Djuma - A Return to My Guiding Home

Fellow nature enthusiasts,

Djuma Private Game Reserve is where my guiding journey began with WildEarth and it is always a great pleasure to return. It’s hard to imagine knowing a natural space so well - each tree, rock or waterhole, thinking to yourself “that tree has lost a limb” or “that’s a new nest!”. When I began guiding I never imagined that I could feel so intimately connected to a wild space, its features and its animals. Seeing familiar faces has got to be my favourite thing about returning, familiar hyena and leopard faces especially!

On my first day at any reserve, whether it’s a familiar one or not, I like to spend the day familiarising (or refamiliarising) myself with the area; at Djuma I wanted to explore what’s changed, visit old haunts and reconnect with the space. Things had changed, the Djuma clan of hyenas had moved their den to another property (not unusual but a little disappointing), the lion dynamics had completely changed, and some leopards had pushed the boundaries of their territories. The landscape also looked different for this time of year, I was at Djuma just as we entered spring in the southern hemisphere, not that that really means anything in the lowveld, but, ordinarily, I would expect the bush to be fairly open with minimal foliage, the dams to be reduced to mere puddles and insects to be all but non-existent - but this was not the case. Heavy rains during the wet season as well as some late autumn showers had ensured that the already high water table would provide relatively abundant resources throughout the dry season. The bush was still thick, even some new growth, the dams were still full and so were most of the ephemeral pans; dragonflies, butterflies and more insects and arachnids were abound. It was wonderful to see the bush looking so alive, so abundant at that time of the year. There is a sausage tree (Kigelia africana) on Djuma, I have heard how it hasn't ever flowered; this time round, at the height of the dry season, the sausage tree was in full bloom! Deep maroon flowers drooped like chandeliers on every branch, attracting birds, insects and bats. The tree became a hub of activity, and I was utterly awe-struck - thanks extra wet wet season!

With World Animal Day soon upon us on the 4th October, and this year’s theme being “great or small, love them all”, I thought I’d tell you about some of the animal highlights during my stint - both great and small. As I said, things certainly did change, but some things were as predictable as ever. Xidulu, a leopardess from the West, continued to frequent her usual territorial patrol routes, and she was the first leopard I saw on this stint. While viewing some white rhinos, distant alarm calls drew my attention. I raced up towards them, expecting to find a leopard within a couple hundred metres, instead, I had to grind to a dramatic halt as she popped out onto the road from the bushes in front of me. This was a special moment for me because finding a leopard is no easy feat, it definitely gets easier with time and skill, but when you begin guiding, it is the holy grail of tracking quests, and Xidiulu was the first leopard I had ever found, way back in early 2019. A lot about my latest Djuma stint reminded me of earlier times. Of course, I swiftly lost Xidulu through a huge block dotted with disused aardvark burrows and black monkey orange plants (Strychnos madagascariensis). I was satisfied though, she had made my day. On this day I also spent some time with a Red-crested Korhaan, to be honest, I thought to myself that this is just a filler sighting, after all I was waiting for Xidulu to pop out somewhere in that area! This little sighting turned out to be a first for me - for as long as I’ve seen these birds, I had never seen the red crest for which they are named, and just like that, he showed us his crest! Beautiful bright red, I was thrilled.

As usual, the Sabi Sand delivered many a leopard, but I was most happy to see dear Tlalamba. When I see her face for the first time in a while I feel that I am seeing the face of a missed relative. She warms my heart. I have known Tlalamba since she was about 11 months old, I met her in October of 2018. She is a formidable huntress, often making multiple kills in a day - big and small. This time she was poised in one of the most beautiful trees on the reserve, a jackalberry, with an impala kill. Below her I was glad to see some more familiar faces - those of the Djuma clan. Ndebele (who I had known from birth) and Ngwazi, a sub-adult who’s head had recently been in the jaws of a lion (yeah, I know!). I was happy to see them both but especially glad to see that Ngwazi’s injuries had healed and he was back at it, hyena-ing around. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see too many more of the familiar members of the beloved Djuma clan of hyenas, though I did get to meet a couple new immigrant males.

Speaking of new introductions, I was thrilled to meet the S8 or Imbali male lion. I had heard about this large male for some time but had not gotten to meet him. He is truly impressive. I saw many more lions too, including the Talamati breakaways and the two Nkuhuma sub-adult males. Again, seeing their familiar faces strengthened that feeling of connectedness to this particular part of the African bush.

Elephant sightings were plentiful but one particular sighting stood out. My camp (Mpho) and I were watching two large elephant bulls throwing mud on themselves, we sat patiently watching and one crossed the road to feed on a tree about 20 metres from us. Slowly, with sagacity and a true understanding of his massive presence, he walked towards us, dripping in wet mud, not 2 metres from me. He did not even look at us. We were of utter unimportance to him. His massive body, so close, convinced me that a grey wrinkly canvas had been stretched across my field of view. We were speechless. There are few things comparable to a close elephant encounter. This was magic!

Back to the small stuff, I was happy to see a few chameleons (which always brighten my day). The evening temperatures were still truly chilly for the first 10 or so days of my stint, so I was not expecting to see many of them out, so this made my finds extra special. Reptiles were mostly missing from my sightings list this time round, the moisture, light and temperature levels were still not high enough for them to become active, but nile monitor lizards were still out and about in their usual spots. Honey badgers seemed to be finding me this time round, in total I saw 4 (possibly 5) different individuals! That’s an impressive amount! Apart from these, numerous antelope and birds (and a few of the first migrants including a Klass’s cuckoo!), giraffes, buffalo, scrub hares, emperor dragonflies, lovely spiders and many more critters were a delight to see again.

These sightings may sound exciting, maybe even thrilling, I mean, I saw all of the big five within 2 days, but ultimately, I am describing a familiarity, a connection to a wildlife family. In bed at night I could hear lions roar, fiery-necked nightjars and scops owls call, hyenas whoop and elephants chomping. It didn’t feel exciting, it felt right. It is such a privilege to have this connection with nature, and access to truly wild spaces to nurture this connection. Spending time in places like this, long and regular periods, pulls you out of the human life rut, out of the needs we have to survive in the world we have created for ourselves. Fulfilling these needs are necessary for our survival - at the end of the day we have to work to earn a living - but life could be so much more enriching if we allowed ourselves the space and time to appreciate the marvel of nature that we are, that all life on this planet is, the organised chaos that resulted in our existence (I highly recommend 'Human Universe' by Brian Cox). It’s a beautiful thing to ponder, and I don’t just mean from a spiritual perspective, I’m talking about from a scientific one especially. These experiences should be accessible to everyone, it doesn’t have to be the African bush, it could be your local nature reserve. I try to, through various shows and social media, give others the opportunity to witness and learn about wildlife and science, and I think this is valuable, but it is no substitute for the connection that can be established through hands-on, immersive, in field experiences in nature.

Wild spaces and nature experiences are precious, I enjoy them alone and I enjoy them shared. Thank you for coming along for this little journey home.