Varden Safaris

Varden News

Hi from a new face to join the Varden Team – my name is Ellen Connelly and I have just recently joined (in February 2007) in the spectacular MAVURADONHA Mountains, which are both breath taking and inspiring. I join Varden Safaris in the general capacity of Animal Manager, assisting with the horse management and all other creatures in the near vicinity!

Ellen and Moonlight

It has been an exciting three months, having to look after all the horses, get a feel for this incredible terrain and of course to be a part of the small predator release program happening at Kopje Tops. My introduction to the program was explosive – the male serval had been released the day before I started and the female serval had given birth to two kittens in the enclosure! Sadly, due to a number of unforeseeable circumstances, we lost both kittens but the mother remained healthy and stable. The male serval enjoyed his new found freedom so much that he went on extended walk-a-bout! For more information on this release program and others see www.tikkihywoodtrust.com

Getting to know the horses has been a real treat – a total of 26 personalities to get to know, one on one. Up to date everyone has enjoyed reasonably good health though for the first time ever we have had an incident of biliary. Poor Champion was not feeling so great for a few days but I am pleased to report that she back to her beautiful normal self.

I have had the delight of watching the scenery change slowly over this last month (April), from an incredible lush green in varying hues slowly to the golden yellows and browns. We have had really magnificent wild flowers and with them have come amazing different butterflies and insects.

We have had a reasonable turnover of guests coming through over these past few months, quite a few return clients so it would seem folks know a good thing when they see it! We have also had some feline visitors who sent all the horses hot-trotting back to “hotel” Siya Lima – yes the lions made an appearance again! This time they had troublesome teens with them (juveniles) who obviously thought that water pipes are a good chew toy. This led us to make hasty repairs twice in a row to keep the water flowing to Kopje Tops! I am thankful to say however they got bored with camp and decided to carry on down the Tingwa Valley in search of food and other entertainment.

Kimba and Francis (on Mahobohobo)

Miss Kimba Melu, the little girl elephant with her mud make-up is certainly sprouting. We are in the process of weaning her now off her milk formula and onto nutritious game cubes. She goes on extended walks now with her keepers, Francis and Ngwenya. Her little piggy friend, (who is perhaps not so little anymore) finds it hard keeping up with her these days so only goes out for halfday walks now. One of these days we are pretty sure Kimba will be walking cheerfully to Kopje Tops and back which is all part of the plan……….

We continue to see Elephant, Sable, Giraffe, Bush Buck, Warthog and loads of other wildlife on our rides. I am sure as the season continues to dry the animals will become more and more visible.

Giraffe in the mountains

Which brings me to one of the programs that we are also involved in through Tikki Hywood Trust, called “Kusanganisa”, which means to connect. Through this program we hope to provide a deeper connection with our local school and its children Siya Lima Primary School and wildlife conservation in this pristine area.

Conservation education Kimba

So folks, that’s it briefly for now. In the next newsletter we may have good news of a serval release!

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It Started With A Dream