With the start of the new year, we linked seamlessly to the fantastic successes in game viewings of recent months. But bad news regarding the cheetah project, which we have been supporting in Rhulani for years, overshadowed the achievement.

Rain, heat, sun or cool wind; once again, our statistics, created by our rangers, show that as a visitor to Rhulani you do not have to worry about whether it's just a "good time" for game viewing. The numbers are very stable, as in the first month of 2019.

Our loyal readers know that you can see an Elephant literally on every single game drive. The rate last January was again 97%.

Of the other so-called "Big 5", the white rhino took second place with a probability of 78%. This is a record. This is followed by Lion (63%), Buffalo (60%) and Leopard, which achieved an unusually low rate with 12%.

While we conducted our daily excursions to the complete satisfaction of our guests, we received sad news from Madikwe’s cheetah project.

Rhulani Safari Lodge has been a major contributor to the reserve over the past few years in efforts to build its own stable cheetah population, by sponsoring the introduction of female cheetahs - so far unsuccessful.

In mid-January, Rhulani's Assistant Manager Sean reported: "I have sad news to say one of or male cheetah was killed by the other phinda males." Why the two Cheetah coalitions met and why they started fighting is unclear. Maybe it was even the fight for a female, which would have been a good sign.

A few days later, we received more sad news. One of the three Cheetah females, which was found very weakened in the reserve and temporarily taken care of, finally died of a virus. This is another setback for the project. However, there are still good chances that the project will succeed.