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News from Zululand
We are very pleased to announce that the initiation phase of the before mentioned Leopard Project has been extremely successful. The KZN NCS Honorary Officers Leopard Project is due to officially start December this year. So far they have put up 5 cameras, capturing leopard on four of them, and have been working very hard on locations, home ranges, habitat, camera trap sites and any information they can find.
Apart from the fabulous leopard photos, there has also been recordings of black & white rhino, brown hyena, spotted hyena, bush pig, spotted genet, porcupine, aardvark, honey badger (!!) and many others.
Here are just two of the pictures taken so far.
With so many exciting sightings on only five cameras so far, imagine what we will find when all the cameras are up and running...
Bush Cuisine
Mmmm...This very quick and easy recipe is always a winner amongst young & old.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
175g Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
125g Soft Margarine
90g Icing Sugar
½ Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
1 Egg
125g dark chocolate chips
Method
Lightly grease 2 baking trays and preheat oven to 190 Degrees Celsius.
Place all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and beat until well combined. Place tablespoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking tray, spacing them well apart to allow for spreading during cooking. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown. Leave on wire rack to cool.
Have you ever wondered....?
Do Elephants have four knees?
Contrary to the popular belief – No. What are commonly perceived as front "knees" are in fact wrists. Our perception of "knees" is based on a leg joint that bends forward somewhere between the foot and the body. Technically a knee is the joint between the femur and the tarsus and in primates refers only to the near appendages. The fore limbs are therefore the arms and the applicable joint is an elbow. The fore "knee" is, therefore the "wrist" and the calloused joint (bending backwards) the elbow.
Elephants have round feet, so where are the toes?
Elephants have five toes on the rear foot and five toes on the fore, positioned in a semi circle. The toe bones are quite broad and not connected to the "horny" nails embedded in the slain on the foot circumference. This is the result of the fact there are only four nails on the forefoot, compared with three on the hind foot. These nails are continually worn down and do not always show in the spoor.
Do Elephant sacred burial grounds really exist?
As these beasts were obviously believed to be too large for their remains to be scattered by any carnivores, they naturally concluded that elephants must have some special, sacred and undiscovered graveyard to which they would migrate to die. In reality, however, elephants die like all other animals and are relished by carnivores. Interestingly enough, elephants may in many cases help feed the "graveyard" belief by often approaching carcasses of their own kind, and will chase predators & scavengers off. Another reason could be that elephant's teeth eventually start wearing out, which means they have to find softer forms of nutrition. Older elephants will often spend their last days in an area where browsing is a bit more tolerable, and die in that area.
News from our Rangers
The excitement of spring has brought with it plenty of wonderful surprises. As the heat progresses we have had quite a bit of snake sightings as these reptiles are getting ready to hunt after the cold winter. Sightings have including puff adder, the very rare tiger snake and of course the well known Mozambique spitting cobra.
Other sightings have included our elephant calf, the first one to be conceived on Zululand Rhino Reserve, the also very rare lunar moth, and an assortment of Vultures.
Rudolph was lucky enough to have seen an aardvark (ant bear), Orycteropus afer, while driving home earlier this week. This is truly a very special sighting, well done Rudolph.
Crested Barbet
Trachyphonus Vaillantii
The Crested Barbet is a fairly common bird around these parts, boasting bright yellow and patches of red and black, they sometimes resemble the looks of a rebel. Its scientific name is derived from Francois Le Vaillant, a French scientist who first discovered the bird in 1806. They live in holes in dead trees which they excavate with their stout bills. Their diets consist mainly of fruits, berries and seeds. Barbets have zygodactyl feet which help them perch on vertical trunks to feed their young. The syrinx – equivalent to the human larynx – is specially adapted to allow the barbet to call for incredibly long periods without stopping to breathe.
Common Resin Tree
Ozoroa Paniculosa
A tree found commonly in Natal Bushveld, the Highveld as well as Zimbabwe. The small, creamy flowers have a very sweet scent. They are found mainly on sandy soils and also on the rocky hillsides around Leopard Mountain. It derives its name from the sticky cell-sap which smells like resin and makes it a poor tree to use as firewood. It bears a small kidney-shaped fruit in summer, which could be used for dying leather. This tree is also browsed by elephant & rhino.
Funny Bones
The New Year's Eve party had turned into a regular marathon with numerous guests coming and going. At one point, a man knocked on the door, was greeted heartily although no one knew who he was, and was led to the bar in the basement.
He sat there happily for a couple of hours before a strange light dawned on his face. "You know", he confided in his host, "I wasn't even invited to this party. I just came over to tell you that some of your guest's cars are blocking my driveway."
The guest continued, "My wife has been sitting out in the car waiting for me to get them moved."
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Feel free to drop us an email with your favorite jokes to add into future newsletters. You can send them to
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Brain Teaser
Thank you to everyone who responded to our August competition! The winner of our Leopard Mountain competition for August is James & Diana Groenewald ! Congratulations - you have won yourself and a partner a free night at the lodge including dinner, bed & breakfast as well as game drives!
Last Month's competition was:
My feet are not made for speed,
Grass is what I love to eat
My shelter sets me free,
When I'm slow as can be.
My tummy tells whether I'm a he or a she.
My Dinosaur skin is extremely rough
And I am very tough
You'll find me on land, in river or sea.
What am I?
A Tortoise or Turtle
.........You could be the lucky person to win yourself and a partner a free night including dinner, bed & breakfast and game drives at the lodge. Simply answer the riddle below to be entered in our lucky draw and email us the answer to
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(competition closes 20th October 2008 terms & conditions apply):
This month's competition:
Looking at the below picture, what do you see?
What am I?
News from the Lodge
This month we welcome to the lodge, Johann & Linda. We hope you will enjoy your time with us and look forward to working with you.
We also welcome back on board, some of you might remember, Octavia, we are very pleased to have you back.
Click here to have a look at our online gallery of Leopard Mountain Lodge!
Best guest comments of the month:
This was the peace & quiet our souls needed, thanks
This is a paradise. People, Lodge & food excellent.
Thank you for giving our students such a magical and wonderful time at Leopard Mountain. They loved the games in the river bed and the evening meal in the bush was a real work of magic.
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