehabilitation centre is one of those. When possible they try to release
the animals back into the wild. |
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The
problem is that not all
nature reserves will accept
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predators, because they
will kill their antilopes. |
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The Balule nature reserve
is however an open |
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eco-system that has a
connection with other private |
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reserves and the Kruger
park. Here is enough space |
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to release
animals back into the wild. |
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In Balule, close to Amukela,
a boma has been built: |
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a
fenced area of 50 by 50 metres. It has
an electric fence, water and shelter for the animals inside. |
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The boma is built according
to specifications of Nature Conservation. |
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At
this moment it is home to one of the 3 problem-hyena's that
roam around Hoedspruit.
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The
team of Moholoholo caught one of
them and placed in the boma. |
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His name is Billy and
hopefully he will get company from the other 2 hyena's. When time is right they will be released |
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and we can hear their spooky calls in the
night again! |
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Besides
the Moosa-dam (the watering
hole that can be seen form our terrace is named after Niels' his African
name) |
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we
now also have the Mandla-dam (Mandla is Dennis' |
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African name). |
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This
results in animal sightings on both sides of the lodge. |
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What to think of this giraffe
with her baby? |
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Or this beautiful
elephant that came to quench his thirst |
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at
the Moosa-dam? |
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These 4 giraffes all came
to drink at our Mandla-dam. |
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From Balule: Salani Gahle
(goodby) !
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