A Bit of Bayete
December 2008

1. Greetings from Bayete Zulu
2. Win a luxury holiday for two
3. A wise man once said
4. Ranger’s report
5. What’s hot in the master chef’s pot?
6. BONUS: Kiddies Christmas holiday activity

Dear Bayetezulu Guest,

Festive greetings from your extended family at Bayete Zulu Boutique Game Lodge.

It honestly seems like just the other day that we were introducing you to a Bit of Bayete just as the delicate sights and sounds of Spring were emerging here at the lodge. Now, three months and a new Summer landscape later, we introduced a whole new group of visitors to our delightful kaleidoscope that is Bayete Zulu Boutique Game Lodge.

So this season we encourage you to count your blessings instead of your crosses; count your gains instead of your losses; count your joys instead of your woes; and count your friends instead of your foes. Count your smiles instead of your tears; count your courage instead of your fears; count your health instead of your wealth and love your neighbour as much as yourself. After all, Christmas is not just a date in the calendar, it’s a state of mind!

May peace be your gift this Christmas and your blessing all year through!
We look forward to sharing a bit more of Bayete with you in 2009.

End off the year with a bang and a bit more than just a bit of Bayete! Win a two night stay at Bayete Zulu for two people including breakfast, dinner and a game drive. Enter online at www.bayetezulu.co.za and follow the competition link. Terms and conditions apply. The winner will be published in the next issue of A Bit of Bayete.

Or treat the family to a well-deserved break together and take advantage of our Christmas Holiday Specials for the 2008 festive season.

Last months winner of a "Luxury Holiday for two" is Margie Manser! Congratulations!

“There’s more, much more, to Christmas than candlelight and cheer; it’s the spirit of sweet friendship that brightens all year. It’s thoughtfulness and kindness, its hope reborn again, for peace, for understanding, and for goodwill to all men.”

By Odette Fourie, Field Guide - Bayete Zulu

Being a field guide, I get to experience and do things as part of my job that most people don’t ever experience in a lifetime. One of them is tracking - tracking elephant, to be more exact. You would think that finding something as large as an African Savannah Elephant would be easy - well, think again!

I was driving around in a game viewer when suddenly one of the trackers told me to stop. He climbed out, and stood staring at a seemingly ordinary patch of mud. To the untrained eye, this would simply look like a muddy puddle that warthogs might choose to bath in; but upon closer inspection, the tracker proclaimed that two elephants had came past just a few hours ago. He could also tell that they had been feeding on a nearby bush as they passed through.

Having picked up on the spoor, we were off again in the viewer, hot on the trail of the ’big trunkers’. We spotted the sneaky giants camouflaged amongst the bushes. Being my first encounter with Rambo and Rachel, the tracker urged me to get out of the game viewer to go stand in front of the elephants in an attempt to interact with them. Nothing could have prepared me for the sheer wonder and awe I felt standing in front of these two colossal animals as they walked straight up to me. Without warning, a huge trunk reached down to sniff my shirt as I felt sure that I was sucking in my very last breath. And just as suddenly, the creature turned around in disinterest and walked off.

Since then, I have not only gotten used to both Rambo and Rachel, but I’ve also come to know them as the two most adorable attention seekers ever. It still takes all my composure not to reach out and hug them every time I’m with them! Of all the animals we have here at Bayete Zulu, I think that I’m most impressed by the intelligence displayed by these two prima donnas and I’m just waiting for the day that I catch them walking backwards while sweeping the floor with a branch to hide their tracks. I certainly wouldn’t put it past these majestic shadow masters of the bush!

Bayete Zulu’s Festive Christmas Ice-cream

Ingredients:

1 handful toasted almonds, chopped
2 handfuls each raisins, sultanas, currants and chopped candied peel
1/3 cup light rum
1 litre chocolate ice-cream (preferably with choc chips)
1 small handful chopped green and red glace cherries
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice

Method:

Soak almonds and dried fruit in rum overnight.
Chill a 2 litre pudding basin in the freezer.
Soften the ice-cream until smooth but not runny, then fold in dried fruit mixture, together with the cherries and spices until evenly combined.
Spoon the mixture into the chilled pudding basin and smooth the top.
Freeze for at least 5 hours or overnight.

To serve, unmould onto serving plate, and decorate with glace cherries or holly leaves - perfect for a hot South African Christmas!

3D Christmas tree decoration

Instructions:

Download and print the Christmas tree shapes onto coloured cardboard and cut them out (you will need two for each tree).
Decorate them as you like using glitter, coloured pens or even real leaves from the garden.
Once decorated, cut each along the lines that go through center of the tree and then slide into each other.
The trees will stand on their own.

Perfect idea for keeping little hands busy in the holidays!

Until next time,
The Bayete Zulu Team