Those of you that have been to Impodimo before knows that we are a bit different to some of the other lodges with the fact that we don’t have a fence around the lodge.
Very recently we found out how amazing it could be without the restrictions of a boundary around us.

One brisk winter’s morning we were waiting around the fire place for the guests to arrive for breakfast.
One by one the guests came into the main lodge with same question…”did you hear the noise last night?”
We couldn’t understand what everyone was talking about, so we decided to send the trackers into the direction everyone said the noises had come from.
Patrick (the master that he is) came back with the whole story of events that took place the night before.
“The wild dogs made a kudu kill about 40 meters from room four’s deck, but before they could feast on their kill a group of hyenas had swooped in and stole the kill. But with the obvious chattering and laughing, drew the attention of a male and female lion that were patrolling close by. They moved in and took the whole prize for themselves.”

With this knowledge in hand the rangers gathered their guests and drove to the site where the action took place. After a very successful morning we returned to camp for delicious lunch.

The following morning it was business as usual and the staff gathered once again around the main lodge fire drinking their coffee and waiting for the guests to join for breakfast.
Within seconds it was all chaos in camp with lions ROARING on one side and from another the earth-moving growls from two lions fighting. The rangers ran to grab their rifles and out the door towards room four where the loudest noise were coming from. Half way over the wooden walkway we saw a young male and female lion flying down the room pathway with a huge male in hot pursuit. The female broke left and got away, but the big male had his sights set on the young male and he was catching up quickly, within the blink of an eye the big male had him pinned down on the ground and was going for the throat. Fortunately for the young male he had already developed a small yet bushy mane and that protected him long enough for a well placed paw to the face of the big male. The youngster saw his gap and clawed his way from under the giant and started running. The battle by now had taken them eighty meters up the road close to the staff village, the youngster darted through the workshop and past the water tanks into thick scrub and disappeared. Upset with himself for letting the intruder get away the big male stopped and started to roar with all his might as if to say, “stay out of my territory or there will be death to pay”. From the far side of camp his brother responded like a very grumpy judge trying to call order to his court room.
Knowing we would not catch up with the lions, we turned our attention to the guests that were by now quite frightened although safely ensconced in their room. After the one male lost interest in the younger male he quickly trotted through camp to his brother to make sure that he didn’t lose out on at least half his share of the loot.

Once all the guests were safely escorted to the main lodge there was an awkward silence in the dining room. As soon as one of the guests spoke about his experience the whole room erupted in excitement with everyone sharing their stories and angle of events witnessed.

It was very difficult to go on drive after that and try to top what we had just experienced.
Most of the guests felt that on that morning there was no need for a game drive.

To watch predators hunt is always a magical sight, but hardly ever do you get the chance to see the actual kill.
Some of us can’t always stomach to see a poor defenseless impala getting dragged down by a ferocious lion, but it happens.

Two weeks into the month of April is where the following story unfolded with Patrick taking his morning drive through the Enselbergs (mountainous outcrops in the North-West of Madikwe) in search of the elusive leopard.
The morning started off very quite with a few birds displaying their colors and aerial agility and a few impala rams running around getting ready for the mating season. As he entered the outcrops he could hear a troop of baboons high up in the hill alarming at something they have spotted. He quickly raced around to the opposite side of the hill to find a pride of 6 lions walking down the road.
While following them back the way he came, Patrick realized that there was a group of waterbuck grazing not to far from where they are now and started to explain what could happen if the lions caught scent of the waterbuck. He was still talking when suddenly the lions stopped and stared into the bush about 40m in front of them. One by one the lions slithered of the road and into cover. Patrick continued forward until he had visual of both the lions and waterbuck. The oldest lioness was leading the hunt with the rest reforming on either side of her.
Very slowly, as if everything was put into slow motion, the lions crept forward.
With her cold piercing eyes focusing on the herd of waterbuck the leading female froze. She is only 15m meters from a young waterbuck calf unaware of its impending fate lurking behind cover. It was like the volume was turned right down at this moment, no birds were calling, no rustling of leaves in the breeze, nothing. The tension was thick and everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting. The lioness was set like a sprinter waiting for the gun to go, muscles bulging, body flinching with excitement…..
One last calculation and she’s off, two steps and she was around her cover. Each footstep was timed, each turn was calculated, she’s gaining ground on the waterbuck that has by now seen the danger and was trying to flee. She swipes at the rump with an outstretched claw and hits the waterbuck off balance, within seconds she was at the throat and……silence.

Patrick and his guests sat there in amazement, trying to process what just happened. With all the excitement they realized that everything they just witnessed took a mere 5 minutes, from the start of the hunt to the finish.
They sat there a further 40 minutes watching the lions feasting on their waterbuck trophy.
It isn’t always easy to see or hear about these things, but it is a common part of life for the wild animals out there.

We started off with the first five days packed with leopards, buffalo, lions and wild dogs on consecutive drives with elephants and rhinos filling in the quiet times.
Cornel stumbled upon the only cheetah in the reserve on one rainy morning and followed him on his morning hunt, but unfortunately it was not a successful one. He was found sitting in the middle of the road watching a group of giraffes wandering by when a young male impala strolled past too close to pass up and the chase was on. Fortunately the “death race” took place on a nearby clearing so all that was watching could see the amazing agility of both animals. The cheetah was unable to match the fleet footed impala’s skill and was left to ponder its mistakes.

The month closed off with a bit of a discovery channel episode unfolding right on our door step;
At around 6:45am all the vehicles left for our early morning adventures, just to be called back to the lodge by the office ladies claiming to have heard some ghostly noises coming from the waterhole. Chris and Cornel were the first to arrive back at the lodge. Chris drove around to the waterhole to find the pack of wild dogs hanging on for dear life to young kudu bull. Once all the members of the pack arrived it was all over for the poor kudu. Within five minutes into their feast, the ever present scavenging hyena made its appearance from behind a sickle bush thicket. Not one, but three hyenas joined the action. The hyenas took no notice of the shining snarling teeth of the dogs and proceeded to close in on the kill. With one loud cough the dogs regrouped and made their stand.

The biggest of the three hyenas decided to charge first, but the dogs were ready for this and two dogs on either flanks closed her off. At this point tensions were high amongst the predators and it was do-or-die time.
The other hyenas joined in but the ferocity of the wild dogs was too great to match and the hyenas started to hesitate, but the dogs were not about to let them off that easy. The dogs encircled the hyenas with jaws gaping. A few bursting runs at the hind legs made the hyenas realize that this is a fight they were going to lose. With hair raising chatter and laughs the hyenas ran for all their worth and disappear into the undergrowth. A few seconds later it all calmed down and the wild dogs returned to finish off the last scraps of their morning hunt. With a little bit of a chill down the spine we all returned to camp to indulge in a hot brunch and to recap on the day’s excitement.

It truly was a great month for game viewing and we hope that April will deliver the same kind of excitement that we have experienced.

Some game drives are fairly quite but there are some that can blow your mind. At Impodimo these game drives are frequent. There is one however, that stands out. It started out like any ordinary afternoon drive with goal of finding the elusive leopard. We had a starting point; fresh tracks we found in the morning looked very promising. The tracks were roughly 20 minutes from camp so we didn’t have too much time to waste. We made a bee line straight for the tracks. We were only 15 minutes From camp when I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye I slowed down to take a second look. It took a moment to register that I was looking at male cheetah 20 meters off road. He was heading into the bush. We followed him off road As he casually meandered through the bush.

After following for 15 minutes the bush erupted in front of him as a scrub hare broke cover from his day time hiding place. The cheetah did what comes naturally to all predators. He accelerated from a walk to a blinding pace (they can reach110 km/h) in seconds. The scrub hare is no match for the cheetah in a straight line but the hare is agile and attempted throw the cheetah off by dodging in between the trees and bushes. The hare saw the vehicle and tried to use the vehicle to loose the lightening quick predator. There is something magical about seeing a cheetah at full flight. It is truly a surreal moment. A few seconds later the cheetah reached out and tripped the scrub hare. The oxygen starved hare died quickly in the strangle hold of the cheetah. We watched him for a total of 45 minutes as he finished eating.

We started to move off towards the tracks we had found earlier. We passed a small water hole. My tracker, Patrick, threw out his hand to call us to a halt, he had spotted fresh tracks. We analyzed the tracks and saw they were fresh leopard tracks coming to the water and then leaving in the same way. We followed them for 300m when Patrick froze and pointed to a huge murula tree with a black spot in its upper branches. I could not make out what the spot was but I would never doubt the master tracker’s eyes. We returned to the vehicle and went off road back to the tree. As we approached we could see the leopard repositioning her kill (an Impala). As we approached we recognised the female as a very relaxed young animal we know very well. We positioned ourselves under the tree about 7 meters from the kill and watched her feed on the carcass as the sun was setting behind us. Thirty minutes or so later she come down the tree and walked past 2 meters from the vehicle. There was a stunned silence from my guests all of them taking in the moment. We left for a sundowner where everyone argued about which sighting was better the guests all agreed to disagree and we packed up to make our way home.

The vehicle was buzzing as we made our way home with Patrick using the spot light to find nocturnal game. We were 15 minutes from home when Patrick spotted our 2 dominant male lion’s, Ditaba and Sepedi, at a waterhole having a drink. We followed them off road and they lead us straight to a giraffe kill that they had made the previous night. They lay down next to the carcass. I positioned the Land Rover 5m from the lions. After a few moments they decided to let the whole reserve know where they were. The Ditaba male started calling with his brother echoing his calls. From 5m a lions call will go right through you, you will feel the deep base of the call in your chest. The true power of these mighty beasts is displayed in all its glory in these moments.

At this point we decided it could not get any better and moved back to the lodge to discuss the evenings drive around the fire until late into the night. There are other drives similar to these but that’s another story. Its true Madikwe is no zoo, it is so much better!

Luckily the wildebeest hadn’t cottoned onto what was happening and proceeded to drink.

With the wildebeest now in close range of the lions, Lebala-bonthle jumped up and ran in for the kill with one of her young running right behind her also eager for the hunt.

The wildebeest in an instant made a quick turn and ran with the lioness just a few feet away. The wildebeest was fortunate to have a long enough head start and it managed to escape, leaving the lions behind with mouths full of dust to eat.

So yet another day went by without food for the lions.

The following day Lebala-bonthle was still at the same dam, but this time on her own. Lying in the shade of a small acacia tree she was busy eyeing out a small group of warthog that were indulging in a mud bath.

We decided to go have a quick coffee and then return to see if Lebala-bonthle was still interested in the warthogs.

As we arrived back at the dam there were two white rhinos grazing close by. While watching the rhinos we heard a loud squealing noise and in an instant we left the rhinos to go investigate.

Lebala-bonthle had caught a warthog and a big one too! The only problem was that she had grabbed the warthog at the back of the neck and she wasn’t able to suffocate it and if she let go to change her hold she could then loose it. For a good 10 minutes the two of them wrestled to the ground with the warthog putting up a good fight. The question was would she be able to hold on long enough to totally exhaust her prey?

Suddenly out of nowhere Lebala-bonthles’ youngsters came running to see what all the commotion was all about. Would their mother get a fright and let go of the warthog when they suddenly arrived on the scene or would she hold on to it?

Lebala-bonthle held onto her prey and in a second all three young males piled onto the warthog and started eating the warthog alive while their mother exhausted, lay down to rest.

Finally it was all over and the lions had their meal of the day.

Lioness Lebala-bonthle killing a Widebeest in an earlier kill

We would like to thank you very much for the wonderful week end we spent with you.

Thank you so much for my mother, thank you to all singers! The diner in the bush was also a fantastic moment. A special thanks for Chris and Thomas, you really made my parents’ African trip exceptional and for us, only one word, it was tremendously FABULOUS (Timothy is already missing you )

Thanks Patricia for your patience with Cassandre. Thanks Barbara, Nicky and Vicky for taking care of everything. We hope to see you in the coming months. Take care Izabel and Stephen

PS: Debbie and Steve you have a wonderful team!

Mere words can’t describe our special sojourn at Impodimo.�

My first thanks go to my nephews Chris and John for organizing the trip for Courtney and me.� The excitement didn’t stop - your outstanding accommodation, cuisine, and hospitality far exceeded any expectations any of us had.� This was a bush experience with a touch of class.

A special thank you goes to both Chris and Gummy for that personal touch - they felt like family and we were sad to say cheerybyes.� I cannot believe how good Gummy’s spotting and tracking is - without glasses!!�

Chris was especially warm and made us feel welcome and safe.� We marveled at his knowledge of the wild and felt more intimate with nature in getting to know more about it.� I could have done without the story of how lion cubs learn to hunt, but it is a fact of life;

To go without that knowledge was to lose reality and I thank him for that. Your website has been freely distributed and I wish you many years of success.

I don’t know what expectation I had of going to a game reserve or staying in a lodge but the experience reality really blew me away,� I can’t remember a time when I was better taken care of or being surrounded by such friendly and accommodating people.

The park and the animals are truly amazing, I am sure if I had stayed at any other lodge and visited the park I would have had a great time but Impodimo will be so memorable for the personal touch - the friendliness of all the staff, the quality of the food, wine (+ GnT and Beer) and accommodation and of course the knowledge (and singing ability) of the rangers.

Please give everyone a very warm thank you - I am sure I will be back.

Thanks again - and please tell Rose to send on his email and I will send on his Pop Idol video.

My first few drives were fairly mundane. They were during the heat of the day when all the animals were seeking shade and rest, in the 30 degrees plus mid day heat. Two days later, however, I was asked by the senior staff to go for a short bumble (drive) just so they could get out of the office to cure the boredom of the day. I decided to go south to a little waterhole called Inkwe (Tswana for leopard) pan where we could stop and take in the sunset and listen to the sound of the bush in all its majesty. This is a sound that cannot be recreated by any recording studio. It is the sweet solace that can only be found where your passion manifests itself. For some, this may be in some famous symphony or your favourite beach, but for me, it is in those short few moments when the sun sets and the inevitable darkness consumes the African savannah. This is when life’s true battle begins.

The predators, inspired by the drop in temperature, become active, their super senses come into their own and their prey must be ever vigilant if they are to survive the night. Some will fall victim to lions and leopard, but that is the brutal circle that we all must face. As we approached the pan, the sun was licking the dark horizon and dusk was falling onto the thick thornveld. The glimmers of light were fading when a prehistoric shape ambled out of the thick bush that was surrounding the land rover - it was a fully mature male Black Rhino - one of the most endangered animals in Africa and one whose reputation for aggression precedes it. I stopped and turned off the engine realising that this majestic beast will not be around for long, given their very shy nature. Driven by curiosity, he ambled closer trying to figure out what this strange object was that was near his favourite waterhole until he was no more then 10 meters from the vehicle. We were all intoxicated by his presence, his fearsome power that could at anytime erupt into pure unadulterated aggression. The seconds grew into minutes, as he just stood there confident that he was the lord of the land with nothing to fear from us. To say that it was a spiritual moment is far too cliché and this incredible creation deserves more. His shear bulk and stately stance commanded respect, his sharp horn broke the golden rays of the sun over his right shoulder and the beauty of the scene was deafening. No one spoke, moved or even dared to breathe too hard in case it ruined the endless moments of pleasure being played out before us. The Rhino’s simplest movements seemed elegant and deliberate, displaying a power and beauty that left me star-struck.

Those fifteen minutes were some of the best in my life and even though I have no pictures to show for it, I will always remember that moment in the details that no camera could capture. The different smells, the mixture of fear and excitement and of course just the shear privilege of being there. All too soon this lord of the African savannah grew tired of our presence and slowly turned and lumbered into the thick scrub from where he came and vanished into the darkness, leaving no trace of his appearance, but leaving us all with happy hearts and a longing to see him again. Things like this happen to the lucky few. An experience of this magnitude is a once in a life time event and even though I could never possibly do justice to the events of that evening in a few short paragraphs, I am compelled to try and recreate the events for those who have not yet had the fortune of experiencing the bush and all its many mysteries.

By: Wayne Nupen

Rangers Pictures

Click to enlarge

Brown Hyena

Spotted Hyena

Leopard

We had an awesome week-end at the lodge and, in all respects, our expectations were exceeded. From the welcome to the general service attitude, the food, the accommodation, the rangers…WOW I could go on for ever.

I know that we’ll be back when we plan to be in the area again.

Thanks,
Trevor, Charmaine, Daniel and Luke