July Safari News
- adventures53
- Jun 12
- 4 min read
We are now in the depths of winter here in Zimbabwe, so I have been forced to wear an extra layer in the mornings and I have even resorted to wearing long trousers on the particularly cold days, it’s been brutal!! Anyway, the days are just starting to show signs of lengthening, not that we have a big range to deal with here in the tropics, but the plants and animals sure notice it. We are just starting to see the beautiful autumn flowers, so typical of Central Africa, start to make an appearance like on our aloes and certain trees. A great time of year for bird photography on these brightly coloured flowers and sunbirds that feed from them.
The situation out in the bush continues to get more desperate as the drought conditions of Southern Africa really start to take hold. I am sure this will result in some really epic scenes of survival and predation this year as each day things get a little bit harder for the herbivores and easier for the predators. This is exactly the scenario that so many African wildlife documentaries used to have as a recurring theme, culminating in those first drops of rain that restore much of the bush vegetation which wakes up and brings such welcome relief to the residents of these environments. To be out on safari in an area when you can watch those first rains arrive and what happens afterwards, when you have finished drying out your boots and found a dry place to sit in the safari vehicle, is absolutely incredible and one of my favourite times to be out in the bush.
Some Good News… |
I recently did a new type of safari for me, in conjunction with St Johns College in Harare (My son’s school) – The Gonarezhou Conservation Trust and The Malilangwe Conservancy. This is something I had been thinking about and designing for a while so when I pitched it to the school, they very quickly jumped at the opportunity. The idea was a career option safari which gave a select group of boys the chance to see what happens behind the scenes and the various prospects that are available for those looking at careers out in the bush that are not only environmental, or tourism focused but also what is needed to support these conservation projects. The boys met and engaged with some of the best in Africa, anti-poaching teams, lodge managers, logistics managers, researchers, ecologists, safari guides and park management. Always difficult to know exactly what they each took from the experience, but I know they all had a lot to think about afterwards and making them realize that Africa is not a back water of opportunity, we are actually at the forefront in some of these fields with great opportunities and the World is actually learning from us. This is something we shall be repeating with the school in the future. |
Abigail and Eden Putterill have recently joined us as learner guides, they are identical twin sisters!! So, I have put name badges on them to help me, but I am sure they keep changing between themselves to keep me confused. But we welcome them on board and some of you might meet them on safari as we try and get them to being full Professional Zimbabwe Guides which is never easy, but I know they have the right drive and focus to make this happen and we shall support them all the way through. So, watch out for some of their stories on our Instagram page on their journey to their final practical examination.
More Good News… |
We have a number of Group Set Date Safaris set for next year and this year so please take advantage of these places especially if you are a single traveller as I do not set these for groups any bigger than 6 guests, so it is manageable, and you get to have your say in how the safari goes. The options we are currently running are into - please click on the buttons below to view the digital itineraries :
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From the Campfire… |
Sound is a really important method of communication that just about every creature on this planet uses in some form and I am sure many would know that some of these vocalizations are outside of the human hearing range, for very good reason, as there are a good number of creatures that can create noises that would be really damaging to us – sound is considered damaging to humans at over 85Decibels(Db) and this can be put into context that an outdoor type live music event is anywhere between 90 and 120Db!! Out in the wild one of the common ones you see on safari is an elephant which, using its infrasound deep rumbles can shout at 103Db this it is estimated can be heard at about 10 kilometres by other elephants, they probably won’t recognise who is shouting but they will get the message. But here are some other staggering levels of noise that can be generated by creatures some of which we can hear like a Howler Monkey that can get to 128Db, but the loudest that has been recorded is a Sperm Whale that can get to 230Db!!! – The echolocation system that Bats use can get to 110Db and most impressively, you may be familiar with a tiny little creature that is common on many waterbodies around the world – The Water Boatman - this little guy can send out a call to fascinate the Boat ladies at 99Db!! It’s a very loud world out there… |
