Category Archives: insects

Valentine’s day preparations…Cute kissing slugs, bugs and orange Crossandra Flowers

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day… Today, Friday 13th…Kelli, the cruise ship traveller, gets to San Diego on her ship today, off to Hawaii tomorrow…hard work but wonderful travel experience… A beautiful day dawns for me, at Chilo… An amazing grasshopper on … Continue reading

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Hyenas and Owl at Sunrise, Baobab pulp for breakfast;Tiepolo sky, Moths and Mango at Sunset……

Sunrise brings a watery radiance, the promise of rain, as two hyenas chat to each other in subdued voices across the Save River and as I relax with coffee, in the chair on my veranda at Chilo, a young owl flies off … Continue reading

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Mahenye Sand Forest; Secret Paths and Millipedes; Special Birds and Botany

A trip to the Mahenye Sand Forest from Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge in the rainy season is a voyage of discovery…. First comes the ride through the Mahenye Village, a haven of big trees, hand painted huts and friendly faces…   This … Continue reading

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Bees and malaria; Honey gatherers and baobabs….

Honey Gatherers and bees have been much on my mind… when we walk through the sand forest near to Mahenye village I photograph the pegs and ancient pegs marks on a baobab trunk… and the giant land snail who has … Continue reading

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African Wood Owls fascinate; Gecko for supper….

  African Wood Owl – Strix woodfordii As dusk falls, we sit quietly on the breakfast deck at Chilo Gorge…listening to the night sounds, enjoying the cool after a long, hot, rain-threatening day… A bush baby tiptoes out of the … Continue reading

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Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge; Rain and Rejuvenation, Snails and Wild Flowers…

At the beginning of 2015, I reminisce ….. Clive Stockil, through Tusk Trust, won the Prince William Award  for a Lifetime Achievement in Conservation in 2013…here he is at Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge with staff and the Award itself….. We now congratulate Richard … Continue reading

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Hello Kitty Now Has An Organic Farm – we love Hello Kitty!

If this is what it takes to persuade people to grow their own healthy food, I’m all for it. Gardens are special places, and anyway I love Hello Kitty…….! …..as do my grandchildren Jade and Rayne, here made up as … Continue reading

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Lowveld rainy season and funky frogs; Elephants, and more elephants…

October…Suicide month…alternating bouts of heat, with panting plants wilting in the intense sunlight, and then, overnight, cool blasts of wind, bringing slanting rain and lightening streaking across the Gonarezhou wilderness opposite Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge. This is a month of … Continue reading

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Running in front of a cyclone, diamonds and raindrops…..

8th January: On our way back to Senuko, we drive into the dusk with flashing stabs of lightening that illuminate a huge cloud front in the East, somewhere over Mozambique. Seems like the front of weather from the cyclone in … Continue reading

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Chilo hornbills in flight, cute spider and aloe spikes….

6th January: A visit to Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge, delivering radios for their communications, gives me a chance to dive into the gardens and catch up with the gardeners there. A sundown visit to the Chivalula Falls is awe inspiring, … Continue reading

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