End of Season 2008
The 2008 season has come to an end and fortunately it
did not disappoint one little bit. Once again Old
Mondoro has proved itself a top class safari
destination; guests have come and gone, all with very
different recollections and adventures to boast about.
When writing a letter like this it is quickly realized
how very difficult it is to recap on a place where such
a great deal can happen in a moment or day, needless to
say during 6 months!
Being the camp’s new management team we had tackled,
full on, the task of running Old Mondoro, and have
enjoyed every split second along with every escapade
that came our way; if it wasn’t geysers breaking, it was
honey badgers ripping the kitchen apart or Elephants
unknowingly trapping staff or guests in their rooms.
Lana, Levy, John and the rest of the staff look forward
to what camp has to offer for 2009, but none of us are
complaining about the much anticipated rest days either,
the luxury of door to door Pizza delivery only comes
once a year.
During September and October the dry season kicked in at
full force and the bush quickly dried out, transforming
the once lush woodlands into more familiar dry Africa
landscapes, as a result game concentrated their
movements closer and closer to the life giving river
edge.
Most game drives were done along the small corridor of
enduring life, hugging the river-bank, and game was
plentiful to say the least. Impala’s certainly did not
disappoint, and lived up to their fast food reputation,
their numbers ranged in the thousands, and they
entertained many a guest with their silly courtship
displays and vocalizations Many a young ram showed off
their fighting skills in spectacular bouts producing the
most impressive dust storms. Waterbuck, Kudu and Zebra
made their usual appearances and the more illusive
Bushbuck made daily appearances towards the end of
season, whereas in the beginning hardly any sightings
occurred.
There were also a number of sightings of the minute and
very timid Sharpe’s Grysbok, and a couple of brief
explanations that it is not a “lamb” but in fact a
fully-grown adult was sometimes needed. It is simply
astounding that such a small creature has to live with
Lions and Leopards.
Elephants
convinced the staff and guests that the camp was
improperly named, and camp was redubbed “Elephant camp”.
The 15 local bachelor boys decided to invite their
friends over, and as a result camp had almost 30
Elephants walking between the chalets on some days,
completely oblivious that they are trapping guests and
staff in awkward places – this included the famous “Loo
with a view” On one occasion two guests had to jump from
Room 3’s balcony into the waiting vehicle below since
the big grey animals decided to camp in front of their
chalet door for the afternoon.
The Lions, provided camp visitors with their usual
macho, bone chilling stares and spine rattling roar’s,
everyone will be glad to hear that our 3 Zimbabwean
males are still going strong and have established
themselves as the dominant figures in the area. It is
amazing how much the males have grown in the last 6
months, the eldest male almost seems double his size
compared to the start of the season and all 3 males have
developed impressive manes, even the youngest boy is
turning into a proper Lion now.
Old Mondoro got a lovely surprise when our mystery
female from the beginning of the season showed up with
the three males one evening, and with her came a little
bundle of bright white teeth and needle sharp claws; it
was a three month old cub!! The female managed to hide
her youngster from everyone for 3 months and no one
suspected a thing. Hopefully the youngster will make
it through the rainy season, and provide next years
visitors with some “young energy”, the mischievous
youngsters are always more entertaining to watch than
the usually boring sleepy adults.
Old Mondoro once again lived up to its reputation for
being a leopard hotspot in the Lower Zambezi National
Park, during the past two months there have been too
many sightings to recall, even the daylight sightings
have increased substantially, with amazing early morning
sightings in October. One sighting included a mystery
female with her kill in the early morning, she was
skulking around the car for about a hour in clear
daylight.
One evening John set off on game drive with two very
vibrant guests, one of the many usual questions raised
on game drive is; “how often do you see leopards up a
tree?” John’s natural response to this question has
slowly evolved into a simple “never; you never see
them up trees here” as he had not seen a single
leopard up a tree in almost six months.
The game drive continued into sundowners after which the
drive set off during dusk and less than 5 minutes after
sundowners John suddenly grinds/skids the vehicle to a
very sudden and dusty halt, the guests and spotter are
baffled by this sudden development, In pure amazement
John points with a shaky finger into a tree … Leopard!
Amazingly it was Kinky just lying on a large open winter
thorn branch, a truly classic scene of a; “Leopard
in a tree” and b; embarrassed guide! Lots of light
hearted abuse from our guests naturally commenced.
After an amazing sighting with Kinky up the tree, the
game drive set off into the darkness with two very happy
guests when, less than 2 minutes and 500 meters further,
the spotter exclaims “Leopard!” John frantically looking
on the ground to spot the elusive creature, with horror
realizes it is actually up a tree! And this time it was
Tyson (a very big local male) two different leopards up
two different trees within 500 meters! John then and
there realized his night of verbal abuse from his
tormentors on the back was far from over.
Different
creatures made their presence felt over the past two and
a half months, to the dismay of Lana and her kitchen
staff four strong willed Honey badgers were determined
to raid the camp kitchen over a two week period. As a
result the kitchen staff and Lana had to carry every
ounce of food and cooking substance in and out of the
storeroom twice a day.
The destruction left by these small fearsome creatures
can be compared with Armageddon proportions; the little
monsters had Lana and her staff close to tears every
morning when they assessed the damage as not a single
pot or pan was left untouched, nightly destruction
continued even though no food was available. At one
stage it seemed like the badgers went on the rampage
simply out of pure joy of tormenting the kitchen staff
for not leaving them a morsel. Fortunately after two
weeks of finding no food the Honey badger raids ceased.
Levy and a handful of his guests were fortunate enough
to spot one of the “Lucky Lottery” animals of the
African bush, they struck lucky when they spotted a
Aardvark roaming about one evening, this was the only
sighting recorded at camp this season and as far as
anyone is aware in the entire park, some people and even
guides will live their entire lives and never see a
Aardvark, as a result camp atmosphere was quite festive
that particular night.
When camp opened on the 1st of May no one
could have anticipated what wonderful times lay ahead.
Now that Old Mondoro is closed for the summer rains it
is hard to imagine that so many visitors have touched
the staff’s lives, and that so many people have
experienced pure wilderness and wildlife at its best.
Old Mondoro and its staff would like to thank everyone
that blessed them with their presence and support this
year, we hope that the magic of Old Mondoro will remain
with you for always.
There is simply nothing more rewarding than to see a
guest depart with tears in their eyes, or when they
leave behind or send a letter of gratitude and
commemoration. Somehow you can’t help but think;
things are in some way different at Old Mondoro, the
camp is small and personal and as a result every face
around the fire circle becomes a story and becomes a
person, every visitor has the opportunity to tell his or
her tale and become more than “just a guest” during
their stay at Old Mondoro every person can truly become
a friend.
Thank you to all Old Mondoro Friends, we hope to see you
all next year, the 2009 season is beckoning!
