Limpopo-Lipadi Blog

This month Limpopo-Lipadi has published a new electronic brochure online. The thirty or so pages contain a wealth of information about the reserve and shareholding and are designed to showcase some of the fantastic wildlife opportunities, memorable bush experiences and stunning accommodation options we have available. The brochure itself can be downloaded from our website now.

Please note that the brochure is provided solely as a source of supplementary information about Limpopo-Lipadi and does not, in itself, constitute an invitation to invest. To find out more about becoming a shareholder in this inspiring project in Botswana simply email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This month sees a special feature on Limpopo-Lipadi's leopards published in International Lifestyle Magazine. ILM focuses on positive lifestyle choices from around the globe and features inspirational people alongside great design and photography.

Our feature spans four whole pages and looks amazing, whether viewed in their online publication, in the print issue, or just a standalone PDF (download from our website now)!

Share the link with friends around the world!

Here for March is our brand new public newsletter containing recent highlights and updates from the reserve. You can download a copy from the website now. Keep your eye out for the next bi-monthly issue in late May - why not subscribe to the blog or follow us on Facebook to keep updated.

Happy reading!

Inspired by dinner-table conversations at Limpopo-Lipadi this blog is a collated reading list of some of our shareholders' recommendations for books about, or featuring, Africa and especially Botswana. The list, which is in no particular order, features travelogues, investigative reporting, memoirs, adventure novels and short stories. Perhaps your favourite is missing? Why not add to the list?

"Twenty chickens for a saddle: the story of an African childhood" - Robyn Scott (based on a farm just a few kilometres west of the reserve!)

"The lost world of the Kalahari" - Laurens van der Post

The number 1 ladies detective agency series - Alexander McCall-Smith

"Botswana time" - Will Randall

"Cry of the Kalahari" - Mark and Delia Owens

"Tropic of Capricorn: a remarkable journey to the forgotten corners of the world" - Simon Reeve

"Don't look behind you!: true tales of a safari guide" - Peter Allison

"The eye of the elephant: an epic adventure in the African wilderness" - Delia and Mark Owens

"A game ranger remembers" - Bruce Bryden

"Baking cakes in Kigali" - Claire Perkings

"Don't run whatever you do: my adventures as a safari guide" - Peter Allison

"Wild honey: more stories from an African wildlife sanctuary" - Bookey Peek

"Chasing the devil: on foot through Africa's killing fields" - Tim Butcher

"Dark star safari: overland from Cairo to Cape Town" - Paul Theroux

"The weekenders: travels in the heart of Africa" - various authors

"Secrets of the savannah" - Mark and Delia Owens

"The elephant's secret sense: the hidden life of the wild herds of Africa" - Caitlin O'Connell

"The poisonwood bible" - Barbara Kingsolver

"The Africa house" - Christina Lamb

"I dreamed of Africa" - Kuki Gallman

"West With The Night" - Beryl Markham

"A Voyager out: The Life Of Mary Kingsley" - Katherine Frank

"The Tree Where Man Was Born", "African Silences", "Sand Rivers" - Peter Matthiesson

"King Leopolds Ghost" - Adam Hothschild

"Babylon's ark" - Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence

"Sahara" - Michael Palin

"We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families" - Philip Gourevitch

"Blood river: a journey to Africa's broken heart" - Tim Butcher

Plus many of the adventurous novels by Wilbur Smith and any books on the Courtneys and the Ballantynes.

This month sees the first publishing of the new Limpopo-Lipadi print advert in Africa Geographic. The full page design, shown above, is complemented by online advertising through their websites and blogs.

Accompanying the wild dogs feature article we publicised last week this advert is already delivering with several enquiries made in the past week, since the latest issue was published on the 20th January.

You can download a PDF of the advert from our site and feel free to circulate it or pass it on to any interested friends and acquaintances.

Limpopo-Lipadi's ground-breaking wild dog reintroduction project is, this month, the subject of a special feature article in Africa Geographic. You can download a copy of the article on our site and read more about the fascinating history of our wild dog pack.

Limpopo-Lipadi is thrilled to announce that the finalised version of the 2012 calendar is now available to download from the website. Featuring a dozen photographs, taken by management staff and shareholders on the reserve, each month is beautifully illustrated. Get your copy now and tell all your friends!

Thanks to all of those that have generously provided their images for use and to Panayota for doing the painstaking production work that has brought them together so well.

Avid Google Earth viewers will have noticed that large parts of the reserve are now covered by higher resolution satellite imagery than ever before. This has been useful for mapping the reserve but along the way has thrown up some interesting spots.

A kmz file of some of these can now be downloaded from the website, that amongst other things shows elephants leaving a waterhole and one of the cruisers at Mogorosi - could it have been you in that vehicle? Isn't it incredible to think that individual animals can be identified from pictures taken far above the earth!

What else can you spot hiding in the bush?

As previously announced in the blog early December saw attempts to locate and dart some of our adult wild dogs to allow us to fit two additional animals with radio collars and replace the old collar on Two Spots, our dominant female. Shareholders and guests were invited to participate in this exciting event on the reserve.

Shareholders will be excited to hear that the waterhole regeneration programme continues apace and this month has seen work at Mbusi. The new pool is located a little to the southwest of the old trough but remains within view of the hide (as well as being sited perfectly for potential future hide developments). Feedback from shareholders has been used to create a reasonable size pool with an irregular outline to better mimic a natural waterhole. The low profile and coloured concrete mixture means it blends in very well with the surrounding soil and I'm sure all will agree this represents a major improvement on what went before.

Limpopo-Lipadi is proud to announce that the reserve website has had a complete makeover and is now available online. Guests can register with the new site to obtain access to more content including our trail camera photo galleries featuring candid images from around the reserve. Why not stop by and see us some time? A news blog has also been introduced to showcase all the new stories emerging from the reserve.

Last night, 19 August, just as Thea and I were falling asleep after a great day of game viewing, we were startled completely awake by the sound of a tremendous explosion!

Like Chicken Little I ran outside to see if the sky was falling. I looked towards the staff village and the office, afraid I would see flames shooting skyward, but all was calm. I looked to the sky for a thundercloud, but all I saw was millions of stars. Remembering back to the early days of supersonic flight, I recalled the "explosion" sounded like a sonic boom. However, I could hear no jet airplane engine.

On the theory that all's well that ends well, and no damage done, I stumbled back to bed. Next morning we asked everyone we met, and no one had any idea where the sound came from. Until - we asked our excellent house keeper, Portia - she knew! She reported seeing a meteorite or some other sort of "space junk" streaking across the sky just prior to the boom! Mystery solved - the sky WAS falling!

This is the third instance of dramatic meteorite sightings at the reserve in the last year!

Mr. Gerald Briers, one of our shareholders from the UK, was kind enough to provide Limpopo-Lipadi with a wonderful trail camera device to allow us to capture still photographs of animals at various locations throughout the reserve. This enables us to update new photographs onto the website for your enjoyment. The Management of Limpopo-Lipadi would like to thank Mr. Briers for this wonderful opportunity.

The Reconyx trail cam was installed at Mbusi waterhole for a test run, what an amazing item this is! Have a look in the new Trail Cam photo galleries see what you've been missing (as the Reconyx logo says).

Limpopo-Lipadi has a brand new Facebook page, why not drop by and catch up on the latest updates, pictures and videos.

On Saturday the 21st November 2009 I was at Limpopo-Lipadi to celebrate a family birthday. It was chilly and we had some of the sails down on the patio. All of a sudden we saw the white bright light outside. A huge fireball streaked across the sky. Approximately 5 minutes later there was a booming explosion that shook the earth.

It was a meteor.