The weather was unusually hot, not ideal for birding. But why do birds respond so quickly to a very early hot morning, and more or less slacken off even after a couple of hours? Temperature is indeed the main factor. All small birds wake up hungry, but insect food isn’t always obvious first thing. Being
In a rural community in the northern parts of the Drakensberg is a vibrant community and home to our Khanyisela Project and Royal Drakensberg Primary School. We share our interactions on social media and we have been part of the Pack for a Purpose initiative for approximately 5 years. See more Our mission is to
We have had the most exciting couple of weeks. The Scottish travelling language specialists, Dr Marysia Nash and her colleague Gemma MacDonald, arrived to check on the implementation of our BabyBoost programme and to help begin a new group. As individuals they are packed with a purpose of boosting children through parent power. It’s always
We were again lucky with big game. There must have been a dozen Eland sightings, mostly singles, with plenty of other evidence including broken Buddleja salviifolia bushes – their favourite winter food. A group of six Mountain Reedbuck was the largest we have ever seen. A bushbuck near the hotel garden appeared to have no
Hospitality rocks. It has to be the one business which is never dull; there are daily challenges and there is always a good glass of red in the evenings when the chaos subsides. Yesterday our Orla had too close of an encounter with a baboon and then a small fire brought life to a head
Sheila Hyman was the Junior School Head when we were students at St John’s Diocesan School for Girls in Pietermaritzburg. After completing my first year at St John’s I was shocked to hear that the Headmistress had decided to spend Christmas at The Cavern with her almost 95 year old mother. I was completely blown
The weather was perfect, birds responding full bore at sunrise. The highlight was seeing three Half-collared Kingfishers at once on the bottom pond. Although this is a regular haunt the kingfishers usually flee if approached too closely. Not today. This was a breeding episode, mom, dad and junior – easily identified by mottled beak and
All our children are teens and our youngest has requested to go to the movies with her friends on Saturday night. This got me thinking…
Our Big5Hike took place this past weekend and we had almost 100 hikers summit the 5 peaks surrounding The Cavern. It was a weekend of incredible sunshine and was such a success with R1m raised to go towards educating the children from our rural amaZizi Village. We gathered on Saturday evening for our Home Coming
We’ve all heard of the African Big Five (fierce and hairies), and Cavernites know of the Cavern Big Five (high peaks to be walked consecutively in a single day). Now it’s time to introduce the Cavern Feathered Five. These are the birds which most epitomise The Cavern birding experience. How to choose them? Endemism is
