Rain, bugs and cheetah

We had some really good rain over the weekend which has filled almost all the dams.  The Omaruru river has been flowing relieving the severe drought in the town of Omaruru.  The dam at the lodge is almost full and there is a lot of water in the dam at Tasha's house.

For the first time bull frogs have appeared at Tasha's dam which was very exciting.  These frogs have real teeth and can cause nasty bites as can be seen in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1nIpf0t_9k&t=1s

With the rain comes all the bugs, flying ants and flying termites, so we have to close up the house or be overrun!!

Last week on Thursday three new cheetahs arrived from CCF (Cheeta Conservation Fund).  We released them into a boma to get used to their environment.  These cheetahs are 3 males that are about 4 years old and are supposed to be used to people and vehicles, but it turns out they are not.  These cheetahs are so used to being fed pieces of meat that they are not feeding properly on an impala carcass that was provided for them.  Looks like they will be a challenge to habituate them so they can be viewed when released into the reserve.

Last night on the way home from checking up on the cheetah we came across a number of bull frogs hopping down the road so we decided to collect them and release them at our dam before the Maribu Storks eat them all.  When we released them we counted 16 frogs which more than doubled the population on the dam by the house.

A Solifuge

A Yellow-billed Kite

A Cheetah waiting to be released

A full Lake Giraffe

The lodge dam is almost full

The river flowing into the dam by the house

The house dam filling up

The next morning

The bull frogs appear

A large male bull frog

Fighting for mating rights

A terrapin