Slowly slowly the summer months are coming to an end. The balance of this period is as follows: Constantly very good animal observations, many happy guests, and quantities of rain which were just incredible for Madikwe. Here is our monthly update for February.

The rainy weather has been already a topic in our last monthly report, and also this time, unusual quantities of rainfall caused us some challenges. To get an impression, watch the video that shows a real flash flood streaming through our reception area. Or have a look at the picture with the green grass, which has grown up to a meter. 

All this shows you what unusual moments we have experienced in Rhulani Safari Lodge, after so many years of drought. Apart from the weak internet signal and some smaller leaks in the thatched roofs, we had the lodge operating at any time, and the game drives took place every day, maybe with a different time schedule.

If you think that because of the rain and the high grass the animals were hardly to be found, you are wrong. Our rangers have an excellent eyesight, a great experience, and they work superbly with other rangers via radio. W were even lucky enough to register quite frequently the most difficult animal to find from the Big 5, the Leopard (in 21% of the drives), which is great for Madikwe. Our guests enjoyed it!

Thanks to the great quantities of water we found an elephant herd, which had a great time in the full dam. Did you know elephants are good swimmers? An unforgettable show! After the elephants (to be seen with a 89% probability per drive) we also found lions very often (80%). We remember the fantastic image of the side-by-side drinking lion brothers. White rhino also had a high rate of 61%.

We saw the Cheetahs (13%) a little less than usual, but once discovered them on the hunt. One day, for the wild dogs (4%) we crossed the whole reserve, to finally find them lying in the green grass, and later even on the hunt. One of the most challenging animal to see last month was the hyena (1% probability per drive).

Interesting animals, which one does not see every day, was a wildcat at night, and an aardwolf.