January 2017

FANJOVE PRIVATE ISLAND

News from a natural wonder.

We love January and all the amazing things that come with it!

2 Ospreys are seen flying over the water, hovering, and then plunging feet-first to catch fish. After a successful strike, the birds rose heavily from the water and flew away, carrying the fish head-forward with their feet.

4 juvenile Blacktip Reef Shark pups are seen enjoying the safety of our shallow water which provides sensational lighting and food galore necessary for their growth. We believe that the nursery itself is in a shallow area inside of the reef. Blacktips can easily be identified by the prominent black tips on their fins (especially on the first dorsal fin and its caudal fin). All pups seem very healthy and coming to feed on small mollusks for 2-3 hours everyday at tides intervals. Watch the video here.

Dolphins have no more secrets with a drone to maneuver above them. Watch this short video of bottlenose dolphins swimming by our boat.
Swimming with thousands of sardines felt like “Wow”. Watch the video here
Tightly packed group of terns landing in slow motion. Watch the video here.
A rarely spotted and very friendly cuttlefish finds a new home in our water. Welcome home sir tentacles! Watch the video here.
Watch an example of the incredible sunsets this month offers.

This month, we started building what will become a 50 meters artificial reef. The area has featureless bottom and the idea is to link 2 of our major coral stones by deploying rubble and stone debris in a mesh wire cage.
The artificial reef will provide hard surfaces where algae and invertebrates such as barnacles, corals, and oysters will attach; the accumulation of attached marine life will in turn provide intricate structure and food for assemblages of fish.
A very special thanks to all of Fanjove’s crew for teaming together to make this possible.

After 3 months in captivity, we decided to release “Slow-Mo”, our leopard turtle, in the wild bushes. The time has come for it to be free and depend on its own instinct for survival and we believe he will feel great surrounded by much grass and rainwater.

Hassan, Hakim and the Fanjove Private Island team.

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LAKE MANZE CAMP

News from Selous Game Reserve

We have all said goodbye to 2016 and can now focus on the vibrancy of new life and adventures in 2017.

As the normally expected small rains have not arrived as yet we wait with abated breath for some rain relief as the small lakes and puddles have slowly dried up.

This lack of rain has forced the Manze pride of lions to move closer to a water source. Firstly to the back end of tent number six, where we have the camps water tank that sometimes overflows and has created a small pond for all animals to enjoy this needed resource. The lions now also frequent the staff soccer field close to staff quarters and have made the small soccer goal posts their toys. Completely demolished. Watch video I  and Video II.

Another first for Manze. A kill in camp. The Manze pride strikes and takes down a Wildebeest thirty meters from the water tank that supplies our guests. January has been a whopper of a month for amazing sightings.
Watch the video.

We were very fortunate enough to meet a new baby Elephant passing through camp with its mother. On an occasion you could see the little ellie suckling away on the mother so close we could nearly touch them. Not a care in the world. On another occasion his antics as he tries to work out how this attachment to his face actually works and what it is used for. Later in the day the little guy and some of his extended family lying down for a nap in front of the camp. It must feel to them that the camp and surroundings is a safe haven and that here they will not be harmed. Memorable moments Video I and Video II of a baby elephant.

Even better news, the birth of a brand new baby Elephant up at staff quarters. We were fortunate enough to capture them the following evening on a short video where the mother and friends bring the little guy for a drink of water. We sent some of our guests on a lonely crusade to try and capture this new addition. Thanks Janice and Mike Flynn for your dedication in tracking them down. Watch the video got by our camera trap, you have to increase the brightness of your screen to see the elephants behind the dry sticks.

These are the memories that are created for all our guests to enjoy and capture and be told in many a gathering with friends and family. See you all soon.

Safe travels,

By Shaun, Milinda and all Manze Team.

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MDONYA OLD RIVER CAMP

News from the wild side

We always advise our guests to keep their eyes open for animals when in camp as you we get a lot of animals passing through camp. Sightings in camp have certainly been exciting this month, the highlight was during breakfast one morning the impala were running past in front of us and followed by two wild dogs!! Sadly the dogs didn’t hang around and ran on and despite trying to follow them by car we lost track of them.
Just a few nights previous to this we watched as 10 lions and cubs from the Mdonya pride walked along the old riverbed.
Earlier in the month we had a couple of special visits by a big leopard in camp, first he walked past our guest who were enjoying a private dinner in the riverbed, an incredible end to their evening which I am sure they will never forget. On the second occasion one of our guests was woken at dawn by the sound of impala snorting an alarm call right in front of his tent, so he got up and peered out the tent just in time to see the leopard walking right up to his veranda and then running off in to the bushes!

A big herd of approx. 400 buffalo have been seen a couple times in the Mdonya river near camp, many herds of elephants have been drinking from sand river, herds of zebra grazing, a python and many other sightings have proved that the Mdonya woodlands has been the place to be this month.

Thank you to Prakash for sharing his excellent pictures with us.

Watch the videos of the interesting behaviour of 2 elephant herds when they meet: Video I and video II.

And a video of a lioness stretching before a nap.

Safe Travel,

By Rebecca, Andrea and all Mdonya Team.

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