July 2025 - Mid Year Update - Gonarezhou
- adventures53
- Jul 29, 2025
- 4 min read
 Here we are mid-year and what an amazing range of safari’s we have been doing and planning since our last newsletter. During this time, I have been doing a number of safaris in Gonarezhou and met some amazing people including Professor Norman Owen-Smith, an absolute benchmark of knowledge for African Ecology. He was certainly one of the guests that you ask questions and learn from, it was humbling when you try and show that you know some things and he replies “Oh yes...I remember marking that paper and I remember there were some flaws in the research methods and this is what we have learnt since then…” I have now learnt much, so brace yourself for a scientific experience on my next safaris! We repeated the Career Options Safari for a select group of senior students from St. Johns College which was again great fun and so interesting to be a part of this and the discussions we had with the boys on a whole host of topics. Not sure ultimately what seeds have been planted and how that will influence their future decisions, but I am sure the boys took away some excellent information and a lot of new options to consider for careers out in the bush. Once again, I thank the whole management and staff team of Gonarezhou and Malilangwe for assisting me in putting it all together. |
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We released Stacey from the office as well and sent her to go and update herself and check out a range of camps around Botswana that we regularly use and some new options as well in the Chobe and Okavango Delta. She also had a short time in Swakopmund of Namibia seeing what’s on offer there, and then down to Cape Town to host a family from America who had been on a conservation-based safari in South Africa which involved de-horning rhino, collaring a cheetah and re-collaring an elephant, what an incredible experience they had for their first safari to Africa. |
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Good news… We welcome to our team, Jules Westerdale, who has hit the ground running and already giving us new ideas and thoughts on what we do so I am sure some of you will be corresponding with her in the near future about your safaris, either booked or planning for. Welcome Jules. More Good News… Gonarezhou has ramped up their Rhino Re-Introduction program by adding White Rhino to their growing population of Black Rhino. The White Rhino were last known about in this environment in the early 1900’s so that is a great achievement and will certainly add to your experience when visiting this top park with us. A real testament to the dedication of the donors, management and staff at this beautiful park. It is hard to keep up with the new destinations and linkages that the airlines are creating across Africa, this makes it so much easier to connect areas that previously were very time consuming to do. So, for example, we can now connect Southern Africa (Harare, Johannesburg and Lusaka) direct with Uganda and also Rwanda so you can do a Savannah type safari in Southern Africa combined with the big primates of these two countries. Another one that will make things a bit easier as well is Ethiopian Airlines have added Maun in Botswana on to their route network, so especially for guests coming from Europe you can now keep travelling South via Addis Ababa and not have to overnight in Johannesburg. Even More Good News… Our annual set date safaris in Chad are filling up quickly so please if you do want to see this amazing destination while it is possible please get in touch and we can talk you through all the options and costs to make this a reality for you it really is something worth considering for any level of safari goer. Watch the video below to see what Camp Tinga is all about… |
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From the Campfire… Did you know that because of the electrical charges and fields that are everywhere on this planet – fun fact there is a 100Volt difference in charge between the ground and 1 metre above ground level!!!And that’s without any lightning around. So, plants also have this electrical energy in them, and their flowers are negatively charged which grow into the positively charged atmosphere. Bees and Bumblebees use this energy to locate flowers to gather pollen as they are positively charged, so when they arrive the pollen essentially jumps off the flower onto the bee. This difference in electrical charge is more pronounced along the points and edges of the plants like leaf tips and petal edges which the bees are familiar with and can sense this through electroreceptors – which raises all sorts of questions as to how they see their world with this electrical pattern laid out combined with their UV – Blue – Green vision. It even helps them when gathering nectar as when they land and start feeding this temporarily changes the electrical energy of the flower, so other bees know before landing what has happened. The micro world of plants and insects is incredible. Have a great summer ahead for those in the Northern hemisphere and we look forward to talking safari with you! |
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