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| Lots of people think we should be called either
Leopard or Elephant Ridge because of all the Elephant and Leopard activity
around our lodge recently. If there were an option, I would choose Elephant
Ridge because of TSUNAMI (THE TROUBLE MAKER). This is the name we have given
to the elephant bull who hangs around our lodge a lot of late. This is
usually the case in winter; elephant prefer to be around the areas with
water because of the water scarcity experienced. Unfortunately most of these
areas are residential because of all of the water pipes running around. |
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| The lack of food and water has caused these animals
to be a bit aggressive and unsettled at times. Even though this is the case
this every year; this year has been too much for us. Every breeding herd we
come across there were two juvenile bulls blocking the road for at least for
1-2 hours. They are driving us crazy. We nicknamed this guy TSUNAMI because
he has caused huge and costly damage around our lodge; he has destroyed all
the water hydrants and pulled off telephone and electric cables. Although he
is so naughty he has never charged anyone, he is always very calm and
minding his own business. He once blocked the pathway from the rooms to the
lodge and we couldn’t take our check-ins to their rooms and guests in the
rooms couldn’t get to lunch. We ended up having to postpone our lunch for an
hour later. We have asked one of the Park officials to come to our rescue
but because of his kindness the official wouldn’t declare him a trouble
animal and advised us just to watch him carefully and he will eventually
leave. |
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| Sparring young elephant bulls that
blocked our access road for at least two hours |
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| Two weeks ago we had a leopard and her two cubs
drinking at our waterhole and unfortunately it was game drive time so none
of our guests got to see them. This was not the first time she has been
around. The last time she was at the waterhole she was chased away by the
two big male lions that were also heading to the waterhole. Our maintenance
guys have seen lot of her tracks on our pathways to the rooms early in the
morning. Maybe these cubs were born round here somewhere. It will be nice if
one of them can reside here forever; perhaps it will become accustomed to humans
and be seen often. |
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| Pathway where the leopard's tracks
have been seen |
Female leopard nursing her two
cubs |
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| The aim of establishing Buffalo Ridge was to give
our community a chance to get into this industry and make it work for them.
It is working very well, as employment is a direct benefit to our community
so far. Ensuring total empowerment and community benefit Buffalo Ridge had
been ahead of the curve in growing and developing their staff. Not such a
long time ago three of our trackers qualified as guides and we have now sent
two more guys namely, Nelson & Gabriel, for this kind of training too. As
this course will be done in the Kruger Park we are only expecting to see
them in 4 months time as qualified guides. We have managed to place one of
our last students into full time guiding (Geoffrey) and are waiting for
another one to finish up his registrations (Franco) and we have released one
for greener pastures elsewhere (Sydney). |
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| We have also managed to train 3 of our
housekeepers as massage therapists. Now Dorah, Penelope & Keitumetse can
give you a world class massage. This is done at a time that suits you and
can be done in your room or any other place of your choice and since this
was introduced we have had many clients asking for it and highly
recommending it. This was probably the last thing that was needed to
complete the bush experience at Buffalo Ridge. So next time you are at
Buffalo Ridge, don’t forget to book for your full body massage. |
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| Phiri o rile ga bose gangwe (tomorrow is
still a day), |
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BYE BYE
from the Buffalo Ridge Team |