Now that our radio collared elephant bull, Damiano and his 6 wild compatriots have completed their tour of destruction at the old elephant camp, they have decided to move off and look for new pastures to thrash! Transformer and Damiano were seen, to our horror, only 5 kms away from our new Wallow and we all waited with bated breath for the electric fence to be knocked down and the bulls happily united with their old friends. Luckily they moved off back in the direction of old Old Elephant Camp where they have not been seen for at least 3 nights. This is a great sign as perhaps now that they have demolished all in sight at the camp they will venture further afield to find new delights to conquer.
We are waiting for the satellite downloads to be sent to us to find out their whereabouts. Damiano does definitely not want to be with us, but he sure is making a big scene of having been sent out to fend for himself in the big world. He is always with the other 6 bulls so has not had to make it on his own. The lovely "kirkii" tress have all burst out in new leaf and many bushes have buds appearing with the heat of summer and the scent of the rains in the air. Plenty of scrumptious greenery out there and with the rains coming up in a month or so there with be fresh water available in the Pans and what more could a "wild" elephant or "domesticated and gone wild" elephant ask for ?
Will keep you all updated.  Damiano, by the way, looks good - he is big and healthy and not looking like he is under any duress at all.
Happy travelling, our old elephant friend.

Wilma our 3 legged warthog has been seen coming and going regularly by Staff who live out at the old camp. She is totally part of the family now consisting of Mum and another youngster her age. Her adaptation to 3 legs is amazing to see and it really  gladdens our hearts to watch her lay down at Mum warthog's feet and get groomed for the best part of 20 minutes or so. She is nibbled and "de flea'd", has ears checked and hair straightened and frizzed; she is turned over and has her rump and legs checked and massaged and on occasion,nipped ( not sure what is found there) and all the time these little piggy grunts can be heard in absolute pleasure.
It had been discussed whether we should dart the little family and move  them to the new Sanctuary, but they are so settled and content where they are that it would be sad to change their abodes. With the 40 warthog to be captured from the golf course and re introduced to the Sanctuary, we feel Wilma and her family will be happy enough to remain where they are without having the  interference of 40 strangers.
The capturing and moving of the 40 warthogs from The Golf Course where they are part of a group of 80 who are demolishing the greens and causing golfers much disturbance (how dare they ???!!) will happen on about the 21st September. This translocation will be done in conjunction with the Department of National Parks  and at the moment a holding pen is belong built in front of the Wallow where the warthogs will remain for a few days (until they dig out!) to become acclimatised to the new area and new vegetation which will become their meals. No more juicy golf green lawns but real grass growing alongside the Masuie river. it will be interesting to see how long it takes for them to settle in. November always brings the birth of the warthogs in our areas so only months to go and we should have LOTS of piglets running around the Sanctuary.

Roger Parry ran an anti poaching course for 20 young men who joined us from local villages. It began with a 2 week training session and will continue with another 2 sessions of 2 weeks each. It has been a great success, with 16 anti poaching scouts who came through with flying colours and have all been hard at work in the Sanctuary over the past month. This group is led by Bongani and Fickson and they have picked up at least 42 snares and captured 4 poachers  These poachers have been turned over to National Parks and Police who will sentence them. It is for this reason that the game in the area that was so debilitated before Wild Horizons moved in, has finally settled down in realisation that we are not here to kill them. The poor two warthogs left alive, have taken longer to calm down and flee at pace whenever they catch sight of us. This will change, especially when the 40 new arrivals turn up.

New sightings on the Sanctuary have been grysbok, reedbuck, duiker, separate sightings of male and female and young bushbuck, a leopard was spotted and his tracks seen often, so those warthogs had better keep watch from the wild, never mind us ! Two cheetah were seen coming in through the fence but have since left again. A lovely herd of kudu with a young bull has tamed down and is often since around the stables.

It has been an exciting month for all and here's to the clouds gathering and the rainy season bringing us all we need to clear the air and fill the pans to keep the wildlife going . It is early yet as we have "suicide " month of October ahead - brace ourselves for the raging temperatures and BAD tempers!