We are thrilled to advise that mokoro excursions are once again operational at Chief's Camp, Stanley's Camp as well as at Baines' Camps. The flood levels are at a safe level to offer this serene activity to our guests, providing an alternative method of exploration in the Botswana bush.

Mack Air

Sanctuary Lodges & Camps Botswana air partner of choice, Mack Air, has announced that as of 01 June 2006 clients luggage allowance will increase from 12kg to 20kg in a soft sided bag. No hard samsonite suitcases will be allowed and the 20kg allowance includes hand luggage as well as camera equipment.

Winter Warmers

Due to an early cold snap in Botswana, we would like to advise guests to please come prepared with appropriate warm clothing as well as warm sleep-wear. We do offer extra blankets and hot water bottles at our camps and lodges, and sell great fleeces, beanies and gloves in our curio shops but suggest that guests come prepared.

Appointments

Sharlene Mercer has joined the Maun office working with Brian Gardiner, Director of Operations in Botswana, after being at Baines' Camp for the past two years.

Makgetsi Magapa, right, joined the accounts department in April this year and will be dealing with debtors and cash book entries.

We welcome both Sharlene and Makgetsi to the Sanctuary family and look forward to working with them!

Living With Elephants

Doug and Sandi Groves have strived to find ways in which their adopted elephants can act as ambassadors to their wild counterparts. In 1999, the Living With Elephants Foundation (LWE) was launched as an organisation that could help the Groves and their trio fulfil their elephant sized dreams. Morula, is named after a beautiful Africa n fruit tree. Her strongest personality trait is one of great gentleness; she is mild-natured, sensitive and easily bruised emotionally. She can be described as a wallflower but she blossoms beautifully when love and attention are focused directly on her. Morula weaves a powerful magic of her own as in her quiet and subtle way she captures your heart with her sincere, loyal and sweet nature. The Living With Elephants Foundation (LWE) is dedicated to relieving conflict and competition between the Africa n Elephant and human populations in Botswana. For further information please visit the LWE website: www.livingwithelephants.org

BOTSWANA

Baines' Camp

Rain has been a bit scarce over the last few weeks with only one thunderstorm providing 20mm of rain. Temperatures have been consistent and quite reasonable with the daily average being 30 degrees celsius with temperatures dropping to 16 degrees celsius at night. There have been a number of good game sightings with regular sightings of leopard, wild dog, elephant, buffalo and hippo. Red lechwe, blue wildebeest as well as plains zebra are also spotted very often. A special occurrence this month was when the coalition of 2 male lions moved back into the area providing exciting game viewing opportunities in the area around the airstrip. Birders are enjoying the migrants which are present this time of the year with regular sightings of saddle billed storks, wattled cranes as well as crowned cranes. Another interesting occurrence this month was when a pack of 16 wild dog chased and killed an impala, had a feast, groomed themselves and then started playing with each other. While having high tea one afternoon, an Elephant bull entertained us by splashing around in the lagoon in front of camp, sometimes totally disappearing under water!

The Elephant activity is still very popular and guests can't stop talking about it – it is truly an amazing activity to interact with the 3 gentle giants. Boating trips are done regularly with good sightings of hippo, baby crocodiles and water birds.

Feedback has been really good and several couples tryed out our “sky beds” on the first night. They loved it so much that they continued to sleep under the stars for the rest of their stay!

“The diversification: game drive, elephant walk & boat trip is super. We had a lovely and unforgettable stay at Baines', wonderful management & good kitchen. We hope to be back real soon.”

Mr. & Mrs. Asselman.

Chief's Camp

We have been blessed with some beautiful weather which has dried up most of the landscape, with only one major thunder storm this month. April has been an absolutely brilliant month for game viewing, especially for cats. A pride of 34 lions are around the area along with the Mombo Clan, including the three brothers. One of these majestic creatures spent two days alongside the airstrip mating with a very large female. Our beautiful resident leopard has given birth to two lovely cubs, who are doing well. At night, the camp has been frequented by both leopard and lions while the breeding elephants are moving into the area again. There are also large lines of giraffe and zebra at the airstrip while the male impalas are fighting and snorting every minute of the day since the rutting season is in full swing. This has created a number of opportunities for the lions as the impalas are much too busy fighting with each other to be aware of the impending dangers around them.

“Chief's is the best ever.”

Holtz

“Comic is a tracking ninja.”

Holtz

“The best camp we have ever been to in Africa.”

Thiele

“Jono was absolutely brilliant.”

Coates

Stanley's Camp

General game viewing has been quite interesting this month with some fabulous sightings of elephants gradually moving back into the area and increasing numbers of giraffe, zebra and wildebeest. Guests have been lucky to see some large herds of buffalo and we expect that they will continue to grow in number. Leopard sightings have remained consistent while lions provide some interesting orchestra renditions in camp at night. We have also been lucky enough to have two sightings of pangolin this month – one of the most secretive inhabitants of the Delta!

The wild dogs once again steal this top spot alongwith Jabu, Thembi and Marula - our friendly elephants! Early this month, guests had just been introduced to Doug's elephants at the beginning of his Elephant Activity. However, the elephants didn't quite have their minds on their jobs as they were distracted by a pack of wild dogs. As the dogs drew closer, Doug noticed a change in the elephants' body language and quickly moved the guests to safety under a large tree. The wild dogs were curious about this gathering of humans and elephants and drew even closer to investigate. The elephants were not impressed by their cocky attitudes and used their considerable size and impressive trumpeting to drive the pack away! An unusual sight to behold – especially when you're standing only 50 feet or so away from this spectacle. Fortunately, Doug's intimate knowledge of his elephants means that, even in these exciting circumstances, he is able to keep his guests 100% safe.

It seems to be honeymoon season once again and we have been enjoying spoiling our VIP couples with private bush lunches, candlelit dinners by the pool as well as the romatic touches! We have also had a couple of families in camp and have enjoyed the greater diversity of having children around camp. It has been great to have guests staying for 3-4 nights, rather than the usual 2, as it gives us a greater opportunity to introduce them to all the facets of bush life and really get to know them and their needs.

We would like to say a big thank you to Moka, Gao, Magdalina, Beauty, Lennie, Cheza and Thalosang for their commitment and flexibility and the ability to maintain high standards under considerable pressure! Ashleigh has also done the chefs training with our new exciting menu, perfect for the winter chill. There has been much activity within the NG32 concession as all the villages have been voting for their village committee members and also re-electing members of the Okavango Mokoro Committee Trust who are responsible for the concession and for controlling all activities within the area.

Pictured above are some of our dedicated kitchen team. From left to right: Segopotso, Cheza, Magdalena, Sheleen and Malebogo

Quirky Story

One morning Nicky, one of the managers, was walking towards the kitchen, carefully reading the pathway as she went. From the spore on the ground, she decided, “My, there were a lot of hyena here last night.” It shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise that when she looked up from the path a hyena was standing just metres away. With Nicky being quite small and the hyena quite large, neither seemed quite sure what to do – so a staring match continued for a few minutes before Nicky sidled away and into the safety of the kitchen! That evening, Nicky was once again walking around at the back of house, when a hyena came from behind the bushes and started to follow her, just a few feet behind her. She banged plates she was holding together in an attempt to scare off her stalker – but it was only once the plates were smashed that the hyena finally turned tail!

“We very much enjoyed our stay in this well-organised camp where the staff are evidently happy and created a great atmosphere.”

The Hanna family

“It is a warm-hearted place to stay and our guide, Alan, was very passionate about the ecology of the country. It as been both a lovely holiday and a wonderful experience for us all.”

The Wheale family

“Our stay at Stanley's has not only been a great holiday experience but a great life experience. The animals were great to see but the highlight of the visit has been the wonderful staff. We have never been treated as well anywhere in the world as we have been at Stanley's. We will never forget you.”

Gabrielle Stuelton & Stephen Walters

EAST AFRICA

Olonana

The beauty of the green season!

The rain has come and the grass is three to four feet high in some places. This is the breeding season for a variety of birds as this is when seeds from the grass are plentiful for their young. It is wonderful to see many of the males in their breeding plumage trying to attract the females. Guests have had the opportunity to witness some of the courtship dance's – the most outstanding is the Jackson's widow bird which springs like a tennis ball. Some of the

birds seen in their breeding plumage this month were – Jackson's Widowbird, Red Coloured Widowbird, White Winged, Fan Tailed Winged, Yellow Bishop, Yellow Mantled Bishop and the Pin Tailed Whydah.

The weavers have also been busy and have been seen weaving their nests along tent one to three and in the Olonana wetlands as well as the staff village areas. Guests in the first three tents have been entertained while relaxing in their tents as they watched the males build their nest in a very competitive way. With just one plaid, the male can complete the nest and tries to do this within the shortest time possible, while the females are busy inspecting the best nest to occupy!

Our chief guide, Elly Gathungu was able to get some nice images of the this (below).

Swala

The temperatures have started to cool down but it is still fairly humid with a few good showers. There is a definite “winter snap” in the air with nice cool evening breezes while mornings are quite chilly. There is still a wide variety of species for game viewing, but not in large numbers as the the grass is tall so spotting them is slightly more difficult. Lion and leopard have both been seen close to camp.

The sighting of the month was definitely of a leopard trying to stalk sleeping impalas in the middle of the camp, but a dik-dik gave his game away by spotting him and sounding an alarm.

Several educationals and site inspections came through and overall the feedback was very good. We have received a few donations of pens, pencils and books as well as soccer balls which we have passed on to the school.

“We were made to feel so at home. “Service with a smile” is certainly apparent here.”

DISH OF THE MONTH

Botswana Beef Fillet

(courtesy of Baines' Camp)

Beer 250ml

Olive oil 125ml

Soy sauce 60ml

Garlic 60g

Fresh ginger peeled and crushed 1ea

Red chillies seeded and chopped 2ea

Paprika 5ml

Ground Peppercorns 10g

Whole coriander crushed 10g

Fillet Steaks 900g

Veg oil for cooking 45ml

Garlic 100g

Salt 5g

Ground pepper 5g

Method

Add the steaks and mix well with marinade. Leave for about 6 min.
Heat a large pan, add vegetable oil for cooking, steaks and whole garlic
Seal the steaks for 3 min on each side, then cook until ready.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
To Serve/Garnish: Heat the marinade and use as a sauce for the beef.

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April 2006 Sanctuary Talking