Greetings to you all, as we leave November and speed on in to the December Christmas Season. The year is almost gone, and it has been without a doubt an interesting one!
I shall start off my news to you by introducing you to some of the new arrivals on the reserve. If you have a look at the gallery for this month’s letter, you’ll see a great snap of three new baby birds nesting in our trailer hub outside the Bukela Office. Although you can’t tell the difference from this picture (!) one of the three is a particularly sweet character!
At the moment, with the rains and the start of the hot months, we have had plenty of bigger new arrivals: baby impala, eland, black Wildebeest, another baby giraffe and plenty of other species have arrived on the reserve. It is wonderful to see the animals so happy and content in the Reserve – a clear sign that the flora & fauna around is good and nourishing, and that they feel quite safe with us driving around them and admiring them on a daily basis.
We have had some good rainfall, and our water holes have filled up nicely. Our Rangers have been able to use these spots quite a bit for sundowners, as the animals stroll in for a drink.
The boat cruise has also been a big hit – we have had quite a few lunches on the boat and many sundowner trips, and our guests have loved the peace and tranquility of the Bushman’s River, and of course the abundance of birdlife. All this whilst sipping on white wine, or Gin & Tonic. Happiness is…
Hlosi has hosted some fantastic corporate events over the last month and has been a great success. Our lovely Hlosi Lodge has so much space for a group to relax and spread out. Most of our events start with lunch, after which guests enjoy for the afternoon activities, and end with a fantastic Boma dinner under the stars. The last group that we had asked us to organize something special for the evening, and we invited the Patterson Dancers to come along and put on a show. As always, they were absolutely fantastic and when I say they send goose bumps up your arms, I really mean it. Check out the photographs in this month’s gallery for some great pics of these talented dancers.
Hlosi & Bukela staff also took part in a couple of days of whisky & wine training this month. Interesting to say the least – and also many laughs! It was a great way to do some team building, as we strive to improve ourselves even more.
We started off with the wine training and we learnt the different types of wines, how they are made and what happens once they are bottled. We have a far greater understanding about the wines that we serve, especially now that we’ve tasted and compared them. What a difference it makes when you taste the wines yourself. The smells & tastes became alive in our palates as began to compare each and come back again to the first one. Being divided up into groups to work on presentations was also fun and caused a lot of laughter amongst us all.
The whisky training was a whole amazing different story. Even more interesting than the wines, because whisky has an amazing history behind it and goes through such a process to be made. We learnt the types of whiskey that are out there, where they come from and how remarkable the small distillers actually are, producing quality & a fair amount of quantity too for their size. We learnt how water is such an important part of whiskey and how it affects the taste of the end product. The tasting was hard on those of us that are not partial to whisky – but it was worth it, as yet again it meant so much more to us to actually taste a couple of different types. We then tasted with ice, and then lastly with water –each tastubg giving a different taste in the palate.
Wow! What a feeling it is to have the knowledge! A huge thank you goes out to Kev & Jules for taking time out of their busy schedule to prepare an awesome & interesting couple of days for us all.
Aside from that, as always, we have had some great visitors at the lodges, enjoying the flora & fauna we have around us. Caught on camera was this lovely big elephant bull that started to get cross with us watching him and decided to chase us away. After all, the bush is THEIR territory.
The last sunset photos in the gallery are a little visual treat for you, included simply because their are just awesome.
Until next month, with more interesting events, from us all, a huge thank you to all our agents for your continued support. We wish you all a fantastic Christmas & wish everyone the very best for 2010. Let it roll on, coz it promises to be a great one!
Bye for now & take care,
Kerry
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