• wild dog guest lodge Hoedspruit Kruger Park

JUNE / JULY

Posted by Vicky and Henro on Fri July 3, 2020 in 2020 BLOG.

Love is in the air!

As we all know our industry has taken a big knock and the aftermath is likely to be felt for a while.

Missing the great outdoors – with lockdown still undergoing we are urging to go visit the Kruger, but we are blessed by having amazing animals roaming around in the estate making their presents every day, also being able to go on self drives in the estate soothed the soul a bit. Running a guest lodge with wildlife surrounding you is a dream of ours and it’s something we love to do and take great pride in doing, but it’s hard knowing and accepting your dream has been put on hold.

The lockdown is allowing us to do some alterations we do not usually get time for, and to complete our new décor style we are bring to our guests – amazing changes! We cannot wait to welcome our guests back!

I particularly got font of the nyala’s with their frequent visits to the lodge, they started feeling like part of the family. Winter is here and we have had some quite cold days early in the start of winter already, but this didn’t keep the nyala’s away from their frequent visits, quite a few nyala's were around the lodge and it is so amazing seeing them up-close.

They display the most beautifully and perfectly stripe pattern. Females and young males have ten or more white vertical stripes on their sides.

With spring and autumn being the mating season the nyala is considered the most sexually dimorphic antelope. Nyala bull’s pull up their hair on their backs and lifting their tails displaying the white part showing how big they are, that you call philo erection, doing a slow methodical walk trying to intimidate the other male – trying to make their body appear bigger and larger this dance can take place a few minutes or for quite a long time as they are trying to compete over females or when males come together, they also do this dance. After a gestational period of seven months, a single calf is born.