1. By: IsaiahBanda – Head Guide Ka’ingoPrivate Game Reserve 1
Beautiful view from Msiska Lodge, looking over magnificent Mokolo River
KA’INGO PRIVATE GAME RESERVE
Newsletter January 2016
By: Isaiah Banda – Head guide at Ka’ingo Private Game Reserve
Welcome to the Ka’ingo newsletter and thank you for stopping by. The Ka’ingo newsletter is
dedicated towards telling the many different stories which take place at Ka’ingo every single
month. From the wildlife, lions, elephants, buffaloes, zebras, giraffes, to the people, cuisine,
The Ka’ingo newsletter is a communications portal which aims to entertain, inform and
inspire!
“The age of restoration will be born from the age of information”
The winding down of a year causes reflection. As the sun set on 2015 I had a quiet moment. I
stood staring at the sun slowly approaching the horizon and the memories started to run
through my mind. The speed at which they flashed through increased as the sun started to
disappear.

2. By: IsaiahBanda – Head Guide Ka’ingoPrivate Game Reserve 2
2016 has now dawned and the possibilities are inspiring. New life abounds and the lion saga
continues to intrigue. The animals of Ka’ingo private game reserve have a fresh new look
with new individuals having established themselves towards the end of 2015. We look
forward to recording the growth of the antelope’s babies and hope to see babies surviving the
danger of the predators.
The animals are oblivious to the above mentioned and continue the fight for survival on a
slightly drier than normal Ka’ingo. On the other hand we are well of the new calendar year
and long to know what is in store; all we can do though is take a day at a time, enjoying every
second.
Mika is his name, Ka’ingo male that runs the whole reservealone, beautiful male indeed
This picture was captured on Cycad plain right infront of Cycad Lodge early in the morning,
lions decided to pay us a visit at the lodge to see if we still miss them. Isn’t amazing to have
such a big place alone, with your family members? As the dry conditions continues to take
its toll on the herbivores, leading to unfavourable feeding conditions for not only larger
herbivores but also antelopes and many bird species.
However, when conditions are less favourable for some, they are a time of plenty for others.
Many of the predators have been found to be spending majority of their time around the water
sources, often with full stomach. Times of change are upon us and it will be fascinating to
watch the dynamic shift, interactions and temporary adaptation amidst competing animals in
the near future, it is the predators that seem to flourish.
Going on an African safari is a dream on many people’s bucket lists, but when you have the
amazing opportunity to live on safari and work at a place like Ka’ingo game reserve, that
once in a lifetime experience becomes part of your everyday life. One of the things that

3. By: IsaiahBanda – Head Guide Ka’ingoPrivate Game Reserve 3
makes Ka’ingo special is a kids friendly place, as we know some of the lodges doesn’t take
kids or allow kids, with us, one thing we cannot do is to separate kids and parent.
One of the best parts of my job is when I get to give a child that comes from a big city like
Canada, Paris or Melbourne the experience of game reserve and teach them the fauna & flora
found here for a couple of days, the purpose is to create place where kids and parents can
come and learn while having fun, the African Bushveld is definitely a perfect environment
for it and here at Ka’ingo is our number one priority.
If your all your clients are having fun it means they are learning and making memories that
they will never forge
One of the greatest thing about our job is that we don’t go to work. Well not exactly. Our lives are not
separate from our work and live, play and learn in the wilderness that draws us all here
These two leopard tortoise were sighted on the reservechasing each other
This means we live not detached from the animals but immersed amongst them, and for me being
broader definition of community make me happy. Sometimes this is a treacherous. It means that you
can’t leave your shoe outside your room because the hyena with a right foot fetish that makes its
rounds through the lodge at night is bound to leave your hopping to work next morning
Elephants take on a far more generic quality, in that we love to spend time with them, but for many
people an elephant is an elephant, they are viewed more as a species rather than as a distinct set of
individuals.
Occasionally we will have Khambakho our bull hang around the lodge for one or two days and then
wonder off, but for the most part, elephant herds are part of a greater organic whole and not singled
out.

4. By: IsaiahBanda – Head Guide Ka’ingoPrivate Game Reserve 4
Kambakho on Mokolo River busy feeding
What is the importance of an elephant trunk? An elephant trunk is an important part of its anatomy.
Imagine having your hands and nose combined into one amazingly versatile organ. Elephant trunk can
pick up tiny pebbles or huge logs and most things in between. They use them to snap off branches,
plug leaves delicately, manipulate food in their mouth, and throw dust and mud on themselves to keep
cool, and all manner of other day to day actions that are integral to their normal functioning.
These impala herd was sighted close to river lodge crossing the road, adults and youngsters

5. By: IsaiahBanda – Head Guide Ka’ingoPrivate Game Reserve 5
Giraffe male taken on Ka’ingo game reserve looking straight to us, on Cycad plain
Ka’ingo Game Reserve is the home of the San Bushmen paintings. The San’s rock art is one of the
greatest in the world. The San/bushmen paintings are one of Southern Africa's greatest cultural
treasures. Subjects of the bushmen/san paintings range from animals (mainly eland) to humans,
therianthropes to ox-wagons and mounted men with rifles.
Eland is one of their highly respected animals.
San rock paintings taken on Ka’ingo game reserve

6. By: IsaiahBanda – Head Guide Ka’ingoPrivate Game Reserve 6
They use to do lot of paintings especially with things that they have experienced or seen while out on
a hunt. They had a very big respect for the animals and they wouldn’t want the animal to suffer too
much when hunting, even if they break a brunch of a tree they would sit down and ask forgiveness
from the tree after they broke a brunch from it.
The San are excellent hunters. Although they do a fair amount of trapping, the best method of hunting
is with bow and arrow. The San arrow does not kill the animal straight away. It is the deadly poison,
which eventually causes the death. In the case of small antelope such as Duiker or Steenbok, a couple
of hours may elapse before death. For larger antelope, this could be 7 to 12 hours. For large game,
such as Giraffe it could take as long as 3 days.
San make the poison from the larvae of a small beetle but will also use poison from plants, such as the
euphorbia, and snake venom.
A caterpillar, reddish yellow in colour and about three-quarters of an inch long, the poison is boiled
repeatedly until it looks like red currant jelly. It is then allowed to cool and ready to be smeared on the
arrows.
The poison is highly toxic and is greatly feared by the San themselves; the arrow points are therefore
reversed so that the poison is safely contained within the reed collar. It is also never smeared on the
point but just below it - thus preventing fatalaccidents.
The poison is neurotoxic and does not contaminate the whole animal. The spot where the arrow
strikes is cut out and thrown away,but the rest of the meat is fit to eat. The effect of the poison is not
instantaneous, and the hunters frequently have to track the animal for a few days.
The San also dug pitfalls near the larger rivers where the game came to drink. The pitfalls were large
and deep, narrowing like a funnel towards the bottom, in the centre of which was planted a sharp
stake. These pitfalls were cleverly covered with branches,which resulted in the animals walking over
the pit and falling onto the stake.

7. By: IsaiahBanda – Head Guide Ka’ingoPrivate Game Reserve 7
When catching small animals such as hares, guinea fowls, Steenbok or Duiker, traps made of twisted
gut or fibre from plants were used. These had a running noose that strangled the animal when it
stepped into the snare to collect the food that had been placed inside it. Another way of capturing
animals was to wait at Aardvark holes. Aardvark holes are used by small buck as a resting place to
escape the midday sun.
What problems do Bushmen and san face today?
The Bushmen had their homelands invaded by cattle herding Bantu tribes from around 1,500 years
ago, and by white colonists over the last few hundred years. From that time they faced discrimination,
eviction from their ancestrallands, murder and oppression amounting to a massive though unspoken
genocide, which reduced them in numbers from several million to 100,000. Today, they now use dogs
to hunt, they were clothes like we do, and they use donkey carts. Their whole tradition has changed
completely.
Ka’ingo is waiting for you to come and explore it, come and join us at our beautiful lodge and game
reserve that is situated in the heart of the majestic Waterberg mountains.
That’s all I have for you
From Isaiah Banda and Ka’ingo team
Bushveld greetings