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Published: August 21st 2008
Blyde Dam, is situated at the base of the Blyde River Canyon, providing a beautiful nature experience by boat. It is a great place to view the canyon from below, as well as visit the Kadishi Tufa Waterfall. At 700m in depth, the Blyde River Canyon is ranked as the 3rd deepest canyon in the world Once we left the jetty in a large decked boat the group made its way towards the man made dam. To see the river from the boat was a complete contrast from a few days before when we were high up in the peaks of the mountain.
During our journey we spotted numerous birds including, &&&&&&&&&&&& in the distance we though we could see a couple of hippo's bathing on the shore of the dam, but on close expection through my camera lens I could see that it was only a few large rocks. Once we made it closer to the shore line we could see clearly a group of about 9 adult and 3 baby hippo's swimming in a group about 50 metres from us. Many of us have seen pictures of hippo's yawning, well thats not yarwning its a warning sign to
others to keep away. So the guide slowly reversed the boat back a few metres until the warning from the bull hippo stopped. this was a complete change from my earlier expereicnces with a hippo, to see them in the wild being wild.
To the right of the hippo swimming a lone Crocodile was making its way towards the boat too, all this within only about 5 minutes of leaving the jetty. Up in the Mountain landscape we could see in the rocks a image of what looks like someone crying, this is the Kadishi Tufa Waterfall. The waterfall leaves the rock that looks like one of the eyes, hence why it like looks like its crying. As it is still winter in South Africa and here winter means the opposite to the UK. Winter means dry and warm whereas Summer in South Africa brings in the Winds and lots of rain, the waterfall was not powerful with loads of water as some of the other waterfalls I have seen in other areas, but still stunning.
After about 2 hours of seeing even more birds and beatiful views it was time to leave the jetty and move on
to the next stop on a packed day.
The Cheetah Breeding Project In 1950 Lente Roode’s father, Willie Schürmann, bought a 2000-hectare farm in the Hoedspruit district in the Northern Province of South Africa which today forms part of the Kapama Private Game Reserve (situated close to to the Kruger National Park in South Africa).
Lente’s father generated income by farming sheep and cattle. Lions, leopards and cheetah were seen as a dire threat to livestock and were shot on sight as a result.
It was during her childhood that Lente developed a love for animals, the African bushveld, and for the farm which she visited at every opportunity. This was the beginning of a life-long passion for conservation of the cheetah, and of all animal species.
As a child of six, Lente was given an orphaned cheetah cub after a neighboring farmer shot the mother. They called her “Sebeka” and she soon became part of the Schürmann household. Together, Lente and her mother (a nurse) lovingly cared for the animal. Lente and her cheetah were inseparable.
After completing her studies in education, Lente married Johann Roode in 1970.
In 1985,
Johann and Lente bought their first farm on the border of her family’s land in Hoedspruit. Lente then inherited her father’s farm. They acquired more land by buying adjoining properties and the first venture that they undertook was to ranch with a herd of Bonsmara cattle. Typical of Johann this was done with thorough attention to detail. The battle with the predators continued until it became clear that although they appeared to be winning it was likely to continue ad infinitum. At the same time Lente’s longing to be involved on the farm and her need to work with animals developed. The decision to change to game farming became inevitable. Further land was acquired and Kapama Game Reserve, 12 500 ha in extent, came into being.
As cheetahs were listed as endangered in the Red Data Book of the Mammals of South Africa, at that time the idea to establish a cheetah breeding project on Kapama developed. This facility would be tasked with breeding the species for possible reintroduction into the wild, as well as providing research opportunities to scientists in zoological and veterinary fields. It would also ultimately serve as an educational centre.
It was at this
stage that Lente contacted Des Varaday (a well-known cheetah breeder whose facility was located near Middelburg in Mpumalanga Province) in the hope of acquiring a few cheetah. Lente had known Des from childhood when he used her cheetah Sebeka in his book entitled “Gara Yaka”, and as the subject matter for other detailed illustrations.
Fate is an amazing thing… Des enquired of Lente if it would be possible for her to take custody of all thirty-five of his cheetahs. His motivation was that he was getting too old to look after them, and that he needed a suitable owner to take responsibility for them.
So today with the help of donations and the entrace fee to the project we were able to see what work has happened to help these beatiful animals. After a 20 minute film about the history of the project we were transported around the project to see some of these amazing animals as well as others on the reserve, including a baby Rhino, Baby Zebra being adopted by a couple of sheep for company. The Vulture resturant was also a highligh were about 50 vultures were feeding on the bones of the remains of
the cheetah meals.
Last stop for the day was within about 20 minutes.
Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre Moholoholo is nestled in a picturesque setting at the base of the Drakensberg escarpment in the Limpopo Province Lowveld of South Africa. Moholoholo has become a haven for the rehabilitation and care of abandoned, injured and poisoned wildlife.
Wildlife is brought to the center from all corners of South Africa, and once healthy enough are re-introduced into their natural environments. Those creatures who cannot be returned to the wild due to the nature and extent of their injuries, are cared for at the center and are used to educate the many people who visit us each year, both from across South Africa and abroad.
Another important function of the center is breeding. We have successfully bred and released into the wild the endangered Crowned Eagle, Serval and many others. The rehab now houses confiscated Lions from a Mozambique Circus, Leopard, Caracal, Serval, Cheetah, Crowned Eagle, Marshall Eagle, Vultures and many more that have been confiscated, orphaned, abandoned or injured.
As you can tell there was alot to see and do in this packed day of sights,
sounds and even smells. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them
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Gloria Collins
non-member comment
photos
Geoffrey you are excelling yourself. Your pictures are fantastic and I especially love the cheetah, as you know my favourit animal. I wish I had a wall big enough to take all the views and just lie there at night and pretend I was under the stars myself - I could only pretend cos I'm not as brave as you as there are probably too many little/big thingys that I don't like there. Keep up the good work - well the photos anyway cos I don't think you are doing any actual work!