Mountains, Mist & Magic – December 2009
Dear Family, Friends and Guests
It is that time of the year when you look back and perhaps recall your visit to Leshiba.
We have had a bumper year with two baby rhinos born. Millie had a little female calf called Mojo and Tuli gave birth to Shashi, a very playful male. Both babies have grown and are wonderful to come across on a walk or a drive.
In the winter we had the most incredible sighting of our last 16 years here. Lukas called in to Steve, who was on a game drive to say that there were two African Wild Dogs running below the Venda Village Lodge. I picked up the radio message and rushed down to the Wedding tree with Finn. Peter, Kerry, the rest of the children and some other guests soon joined us and there, for all to see, were these two wild dogs bounding through the plain. One of
our guests managed to take a few pictures and we all watched in awe
as they stopped to look around and then quietly vanished into the thick
bush. We later found that they had chased a kudu through the fence and sadly we never saw them again.
The rains in the beginning of the year were excellent with over 900mm soaking into the ground. All the water systems filled up and our rock pools and gorges stayed full for many months. The grass growth kept the game well fed throughout the dry season and we have just celebrated our first rainfall of 140 mm!! The mountain road became a bit tricky to negotiate last week with all the wet weather but it has since been resurfaced and rolled and is in great condition.
We recently had a game capture and sold two young rhino bulls, a few kudu and impala…always a challenge but the game capture crew did an excellent job and all the game traveled safely down the mountain.
We are waiting for our usual arrival of baby impalas and wildebeest, all due any day now…
Our herd of horses has thrived and we now have 20 amazing animals to ride, train and enjoy. Dartanian and Willow are our latest arrivals, born to Tara and Ozzie. With such a large herd, we will look at selling a few in the new year and preparing the rest for some great adventure trail riding.
In August we hosted an international Biomimicry course with Janine Benyus, one of Time Magazines Heroes of the Environment! For those who are not yet familiar with the term or with Janine, we strongly suggest that you Google both and see Janine in action at:
www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action.html
We had 30 delegates travel from all over the world to be part of the course and over the week they had an amazing learning experience. Biomimicry is going to change the way we see the world and offers an innovative way to solve a vast array of challenges currently facing us!
We have been busy running a Permaculture course, funded by the National Lottery Fund, at the IKC (Leshiba Centre of Indigenous Knowledge) for local students. The students are trainees who will be able to take their knowledge back into their communities and establish food and medicinal gardens for everyone to benefit. The course runs for one week of every month and will continue until August next year.
In May of this year UNESCO declared the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve as South Africa’s sixth Biosphere. This includes the Soutpansberg mountain range and all the land up to the Limpopo River. (John was a founding member of the group that helped to bring this about.) In simple terms, a Biosphere aims to encourage a balance between the conservation of an area while simultaneously promoting the sustainable utilization of land by its stakeholders.
In line with the philosophy of looking after our planet and its people, Leshiba’s role was acknowledged in its being certified by Fair Trade in Tourism three years ago. We continue to strive for the upliftment of our staff and the surrounding community, while incorporating sound environmental practices.
We thank all of you for your loyal support of Leshiba and hope to see many of you return. Leshiba remains one of the most beautiful places in the country to visit and we are very privileged to be able to live here and be part of all her seasons, incredible diversity and abundance. It is a magical place of dreams!
We wish everyone a joyous festive season. May you all welcome in 2010 with family and friends and anticipation of a year that will bring health, happiness and love to all.
From all of us at Leshiba, we look forward to seeing you soon.
Warmest wishes
Kathryn, Peter, John, Gill, Steve, Kerry, Children and all the Leshiba Team
PLEASE GO TO OUR WEBSITE AND SEE THE
SHORT VIDEO WE
RECENTLY PRODUCED
FOR LESHIBA
www.leshiba.co.za/video.html
