– Boekenhoutskloof

Hello there

Well, when all of a sudden the cold winter chill disappears and a short bushveld rain in early September suddenly heralds the entry of an African summer, you just don’t know what may be served up next off the weathery smorgasbord!

An African summer can cook! Sometimes as summer enters we may be taken by surprise with a few splatters of enticing rain that nothing responds to – not even the grass. To counter this newfound seasonal hope, it’s not unusual for this first sun of summer to demonstrate what it’s made of and seemingly radiate the winter bushveld with those sprightly hot beams to wake her up from her hibernation.

Nature is quite a thing if you take careful note. We have over 1’000 head of game roaming around this reserve that can last have tasted rain over nine months ago. Luckily we have a small stream -The Boekenhoutskloof River – that feeds the reserve and we keep a few select water holes topped up in some of the higher, drier areas within this hilly sanctuary.

But food (grazing and browsing) at the end of each winter is scarce, very scarce and the zebra and wildebeest over utilize every inch of this 1’000 hectare reserve. The eland suffer by the end of winter, as do the warthog and bush pigs and there are losses as nature takes her toll, but the giraffe, waterbuck, kudu and impala head through this weather catastrophe as if nothing is a problem!

The carnivores are ever present (caracal, jackal, hyena and leopard) and like shadows they follow the weak and dying. From my cottage it is easily observed – a motion picture show projected onto an ever seething and moving canvass. Sometimes our guests head off with our ranger guides on foot to encounter this prehistoric story as it is played out each day.

Life goes on…whether there is new green grass or not – and each day we automatically scour the horizon for those big, dark rumbling clouds sent from the eastern shores of Southern Africa to bring us our vital rains.

It got me to thinking, how nature takes the change in seasons all in its stride, yet we sophisticated humans running big corporate conglomerates could never go without the daily hustle and the constant inflow society needs to be maintained. Hospitals to catch us when we fall, food stores and restaurants at our beck and call and a seemingly unending supply of life giving sustenance. It’s somehow far removed from nature, but that is only seemingly so. No rain means no life, no crops, no food and suddenly the economy is under duress. Life begins stressing at all levels. Perhaps you may sometimes feel this subconsciously when stifling desert heat wilts life around you and the weather becomes the preferred conversational topic of the moment?

It’s not far fetched to see how this cycle gets repeated in the business world, doesn’t it? Our businesses have to have strong roots that tap deep into wet earth. They need to weather the financial storms and looming scales of economy thrust upon Africa from far distant shores. They may have to have rainmakers on board that bring the constant flow of clients with clever tactical application or just simple virtuous reputation.

And just like Africa, when the trees fill with fruits and nuts and the grasses sprout that sun-giving energy, so too in business, our production departments have to be battle-ready to take instant advantage of the season.

So as the green summer season approaches each year, lets plan for the coming of the clients, the requests for summer fun, safari and wide-open spaces. Let’s enamour those brides planning their off-the-wall weddings, those corporate tycoons celebrating their next milestone dinner and lets acknowledge those leading performers, the rain makers that keep the wheels turning, with an award’s banquet fit for royalty or an incentive event that wins the trophy.

It’s that time of season where we honour all those that participate in keeping the flag flying and what better way to achieve this than a classic Hayward’s Grand Safari Event, just a short ride away from the city, in a sublime bushveld setting, where prehistoric life itself just goes on. Let’s discuss your next special event. 

Always at your safari service,