FANJOVE PRIVATE ISLAND

News from a natural wonder.

A New Year means new beginnings. On Fanjove, this has certainly been the case for our Dimorphic Egrets who, after weeks of dutifully protecting their nests, are finally seeing their chicks begin to hatch.

Over the past few weeks the Egrets breeding colony, or heronry as they are known, has transformed the normally peaceful mangrove seepage where they are nesting into a symphony of babbling, gargling and squawking noises.
Dimorphic Egret populations are found coastally, but specifically are found in close proximity to coral reefs. They are identifiable by their characteristic plumage; which has two possible colours. The more commonly seen is white plumage, and others have a less common dark grey morph. It will be very interesting to see which colours our new Fanjove generation of egrets will take when their plumage begins to grow!

The Egrets have been born into a blustery January. The Kaskazi winds blowing in from the North have meant cooler evenings. The beach has been breezy and we’ve had some fantastic fun playing with the kites on the beach in the perfect kite-flying conditions. The Kaskazi has also brought us some short-lived but heavy rain showers, which have prompted the trees to grow bright new leaves and the Fanjove is looking very lush and green.
In the calmer lulls in the weather, we’ve had some remarkable dolphin excursions, both with the spinner, and the bottlenose dolphins, with some guests even managing to swim with both species in only two days.

We look forward to what the rest of 2018 will bring!

Laura, Johan and The Fanjove Team.

LAKE MANZE CAMP

News from Selous Game Reserve

A faint whisper of any movement on the Wild Dogs in the area causes a sort of exited panic as guests clamber onto vehicles in hot pursuit. Finding them is the cherry on the cake. Various sightings in various areas have been the hot topic during lunch and dinners. Not even the afternoon rain storms were a deterrent.

Elephants in and around camp have been plentiful with the one tusker mothers parading the young ones close to the dining area. The big bull has also made his presence felt as he saunters around the tents eating on the plentiful vegetation.

When two young Goshawks fly into the dining area looking for and catching the resident geckos it makes for a spectacular sighting. You don’t get any closer than that.

The lake is brimming with water and the birdlife has been prolific. Sightings are up and the guests are extremely content. The Carmine Bea Eaters flying next to the vehicles catching the Grasshoppers and Crickets that are disturbed by the vehicles passing by are very difficult to capture in flight but a colorful road show.

The New Year is in full swing and we hope to see many of you soon.

Safe travels.

By Shaun, Milinda and all Manze Team.

MDONYA OLD RIVER CAMP

News from the wild side

We have seen a good start to the new year in camp, with almost daily rain showers and localised storms the environment has fully transformed into the full glory of the green season with sand rivers flowing with water and the grass growing abundantly.

Searching for predators while on game drive has been more challenging with the grass being tall and in particular the lions have been hiding well to avoid the rain showers but this just makes it all the more rewarding when the predators are spotted. Our guests have enjoyed sightings of Cheetah, leopard, and lions, sometimes seeing all 3 species in one day! We have also had a few special sightings of the wild dogs! The contrast of the vibrant green bush and the shiny coats of the wildlife make for stunning photographs.

In camp we had a nice experience of a big flock of over 40 Admin’s storks flying in and spending about 24 hours in camp where they feasted on ground dwelling insects and termites before heading on to a different location. We have also enjoyed daily sightings of zebra herds passing through the woodlands in front of camp, impala coming in and feeding on the short grass between the tents and even a visit from two of our favourite elephant bulls, Charlie and Louis.
Thank you very much to Markus and Jean-Daniel for sharing their excellent photos with us and to Jyoti Shroff for the videos of the wild dogs.

Greetings from,
Rebecca, Andrea and all Mdonya Team.