News / Camp News

Winter arrived at Kwetsani in the beginning of June with an icy wind blowing and the temperatures dropping.  The days are generally mild (around 20 degrees Celsius) unless the wind is blowing. Our minimum dropped down to 5 degrees in the middle of the month. The skies have been clear and crisp. 

The water levels have dropped as quickly as they rose in May and we are slowly reclaiming our island. The staff village is returning to normal, but there is still a stream flowing through the middle of it. The floodplain in front of camp is drying out and one can now walk on Kwetsani beach without getting wet feet. 

The water is still flowing past Kwetsani boat jetty, but once the levels drop enough and it stops flowing into the vlei area to the south of the island, the vlei will start drying out too and more of the island will be accessible. 

The Jao Pride has taken up residence on the island, and we've had regular sightings of lionesses and cubs with a male. The pride managed to kill two impala and a warthog in one week. The first kill was stolen by the male, but the warthog was shared by the lionesses and cubs. The last impala was killed right in the staff village, which made arriving at work on time a little difficult....

The lioness with cubs seems to be spending most of her time on the southern part of the island, near the baobab. 

Also on the cat front, one morning there were two leopard sightings in camp. There has been great leopard viewing on Hunda Island. This island also delivered our first sighting of the lone lioness 'Broken Nose' for a long while. 

We have also seen a small spotted genet in the camp in the evenings and he seems very relaxed.  

There is a breeding pair of blacksmith plovers with three eggs on their nest on the island in front of camp. The family of wattled cranes is still around and there is a pair of fish eagles building a nest close to camp.  

Ian and Michélle Burger

OB Morafhe and OP Kaluluka