Tuli regeneration after the floods …

Guests who visited Tuli as recently as mid-January would think they had landed on a different planet if they returned at the end of the month. The landscape is almost unrecognisable. For after the devastating floods came the most amazing transformation of the bush.

The baobab plain behind Tuli Safari Lodge – before the rain

The baobab plain behind Tuli Safari Lodge – after rain

The parched, stark landscape became a beautiful, lush sea of yellow, purple and green. And not just green, but every shade of green imaginable. Lime green, apple green, emerald green, bottle green, sedge green, pea green …. It is a real jaw-dropper!

The animals that had somehow survived the drought and hung on until these rains arrived are now abundant and well-fed again. Babies are appearing everywhere. This is a time of rebirth.

Elephant in the flowers at Tuli Safari Lodge

Jackal in wild flowers at Tuli Safari Lodge

Zebra in flowers at Tuli Safari Lodge

Birds and insects are particularly numerous. There seem to be caterpillars everywhere, munching away on the new growth of leaves. Birds are busy building nests and laying eggs. Weavers are particularly visible with their beautifully-constructed hanging masterpieces looking fresh, and parents busily flying in and out with tasty morsels for their chicks.

Smaller bushes and trees produce a multitude of colourful flowers, and the majestic baobabs are sporting huge pendulous fruits. The devil’s claw flowers provide the most vibrant spectacle, carpeting the veld in yellow to complement all the green, making everything look alive and fresh again.

The plentiful water and good vegetation will stand Tuli in good stead for months and years to come – and, for a little while at least, Tuli will not live up to its Tswana name meaning ‘dust’.

The lodge will also be regenerated after the floods, though it may take a little longer! The clean-up operation is progressing well, but sadly it is not just a question of cleaning, redecorating and purchasing new furnishings. The lodge’s walls were so thoroughly drenched that we fear some buildings may be unstable. We also need to consider protection against future floods – Tuli flooded in 1988, 2000 and again now in 2013, each time more seriously than before. Tuli turns 50 next year, and like all grande dames might now need a bit of a transformation in its own right! Happily our self-catering bush camp Molema remains fully functional – and offers camping facilities or chalets with guided activities and self-drive trails.

From one extreme to the other …

Be careful what you wish for … Tuli was desperate for rain after months and months of drought, and then 450mm (18 inches) fell in just a few days. The first sign that something unusual was afoot was the hippo at the end of the garden – it has happened once or twice before, but hippos are a very rare sighting indeed in Tuli where usually for much of the year the Limpopo is less ‘great grey green and greasy’ and more ‘wide, dry and sandy’.

And then came the flood.

With so much rain falling on such parched ground in so short a time, water levels were unprecedented across the Northern Tuli Game Reserve. The Limpopo River was at its highest since records began and broke its banks abruptly on the evening of Sunday January 21^st. The Tuli team waded knee-deep in water moving what they could, but then found themselves suddenly having to swim. The flood waters rose extremely rapidly and engulfed most of the lodge in muddy water up to 2 metres (6 feet +) deep. For photos of the river & lodge as the flood waters were rising please see our Facebook page.

We had already evacuated our guests, and as night fell our stalwart staff members reluctantly retreated. Everyone spent the night safely on high ground, watching and worrying as the water level crept up the rocks.

When morning came, the water receded and by midday the Limpopo was back within its banks. It left quite a trail of destruction behind it … see photos below.

Whilst we undertake a full assessment of the damage, Tuli Safari Lodge will regrettably remain closed until further notice.

The majority of the Tuli wildlife moved to high ground during the floods – as has been seen during other natural disasters, animals sense things before we do. Water is now plentiful, and soon there will be good vegetation which will stand the area in good stead for months and years to come.

Elsewhere, bridges were washed away, the cable car used to cross the border from South Africa into Botswana at Pont Drift has been damaged, one of our guest’s hire cars left at the border is somewhere on its way to Mozambique having been washed away, and apparently 15000 crocodiles have escaped from a crocodile farm downstream!

Whilst our clean-up operation is underway, our thoughts are with others throughout the Limpopo area who have suffered, and especially with the friends and families of those who lost their lives in these devastating floods.

Tuli 5 ele suite after floods

Tuli pool after floods

Tree blocking path at Tuli after floods

Tuli lives up to its name this year …

Tuli means dust in Tswana, the language spoken in the area around the Tuli Block and Northern Tuli Game Reserve. Swirling dust is characteristic of the Tuli area, particularly in the dry season. Combined with the majestic rocky landscape and low sun, the dust creates atmospheric, classic images such as these elephants heading off to water …

Tuli Safari Lodge – elephants in dusty sunset

This year it seems especially appropriate, as the ‘rainy’ season was very poor. ‘Rainy’ is a notional concept in Tuli anyway. The climate here is semi-arid, with rainfall low and unpredictable (the average annual rainfall is 380mm).

Most rain falls between November and February, and much of this comes in the form heavy but short downpours during thunderstorms. This isn’t as effective for the soil and landscape as steady, gentle rainfall as it creates considerable run off and erosion after the dry winter months.

People who know the area well say that there has been a cyclical pattern recently, with between 3 and 5 ‘good’ rainy seasons followed by a number of very dry ‘rainy’ seasons. The number of Tuli’s trademark elephants appears to be stable regardless of the cyclical rains. However these dry periods result in lack of grazing and browsing and can cause animals such as impala, warthog, zebra, waterbuck and wildebeest to suffer. There is still water in the natural springs and a few pools in the Limpopo River, but only the strong survive.

Perhaps this is nature’s way of controlling numbers in a semi-arid area with limited carrying capacity? It also gives very young trees, on which impala can have a major impact, the opportunity to get established. And there’s also a silver lining as the predators benefit from the easier pickings during such dry periods. Recent guests at Tuli Safari Lodge were privileged to witness Tuli’s ‘Super Mum’ cheetah and her five cubs make a kill.

Cheetah at Tuli Safari Lodge

The grounds of Tuli Safari Lodge also provide a haven for many animals. Our resident bushbuck and mongoose families are joined by impala, warthog and even the mighty eland – all of which become uncharacteristically bold around people. Elephants also make the odd incursion through the safety fence, keeping the grounds men very busy!

Even in times of drought, The Northern Tuli Game Reserve’s stunning landscapes provide a starkly beautiful backdrop to the spectacular wildlife experience.

Baobab in dry Tuli landscape

Once the first few drops of rain arrive the terminalia trees and sedges begin to leaf up. Dramatic changes to the vegetation follow with grasses, wild flowers and trees in full leaf. Tuli is transformed into a lush green paradise, and no longer lives up to its Tswana name.

Jackal in wild flowers at Tuli Safari Lodge

Zebra & eland at Tuli after rains

How to photograph the Tuli elephant shrew

Tuli Safari Lodge in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve, Botswana, must be one of the only places in Africa to be able to guarantee excellent sightings of elephant shrews. Elephant shrews are widely dispersed in Africa but are usually shy and very rarely seen.

Over the years, the Tuli elephant shrews have learned to take advantage of the remnants of nibbles left at one of Tuli’s most spectacular sun downer spots atop a rocky sandstone kopje. This learned behaviour seems to be being passed from one generation to another, thus ensuring that sightings of these relatively relaxed elephant shrews continues.

Capturing a great photo of the Tuli elephant shrews requires a mixture of patience, perseverance and photographic know-how. The shrews move so fast as they leap from one rock to another, that Tuli guests often get a picture of bare rock or a little bit of tail if they’re lucky!

Elephant shrew at Tuli Safari Lodge, Botswana

This shot was taken by a regular guest at Tuli Safari Lodge, Nick Hiltermann. His camera was on aperture priority, which with a wide aperture on his 70:200 zoom lens, provided for a short depth of field with everything behind the shrew nicely blurred out.

Nick roped in his daughter as his photographic assistant, holding a gold reflector at about 90^o to the shrew. The flashgun was bounced off the reflector to soften the flash and warm up the light. This also put a light into the shrew’s eye and created a great shadow. Nick lay down on his tummy for a great elephant shrew’s eye level shot.

Do you have any good tips for photographing the Little 5?

Related article: How to photograph a baobab

One way to photograph a baobab

By Nick Hiltermann

Baobab at Tuli Safari Lodge, Botswana

I have taken many pictures of this baobab at Tuli Safari Lodge over the years, and it has become for me something of an iconic tree.

Many good pictures have been taken with the tree silhouetted against great sunsets, and even with the stars appearing in between the branches out of an inky blue night sky. On this evening, however, I decided to experiment with illuminating the tree with a spotlight from my Land Cruiser.

The first thing I did when the sunset was just starting was to put a wide angle lens on my camera and select a position which gave me a pleasing composition. I then mounted the camera close to the ground on a sturdy tripod and attached a cable release in order to reduce the chance of camera shake. The lens was zoomed to 14mm.

With respect to the exposure, I chose to shoot on aperture priority and matrix metering, dialling in about one stop of underexposure as the sunset was fairly weak and I wanted to bring out whatever colour there was. I also set the white balance to cloudy in order to warm things up still further. I chose to shoot using RAW as this would give me the best quality my camera could produce.

As I had learned from previous experience that the autofocus tends to hunt when it starts getting dark, I focussed the camera early on using autofocus and then carefully switched to manual focus, thus locking that focus in place.

I parked my Cruiser about 20m from the camera with my spotlight connected. It is important to park in a way that no light can accidentally spill into the lens. What I quickly learned was that, during the time when folk typically take sunset shots, I was not able to keep the lens of the camera open long enough to use the spotlight, despite using a small aperture. Thankfully some of the best sunset shots are taken well after the sun has disappeared so I climbed on my roof rack and had a beer.

Eventually it got dark enough to allow me to press the cable release and have time to run to the Cruiser to turn on the spotlight and ‘paint’ the tree before the shutter closed. I kept doing this whilst experimenting with the amount of light I was spraying at the tree until after it got so dark that I needed my torch to check my camera!

Of course, kneeling on the ground with one’s head over the camera eventually focused even my mind and I stole precautionary glances with sweeps of the torch behind me as I have previously had close encounters with hyenas at this very spot at Tuli. “Look what Mummy has brought back for supper!” did not form part of my plans!

Eventually it got so very dark that even the remnants of the sunset seemed to have disappeared and, after carefully gathering up my kit, I headed back to Tuli Safari Lodge for a well-earned refreshment.

This picture is one of those taken during this little experiment. It was interesting for me to note that the picture I chose was actually the last one taken at what was the darkest moment. The exposure was 30 seconds. The learning for me is that the camera can still see the sunset well after we have decided that it is all over for the evening.

There may well be more effective ways in which to do this type of photography but life is a journey and there is a lot of fun to be had in simply having a go!

Do you have any good tips on photographing trees?

The baobab – a personal account by Maggie Lansdown

Baobabs are intriguing trees – they can be seen from miles away and, indeed, in the salt pans of Botswana, they are used for navigating.  With the virtual absence of landmarks in the Makgadikgadi Pans, the baobabs there became navigation markers for the early explorers.  Some are thought to be thousands of years old, though it is difficult to tell as they lack growth rings.

Baobabs are often referred to as ‘upside-down’ trees, since it looks as though their roots are up in the air.  The Bushmen believe that there are no young baobabs … God throws fully grown ones from heaven and being top-heavy they always land upside down with their roots in the air!  Another legend tells how each tree on Earth was assigned to an animal.  The hyena, last in line, was given the strange-looking baobab.  In disgust he pulled it out of the ground and planted it upside-down.

My tree book refers to them as ‘grotesque’ which I consider hugely unfair!

Many parts of the baobab are used in food and medicine: the leaves are rich in vitamin C and are used as a vegetable throughout Africa.  The dried pulp is used to make porridge and seeds are cooked with sugar as a snack.  The baobab fruit is a powerful anti-oxidant. And the bark fibre is fire-resistant and used in weaving and for floor mats as well as for cloth and rope.

Baobabs store incredible volumes of water in their wood and in hollows in the trunk, making them attractive to animals in semi-arid areas like the Northern Tuli Game Reserve.

The beautiful flowers last just a single day and are pollinated by fruit bats.

The baobab is a very distinctive and useful tree which forms an integral part of the African landscape.

Baobab flower at Tuli Safari Lodge, Botswana

Baobab trees at Tuli Safari Lodge, Botswana

From South Africa to Botswana’s Northern Tuli Game Reserve by cable car

There are many examples of interesting border crossings in the world – piles of stones marking international boundaries, underground borders, borders within the same town, even borders where you walk out of one country through one door and into another country through a different door … But few can be as exciting as gliding between South Africa and Botswana across the legendary Limpopo River by cable car.

The border crossing at Pont Drift stands at a unique point in Africa, very close to the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers where three countries – Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe meet. It is a timeless spot where nature and culture combine in majestic landscapes, fascinating history and fabulous wildlife. It links two off-the-beaten-track tourist destinations: the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site and National Park in South Africa and the Northern Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana.

When the Limpopo River is not flowing – something which varies considerably from year to year depending on the rains, but typically this might be from June to November – it is possible to drive across the dry sandy riverbed. However when the ‘great grey-green greasy Limpopo’ (as immortalised in Kipling’s Just So Stories) is in spate, the cable car comes into play.

Cast all images of ski resorts out of your mind – this cable car is much more rustic and quintessentially African!

Cable car crossing at Pont Drift between South Africa and Northern Tuli Game Reserve

After pressing the buzzer to alert the operator on the opposite bank of the Limpopo River that you are ready to depart, the outsized bird cage slowly swings away from its moorings and whisks you through the riverine bush. As you clear the treeline, there is an adrenaline rush as you sway out over the river and your thoughts inevitably turn to what might be lurking beneath you in the murky waters. But a few moments later your suspended safari is over and you have safely completely your journey from one nation to another.

Guests staying at Tuli Safari Lodge will be accompanied on the crossing by their guide, who will even hold your hand if you’re nervous! The Pont Drift border post is open from 08.00 to 16.00 and the cable car carries 2-3 people and their luggage at a time at a cost of BWP35 or ZAR35 per way.

Do you have other examples of other unusual African border crossings, or a story to tell of crossing at Pont Drift?

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YouTube footage of the Pont Drift cable car border crossing