November 2003

News from Zululand

The Leatherback Turtle

A highlight of a stay on the Elephant Coast during December and January is the opportunity to witness huge female leatherback turtles (almost two meters long and weighing up to 900kgs) emerging from the sea to lay their eggs at the base of the frontal dunes. The ancestors of these magnificent creatures date back some 200 million years and it is an unforgettable privilege to stand beside a giant leatherback as she performs this miracle of nature. The hatching of the young turtles takes place some 60 days after being laid, and in keeping with the miracle of nature the youngsters all emerge simultaneously. From this moment the struggle for life begins as they dig 40 cm to the surface before crawling en mass the 60 meters or so to the surf – where in turn they are likely to become prey of kingfish and other predators. Life is harsh until the turtles are larger and the survival rate is less than one in 500.

Bush Cuisine

Icecream Christmas Pudding

Freeze it in a dome-shaped mould, cover with whipped cream, top with holly and serve it on a hot Christmas day instead of flaming plum pudding! Serves 12
250ml water
100ml seedless raisins
50ml mixed peel
12 cherries, chopped
25ml chopped, preserved ginger
2ml ground cinnamon
100ml chopped nuts
400ml crushed tennis biscuits
25ml brandy
25ml rum
2l vanilla ice-cream
200-250ml cream, whipped with icing sugar and rum

Method

Put water, raisins, peal, cherries, ginger and spices into pan and boil, cover and simmer for 10 mins. Drain if necessary, then add nuts, biscuits, brandy and rum and mix well, then cool.
Line a mould with 1,5l ice-cream, leaving the center hollow (work quickly). Spoon in the fruit mix and cover with the remaining ice-cream and freeze for 24 hours.
Unmould onto a freezer-proof serving dish (run the base of the mould under hot water to loosen the ice-cream from the mould and use a knife to help pull it out).
Have your cream whipped with 2 tbspn icing sugar and 1 tot rum and pipe or spread over

Our Zulu Culture

Here we portray a glimpse into the history and customs of this wonderful colourful nation.

Beadwork

Part 2 of 4

Love Letters

Love letters date from the introduction of glass beads (~1830) which were quickly given meanings dependent upon their colour. Prior to beads, Zulu girls would use seeds, ostrich eggshell and seashells for adornment.
The loveletters are small, postage stamp sized plaques of beads that convey an emotion to the recipient - usually a favourable or unfavourable inclination towards his advances. The colours are mixed to convey a range of meaning.

White is the colour of purity.
Black indicates the colours of the rafters of the hut, to which colour the maiden has turned in pining for her loved one.
Blue - if I were a dove, I would fly to your home and pick up food at your door.
Yellow - I shall never eat if we marry because you own no beast you can slaughter.
Pink - You should work harder to gain your lobola and not gamble your money away.
Green - I have become thin like the sweet cane in a damp field and green as the first shoots of a tree because of my love for you.
Red - My heart bleeds and is full of love

Tips from our Tracker

Suricate or Meerkat (Suricata suricatta)

This is the odd-looking social mongoose that inhabits the driest country of all mongooses.

The meerkat specialises in buried invertebrates – beetle larvae, crickets, scorpions etc. It gains water by eating tsama melons, roots and tubers.
Meerkats leave their den after sunrise, visit the communal latrine, then sunbathe, groom and socialise before foraging. After a midday rest they forage again and then relax and interact until dusk.
The meerkat walks on its toes, and jump runs. They are poor climbers but superb diggers.
The meerkat has an acute sense of smell and good eyesight.
The reproduce up to 3 litters a year, 3 per litter. Gestation period is 11 weeks.
Their main predator is the hawk and eagle. Meerkats rely on an early warning by a guard standing lookout from a higher vantage point while the pack forages.

Red Ivory (by Valdy)

A guest brought a walking stick made from Red Ivory and asked me what this type of wood was used for traditionally by the Zulu's. In some parts of Zululand it was considered a royal tree and was used to make knobkieries for chiefs. Today it is used for carvings and furniture. The fruit is edible and an extract of the inner bark is still smoked today to cure headaches. Many types of birds, monkeys, baboons and bush babies eat the fruit. Giraffe, blue wildebeest, eland, kudu, nyala, bushbuck and impala browse the leaves. Porcupines eat the bark. Interestingly a porcupine's teeth never stop growing and it has to chew bones to file its teeth. They also need calcium and phosphorous which they get from the bones as a dietary supplement. One can often find small chewed bones outside a porcupine's burrow.

Funny Bones

A preacher wanted to raise money for his church and on being told that there was a fortune in horse racing, decided to purchase a horse and enter it in the races. However, at the local auction, the going price for horses was so high that he ended up buying a donkey instead. He figured that since he had it, he might as well go ahead and enter it in the races. To his surprise, the donkey came in third!
The next day the local paper carried this headline: PREACHER'S ASS SHOWS. The preacher was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and this time it won. The paper read: PREACHER'S ASS OUT IN FRONT. The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the preacher not to enter the donkey in another race. The paper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PREACHER'S ASS. This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the preacher to get rid of the donkey. The preacher decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent. The paper headline the next day read: NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN. The Bishop fainted. He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10.00.
The next day the headline read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.00. This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey, lead it to the plains, and let it go. Next day, the headline in the paper read: NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE. The Bishop was buried the next day.

Brain Teaser

Thank you to everyone who responded to our October brainteaser. Congratulations to Vicky Hughes who sent in the correct answer to the riddle. You have won yourself and a partner one free night at our award winning lodge, dinner, bed and breakfast.

Last Month's brain teaser was

Answer to the riddle: What do you call the white of the egg - Albumen.

........You too could be the lucky person to win yourself and a partner a free night including dinner, bed and breakfast at the lodge, so hurry and email us the answer to the riddle below to be entered in our lucky draw (competition closes 15th October 2006): This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

(Passing only requires 4 correct answers out of 10.)
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
3) From which animal do we get catgut?
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5) What is a camel's hairbrush made of?
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
7) What was King George VI's first name?
8) What colour is a purple finch?
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
10) What is the colour of the black box in a commercial aeroplane?
All done? Check your answers in our next newsletter.

News from the lodge

Mathew and Thomas have now been home for a month (after having spent a long time in hospital) but are now 4,5 months old. Granny Kathleen, Grandpa Clive, Aunty Jocelyn, Uncle Ryan and all the ladies at the lodge are loving their new babysitting duties. Wayne and Nicky want to thank everyone who enquired and prayed for the twins. It won't be long before we have 2 new game rangers on the job.

We welcome Mariann to our Lodge. She will be assisting in making guests feel welcome and enjoy their stay. We also welcome Nicolette our new Chef who has come to us from the Hilton in Durban. She is extremely talented and is producing mouth watering meals as well as the most delicious desserts.

News from Valdy
We have had a few mils of rain here and there over the last month but earlier this week we had a couple of good rains. There are grass shoots all over the reserve and new growth sprouting from the trees. We have been feeding our animals with lucerne for about two months now, but hopefully we will not need to in the next week or so because of the new plant growth.
The insect world has come to life and for the first time since I have been here the dung beetles are digging a hole with a ball of dung behind it. Once the hole is big enough the male and female will eat it and afterwards mate and insert another dung ball. The female lays a single egg in the dung. A week later a white grub hatches from the egg and feeds on the dung ball from the inside, until only the hard shell of the dung ball remains. The grub then pupates and emerges two weeks later as an adult dung beetle. There are a lot of different types of dung beetles. Some do not roll a dung ball away from the dung pile, but instead dig straight underneath it, but the ones that do make balls, roll them away to avoid competition at the dung pile.