Around the Campfire – Rainy days

Rain Rain and more Rain

We have been blessed with lots of rain recently in Madikwe Game Reserve. We have recorded over 300mm of rain in the past couple of months so far and it seems like it’s not going to end soon!

For the past two years we have been getting a lot more rain than what we had previous years and one can easily notice it in the condition of the bush. The rains came with lots of blessings – the animals are all in great condition and our waterholes all over the reserve are full to the brim. With the amount of rain that has fallen we have noticed that there is a drop in the presence from the animals around waterholes, as there is plenty of water laying around the reserve.

Animals in this time don’t have to travel that far to find water any more, as there is water laying in forms of small pans and wallows in the bush. Generally, after big rains most of these pans or wallows have water for about a week or two before you can see the animals start congregating around the bigger waterholes again. With the rain also comes a lot of mud and the animals like Warthog, Buffalo, Rhino and Elephant simply just love it.

You can see them constantly covered in mud as they all make use of the mud to cool down their body temperatures. A lot of new pans gets developed during this process.

You can find Warthog wallowing in smaller mud puddles and they are followed by Buffalo, and Buffalo are followed by Rhino and Elephants to create new waterholes in the reserve. You can also occasionally find the Wild dogs and Hyenas wallowing in the mud.

With the rain as well comes the challenge of doing game drives and seeing some animals, but its even more adventurous with the chance of maybe getting stuck and what might be around the next corner. Animals tend to take shelter during the rains as they, just like us, don’t like to be too wet, but once the rain stops and sun comes out its all fun and games.

You can see a new liveliness amongst all the animals and even the rangers. The bush is lush and green and the animals are all in great shape.

The rain has a lot of blessings like seeing the bush very luscious and green and challenges like possibly getting stuck, but out here in Madikwe we love it. We are ever so thankful for the rains we have gotten and still going to get this season.

Credits to

• Damien Fourie (photo 1, 2, 4 and 6)
• Peter Kgokane (photo 3 and 5)