MJEJANE NEWSLETTER

JANUARY 2011

I started working at Mjejane Game Reserve on 1 March 2010 and what follows is a short and informal summary of events on the reserve in 2010.

I had a fantastic welcome sighting of a crowned eagle that chased vervet monkeys around in a big Jackal Berry Tree on the river road on my first day at work.  This was the first of many other excellent bird sightings of the year.  Pennant winged nightjar, crowned and ground hornbills, osprey and numerous other not so common species were seen on the reserve.  I always wait in anticipation for the first migrant birds to appear before the rainy season and this year was no disappointment.  When the first Diedericks and Klaas’ cuckoo’s start to call,  then you know its summer time. 

Mammal sightings were equally good with a very acceptable variety that blessed the reserve with their presence even if, in some cases, for short periods only.  The normal big game species like elephant, giraffe, rhino (white and black), buffalo, waterbuck, wildebeest, zebra, kudu, impala, bush buck, steenbok and duiker were regularly seen.  A pride of lion stayed on the reserve for most of the year and produced three cubs.  The river prevented the pride from taking the small cubs across into KNP and they were seen very often.  A few leopard and hyena sightings were recorded but a highlight was the 3 cheetah sub adults and the 5 wild dog that were on the reserve for a short period and who came across the river (KNP) during low level flow.  I caught a pangolin outside the reserve and released it on our side.  This was a highlight as one rarely gets to see these shy and rare creatures.  Honeybadgers and white tailed mongoose were also recorded as well as the more common black backed and side striped jackal.  Lions killed a bushpig and the reserve in April and since then a few more sightings of bushpig were reported.  

I have been working in the Kruger National Park since 1993 and have never seen so many snakes and signs of snakes as I have seen on Mjejane Game Reserve.  Anything from massive black mambas, rock pythons, boomslang, puffadders, spitting cobras, and a great variety of the non dangerous kind.  Please don’t underestimate the value of snakes and the vital role that they play in the food chain.  I have unfortunately seen too many dead snakes on the main access road killed by vehicles and got the feeling that some of them were driven over on purpose.  Same goes for lizards, leguaans and tortoises.  The slogan “speed kills” is not only applicable to humans.

The Honorary Rangers of SANParks (Kruger National Park) were very active on the reserve this year and put in an enormous effort to combat alien plants on the reserve.  They mainly focussed on Queen of the night, Lantana, prickly pear, paraffin weed, exotic syringa, blue gum trees and water lettuce.  This was done in work parties/hacks that were organized over  5 weekends and everything was sponsored by the HR’s.  The control methods used for all alien plants were mechanical and chemical and on the water lettuce a biological control agent in the form of a type of snouted weevil were released.  Anybody that would like to get involved or support this worthy cause can contact me.

An interesting lion research project was conducted on the reserve in March 2010 and this formed part of a greater project in the whole of the KNP and surrounding neighbouring nature reserves.  In short the project aims to establish the variety, occurrence and effect of diseases on the lion population and their genetics.  Lions are lured by bait, darted and captured.  The research team then takes blood and tissue samples and releases the captured animals.  The evening was quite eventful but unfortunately not too successful as a lioness in oestrus was making things difficult for all.  Luring lions to bait in a situation like this is difficult because they have other things on their minds.  A positive result was that 3 months later there were 3 more little lion mouths to feed on the reserve.

Two groups of students from the University of Pretoria visited Mjejane Game Reserve as part of their studies.  The lecturers stressed the uniqueness of the reserve in terms of its history and the potential of the venture in the bigger scheme of socio economic and ecotourism development in South Africa.  It came out at these lectures that there was the potential to conduct worthy ecological research projects on the reserve.  A good example being the Largescale yellowfish research project that is currently being conducted in the Crocodile River mainly opposite The Mjejane timeshare units.  The project aims to investigate the decline in this species as a result of contaminants, water quality and quantity changes in the Crocodile River.   

We did veld assessments in May and discovered a very high load of grass (between 6000-7000kg/ha) on half of the reserve.  This is a result of infrequent or no burning over the last years and a relatively low concentration of herbivores on the reserve.  As a result of this important exercise it was decided to burn a 600ha portion of the 3800ha Mjejane Game Reserve.  This management fire to remove old moribund grass and to rejuvenate the veld was successfully achieved at the end of August.  An unexpected runaway fire(beginning October) from a neighbouring sugarcane farm at the worst possible time and under the worst conditions burned down another 1000ha before we could bring it under control.  Fortunately it rained shortly after and the veld recovered very well and all grazers had a feeding good time in the new growth. 

A big elephant bull died in a fight with another bull.  This happened in a dense thicket almost in the middle of the reserve and even though no one saw what happened the tell tale signs and flattened vegetation around the carcass painted the picture.  The 50/60 pound tusks were recovered and KNP officials took legal possession.  All tusks recovered in KNP go to a large central safe in Skukuza.  We also know of a young nomadic lioness that was killed by the resident pride on the contractor’s road.  Territorial fights between certain species can be fatal and even though it was a loss it still fits in with the natural scheme of things where only the strong survive.

A very aggressive and cornered buffalo bull was shot inside Erf 1 at the reserve workshop after all efforts to chase him out failed.  He posed a threat to staff and we had to take immediate action.  Even though the fence around the lodges keeps large animals out 99% of the time there will be the odd occasion where large animals will break through. Small animals like warthog, duiker, monkeys and baboon come in regularly.  A leopard track was also seen at a few localities in Erf 1 and it would be impossible to prevent them from jumping in.  For that matter any animal can potentially get through the electric fence at any time.   People walking around in Erf 1 should keep this fact in the back of their minds and no jogging or walking around at night can be allowed.

The first construction phase of the new bridge into the KNP started and unfortunately a late start, early summer rains and the subsequent higher level of the river prevented further progress in 2010.  This is a very exciting project and I’m sure everybody involved with Mjejane Game Reserve looks forward to the completion of the project and will realize the uniqueness and value that this private access into KNP will add to Mjejane Game Reserve.  At the same time we incorporated (fenced in) 85ha of old sugarcane fields and orange orchards into the existing reserve on the eastern side.  This is another unique situation and a first for Kruger.  With the help of large herbivores (elephant, hippo and buffalo) we will rehabilitate this 85ha to give it a natural feeling – it will take time though.

Talking of rehabilitation, we have started to remove all old cement rubbish piles and other man made obstacles on the reserve.  Mjejane was an old cattle farm and quite a few old water reservoirs, water troughs, old buildings, old pipes etc. need to be removed to give the reserve an “as natural as possible” look and feel.  A lot of work in this regard still needs to be done.

We have opened a new access gate to Erf 1 in the form of a cattle grid.  Please note that this access point is only for light weight vehicles up to a game drive vehicle in size.  All other deliveries and construction vehicles must still make use of the old access gate.  The hippo fence around Erf 1 gets maintained on a weekly basis and we kindly ask all to assist us in reporting any breakages or large animals that enter Erf 1 as soon as possible so that we can take action if necessary. 

We had a good year as far as rainfall is concerned with the normal drier time during winter.  Towards the end of the year very welcoming rain fell after a very hot and dry September and October and the veld is in a very good condition.  There will be no shortage of vegetation for grazers and browsers alike.   Marula dam (main dam) is about 80% full and Hippo dam more or less the same.  Some of the other smaller dams definitely need more rain in their catchment areas as they have not received large volumes of water runoff.

There have been a few incidents where guests and contractors have broken the general rules and regulations of Mjejane Game Reserve.  Some knowingly others out of ignorance but I see this as inevitable growing pains.  I am positive that these breaches will be minimized if all involved realize the importance of having a set of rules that is applicable and beneficial to everybody and we can obtain this through constant communication in all directions.  Mjejane Game Reserve Management will follow up on all discrepancies and welcome reports from all in this regard.  It is to the long term success and good name of Mjejane Game Reserve that we all should strive for.

Jaco Badenhorst

Conservation and Reserve Manager

Mjejane Game Reserve