LATEST LODGE NEWS
09 January 2012
Nyala
Photo: Louis Marais
Entering our third year now at Idube, Melinda and I, are so proud of the team, that has grown from strength to strength, that assist us at the lodge in the daily operations.
It was a year of many highs, and a few lows, most notable, the passing of a true legend at Idube, Elliot Ngomane, tracker extraordinaire. Elliot suffered from a long illness, before sadly passing on late in August. It seems more than apt that we have a road on the property known as Elliot’s road, and this legend will be immortalised by having his name spoken by fellow trackers and rangers on a daily basis, from now till the end of time. Along with the mention of his road, will come the story of how this road got its name, and how he bravely fended off a lioness with his bicycle, many years ago, whilst travelling between Idube and a neighbouring lodge. A chuckle has to escape me when I think of being told how he got back to the lodge, and immediately sold the bike on to another of the trackers, Titus.
We could not have asked for a better replacement, Johandi, who took over from Magda in the Front Office in the last quarter of 2011. Magda, who many of you may have met, or spoken to over the phone, left us after being surprised by her boyfriend, with an engagement ring, and an offer to take up residence with him in Namibia.
Our Prue Leith Graduate Chef, Chrizette, is producing magnificent meals for the guests, and one can certainly judge the quality of the food being produced, if the ever expanding waistlines of the fellow staff members are to be measured. She is expertly guided by the Group Executive Chef: Mark Pretorius, who this year also took up an advisory role at Idube, from his base at our sister lodge, Lukimbi in the Kruger National Park.
The Rangers have been as productive as ever, hardly ever failing to find the animals so much desired by our guests coming on safari. Rob continues to lead the established team of Trackers and Rangers, with the addition of; Wessel, to the stalwarts: Andries, Promise, Ronald and Titus. For an updated look into the daily happenings from the rangers department, our suggestion is to find us on Facebook, where we have linked all daily updates to, not only Twitter, but also to our own Blogspot. For those that want a more interactive experience, Rob the Ranger wildlife videos are posted virtually daily on his very successful YouTube channel, and serve to bring the African bush and animals into the homes of so many thousands of people who are not privileged enough to be at Idube at that time.
We again had visits this year from many of our repeat guests, and it looks like the elite club of Idube regulars is growing larger and larger. We love seeing returning guests, and are always so excited at their arrivals, readying ourselves with tales from the lodge and the bush about changes since the last visit. Just this morning the Richards family, who have been here regularly since 1997, departed, noses pointed in the direction of Lukimbi where they will be spending a few days after spending New Years at Idube, I could name so many of our “family” of guests, but am bound to skip a few, so those that are omitted, please forgive me, but we wish to thank those that have given Idube their loyal support year after year; Jean Francois and Fany, so many of the Idube images you will see are attributed to Mr Poudron, Gary and Judy Norder, Ryan and Trudie Moore, Lee Pearson, Holger Jensen, and the list truly does go on and on, and by naming all individually, you may not get the chance to visit this year as you will still be reading the list long after your flight departure time.
Summer is most certainly here, and the temperatures are sky rocketing during the day. This does lead to the formation of huge thunderheads, and we have been lucky so far this season to have had a decent amount of rainfall. The plains are green, lush, and full of life, both old and new, with the addition of multitudes of young animals and birds. We have not yet had extreme amounts of rain, and these we usually expect later in the summer. When they do arrive, we will rejoice at the rising water levels in the various dams dotted all over the reserve, in preparation for the coming dry months of winter.
The monkey family at the lodge has grown recently, with additions to three of the mothers who are sporting new babies, the Nyala family too keep their numbers at about 30 individuals. The warthogs have a few piglets, at this point there are 2 mothers with 1 and 3 piglets respectively. We even had a pleasant surprise yesterday with the arrival of a young female Bushbuck that has not been seen here before, we do hope that she establishes herself at the lodge and joins the large wildlife group seen in the lodge grounds.
Why not come and see these animals for yourselves, we wait with open arms for your arrivals.
From everyone here at the lodge, we wish you all a prosperous 2012, and hope that you had a magical Christmas and Festive season.
Bush Regards
Rudi and the Idube Team
Leopard Tortoise
Photo: Louis Marais
Scrub Hare
Photo: Louis Marais
Idube Community
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