Newsletter January to July 2011

Another half a year has come and gone and it seems like yesterday that we started 2011.  However, if we look back on the last 6 months, there has been a lot happening on Mjejane Game Reserve.

Game sightingswere as good as always.  The resident lion pride has been seen on a weekly basis and I think we can safely say that they have made Mjejane their territory.  They can go across the river into KNP when the level is low, which I am sure they do, but fortunately for us they keep on returning.  The two cubs are doing well and we have seen them grow over the last 6 months.  Two cheetahs were seen on a few occasions and we received reports from farms to the south of the N4 who have also seen two cheetahs on their properties.  This is interesting in that if it is the same two, they have no regard for fences or busy highways and very much in line with cheetah behaviour, move around over great distances.  There is a lady doing research for the Endangered Wildlife Trust on cheetah and wild dog migrations out of the KNP boundaries and we have been able to give her good feedback on these two species and provided her with photographs for identification purposes.  Contact me in this regard if anybody has good quality pictures of these two endangered apex predators.  Elephant and buffalo are a regular feature on Mjejane and both rhino species were regularly seen with the addition of a new white rhino calf born middle May.  Common game is not as well established as we want them to be and we have applied to KNP authorities to restock the reserve.  My estimates for common game on the reserve are as follows: elephant average 20, hippo river and dams 80, white rhino 13, black rhino 3, buffalo average 120, giraffe 19, zebra 20, wildebeest 20, kudu 25, waterbuck 30, impala 100, bush buck 20 and warthog 20. 

For interest sake we want to add a report from David Bailey on the following sightings:

 After a fantastic game drive around `our` farm where we had close up views with two lots of lions, excellent sightings of Rhino, Elephant and Giraffe mixed with a nice selection of bird life which included Purple Crested Rollers, Lilac Rollers and Eagle Owls we returned to the house only to arrive as about 300 Buffalo were about to cross over to `our` side further up the river. It was fascinating to watch the herd make its way across in one long line but when about 80 had crossed many started to turn around and go back. Sporadic groups would then attempt to cross only to turn around and retreat to the other side. In one of these attempts we saw a mother with a fairly small calf start to cross in the middle of group of 30, something spooked them and some raced across whilst the others turned back. The mother and her calf were separated from the others only by about 10 meters and were now in the middle, we saw why they began to panic, a very large croc was swimming towards them. The calf desperately tried to hide behind its mother to no avail as the croc lunged in and grabbed the calf. The calf was bellowing loudly as the mother frantically thrashed at the croc with its hooves to try and get the croc to release her calf. There was not a chance that the croc would release its prized meal and with lots more thrashing by both animals the croc slowly retreated into deeper water with the calf held firmly by it back leg until it eventually disappeared under the water. The mother spent a few more minutes bellowing and walking around in circles until it decided to leave the water and join all the remaining buffaloes on the two banks. Not one buffalo made any further attempt to cross and eventually all disappeared into the bush leaving us saddened but excited we had been so lucky to witness such an event. We did not take any pictures as we were not carrying our cameras so this event is etched only in our memories of a wonderful weekend spent at Leo Lapa. Thanks so much for inviting us to be part of this syndicate, the house is fantastic, we look forward to these times when we can just `get away`.

 

 We had an unfortunate rhino poaching incident in July at Mjejane dam.  A white rhino was wounded and got away.  After weeks of searching for the animal we must assume that he either recovered or crossed the river to KNP as we could find no carcass.  KNP sent their helicopter to search for a carcass and we used the opportunity to look at all 13 white rhino on the reserve.  No one seemed to suffer from any bullet wound.  The poacher, a KNP field ranger, admitted to the offence and did not get away.  He is behind bars.  Apart from this ‘inside job’ the rest of KNP field rangers stationed on Mjejane are doing an excellent job and are as committed as ever to preventing poaching incidents on our reserve.  If it was not for the thorough investigation and sharp observations from fellow field rangers and senior KNP officials, the culprit would still be patrolling on the reserve. 

We did the annual veldt assessments (grass surveys) in April and with the help of our Environmental Control Officer and Malelane Section Ranger, we worked out a management fire plan for burning certain blocks in September 2011.  This is to rejuvenate the veldt by burning old moribund grass that has accumulated over the last few years as a result of no burning.  The idea is to burn not more that 25% of the reserve per season and if all works out and depending on climatic factors, grass biomass and species composition,  we are trying to implement a rotational burn policy of the whole reserve every 4 years.

We burnt a few small blocks as fire breaks south of Erf 1 and south of Mjejane dam to curb possible runaway fires.  We made sure that we had a proper fire emergency procedure in place at all times for the unexpected.  We invested in 3 fire fighting water trailers that are on standby 24/7. We have done the necessary training with our staff and the security personnel on duty in the usage of all fire fighting equipment and fire hydrants.  KNP have also fire trained field rangers on the property.  Please report all fires immediately to the reserve management.  Attached is a fire Emergency Contact Number List that must feature in each lodge. 

KNP officials eventually had to shoot an elephant bull that continuously broke through the hippo fence around Erf 1.  Even though the fence height and electricity was increased, he got into the habit of breaking into Erf 1 where he caused considerable damage.  We monitored him over a period of 6 weeks and although we tried to persuade him in many ways to seek food elsewhere, he held fast. 

Monkeys and baboons are often seen inside Erf 1 and we urge all not to encourage them to become a nuisance by making food available for them.  We removed a few snakes from properties and construction sites and other small problem animals like rodents, bats and bees who had moved into dwellings.  When we hear about these problem animals, we always try to solve the matter in the most environmental friendly way possible.

The river was too high to allow for the construction of the bridge across into KNP until the end of July.  It is since going full steam ahead and we invite all game drives to visit the site to see what progress has been made.  For the time being the actual construction area is out of bounds.

We are continually doing rehabilitation work on the old cattle ranch structures.  The fences along the sugar cane field and orange orchard on the eastern boundary were dropped at the end of 2010 and in just a few weeks elephant had reduced the sugar cane to almost nothing.  This is now an open plain and warthog, baboon, wildebeest and zebra enjoy the short shoots and safe open space.  There is already a good re-growth of indigenous trees, shrubs, herbs and grass and it is interesting to see how the whole succession process starts from pioneer to climax species.  Watch this space.  Elephants have also moved into the orange trees and we will eventually help them to rehabilitate the orchard.

As always the Honorary Rangers from SANParks have helped in a very big way to remove and to control alien plants on Mjejane.  They come in every now and then to camp on the reserve over a weekend and do the hack with military precision.  Alien plants that mainly get targeted are prickly pear, lantana, seringa, paraffin weed and queen of the night.  They offer us a fantastic service free of charge and we thank them for that.

There is strict environmental control over all construction and development that takes place on Mjejane and all construction sites get audited by our Environmental Control Officer every 6 weeks.  This audit is done according to the specifications laid down by the Department of Environmental Affairs and the Environmental Management Plan for Mjejane Game Reserve.  It is good to know that all current building contractors strive to operate according to the above mentioned specifications.  It is also important that all developments keep to these rules as it is to the benefit of all and it adds to the integrity of Mjejane as a first class nature reserve next to KNP.  Stands that are currently under construction are 30, 38, 40, 46, 57 and 3 timeshare units.

We would like to welcome new owners and shareholders on the completed lodges and timeshare units and trust that you will fit right into the greater Mjejane Game Reserve community if you have not already done so.  Please contact the reserve management if there are any questions or uncertainties regarding the operational side of the reserve.

We have opened up a few new roads using the old cattle farm road network to increase the utilization of the reserve for game drives.  We have a map available in the Mjejane Lodge reception for newly qualified guides to use and to get to know the reserve and names of the road network.  

Quite a few owners have done their guiding qualification in the last 6 months and after a Mjejane orientation session can now self drive in a KNP specified game drive vehicle on the reserve.  It is a great help to the reserve management when we receive feedback regarding animal sightings etc. and we thank you for that.  I personally feel it is worthwhile obtaining this qualification and to continue increasing your bush knowledge and experience.  Let us continue to conduct this activity in a professional manner.

There is a boat on Mjejane dam.  Unfortunately the water level is too low for us to use the boat at this time of the year and we will have to wait for the rain season that will hopefully raise the dam level.  The dam is shallow and silted up and the hippo herd occupy the deeper areas which add a further complication to the usage of the vessel.  We will keep all informed regarding this activity when the time comes.  In the mean time the game activities around the dam increase as it gets drier and the resident flock of white breasted cormorants nesting, is a special feature.

We have constructed a hide on the western side of the timeshare units on the Crocodile River.  This hide is open to all that want to make use of this facility.

Kingsland Game Reserve, between the N4 and railway line, is open for unguided activities such as walking and biking but on the eastern side of the main road only.  Guided horse rides and guided visits to the predator sanctuary on the western side can be arranged through Mjejane River Lodge reception.  This reserve is 600ha in size and has non-dangerous game such as giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, a few kudu, impala, bush buck, warthog, common duiker, steenbok, baboon and monkeys as well as a few interesting but shy night creatures such as white tailed mongoose, honey badger, side striped jackal, porcupine and bush babies.

Please contact us should you have any queries or interesting information to share. 

Bush Regards,

Jaco Badenhorst (Reserve Manager) and the Mjejane Team

 

 

 

MJEJANE GAME RESERVE 

Newsletter 2010

 

I started working on Mjejane Game Reserve on 1 March 2010 and what follows is a short and informal summary of events on the reserve in 2010.

 

I had a fantastic welcome sighting of a crowned eagle that chased vervet monkeys around in a big Jackal Berry Tree on the river road on my first day at work.  This was the first of many other excellent bird sightings of the year.  Pennant winged nightjar, crowned and ground hornbills, osprey and numerous other not so common species were seen on the reserve.  I always wait in anticipation for the first migrant birds to appear before the rainy season and this year was no disappointment.  When the first Diedericks and Klaas’ cuckoo’s start to call,  then you know its summer time. 

 

Mammal sightings were equally good with a very acceptable variety that blessed the reserve with their presence even if, in some cases, for short periods only.  The normal big game species like elephant, giraffe, rhino (white and black), buffalo, waterbuck, wildebeest, zebra, kudu, impala, bush buck, steenbok and duiker were regularly seen.  A pride of lion stayed on the reserve for most of the year and produced three cubs.  The river prevented the pride from taking the small cubs across into KNP and they were seen very often.  A few leopard and hyena sightings were recorded but a highlight was the 3 cheetah sub adults and the 5 wild dog that were on the reserve for a short period and who came across the river (KNP) during low level flow.  I caught a pangolin outside the reserve and released it on our side.  This was a highlight as one rarely gets to see these shy and rare creatures.  Honeybadgers and white tailed mongoose were also recorded as well as the more common black backed and side striped jackal.  Lions killed a bushpig and the reserve in April and since then a few more sightings of bushpig were reported.  

 

I have been working in the Kruger National Park since 1993 and have never seen so many snakes and signs of snakes as I have seen on Mjejane Game Reserve.  Anything from massive black mambas, rock pythons, boomslang, puffadders, spitting cobras, and a great variety of the non dangerous kind.  Please don’t underestimate the value of snakes and the vital role that they play in the food chain.  I have unfortunately seen too many dead snakes on the main access road killed by vehicles and got the feeling that some of them were driven over on purpose.  Same goes for lizards, leguaans and tortoises.  The slogan “speed kills” is not only applicable to humans.

 

The Honorary Rangers of SANParks (Kruger National Park) were very active on the reserve this year and put in an enormous effort to combat alien plants on the reserve.  They mainly focussed on Queen of the night, Lantana, prickly pear, paraffin weed, exotic syringa, blue gum trees and water lettuce.  This was done in work parties/hacks that were organized over  5 weekends and everything was sponsored by the HR’s.  The control methods used for all alien plants were mechanical and chemical and on the water lettuce a biological control agent in the form of a type of snouted weevil were released.  Anybody that would like to get involved or support this worthy cause can contact me.

 

An interesting lion research project was conducted on the reserve in March 2010 and this formed part of a greater project in the whole of the KNP and surrounding neighbouring nature reserves.  In short the project aims to establish the variety, occurrence and effect of diseases on the lion population and their genetics.  Lions are lured by bait, darted and captured.  The research team then takes blood and tissue samples and releases the captured animals.  The evening was quite eventful but unfortunately not too successful as a lioness in oestrus was making things difficult for all.  Luring lions to bait in a situation like this is difficult because they have other things on their minds.  A positive result was that 3 months later there were 3 more little lion mouths to feed on the reserve.

 

Two groups of students from the University of Pretoria visited Mjejane Game Reserve as part of their studies.  The lecturers stressed the uniqueness of the reserve in terms of its history and the potential of the venture in the bigger scheme of socio economic and ecotourism development in South Africa.  It came out at these lectures that there was the potential to conduct worthy ecological research projects on the reserve.  A good example being the Largescale yellowfish research project that is currently being conducted in the Crocodile River mainly opposite The Mjejane timeshare units.  The project aims to investigate the decline in this species as a result of contaminants, water quality and quantity changes in the Crocodile River.   

 

We did veld assessments in May and discovered a very high load of grass (between 6000-7000kg/ha) on half of the reserve.  This is a result of infrequent or no burning over the last years and a relatively low concentration of herbivores on the reserve.  As a result of this important exercise it was decided to burn a 600ha portion of the 3800ha Mjejane Game Reserve.  This management fire to remove old moribund grass and to rejuvenate the veld was successfully achieved at the end of August.  An unexpected runaway fire(beginning October) from a neighbouring sugarcane farm at the worst possible time and under the worst conditions burned down another 1000ha before we could bring it under control.  Fortunately it rained shortly after and the veld recovered very well and all grazers had a feeding good time in the new growth. 

 

A big elephant bull died in a fight with another bull.  This happened in a dense thicket almost in the middle of the reserve and even though no one saw what happened the tell tale signs and flattened vegetation around the carcass painted the picture.  The 50/60 pound tusks were recovered and KNP officials took legal possession.  All tusks recovered in KNP go to a large central safe in Skukuza.  We also know of a young nomadic lioness that was killed by the resident pride on the contractor’s road.  Territorial fights between certain species can be fatal and even though it was a loss it still fits in with the natural scheme of things where only the strong survive.

 

A very aggressive and cornered buffalo bull was shot inside Erf 1 at the reserve workshop after all efforts to chase him out failed.  He posed a threat to staff and we had to take immediate action.  Even though the fence around the lodges keeps large animals out 99% of the time there will be the odd occasion where large animals will break through. Small animals like warthog, duiker, monkeys and baboon come in regularly.  A leopard track was also seen at a few localities in Erf 1 and it would be impossible to prevent them from jumping in.  For that matter any animal can potentially get through the electric fence at any time.   People walking around in Erf 1 should keep this fact in the back of their minds and no jogging or walking around at night can be allowed.

 

The first construction phase of the new bridge into the KNP started and unfortunately a late start, early summer rains and the subsequent higher level of the river prevented further progress in 2010.  This is a very exciting project and I’m sure everybody involved with Mjejane Game Reserve looks forward to the completion of the project and will realize the uniqueness and value that this private access into KNP will add to Mjejane Game Reserve.  At the same time we incorporated (fenced in) 85ha of old sugarcane fields and orange orchards into the existing reserve on the eastern side.  This is another unique situation and a first for Kruger.  With the help of large herbivores (elephant, hippo and buffalo) we will rehabilitate this 85ha to give it a natural feeling – it will take time though.

 

Talking of rehabilitation, we have started to remove all old cement rubbish piles and other man made obstacles on the reserve.  Mjejane was an old cattle farm and quite a few old water reservoirs, water troughs, old buildings, old pipes etc. need to be removed to give the reserve an “as natural as possible” look and feel.  A lot of work in this regard still needs to be done.

 

We have opened a new access gate to Erf 1 in the form of a cattle grid.  Please note that this access point is only for light weight vehicles up to a game drive vehicle in size.  All other deliveries and construction vehicles must still make use of the old access gate.  The hippo fence around Erf 1 gets maintained on a weekly basis and we kindly ask all to assist us in reporting any breakages or large animals that enter Erf 1 as soon as possible so that we can take action if necessary. 

 

We had a good year as far as rainfall is concerned with the normal drier time during winter.  Towards the end of the year very welcoming rain fell after a very hot and dry September and October and the veld is in a very good condition.  There will be no shortage of vegetation for grazers and browsers alike.   Marula dam (main dam) is about 80% full and Hippo dam more or less the same.  Some of the other smaller dams definitely need more rain in their catchment areas as they have not received large volumes of water runoff.

 

There have been a few incidents where guests and contractors have broken the general rules and regulations of Mjejane Game Reserve.  Some knowingly others out of ignorance but I see this as inevitable growing pains.  I am positive that these breaches will be minimized if all involved realize the importance of having a set of rules that is applicable and beneficial to everybody and we can obtain this through constant communication in all directions.  Mjejane Game Reserve Management will follow up on all discrepancies and welcome reports from all in this regard.  It is to the long term success and good name of Mjejane Game Reserve that we all should strive for.

 

Jaco Badenhorst

Conservation and Reserve Manager

Mjejane Game Reserve