News of Quiet Waters

• To date the Falcon area has had 680 mls of rain, which is well over the mean of 625 ml.
• As a result, the Park is looking magnificent, with both Longden’s Dam and Mbonisa Weir spilling.
• We appear to have had a good crop of Impala lambs born in December. There are also newly born Bushbuck, Duiker, Klipspringer and Warthog. At least three of the Zebra mares look fairly heavily pregnant and should give birth in the next month or so.
• The bird life is wonderful with waterfowl on the dam and weir. Africa jacana (Lily trotters) have been seen on the upper reaches of Mbonisa, while Oxpeckers have been seen clambering over the Giraffe, looking for ticks. The Guinea fowl and the Francolin have bred especially well with chicks all over the place.
• During the Christmas holidays, our large male Giraffe broke through the game fence into the Wilderness area. I suspect that he may have been ‘spooked’ by a Leopard. He disappeared for a short while, but was soon back patrolling the fence line on the wrong side. The call of his ‘harem of eight wives’ was too strong and just after Christmas, he crossed the cattle grid at the entrance gate and back into the park – clever boy!
• For the last three weekends the five chalets in the campsite have been full, which has brought in much-needed funds. It is already booked up for Founders’ weekend.
• After the mid-term exeat, I will be starting lessons leading to the Zimbabwe Hunters’ and Guides’ Learners’ Licence. The exam will take place in November this year and there are about ten boys interested in doing it. Obviously, Quiet Waters will be used for practical lessons on trees, grass, bird and mammal identity – also for tracking and spoor identification.
• It is hoped that in the last weekend of this term, a Mountain bike rally will take place, with an interesting and challenging course running through Quiet Waters, the Wilderness area and the Southern Paddocks. This is subject to the approval of the Head. A fun event such as this would not only do much to promote Falcon and Quiet Waters, but will also help generate much needed funds.
• On the downside, we have had a large female Giraffe die and a Bushbuck ram, in the last two weeks. The Giraffe was one which was introduced into Quiet Waters in 1991, so it could have been because of old age. The Bushbuck unfortunately got caught up in a fence.

Posted on behalf of Gordon Macdonald