My first few weeks back in Malawi have been interesting as usual. At the end of July we experienced a small earth quake that lasted about 10 seconds. Malawi lies on the edge of the Rift valley and every now and then the earth moves.
The animals are slowly returning to the dam as water dries up around the park. A few days ago 25 elephants turned up for a drink as well as a herd of around 25 buffalo. A troop of baboons arrived yesterday and soon disappeared again. Hippo’s are still around and there are now 4 young ones and I think one of the females is pregnant because she is huge.
6 guns shots were heard a couple of days ago and the scouts went looking for the poachers but only found foot prints, a spent cartridge and a blood trail probably from a Puku.
A large herd of sable and also a herd of roan have recently been seen around the park.
There have been no sightings of the painted dogs since May and no signs of lions. Leopard are present and I have an excellent photo of a leopard only a couple of meters from the back of my house. Genet, civet, hippo, bush pig, porcupine and elephant have also been recorded at night over the last couple of weeks.
The new lodge concessionaires have been very busy preparing the place for visitors and have repainted and varnished throughout. New cutlery has been purchased along with many other new items to help bring the lodge up to standard. The swimming pool is being repaired which will bring a great of pleasure when it gets hot out here. New staff are being employed and trained and the new lodge manager is arriving soon. They have many plans for the future and I am hoping to help them as much as possible and we are planning to get an eco-volunteer project up and running.
Fuel is still a problem but we are hoping things will improve soon.
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