As we enter the final month of 2024, we want to wish you a happy holiday season!
With festivities just around the corner, we had a busy month preparing the reserve and camp for the upcoming busy season and all the buzz that is sure to accompany it.
Focus areas for November included the annual AGM in Johannesburg, repairs to the braai area at the Platform, extensive work to the R.O. System’s housing, malaria spraying for the December period and extensive road, crossing and fence maintenance through the month.
Temperatures soared through November, but some much-needed rain has turned the veld a bright green with new flowers and fresh growth carpeting the ground. Smaller creatures are out in force, and new lambs and calves are being born. Our Fire Danger Index climbed steadily to the “Very Dangerous” level, where we are now. As usual, please be cautious when making fires.
Lowest Temp: 16.3°C (Avg: 20.6°C)
Highest Temp: 41.8°C (Avg: 32.7°C)
Rainfall for the month: 62.1mm
(Avg: 59.4mm)
Projects of the month:
Our main focus areas for November were:
- Upcoming events: scheduling
- Annual AGM in Johannesburg
- Book drive for Ingwelala library
- Preparations for Vuka Ingwe children's party and drive
- Ongoing repair-work to the Platform’s braai area
- Extensive work to the R.O. Plant
- Malaria spraying for the December period
- Road and river crossing maintenance
- Verge Trimming on Buffelsbed, Sibon and in camp
- Intensive focus on the electric fence
- Safety railings installed at the Diesel storage unit
- Sightings: special focus on predator-prey information
- Southern Ground Hornbill research continued
- Brush packing/veld rehabilitation in camp at various sites
- Widened carpark created for tennis court parking
- Bush walks wrapped up: now closed seasonally
- Invasive plant removal/treatment continued
- Photo of the Month from Members
- Quiz of the Month: Flowers
Our Month Expanded:
Upcoming Events
Please join us for the following upcoming events:
- GKEPF talk on the Greater Kruger landscape approach to combatting wildlife crime: 19 December 2024, 15h00 at the Members Area
- APNR Ground Hornbill Project: 20 December 2024, 10h00 at the Members Area
- Snakes and Scorpions: Safety, awareness, identification and hands-on interactions with live animals (if you want to!). Details of date and time to be released soon!
- Vuka Ingwe children’s game drive and party: 21 December 2024, 09h00 at Vuka Ingwe
- New Year’s Party - “The Flintstones”: RSVP at Reception by 23 December 2024
We look forward to seeing you there!
Annual AGM in Johannesburg
We hosted our annual AGM in Johannesburg on the 19th of November, which was very successful. We’d like to thank everyone who attended and gave up their time to join us, whether in person or online.
Ingwelala Library Book Drive
Dear Members
Thank you for those that donated books to our library. I can see the members (and guests) are making good use of our library, but books periodically get depleted, and we need to keep topping up with new books, or have those borrowed returned back to us. Please remember to bring books for our library on your festive season trips.
A special thanks to Cindy Lawrence (138) who donated a huge quantity of books in honour of her mom, Barbara Dowse, who was an avid reader during her lifetime. These books are in excellent condition.
Books should be less than 10 years old, in good condition and preferably fiction. Please leave the books with the reception ladies, as they need to be sorted and stamped before being placed on the shelves. Happy reading!
Susan Marsh (199)
Preparations for the Vuka Ingwe children’s Party and Drive
We have begun our preparations for the end-of-year party for Vuka Ingwe children, which will be hosted on the 21st of December 2024. We will be hosting a game drive for the children, followed by snacks and cooldrinks at Argyle Boma. The game drive will start at 09h00 from Vuka Ingwe, and we’ll meet up at Argyle Boma from 11h00. We expect around 60 children on the day and would love to have you join us.
If you wish to participate in the game drive, offer your game viewer to be used for the game drive, or make a contribution towards the festivities, please email
We are also looking for any puzzles, board games, children’s books, games or activities that aren’t needed or in use that we can add to the children’s entertainment area at Vuka Ingwe. Any donations towards this are greatly appreciated and can be left with the Conservation team or at Reception. If you’d like more information on this or have any queries, please feel free to email
Repairs to the Platform’s Braai area
Towards the end of October, we experienced severe wind gusts that caused some damage to certain infrastructure at Ingwelala. Included in this was a slight shift in the dead tree next to the braai area at the Platform, causing cracks to form in the braai area’s retaining wall. Following the rains just a few days later, the soil loosened, and the dead tree fell over completely. This collapsed the braai area’s wall and took a piece of the flooring with it. As a result, the Platform had to be closed during the month for repairs to be done.
The Maintenance team tackled the task extremely quickly and efficiently, and after a short closure the Platform is now open and functional again. Thank you for your patience during the closure - we hope you enjoy many a pleasant adventure there now that it is open again!
Damage from the tree falling over | New erosion control method | Repair work completed
Upgrades to the R.O. Plant
During the month it was necessary to build a new housing structure for the R.O. Plant following termite damage to the existing wooden structure.
Chameleon Builders, along with the Maintenance team, have been hard at work building a new, more solid structure in the same space to house the R.O. System.
Thank you to both teams! Construction is now complete, and it is looking amazing. We thank you for your patience during the construction period.
Malaria Spraying for December
Over the course of the month, we began with our final malaria spraying session for the year. We have sprayed two thirds of the bungalows already, and will complete the process in early December, including all other infrastructure in camp and on the reserve.
This process is not designed or purposed to eliminate all mosquitoes in the area but assists with controlling the number of mosquitoes in the area by inhibiting part of the breeding cycle. Naturally during the wet season there will be more mosquitoes than during other times, but hopefully the numbers will not be as high as they would have been without it.
Road and River Crossing Maintenance
Thanks to our new grader and blade, road and river crossing maintenance has been going exceptionally well and a lot faster than previously. We have been working hard on the roads in camp and on the reserve, as well as the river crossings as has been needed.
Focus on the roads and river crossings will be high during the wet season, and as such will continue through December. We are in the process of moving across all properties and we will be putting heavy focus on the roads on Op Goedehoop and Buffelsbed, in particular, for the upcoming few weeks.
Verge Trimming along the Roads
As the new growth has set in following the rain, vegetation is already encroaching on the road verges. As such, we have been trimming the vegetation along the road verges both in camp and on the reserve to keep the verges as clear as possible for increased visibility, to avoid unnecessary damage to vehicles and to limit unnecessary off-roading where possible.
This is a time-consuming process as the Conservation team manually trims the vegetation back, and as such it can take time for us to complete trimming on all roads. For now, this will be an ongoing project through the season. Completed areas include Manzimvula Cutline, all roads in camp, part of the Kruger Park Boundary Road and several internal roads on Argyle, Sibon and Op Goedehoop. Considering the nature of the environment we are in, even completed roads need to be re-done and can be easily re-arranged by animals, so we’d like to thank those that have called in broken and fallen trees to assist us in those areas.
Electric Fence Maintenance and Repairs at Sibon
Sibon camp had extensive repair-work done during the month following an incursion by an elephant bull. The elephant managed to snap the thick steel cable along with 5 wire strands of the fence, also damaging the fence’s support structure and earth mat in the process. After successfully encouraging the bull out of camp, the fence was fully repaired within 5 hours.
Continuing from the last 2 months, we have also placed heavy focus on the Ingwelala camp’s electric fence through November. This has included replacing bent droppers with steel Y-standards to increase the strength of the fence, replacing any older tensioners, strainers, etc. with new ones, and increasing the earth mat around the fence.
This will continue over the following few months as we focus on replacing more steel droppers with stronger Y-standards. The extensive work on the electric fence is an important aspect of increasing safety in camp by reducing possible elephant incursions, and we are pleased that none have been noted since the previous incident in September.
New safety railings installed at the Workshop
Earlier in the month Ruan du Preez built and installed a new set of safety railings at the generator’s Diesel storage facility in the workshop. Safety is of heavy focus for us, and we’d like to thank Ruan for his extensive efforts in this department. The railings look amazing, and we are incredibly grateful for the added safety in the area.
Veld Rehabilitation: Brush Packing in Camp
As part of our focus to limit erosion and encourage re-growth in bare areas, we have been hard at work brush packing and creating natural barriers in camp. This has included sections where driveways or road verges have extended out sideways from vehicle traffic, and areas on slopes and where natural drainage lines between bungalows have begun to erode.
The process of rehabilitation in this manner requires packing vegetation on the bare soil to protect it from compaction, reduce water-run-off and allow vegetation to grow with less risk of herbivory. This was done in multiple areas using logs, branches and cut Grewia plants from the Grewia thinning project. To further reduce erosion, we have been adding natural barriers to the smaller drainage lines and on the verges of slopes where they meet the roads to slow the water run-off speed. We have used rocks and logs to achieve this, while removing excess built-up sand from the drainage lines near bungalows to redirect the water flow back to its natural path.
Parking Area for the Tennis Court
With the impressive growth of Grewias in the vicinity of the tennis court, the parking bay had become overgrown quite quickly. To make this more serviceable for the busy December period, we have re-widened and lengthened this space to allow 2+ vehicles to park there.
A new stone cairn sign will be installed soon, as well as the final details of packing logs and rocks on the verges to fully demarcate the parking area neatly.
Invasive Plant Control continued
Of particular focus in the invasive plants department for this month has been the Kalanchoe species, which are being removed in camp.
Velvet shovel leaf (Kalanchoe beharensis) is a common plant in camp, especially surrounding bungalows, where it has formed natural barriers. We have had plenty of Members ask us to remove these plants from their bungalows. These plants are also being removed from the Reception area, general public spaces in camp and where we find them that is not immediately surrounding a bungalow, for now. Native to Madagascar, this is a fast-spreading invasive species that grows easily. The amount of these plants still in camp is well into the thousands.
Chandelier plant (Kalanchoe delagoensis) is a commonly introduced species from Madagascar, brought in because of the beautiful flowers and easy care: it is a succulent that will look after itself. Unfortunately, being invasive, it outcompetes similarly structured native species and can spread fairly easily. These plants have also been removed from bungalows, when requested, and from the Reception garden space and other general areas. Although both species are easy to remove, they are plentiful and as such the eradication process will take time.
If you’d like us to come and remove any invasive species from around your bungalow, or check if there are any, please let us know. We will gladly come and check, and remove, for you. Thank you again to those Members who have asked us to do so. This has been a huge help for us!
Velvet shovel leaf | Chandelier plant
Photo of the Month
There were many stunning photos to choose from this month, and we were torn between two: a Red-headed Weaver at the Baobab tree near Farmhouse Crossing, and a Red-crested Korhaan with the red crest displayed. Both photographs were taken by Gary MacDonald.
Congratulations on winning with not one, but TWO photographs this month!
It is highly unusual to see the red crest of the Red-Crested Korhaan, and the epic beauty of the Red-headed Weaver photograph is truly inspiring. Well done, Gary, and thank you for allowing us to share these and include your images as our Photos of the Month!
Bush Walks: Now closed seasonally
We’d like to thank you for joining us on Bush Walks over the past 6 months. They have been incredibly well supported, and we’ve been blown away by the excitement, energy and willingness shown towards them by all.
Over the last 6 months we have had 136 Members and guests join us for walks, and we appreciate every single one of you. The sightings, big and small, have been wonderful, and the energy everyone has brought to each walk has been amazing. Thank you all so, so much!
With the December heat and thick bush officially here, and with the arrival of our busiest season of the year for field projects on the reserve, walks are now seasonally closed until early next year. We thank you for your understanding as we put safety first, and put our full focus on roads, river crossings, verge trimming, large-scale veld rehabilitation projects, invasive plant control and plenty of other projects still to do during the wet season.
We are excited to re-open bush walks next year, around mid-March, and look forward to having you join us for walks in the future. Re-opening dates will be confirmed in 2025.
Reminders from the Conservation Team
With the approach of our busy festive season, please be mindful of our “Bush Etiquette” and “Do’s and Don’ts” as you enjoy the beauty of Ingwelala. We appreciate your support in this regard, and hope you have a wonderful and productive visit.
Here is reminder of the upcoming events, if you’d like to join us or get involved:
- GKEPF talk on the Greater Kruger landscape approach to combatting wildlife crime: 19 December, 15h00 in the Members Area
- APNR Ground Hornbill Project talk: 20 December, 10h00 in the Members Area
- Snakes and Scorpions - Safety, Awareness, ID and hands-on interactions: details to be released soon
- Vuka Ingwe Children’s end of year drive and party: 21 December, 09h00 at Vuka Ingwe
If you’d like to assist us with the drive, offer your vehicle for the drive or contribute in any way, please contact Reception.
- New Year’s Eve “Flintstones” Party: 31 December
- Prizes for “Best Dressed”
- Tickets include all you can eat food
- Tickets available through Reception
- Please RSVP by 23 December
Thanks so much and see you soon!
Josh and Tess
Words by Tess Woollgar. Images courtesy of Tess Woollgar, Ruan Du Preez, Nico Ras, Robert Laggat, Gary McDonald and Alicia Steyn