Falls Interesse: Neuigkeiten aus dem Hwange N.P.

Shumba
The dam is 1/4 full and it is still being pumped 24hours a day ,solar by day and diesel by night ,It has been raining at Shumba and that has helped raise the water levels in the dam ,but Masuma and Mandavu are very dry .Here it is now green and game activity is still good only that now it is difficult to see something a few metres away from the road .Sables,Roan,Buffalo,Zebra and Lions are seen quite often ,The resident Leopard is still around and still comes to drink water from our leaking water tap at night.Ostriches and Cheetah are still around.
Bird life is now very good with lots of migratory birds starting to come ,the likes of Whiskered tern,yellow billed kites and cranes. Inside the camp by the big ebony trees the residents owls are still around we have the Verreuax eagle,pearl spotted and the scops owls and some times you find them on the same tree.
Masuma
The dam is empty and still pumped 24 hours a day ,solar by day and diesel by night.Game activity is still very good aa it is still very dry with lots of Elephants still coming to drink all day.the resident pride of Lions is still around and still seen more often around their favourite spot near the bridge on the way to Shumba.
Mandavu
The dam is 1/2 and game activity is very good ,Large herds of Buffalo & Elephants are seen around the dam especially in the evenings.Lions ,Wild dogs are seen quite often.
Bird life is also very good .
Rains ,
Our clouds seem to have turned into politicians who promise but don't deliver ,most of the days its over cast and some times you see thunder and a few showers and you think its going to rain but after a few hours the sun is out and it becomes very hot ,also the rains are patchy they rain in some areas only and now in some places it is very green and wet whilst in some its still very dry.
Roads ,are still in a better condition and now there is a game drive road open at the back of shumba it comes off before you reach the hide ,opposite the Camp hwange lodge road and it goes north east of Shumba and it joins Tshompani road on the eastern side of Shumba .
Tourists are still coming in small numbers as we sometimes go for days without any campers.
Best Regards

Neue Nachricht von Godfrey 31.07.21

The dam is 3/4 full and game activity is very good with large herds of Buffalo coming everyday .Elephants are also coming in large herds.
Impala,kudu,water buck and Girrafe are also coming .
There is a pride of Lions which is ussualy following the buffalo and this other day they killed a buffalo near the camp .
Wild dogs have also been coming often and are seen mostly between Mandavu and Salt springs turn off.

Masuma
The dam is 3/4 full and still pumped by 2 solar powered boreholes during the day .
Game activity is very good with large herds of Elephants coming from midday and drinking all night .
The big herd of buffalo is slso coming very often and lions are still around and also still favouring their spot by the bridge on the way to Shumba.
Impala ,kudu ,water buck and Zebras are also coming in larger herds .

Wild dogs and Cheetah have also been seen quite often.

Shumba,
The dam is 3/4 full and still pumped by 2solar powered boreholes during the day .
Game activity is good .Elephants are coming from midday and drinking all night .There Is a big herd of buffalo which comes often .Lions are also around and had been killing a lot of buffalo recently .Cheetahs & wild dogs are also coming with the Cheetahs seen more often near the solar panels on the road to Camp Hwange.,
Sables and Roan have atarted coming in smaller herds.

Roads
Grading has begun and they have done the main road from Shumba to the Mbala gate and to Robins camp.

Tourists
There are a few people visiting the park and with some international tourists now coming to the private camps .
We are still on lockdown and corona positive cases have been very high for the past 2weeks ,hopefully since our winter is now coming to an end they might drop again .
It is very cold at night and mornings getting warmer during the day and last week there were some little rain showers and was overcast for more than 3 days .

Best Regards
Godfrey

Neues von Godfrey:

The dam is 3/4 full and is pumped by 2 solar powered boreholes during the day and one battery powered at night.

Game activity is very good with large herds of elephant coming from mid day , drinking and sometimes swimming all night .
Buffalo are also coming and mostly come after every 2 days.
Impala,kudu,waterbuck ,warthog .zebra and girrafes are also coming in bigger herds and come from morning upto around 5pm.

Lion and wild dogs are also coming and this other day at about 6pm there were .3lionesses with 1 cub and 2 hyena and 11 wild dog at the same time at the waterhole,with one lioness running all directions chasing the dogs and hyena,the lions then left first folowed by the hyenas .
After about 20 minutes the dogs caught an lmpala near the gate on the way to Mandavu and were half way eating when the lions came and chased them from their kill and finished it all

This other day again at about 5:30 am, 7 lion caught a kudu near the waterhole and the hyena was getting so close to them that it ended being attacked by the lions and was injured on its back legs ,now it is staying under the first bridge
near the dam and during the day it drags its self to the waterhole and spends some time cooling its self in the water with other game first running away but they end up drinking as if its not even there as it really struggles to make any movements and sometimes elephants give it a hard time as they will be wanting to chase it away.

Shumba

The dam is 3/4 full and still pumped by 2 solar powered boreholes during the day .
Game actvity is very good with lots of Elephants coming all day.
Buffallo are also coming in big herds .Roan ,sable ,lmpala,zebra and kudu are also coming in large herds , especialy from mid morning upto late evening.there is a pride of lions which is seen quite often around Shumba .

Mandavu

The dam is 3/4 full and game activity is very good with the largest herd of buffalo seen there ,there is a pack of wild dogs which is usually seen betwee n Mandavu and Sinamatella.
Bird life is also good with lots of guinea fowl in the mornings and evenings

Roads
Many roads are good as there have been graded and the sinamatella river drive is closed as the bridge hasn't been fixed yet .

Tourists
The park is very quite with few tourists around ,there are more staying in private camps than camping ,now it goes more than a week without any single camper

It is now very hot during the day and getting cold at night and windy most of the time.

Best Regards,

Godfrey.

Neues von Godfrey:

The dam is full and overspilling and still pumped by 2 boreholes during the day and 1 batrey powered at night .
Game activity is low at the moment as there is water nearly everywhere.
Elephant herds are now coming less and mostly come during the night .
The pride of 14+ lion has been getting inside the picnic site at night and sometimes spending the night there leaving in the morning .they have been making a lot of kills around Masuma .
the resident leopard is still around and if lions are not close by it also comes near the camp.
Dogs have also been coming quite often and are ussually between Kapula and Masuma.


Rains
Its been raining heavily for more than a week and sometimes raining all day and for the past 3days its been hot most of the times with very little rain showers in the afternoons.

Roads are still accesible but many have been damaged by the rains with grading not yet begun .

Tourists
There is hardly any cars driving around and it goes for days without a single vehicle coming .there has been no campers for more than 2weeks now .

Best Regards
Godfrey

Hey Godfrey,
thanks for the update. Will be in Hwange the first week of March for a project we are running with Painted Dog Conservation. Looking forward to green season…
Kath

Guten Morgen,

neues Update von Godfrey:

"the dam is full and pumped by 1 solar powered borehole during the day and 1 batrey powered by night .
Game activity is good but very few animals come to drink but can been seen grazing past the waterhole.
Impala ,kudu and Zebra are seen more often from mid mornings till late in the evenings.

Elephant bulls are coming mostly in the evenings and mostly will be 2 or 3 at a time and ussualy take a few trunk fulls and go drink a lot from the springs and wells they dig in the riverbed.

Lions are still around and still favouring their spot near the bridge on road to Shumba and sometimes come through the camp at night.
There is also a big herd of around 25 Girrafe which is now always around the area.
The pack of dogs has been coming less often in the past weeks.

Rains ,
It is still raining here and there and it looks like the rainy season is coming to end as most of the times its just cloudy with very little rain and its now getting cooler in the mornings & night .

Roads,
Many roads are still accesible with a few places being damaged by the rains and grading has not started yet .

Tourists
There are very few cars at the moment sometimes going for the whole day without any car driving past and the very few which drive around will be going to private camps."




Grüße
Jambotessy