On 16 and 17 March 2016, Madikwe Game Reserve that suffers from permanent drought, witnessed a rainfall that broke all records. While the balance in the long run will be beneficial for all, the precipitations caused huge challenges, and in some places a disaster.

Gerda Kubirske, Rhulani's Lodge Manager, could not believe her eyes when in the early morning hours, she inspected the small bucket, with which she personally measures quantities of rainfall. "In most cases, the bucket is empty," says Gerda. But now it had rained all night, and with incredible intensity. The water level in the bucket was at 160 millimeters. In other close places fell up to 250 millimeters of water within 24 hours. This is the amount of water, which this region usually receives in average per year!

The large amount of water brought notable short-term damage to the reserve. Riaan Taljaard, ranger at Rhulani, drove out this morning and took a picture from a place called 'old waterfall'. "I always wondered why this dry rocks had that name. Now I know." 

The dams in the park, especially the large Tholo Dam, were flowing over the walls and flooded large areas. A section of the reserve's fence line went down and a river flowed through instead. Many natural roads were badly damaged, including some important access roads. "Our rangers were engaged today in their free time to repair damaged roads," says Gerda.

As Rhulani is located on a ridge, fortunately the rain spared us from major damage. "There was water everywhere, the main areas were under water and some of the thatched roofs were leaking, especially at the cheminees" says Gerda, who handled the situation quickly with her staff. "We had everything under control all times." Other lodges in lower altitudes were hit badly and some of them had to temporarily cease operations and distribute their guests to other lodges.

Rhulani's operation has already gone back to normal, and the game drives are conducted as usual. Some roads are passable again. It sounds almost like an irony that two days ago a guest complained, that we should explicitly point out that Madikwe is a pronounced dry zone and there is no water in the dams. Gerda says: "We currently do not even know where the border wall of our waterhole for the animals is!"

The weather report reveals sunshine again from tomorrow. In the reserve the repairs run at full speed. Shortly, all roads will be passable again, and we are back to “normal Madikwe routines”. On the long term, the amount of water from the last two days will have a positive impact on nature and on the environment. We expect that our boreholes, from which we obtain water from the earth, will be pumping strong. And nature will stay in a green colour with lush grass and leaves, well into fall and winter, so that we will provide a wonderful safari experience to our guests. 

And then we will talk again about the drought. "Welcome back to sunny South Africa!"