FANJOVE PRIVATE ISLAND

News from a natural wonder.

As with every other month, the colors, landscape, wind and other natural aspects that make up the scenery at Fanjove Island offers something new.

The distant and sullen roar of the sea scarcely breaks the stillness of the night.
The number of beautiful fishing birds, such as egrets and terns, and the various palm trees assuming most fantastical forms, give to the scene an interest which it would not otherwise have possessed.
The beautiful view of the distant sand banks, reflected in the perfectly calm water of the extensive lagoon is quite refreshing.
Various cicadae and crickets, at the same time, keep up a ceaseless shrill cry, but which, softened by the distance, is not unpleasant. Every evening after dark this great concert commences.
The kind of plover, which appears as if mounted on stilts, is here common in flocks of considerable size. When wading about in shallow water, which is its favourite resort, its gait is far from awkward. These birds in a flock utter a noise, that singularly resembles the cry of a pack of small dogs in full chase: waking in the night, you can be more than once for a moment startled at the distant sound.

By passing your first night here, it is impossible to conceive anything more wild than this scenery.

Don’t wait too long to come and experience this unique and marvelous gem of the Indian Ocean.

Thanks to guests Serena Mora and Stef Schliekelmann to have expressed in images the beauty described above.

Hassan, Hakim and all Fanjove Team.

LAKE MANZE CAMP

News from Selous Game Reserve

An amazing and extraordinary sight when a Giraffe starts to give birth. Then the unimaginable. The Manze pride strikes while this Giraffe is in the process of giving new life. The circle of life continues. Although we could not get pictures of the whole process, we could get some after the fact photos. A first for us was the mother Lion trying to cover the Giraffe with sand prior to ambling off to the lake for a drink.
Watch the video of the lioness covering the giraffe with sand
Watch the video of the lioness taking a drink

To be at the right place at the right time and witness a standoff between a Lion and A Leopard must rank very high on the must see list. Our guide Zach and his guests were privileged to experience this rare sighting.

As the outlying water sources are drying up the bird life around Lake Manze has exploded into life. Many different specie all over the show adding color and life.

It is that time of the year again that the Impala start to drop the new babies. Clusters of young ones congregated together like they were in crèche. We are trying to figure out if they have arrived early because they sense some rain

Finally the Wild dogs have been spotted close to the edge of Lake Manze with two new puppies in attendance. This makes for exciting news knowing that the pack of dogs, is steadily growing. Numbers now up to fifteen

Safe travels.

By Shaun, Milinda and all Manze Team.

MDONYA OLD RIVER CAMP

News from the wild side

October: heat, dust and dreams.
Clear chilly nights have provided us with bright visions of the sky dotted by billions of stars with the brilliant Milky Way and we can now spot new constellations such as Tarus, Aries, Cassiopeia, and Pisces as they appear to rotate above us. The sun is rising earlier and the rapid morning light quickly accompanied by the heat reminds us how important the shade is for surviving in the dry bush. The dry grass is all but gone and the big buffalo herd has gathered on the banks of the Great Ruaha River. Visibility is perfect for spotting exciting wildlife behaviour such as young cubs following their mother to where the rest of the pride were feasting on a buffalo after a nocturnal hunt.

Wild dogs have been seen hanging around the dry riverbed searching for bit of shade to rest before again moving far away. Leopards on the trees are frequently seen, small families of Bat-eared foxes and even cheetahs in the open grassland are more often observed. In camp the quiet nights have been broken by the roars of the lions and we have been pleased to see them on numerous occasions. A particular highlight in camp was when an enormous male leopard walking into to the dry Old Mdonya river interrupted our dinner with his presence.

The number of elephants seen in camp has decreased since last month as the majority of the elephants have moved on to other areas of the park though there are a few young bulls that still pass by. On one occasion we had three young bulls were resting in the shade of the Faidherbia albida tree in front of the dinning tent and to our delight one of the bulls was so relaxed that he lay down flat on the ground and took a good nap.

Other unusual sightings have been recorded: a clawless otter on the Mdonya River and a big white tailed mongoose at dusk just outside the camp, searching for something to harvest from a hole close by the road.

By Rebecca, Andrea and all Mdonya Team.