May 2010 : Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve, Zimbabwe

Mythology abounds with stories of Scorpio, sting and pincers at the ready, in eternal pursuit across the night skies of Orion the Hunter. Last night as Orion hid below the horizon behind us and Scorpio peered over the horizon in front of us, the Hunter drew an arrow from his quiver and fired it at the celestial arachnid. The spectacular shooting star flew in a low arc over our game-viewing vehicle, exploded like a fireball firework in front of our eyes and, as we scooped our jaws off the floor and whooped with delight, we declared it the most beautiful thing we’d ever seen!

Home on the Range

Coming home to Singita Pamushana this month I realized again just how simple and safe it is to get here. From Johannesburg International in South Africa the friendly Federal Air staff met and escorted me to a pristine PC12 Pilatus. I hopped aboard the 9-seater and an hour and forty minutes after take-off we
touched down at Buffalo Range airport, in Zimbabwe. Waiting on the tarmac and wearing a broad grin was my colleague from the lodge and with messages of welcome my passport gained another stamp and we were on our way. Half an hour later, after a pleasant journey in the air-conditioned shuttle,  we turned off the main road and entered the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve. A giraffe nonchalantly watched as we wound our way to the ‘palace in the sky’ and there to meet us with an icy glass of homemade lemonade and a scented cool hand cloth were the Singita Pamushana lodge staff.

What Are The Chances? Fractionally Infinitesimal!

The most astonishing thing happened this month. A guest was enjoying the view from her suite deck when she decided to take a look through the powerful Swarovski telescope - we have one mounted on a tripod on each deck… At the water’s edge of the Malilangwe Dam below she noticed a hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibious) that seemed to be behaving differently. Before long she realized she was witnessing a mother hippo in the throws of giving birth. This is extremely rare to see, especially in the wild. But what followed proved to be absolutely extraordinary – in the clear view of the telescope our guest witnessed the birth of not one, but two baby hippos - TWINS!

The most commonly consulted field guide books will tell you that only a single calf is born. However, research reveals that twins do occur and a study in Uganda found the rate for twin births to be 0.7%. Less than ONE percent! The guest rushed to the lodge to share the news and I have to admit we were somewhat sceptical… We piled into a vehicle and drove down to the water’s edge and there, larger than life, was the mother hippo and her two tiny twins.

In the Shangaan translation of ‘Singita’ which is miracle, this truly was one. This lovely photograph was taken from a viewing platform in a tree that allowed us to watch this pod of hippos sunning themselves on an island before returning to the water. A newborn hippo weighs about 30kgs (66 pounds) and an adult bull can weigh 1 500kgs (1, 5 tons) – that’s quite a goal weight to achieve!

The Art of Birding

Bird watching is an old pastime that reveals new discoveries every day. The serious ‘Twitcher’ pursues it with a single-minded determination that’s not averse to rising at the crack of dawn, dressing in camouflage waterproofs and hiding in a bog for hours on end, with powerful binoculars glued to the eyes…

The ‘Zen Birder’ – prefers the laid-back luxury of relaxing in a scenic spot and quietly observing what flies by. Whether you’re a Twitcher or Zen Birder there’s one thing of which you can be sure – you’ve got a hobby for life. No matter your age you’ll enjoy the spectacle as it centres on pair bonding, mating, nest building, egg-laying, hatching, and chick-rearing, learning to fly, to survive and for many to migrate to the other end of the world! It’s a visual feast for the eyes, thanks to their colourful plumage, and thanks to their melodious song a delight for the ears. Seeing a new bird for the very first time is always a thrill – the flash of colour, the ‘jizz’ or shape of it, your frantic flicking through the pages of a bird book as you try to capture its characteristics in your mind and identify it… and the feeling of contentment and reward you gain at another of nature’s treasures showing itself to you.

 

The Malilangwe Dam is a birding paradise. You can whittle away the most enjoyable and rewarding hours by slowly cruising around and watching all the activity in the ancient trees that line its shores as well as the dead leadwoods in the dam that offer ideal perches and safe nesting holes. Two fascinating birds to watch this month were the white-fronted bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) and the swallow-tailed bee-eater (Merops hirundineus) as they swooped and dived catching bees and other little insects on the wing.

Late in the Day

One of the late bloomers I noticed this month was this lovely Save crossandra (Crossandra mucronata) with its sun-kissed apricot, five-lobed single petal flowers. They normally flower from November to March but possibly the late rain we’ve been enjoying encouraged this delayed show. The rutting impala are finally drawing their sparring to a close. At the height of the rut they are often so riveted to clashing horns with one another that they become easy targets for predators. These two however weren’t fighting very seriously and quickly leapt apart and to attention when they heard a suspicious sound coming from the bushes nearby…

It’s Not All Bad News!

We often fall into the trap of highlighting frightening facts about potentially dangerous animals. Disappointingly and unfairly this now seems to be the norm for most natural history television channels – you cannot turn on the telly without being confronted by some biggest, badest, bitiest ‘documentary’ about a beast living as nature intended. Cape or African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) are potentially dangerous to man if man disturbs them while they feel vulnerable without the protection of their herd, or if man wounds or injures them in the pursuit of hunting. We are no different.

Here are a couple of lesser-known interesting truths about buffalo:

• Occasionally a white calf is born – although this is very rare.
• Buffalo can swim and often cross deep water in search of greener grass.
• Buffalo have smooth tongues — tall tales led us to believe that their rough tongues could lick the skin off a man!
• A buffalo has four times the pulling strength of an ox.
• Buffalo have exceptional memories.
• Buffalo are very social animals and live in large, mixed herds. Members of the same subgroup will stay in direct contact with each other and will often sleep with their heads resting on one another.
• Buffalo are always within a day’s walk of water.
• The horns are an indication of age and gender. Cows and young bulls do not have the hard shielding that protects the base of the skull, called the ‘boss’ that mature bulls do.

The above point is graphically evident in the photograph of this couple that we observed calmly grazing near Bandama Pan.

 

Flutter By

The butterflies are about and I spent the most delightful half hour leopard-crawling in a riverbed in an attempt to photograph their fleeting beauty. They are like little jewels sparkling among the fine quartz and with some stealth and patience I was able to sneak up close and watch them drinking the mineral-rich moisture of the river. Interestingly butterflies taste with their feet. Their taste sensors are located in the feet, so by standing on their food, they taste it. The long straw-like structure you see extended in each photograph is the proboscis which they use to drink nectar and moisture. When it’s not in use they store it coiled up like a garden hose.

The white and black is known as a pioneer or caper white (Belenois aurota), the brown and green is a green-veined charaxes (Charaxes candiope) and the larger colourful one is a foxy charaxes (Charaxes jasius) – isn’t that a great name? In Pursuit of Baobab Fruit group of trainee Singita field guides from South Africa visited us this month and thoroughly enjoyed non-stop activities and the unique wildlife, birdlife and plant life we have here in Zimbabwe. One of their goals was to harvest the fruit from the baobab (Adonsonia digitata) in a traditional method… Much laughter rang out as they tried their skill at throwing a stick high into the air to knock down the fruit. It is definitely not as easy as locals make it look!

The fruit is about 20 centimetres long and reputed to have twice as much calcium as milk, be high in anti-oxidants, iron and potassium, and have six times the vitamin C of an orange! The seeds are covered in a soft powdery substance and are delicious and refreshing to suck – they taste a little like fizzy melon. Added to milk or water and given a good shake they result in a smoothie/milkshake like no other! All the trainees had success – eventually, and shared the seeds among newfound friends. Join us at the lodge and chances are you’ll find a handful of baobab seeds beautifully wrapped, with a note, and placed on your pillow as a little goodnight gift…

 

Glimpsing the Past

This pristinely preserved rock art painting of a giraffe is an example of the San ‘fine line’ tradition. Giraffe are commonly depicted in the rock paintings at
Singita Pamushana and unique, although not understood, is the attention given to erect mane hair. A giraffe’s mane lies flat naturally. Fly whisks are a common item of equipment depicted in San rock art in all areas in which it is found. It is known that fly whisks, made from the tails of giraffe, were used during the San curing or trance dance. The artist has showed great attention to detail but a glaring omission is the long black hair of the tail. I wonder if this has something to do with its use as a fly whisk? On our way back from viewing this rock art site these three models sauntered across the road in front of us. The tall, dark and handsome male clearly in sexual pursuit of the fairer smaller females in front…

“Unfortunately you have totally ruined every future holiday that I might have taken.  This has truly been a holiday of a lifetime, which is 99% on account of the amazing people we have had the pleasure of meeting.  The lodge is gorgeous, the wildlife has been breath-taking, but it’s the people we have met whom we will treasure most in our hearts.”

Singita Pamushana guests Alison Bonny & Alexia Hargrave, London, UK.