Good Day Foodies,

Hope everybody is relaxed and that you have tried to tone it down and slip into slo-mo mode.

Let’s talk crafted beers. Slowly starting to become trendier, just like food people are aware of what they drink people want to know where their food and drinks come from and what it’s made of.

What is a crafted beer?  Beer made by a brewer that is small, independent, and traditional, this is a very basic definition.

 There is a bad stigma floating around about beer that it’s boring or just for sporting events. This is not true and there are plenty of chefs out there pairing beautiful food with great beer. Think hearty stews with a dark stout or golden ale, light ale with a salad.

Here are a few tips on pairing beer with food.

• The more hop bitterness the beer has, the heartier or livelier the meal needs to be.
• Another general rule is keep sweet with sweet, and tart with tart.
• For those of you, who are bound to the wine pairing school of thought, think of ale as red wine and lager as white wine. Hoppy beers can also be used in place of a pairing that calls for an acidic wine. Though it honestly doesn't matter, these tips might help you to convert your taste buds over to beer or those of a friend over to beer.

Just have fun and keep things simple. We do have some great grafted beers in South Africa one of my favorites’ are Darling Brew Slow beer please go have a look at their beer. Here’s a great recipe to pair with their Native Ale.

Fish and chips

Ingredients

• 175g/6oz plain flour, plus an extra 55g/2oz
• ½ pint  Native Ale darling slow brew
• 1 free-range egg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• oil, for deep frying
• 8 hake fillets
• salad leaves, to garnish

Preparation method

1. Put the flour into a large bowl, make a well in the flour then pour in half the lager and mix. Make sure the mix isn’t too watery, it needs to be tacky so it sticks to the fillets when you dip them – add more flour if necessary.
2. When you have the mix right add the egg, mixing continuously. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Mix again and leave to stand for a couple of hours.
4. Rinse and clean off the fillets then place onto a dry cloth and leave to dry.
5. When the batter has rested, put a deep fat fryer on maximum (this will stop the fillets sinking and sticking to the bottom of your fryer).
6. Dip the fillets in the batter, making sure they’re well covered, and then put into the fryer a few at a time. (They should float and should not be crowded – 2-3 at a time is ideal, depending on the size of the fillets.)
7. Fry for about four minutes, or until light brown. Serve immediately with a mixed salad garnish.

Good day Foodies,

As we move into the winter season everything seems to slow down, this is my favorite time of the year. The smell of soups, stock and stews bubbling away on the stove and this also calls for red wine.

I think we all need to slow down, take in the smells and sights of mother earth around us. Slow movement food is a concept that puts a smile on my face.

Here’s how it started…

The Slow Movement advocates a cultural shift toward slowing down life's pace. It began with Carlo Petrini's protest against the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Piazza di Spagna, Rome in 1986 that sparked the creation of the Slow Food. Opposed to the culture of fast food, the sub-movement known as Slow Food seeks to encourage the enjoyment of regional produce, traditional foods, which are often grown organically and to enjoy these foods in the company of others. It aims to defend agricultural biodiversity.

The movement claims 83,000 members in 50 countries, which are organized into 800 Convivia or local chapters. Sometimes operating under a logo of a snail, the collective philosophy is to preserve and support traditional ways of life.

Cooking should be enjoyed and shared, take time to cook and while you are at it think about how you can reduce your carbon footprint on mother earth.

Remember while you sip on your merlot or pino that a kitchen is a place for hungry people, friends and family.

Food is love

Chef Rayno

Beef Bourguignon (classic French stew)

Total Time:

1 hr 45 min

Prep

30 min

Cook

1 hr 15 min

Yield:

6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 8 rashers of streaky bacon cut up
• 2 1/2 pounds chuck beef cut into 1-inch cubes
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch chunks
• 2 yellow onions, sliced
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic (2 cloves)
• 1/2 cup Cognac
• 1 (750 ml.) bottle good dry red wine
• 1 can (2 cups) beef stock
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 pound frozen whole onions (small)
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms stems discarded, caps thickly sliced

For serving:

• Country bread or Sour Dough, toasted or grilled and rubbed with garlic clove
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven (Cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid) Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is lightly browned. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a large plate.

Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and then sprinkle them with salt and pepper. In batches in single layers, sear the beef in the hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove the seared cubes to the plate with the bacon and continue searing until all the beef is browned. Set aside.

Toss the carrots, and onions, 1 tablespoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of pepper in the fat in the pan and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the Cognac, stand back, and ignite with a match to burn off the alcohol. Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with the juices. Add the bottle of wine plus enough beef broth to almost cover the meat. Add the tomato paste and thyme. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place it in the oven for about 1 1/4 hours or until the meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork.

Combine 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew. Add the frozen onions. Saute the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter for 10 minutes until lightly browned and then add to the stew. Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste.

To serve, toast the bread in the toaster or oven. Rub each slice on 1 side with a cut clove of garlic. For each serving, spoon the stew over a slice of bread and sprinkle with parsley.

Good day readers,

It has been an eventful week to say the least! The air was filled with growls and roars as the larger male of the coalition of three males is mating with another lioness. She will be the second lioness that he has mated within the matter of a couple of weeks. 

Needless to say we are all very excited to see what may come of it. As lions have a gestation period of around 110 days we will be keeping a watchful eye on them for the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday our guests had the amazing opportunity to partake in a Rhino darting experience as three of our Rhino were darted to do ear notching and micro chipping of their horns. This is a very good initiative to get guests involved and up close in the fight for the protection of our Rhino.

Rhinos also made for great sightings over the past week along with some breeding herds of buffalo. We were also fortunate to find a male cheetah on its fresh impala kill with black backed jackals calling in the vicinity. Guests on night drives were kept entertained with sightings of white tailed mongoose, spotted genet and many owls.

Until next week…

The Ranger Team

Hi Bloggers.

Its been an absolutely amazing week in the heart of Zululand. With all of the big five being enjoyed by our guests and rangers alike as well as some special appearances from a pack of wild dogs, a male cheetah and some spotted hyena !!

The lovely setting of the Msunduze Riverbed has been the backdrop for some of our top encounters this week. A pack of fourteen wild dogs happily chasing each other around and engaging in various social bonding activities. To our surprise a massive male warthog erupted out of the riverine forest and gave the dogs a run for their money – an amazing display of the strength of a fully grown bore as he sent the dogs running before taking off for cover in the thickets as the dogs pursued carefully to no avail. A leopard was spotted close to the dogs and they made sure not to let this elusive predator too close –shooting off in its direction – what followed was a scramble of dogs and audio from the leopard as it made its way up the mountain to higher ground.

Our male lions have once again been using the riverbed as a resting spot making for fantastic photos, but the females stole the show the other night with heir impressive hunting strategies. They cornered an nyala between two roads almost instinctively knowing where each other were, and the lucky antelope just escaped through a miracle gap in a sickle bush thicket. The lionesses returned to the road in front of us only to rub up against each other and purr loudly, a complete contrast to their actions minutes earlier.

The hyena were seen creeping cautiously around our lodge road and gave us the beady eye before slinking off into the bush to look for food. We were also lucky enough to track down an elephant bull for a few days seeing him each day and watching as he proceeded from waterhole to waterhole feeding – scratching and dust bathing with a quiet look at us from time to time to let us know he knew we were there.

Finally our guests were thrilled to follow a large male cheetah scent marking on the roadside as he patrolled his territory. Altogether a splendid week was had by all and we are in high spirits for what is to come – sign up for the Leopards Tale on the website to receive a detailed monthly update on our bush happening and sightings.

Until next week…

The Ranger Team

Dear Bloggers,

We had an amazing week with a variety of surprises all over the reserve. It started off with the supreme sighting of a Black Rhino showing her motherly instinct to protect her calf, along with a couple of sightings of our peaceful white rhino grazing in the sun.

Tracking lions brought upon excitement and reward with our efforts paying off producing incredible sightings of our males enjoying the shade underneath one of the umbrella thorn trees or on other occasions relaxing in the cool riverbed. We sat with them and took in their amazing aura which gave them their title the “King of the jungle”.

One of the African elephant bulls surprised us with his extraordinary power pushing over a huge Fever tree and fed off the moist leaves around it while gazing at us from his feeding spot.

Our powerful buffalo herds were found on different parts of the reserve, always a pleasure to see them and at this time of the year there are a lot of youngsters around enjoying their presence amongst the beautiful surrounding bird calls.

Crocodiles, storks, “glowing” scorpions, Scops owls, a breeding pair off Verreaux’s Eagle Owls and many others were seen throughout the many different and beautiful terrains. To put the icing on the cake, we had the privilege of having the elusive and most incredible sighting of a female leopard with her three cubs on one of our afternoon drives. Seeing them instantly put a smile on all of our faces, experiencing their sheer beauty and elegance while drinking down at one of our dams. It’s amazing to see our Cats so healthy and peaceful in their environment and knowing we have 3 more cubs around is really a success.

Until next week...

The Ranger Team

Dear Bloggers...

The sight of lions hunting and the way they show patience leading up to the powerful attack puts a smile on any face! Our cats graced us with their presence and brought excitement to all who joined us on our journey these past few days. We had some beautiful sightings of our well protected White Rhino as they grazed right next to us on the wide variety of vegetation provided with the view of the sun setting in the background; perfect for all types of photographers aiming for that picture perfect shot! While enjoying the view of our African Buffalo feeding along one of our pans we found a Leopard tortoise just making his way past with an array of beautiful birdlife among the surrounding vegetation.  A tower of giraffe browsing the tops of the trees was found everyday showing us all sorts of behavior that make them unique in every way. While tracking down big game; we bumped into a variety of antelopes, reptiles and a wide range of insects which amazed our guests and made their experience unforgettable! Always on the lookout for new memories and adventures, we are looking forward to the upcoming week and what surprises it may bring!

Until next week…

The Ranger Team

Hi Everyone,

The last few days were more than just an adventure; it was an experience full of entertainment and surprises! From just listening to the beautiful sounds of the open South African bush, to the amazing sighting of a male cheetah patrolling his territory and vocalizing. A Black mamba made his way through the branches, along with the spotted eagle owls soaking up the beauty and wonder of the millions of stars in the open summer sky. Tracking down the stealthy movements of the lions ended up in us witnessing the way these super - predators hunt; catching a warthog meters from the vehicle! We saw a couple of mighty rocks which turned out to be some lovely White Rhinos grazing and amazed us with their graceful presence, while on a separate occasion a Black Rhino chased an ostrich that was too close to his space. While roaming around and enjoying the breath taking scenery of our amazing mountains, we had a few encounters with massive herds of our powerful African buffalo.  Some Amazing bird sightings this week from various eagle species soaring effortlessly to the beauty of the colorful Kingfishers.  Hippos and crocs share the water sources throughout the reserve. This was just a short list of the amazing encounters we had the last few days, so come join us and see firsthand how the wild works and connects in extraordinary ways.

Until our next adventure…

Goodbye for now from,

The Ranger Team

Hi Everyone,

This week has been jam packed with action…

To start off the week we had the beautiful wild dogs (painted wolves) around the lodge and beginning our morning drives with amazing sightings of these incredible animals on the hunt. Their ability to work as a team with each member knowing exactly how and what to do at any given time. Wild dogs are incredibly successful hunters catching every 9 out of 10 attempts. The pack is 14 strong and need to eat at least twice a day.

We also had an incredible leopard sighting of a big male which we followed for about 15min as he marked his territory along the road right in front of us, our guests having an awesome chance to take amazing pictures and video’s of these elusive creatures. Most of our guests had never seen a leopard before so this was a special treat.

On the Lion side of things one sighting in particular was most memorable… While watching some female lionesses relaxing next to the road the one female got up stretched up against a Marula tree in an instant she took off towards the vehicle after a family of warthog the female managed to catch a warthog within seconds and a mere ten meters from the vehicle this truly was an experience for guides and guests alike.

Buffalo, Rhino and Elephant have also been a big part of the drives with some up close and personal experiences. A big elephant bull has been around, one morning he was found up north of the reserve and in the afternoon we found him nearly 15 kilometers away in the south; the bull had been in musth which explained his huge movements.

Until next week…

The Ranger Team

Hi Bloggers,

I trust everybody has had an eventful week. We have been kept on our toes each and every day as the sightings this week went through the roof. To start with the rarities a pack of fourteen wild dogs have been highly active around Leopard Mountain, hunting impala and Nyala and bonding in their playful manner in sight from the lodge itself. The pack ventured close enough to the vehicles for everyone to leave with some amazing photographs and an unforgettable experience. On one occasion the dogs were chasing a herd of wildebeest and ran right into the path of a very unimpressed black rhino, which in turn charged and snorted his way through the pack sending them running in all directions.

Sticking with the predators our lions have been spotted relaxing on the banks of the Msunduze River; and a beautiful male Cheetah was seen scent marking all the way to a large dam for a drink. Breeding herds of buffalo have been taking advantage of the abundance of grass as we reach the peak of summer.

Some interesting moments this week have included Black-backed Jackal sightings, a new member joining our pod of hippos and a wealth of little critters from Genets and Bushbabies to Scrubhares and Slender Mongoose. Our birding highlight of the week was a Black Coucal spotted by one of our rangers on drive.

That’s it for now; from all of us at Leopard Mountain have a lovely week.

Hello Everyone,

Another magnificent week in Zululand with the recent rains keeping the Msunduzi River in front of the lodge flowing, resulting in an even more spectacular view than usual.

The game drives have produced some memorable moments this week. One particular morning started with a breathtaking sunrise and only got better as when surveying the landscape the female lions were spotted quite a distance away. We raced to the sight only to find they had gone down a hill. We then tracked them down and found them on the road listening intently to the nearby Wildebeest herd. At this point we realized they were about to hunt. We watched in anticipation as they split up and surrounded the herd, a chase ensued but the lionesses were unsuccessful. After regrouping they went to lie under a tree to rest for the day.

Another drive gave our guests a very special moment with a black rhino. After spotting him in the thickets we sat very still and quiet watching him feed. He soon came out of the thick bush and started to slowly approach the vehicle in a very non-threatening manner. We all watched in amazement as he came closer and closer eventually putting his top lip onto the vehicles bullbar. After checking us out for a minute or so he turned and headed back to the thickets. This is extremely unusual behavior for black rhino as they are usually quite skittish, which made this sighting all the more special.

The Elephant breeding herd was also spotted this week. They were found spread out in the road happily feeding. All of us were treated to a giggle as we watched one of the youngsters trying to push over his first tree. He pushed and pushed and managed to get it caught in the surrounding plants. As he stood back to admire his handiwork the tree suddenly became unstuck and sprung back and knocked him in the head. Although unhurt he got a big fright and ran in full trumpet back to his mom.

With all the water around the reserve a lot of kingfishers have been seen. One particularly exciting species being the Pygmy Kingfisher, he was spotted in the forest near the river sitting on a tree stump less than a meter from the vehicle. Incredibly he allowed us to drive up and take photos of him as he enjoyed his breakfast grub.

Looking forward to another week in the bush… 

Until next time,

The Ranger Team