Misool Eco Resort is a remote dive resort and conservation centre located in the Southern region of Raja Ampat, West Papua. This magnificent resort is surrounded by an archipelago of uninhabited islands and located in the heart of one of the richest, bio-diverse dive regions in the world. For those divers who prefer a land based vacation as opposed to livaboard, Misool Eco Resort’s location makes it ideal for diving while at the same time providing guests with blissfully secluded accommodation, making it the ultimate tropical getaway destination for dive enthusiasts and holiday makers alike.

The rustic water cottages are positioned on stilts above the lapping waters, overlooking the shallow turquoise lagoon. Stairs leading from the balcony allow guests to enjoy the temperate waters right from their doorstep, while hammocks set the scene for maximum relaxation. With the House Reef just a few splashes away guests can enjoy the dazzling variety of marine life without having to leave the resort or travel far. However, for guests who would like a change of scenery, boats from the resort leave daily allowing guests to travel and experience the wealth of diverse dive sites that Raja Ampat has to offer.

Seven species of marine turtles exist in the world’s oceans, therefore turtles are important indicators of ocean health. There are five species found off the Kwa-Zulu Natal Coast, namely, the loggerhead, leatherback, hawksbill, green and Olive Ridley turtles. Of these five species that occur in South African waters, only the loggerhead and leatherback females nest along the shores. However, in February 2014, a green turtle was found nesting on the beaches of KZN’s Isimangaliso Wetland Park – about 700 km from Europa Island in the Southern Mozambique Channel where they normally nest.

Both loggerhead and leatherback turtles nest during the summer months at night (October – March). Steep beach makes it easy for loggerheads to swim through the surf over low lying rock ledges. The females emerge from the surf and rest in the wash zone on the beach. Here they assess the beach for any danger by lifting their heads and scanning the beach. Satisfied that there is no danger they then proceed up the beach to well above the high water mark.

Having found a suitable site, the female commences by excavating a body pit, this enables her to lie with the top of her carapace level with the beach. She then digs an egg cavity with her hind flippers. The egg pit is a flask shaped hole about 50-80 centimetres deep. A normal clutch constitutes 100-120 soft white shelled eggs which are deposited into this hole. When all of the eggs have been laid the female fills the hole with sand and begins to knead and press the surface until the sand is tightly packed. Once she is finished she disguises the nest site by throwing sand with her fore-flippers over the nesting area. Leatherbacks can return up to seven times in one season to lay eggs.

After incubating for 60 to 70 days, the baby turtles break out of their eggs and immediately head for the relative safety of the sea.

In 1963, the Natal Parks Board (now Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife) began monitoring these fascinating creatures’ nesting habits. It had the explicit aim of protecting sea turtles while ashore and at the same time collecting data on morphometrics, site preferences and population status. Even though interactions by the local communities with turtles were relatively few, “bad habits” crept in and turtle numbers dwindled. The first conservation measures were introduced in 1916 but with little effect, such that in the first year of monitoring only six leatherback nests were counted in the index area. Now after five decades of dedicated conservation and nest protection, turtle numbers have increased to about 60 leatherback nests and between 2500 and 3000 loggerhead nests per season in the area north of Bhanga Nek.

Prized for their magnificent ivory tusks, elephant populations across much of Africa and Asia have dropped by 62% over the last decade due to the insatiable lust for Ivory products in the Asian market. Despite the international ban on ivory trading, the price of ivory in China has tripled, making the illegal trade of ivory extremely profitable.

In an attempt to combat the rise in poaching, Big Life in Tanzania and Kenya have come up with an innovative and highly effective approach to add to their arsenal in the battle against poachers, A Tracking Dog Unit. Using trained tacking dogs and their uncanny sniffing ability, Big Life have had much success in tracking poachers since the introduction of the unit in 2011. After adopting four Alsatians, Max, Jazz, Rocky and Jerry from kennels in the Netherlands the dogs were transported to Canine Specialist Services International (CSSI) In Tanzania. Under the guide of Will Powell they underwent an intense eight months training, learning to pick up and follow the scent of humans from footprints or materials left behind at the scene. But the training did not stop there, it’s an ongoing process, both at the kennels and in the field. It includes tasks designed to keep the dogs focused on a particular scent and to differentiate one track from another.

Dogs can track a trail from a kill site up to a day past the event, often leading their handlers straight to the poacher’s door. “Our dogs have tracked elephant poachers for up to eight hours at a time or more, through extreme conditions – heat, rain, wetlands, and mountains – and still turned up results” says Damien Bell, director of Big Life Tracker Dog Unit. The dogs and their incredible tracking abilities have created a reputation for themselves in the community. In fact, dog teams have become so popular that Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), the wildlife division, the police and even the military have requested their assistance. Their reputation has also spread amongst poachers with the Masaai being particularly terrified of tracker dogs, regarding their tacking abilities as supernatural.

In Southern Africa, K-9 unit in the Kruger National Park has also employed dog tracking units using two breeds of dogs, Belgian Malinois and Weimarana in their fight against poaching. Malinois are used exclusively for tracking human suspects, to detect firearms and bullet casings and to restrain suspects when it requires force. Weimarana’s, on the other hand are used mostly for tracking animals, detecting animal remains and snares and to locate wounded animals.

Poachers are becoming more and more skilful at evading capture. Stopping them is the ultimate objective, but it often comes down to the chase. With the aid of Big Life and K-9 dog tracking units the tracking and arrest of poachers is becoming less difficult. It’s not often man’s best friend can come to the aid of the world’s largest land based mammal but this unlikely relationship may be just what is needed to fight the war against poaching.

Having recently been warmly welcomed into the office at Hartley’s safaris, my memories of bushveld adventures have been seeping to the surface of my mind, reminding me of what a privilege we have, as Safari operators, to enable our fellow humans to experience the magic of Africa, it’s culture, traditions, its people and of course it’s vast array of animal species, guaranteed to delight even the most sceptical traveller.

Several years back, the ground was trembling from the thundering fall of our uniform issued veldskoene (thin leather shoes made from vegetable-tanned leather or rawhide used specifically to walk in the bush) as my roommate and I, all of 20 years old, bolted from a mildly annoyed male lion that we had bribed out of his shady position under a bush (for research purposes of course) by hanging a large soggy piece of biltong off the rear view mirror of our landrover. A rather twisted Hijack if you will.

Apparently an animal’s eyes have the power to speak great words. We missed that conversation entirely.

The vet’s panicked shouts for us to stand still fell on deaf ears as somehow we were miraculously transported to the top of the granite koppie (small, normally rocky hill), both of us still intact – physically anyway. The mental blank we experienced between the bottom of the hill and the top of the koppie remains a mystery which to this day cannot be decoded –even by hypnosis.

Surely, this had to be the epitome of danger in the African bush. Not so. Student rangers lived in constant hope of receiving the small monetary tips from hosting the daily game drives that would enable us to survive until the end of the month-albeit on pap and beer. An unlucky colleague broached the idea that if he could mimic Crocodile Dundee and perhaps enhance his own show-andtell by picking up a variety of snakes, he would almost certainly give himself a much needed pay rise.

Entertainment pays. Unfortunately it also costs and in this case, cost him 2 fingers.

It is always nerve wracking leading a walk in the bush with 8 or so bush lovers of varying degrees of mobility and even greater variances in their capacity to listen to their guide.

The first 30 mins of said Walk in the Bush comprises of strict instructions by the guide and his back up guide. This has since been escalated to one hour of strict instruction briefing in an attempt to try and reduce the great divide of those who listen and those who do not.

This hour is spent talking about WHAT.TO.DO should we find ourselves in any sort of compromising “situation”.

The most important of these instructions being “do what the guide says”.

To date, this is the instruction that is still forgotten the most.

Having been warmed up from the outside inwards by the African sun climbing higher into the sky, all the equipment starts to come out and people relax. Cameras appear out of backpacks, sticks of biltong are handed out, water bottles are swung around by their straps, binoculars, bush tools and even the odd comb out of the sock are pulled out.

To take out all this heavy duty gear takes about 5 minutes. To try and stuff it back into your backpack while an elephant is charging at 50km an hour is quite another story. Every guide’s nightmare.

Recently, a rather clever woman, newly married and on her honeymoon, found herself in exactly this predicament when her tour group was charged suddenly by a bad tempered black rhino. She ditched her bag and hastily clambered up a nearby tree. Until her devoted husband arrived at the bottom of the same tree a few seconds later and pulled her out by one leg, proceeding to scramble right over her head and onto her perch of safety.

She survived. It is uncertain whether the marriage did.

Wanting to make the most of their twilight years, an elderly couple joined a group of friends for a trip to the African bush –in true African style –at a remote bush camp in Northern Kruger -where people are few and working toilets are even fewer. As evening approached, and the comrades began preparations for dinner, the 70- something gentleman invited his wife of many years to join him in enjoying a genuine bush shower –normally a plastic container of some sort hanging from a tree branch and surrounded by a flimsy cover consisting of anything from branches to stolen bedsheets.

With the crackling of the roaring campfire and the non- stop babble of the excited guests, no-one saw the great wall of dust gradually approaching in the distance. Now fully lathered up in soap bubbles, our unsuspecting friend happened to catch a glimpse over the shower curtain of the oncoming spectacle of a thundering buffalo herd and snatching his dear wife’s hand, they literally flew out of their home- made shower, soap in hand, right past their group of 10 bewildered and amused spectators –who now, having seen the stampede, tried to scramble up from their chairs spilling wine and falling over each other in their rush to escape.

To this day, I believe the dear couple have not lived this incident down.

They are happily married!

To many, the pristine beauty of the African wilderness cannot be surpassed. We believe that our exciting Safari experiences enrich the lives of many and spoil them with memories to last a lifetime.

We hope that you will continue to enjoy experiences of your own, which will be passed down to future generations in stories and memories –a precious gift indeed.

Greetings,

Claire

In 2007, we asked Sue Bingley to organise a safari to Botswana for us. This was after talking to friends who had been there the previous year with Hartley’s. We had such a good time that we decided we wanted to do another safari in 2009, this time, in company with our friends. Sue recommended Zambia as it would provide us with a different safari experience.

Accordingly, on 27 August this year, we found ourselves standing on an airstrip in the Kafue National Park waiting for a transfer to Lufupa Tented Camp. The brief to Sue was to provide us with three camps, for four nights each, in as a wide an environment as possible. Kafue NP is north west of Lusaka and covers a vast area. Our introduction to Lufupa was dramatic as a lion pride had made a warthog kill about 200 metres from the airstrip. With our bags in the back of the landcruiser, we went straight there to follow the action and watched the pride and their cubs having their lunch. We only stayed at Lufupa for one night, but the staff and service were great and it was an excellent start to our holiday. Next day we moved further north to Busanga Camp and began to realise why safaris in Zambia are so logistically challenging.

Busanga Bush Camp is situated on a small island on the Busanga flood plain. For six months of the year the flood plain makes the camp inaccessible so the camp is struck and stored until the floods subside. Because of its position, there is no airstrip so the final leg of the transfer has to be by helicopter. The camp manager, JD, and his wife Laura explained some of the problems of a bush camp. A month before the season opens, all the supplies have to be trucked in and the camp has to be reconstructed. After six months storage, there is inevitably some termite damage and deterioration in the stored equipment and a refurbishment and repair operation is required. The snag is that the flood plain is still too wet for trucks, so everything is brought to the nearest dry area and then taken by canoe to the island. This includes all the food, cement, timber, construction materials, tents, etc. As a camp manager at Busanga you need to be young, fit and able to turn your hand to almost any task. This is on top of the skills required to act as guide and driver! Fortunately JD and Laura have those qualities in spades.

Busanga was chosen as it is in one of the few parks where cheetah can be seen, but although they had been seen a few weeks previously, we were unlucky. Our friends, who had not seen leopard before, were more successful. The Busanga flood plain offers wide open panoramas with unbelievable landscapes and skies. We saw a huge variety of game and birds and enjoyed a wonderful stay. Our highlight was probably a night drive, when we saw a lioness with her three new cubs, two servals, a genet and a leopard on a night prowl.

After a great stay, we transferred to Kaingo Camp in the South Luanga NP. This was chosen as a good leopard viewing area, the totally different terrain from Kafue NP and the wonderful photographic opportunities. This camp is a family run camp and Derek Shenton was our host. Kaingo offers everything you could need (except cheetah!) with almost daily sightings of leopard, lion, elephant, giraffe and antelope of every shape and size. The resident lion pride specialises in taking down buffalo and we witnessed two kills. As we had come to expect, the guiding and driving was of the highest quality. A bonus at Kaingo is the walking safaris and the specially constructed viewing hides. The sight of hundreds of Carmine Bee Eaters nesting on the river bank of the Luangwa River will stay with us for ever.

Our final camp was Chiawa in the Lower Zambezi NP. This is another family camp run by Grant Cumings. The attraction here is the wide range of river activities on the Zambezi and the opportunity to see game from a different perspective. We witnessed elephants crossing from Zimbabwe to Zambia across the Zambezi, listened to elephants, hippos and lions as we drank our sundowners and came back to the camp on two occasions to find that the local trio of bull elephants were ensconced in the middle of the camp making a leisurely lunch of the tamarind tree. The canoe trips and river boat excursions were wonderful and very relaxing after the previous ten days of game drives. Our novice fishing party even managed to catch three tiger fish on the Zambezi. Even though we were concentrating on the river, we still saw the resident pride of lions and a leopard.

Impressions? From our limited experience of only one other safari in Botswana, Zambia seems to offer, smaller, family run camps with more opportunities for a wider variety of activities. For example, at Busanga, there is only room for six guests – the third tent was unoccupied so the four of us had the camp to ourselves. The proportion of Brits to other nationalities (particularly Americans) seems lower in Zambia compared to Botswana.

The camps might at first glance seem more basic, but there is everything you need with laundry services, en suite facilities and a very high standard of catering, management and guiding. The variety in environment of the camps is enormous and can probably cater for almost anybody’s requirements.

The previous history of poaching and hunting has made the game in Zambia a bit skittish, particularly in Kafue NP where the elephant population is very depleted and can be aggressive if approached. Rhino seem to have been completely poached out, so visitors wanting to see the “Big Five” will be disappointed. Nevertheless, Zambia provides a wonderful safari experience and I would thoroughly recommend it.

Cheetah research in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania started in the 1970’s when virtually nothing was known about cheetahs in the wild, and information on their conservation status was limited. The aim of the Serengeti Cheetah Project was to monitor the demographics of the cheetah in one of the last few remaining natural ecosystems where cheetahs exist. Valuable information has been obtained from this project about this unique and specialised member of the cat family.

The field research of finding the cheetah is undertaken by one person covering a research area of 2,200 km2! The public Cheetah Watch Campaign was started in 2000 with the aim of trying to get the public interest in the project increased, as well as trying to collate the information on sightings made by tourists. To date the project has received approximately 1,200 sightings from the public.

Sanctuary Kusini Camp is well situated for cheetah observation, sitting directly in the path of the seasonal cheetah movement from central to southern Serengeti. As such, the camp has partnered with the Cheetah Research Project to help keep track of the animals in the areas surrounding the camp. Their guides have intimate knowledge of the area and have now received in-depth training as to the identification, habits and movements of cheetah. For guests staying at Sanctuary Kusini, the camp offers informative talks and cheetah research outings where the specific aim is to go out on a drive, find cheetah and identify them by means of field ID kits.

Guests are encouraged to leave copies of photos of any cheetah sightings they have had. These are then passed onto the researcher for identification and feedback is provided directly to the guest on the cheetah they saw. They hope to offer guests a more detailed and in depth look into the world of this amazing cat.

If you would like to visit Tanzania and incorporate Sanctuary Kusini in your next safari, please contact us for more details.

Chef Malika van Reenen of Signal Restaurant, has added an innovative twist to afternoon tea at the Cape Grace by introducing a Sugar Buffet – a first for Cape Town.

The enticing tea, prettily presented at three o’clock every afternoon continues through to six o’clock in the evening and includes classic treats such as cherry-red toffee apples, decadent pistachio-laced chocolate fudge, fruity florentines, buttery little cup cakes, delicate meringues and pink and white marshmallow squares. The Sugar Buffet served in the hotel’s library with incredible views of the yacht marina and Signal Hill.

Nestled in Cape Town’s Waterfront, the gracious sanctuary of Cape Grace embraces tradition, sophistication and contemporary comfort. The luxurious spaciousness of the guestrooms and suites, the diversity of amenities and the unsurpassed standards in service, have all ensured Cape Grace is a favourite for many returning guests.

Malika van Reenen is currently Executive Chef of the superb Signal Restaurant at the Cape Grace, where the creative menu reflects the diversity of Cape cuisine; French Huguenots, British, Dutch and Asian an eclectic and fascinating mix of past favourites, drawing on today’s blend of cultures and their unique tastes worldwide.

Four of the worlds last eight Northern White Rhinos have been flown from the Dvur Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, in Kenya’s Laikipia District.

The transfer is aimed at providing this rare species of rhino with the most favourable breeding conditions, in an attempt to pull the species back from the verge of extinction. It is thought that the climatic, dietary and security conditions at Ol Pejeta will provide them with higher chances of starting a population, in what is seen as the very last lifeline for the species. The transfer marks the beginning of ‘Last Chance to Survive’, a project by the joint efforts of the Dvur Králové Zoo, Fauna and Flora International, Back to Africa, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Kenya Wildlife Service and Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a 90,000 acre private wildlife conservancy situated on the equator, between the foot hills of the Aberdares and the magnificent snow-capped Mount Kenya. It is home to some southern white rhinos and with 83 black rhinos is East Africa’s largest Black Rhino Sanctuary. The most exclusive place to stay at Ol Pejeta Conservancy is Ol Pejeta Bush Camp, a small owner-run camp which offers guests the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of carrying out interactive conservation safaris – right in the heart of one of Africa’s most important wildlife conservancies.

In October 1975, two white lion cubs were born into a pride of lions in the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve bordering the Kruger National Park in South Africa. The lions were discovered by Chris McBride who, in 1977, went on to write ‘White Lions of The Timbavati’, a book about the famous lions. Since then few other white lions have been born in the Timbavati and immediate vicinity – the last disappeared in 1992, killed in a territorial take-over by other lions.

At the beginning of December last year two white lion cubs were seen in the Timbavati – a most rare and precious event. The cubs were seen early one morning with a pride consisting of three adult females and four cubs approximately 8 or 9 months old. The pride was feeding on a fresh giraffe carcass on Kings Camp property. Only two of the cubs were white and as Kings Camp tracker Albert put it, the other two were just “plain” – meaning they were the normal tawny colour!! Kings Camp’s guides report that the newcomers look healthy and well fed, and their chances of survival increase daily as they get older.

White lions are not albinos, as is sometimes thought, but owe their uniqueness to a recessive gene carried by the normal tawny parent lions. Their re-appearance is a very exciting event.

Kings Camp captures all the charm of a bygone age. The camp faces an open plain and a waterhole that is frequently visited by wildlife. Nine spacious thatched suites, and two honeymoon suites with pools, have air-conditioning, luxurious bathroom, indoor and outdoor shower, mini-bar and private verandah.

Nkwichi Lodge, located on the Mozambique shores of Lake Malawi, focuses much of its efforts on the local communities.

One project is the fuel-efficient stoves that are hand-made on their community farm and then sold to the local villages. These stoves are made by hand from clay gathered in the area. They are produced by the community and sold to the community at a very affordable price, encouraging the support of the micro economy within the area. This has had a noticeable effect, the stoves use between 40% to 70% less firewood, depending on how carefully the wood is used pre and post cooking.

These stoves help sustain the growing number of people while slowing the detrimental effect to the environment caused by chopping down trees for firewood. They have also been selling the stoves to Likoma Island Residents (Malawi) who for years have been going across to the mainland to chop down trees for firewood or buy firewood from the mainland residents. With the introduction of these stoves, these firewood collecting or buying trips have been reduced by between 20% and 50% depending on the time of year.