Limpopo Lipadi

[Bugs]

I was introduced to Limpopo Lipadi by some like minded friends.

 

Like many people I have always wanted to have a piece of Africa. You would think that with my experience in owning my own Game farm, I would shy away from a similar concept, but I quickly realized that the Lipadi concept was pretty much exactly what I have been looking for all the time.

 

What sold me was that it was a way for me, and a number of other investors, to lay claim on a large piece of African soil and ensure that it remained protected indefinitely. I have seen so many wildlife charities make as much noise as possible to attract funds, but one can never be sure how effective they are.

 

So it suits my ideals, with long term conservation, and social responsibility. In fact, I see LL as a non-profit organization. Sure you have to invest in it, and may end up selling your share are a profit, but, the big plan is to use extra funds to claim more land.

 

But the big bonus is that I get to visit this beautiful area for the rest of my life at very little cost at all. The accommodation is way more than i expected, and more than most people need, but it certainly makes lends itself to going there more often.

 

So after that promotional stuff, I will continue with some photos.

 

Please note that I get nothing out of promoting LL - I am just explaining why I enjoy the concept, and how well it suits me.

[twaffle]

Looking forward to seeing your pix Dikdik, and not just a little bit envious at all!

[Game Warden]

Please note that I get nothing out of promoting LL

Don't worry: you'll know better than I there are a few Safaritalkers who are involved in LL: it is an interesting model, and now you have a place there, we all have a place to stay

[Jochen]

I've looked at LL as well, and had a nice chat with Jacques via Skype.

 

Problems for me were:

 

- Price; thing is, if I were to invest that kind of money, I'd like to get a change of lifestyle out of it for myself. Escape the cold and rain Europe, escape the traffic jams and huge tax levels ...and get a life & job in the bush.

 

- ROI; since I'd still have to keep my job here, I'd be limited to two short stays a year (aka regular holidays). This way the levies do add up. Perhaps it's a better scheme when one is retired, but ...as a foreigner I cannot stay for very long periods either (visa).

 

 

...but I wish LL all the best! It is a very good initiative.

 

J.

[Bugs]

Getting to doing some photos.....

 

J. - its not that expensive at all. It cost one tenth of what my game farm cost, and the annual levies are probably what I am loosing in a month on the game farm anyway. But its bigger and is fully natural. In fact the annual levies are less than I donate each year to other organizations. Its kinda like a holiday house - but better.

 

Now, if these people could just get out of my office, I will get to the photos!! and the story.. sigh!!

[Game Warden]

That's allright Dikdik, ship us all over there on masse and we'll do the trip report and take photos for you

[wilddog]

How about this is the next venue for an ST get together

[Bugs]

I was fortunate enough to join the blokes from Africa Geographic in a visit to Limpopo Lipadi in December 2010

 

We were all from Cape Town, and flew to Joburg where we hired a minibus and drove through to Zanzibar border. We arrived there in good time and were settled in to our lodges pretty quickly.

 

At this stage it was just curiosity, although I was curious about investing. For those who don’t know, I have had some experience in trying to run my own game farm, which made me a whole lot more cautious.

 

Photo taken from Limpopo river to lodge

 

The lodges look on to the Limpopo river, which is the South African border. The river provides for an array of wildlife and birds, and there is plenty of activity at the lodges. The lodges were well built and tastefully decorated.

 

 

It was great to share time with the AG guys, and conversation went around conservation and I found it very enlightening.

 

The days consisted of morning drives, and evening drives with sundowners at a spectacular spot. We escaped the midday heat at the lodges, and some of us had a nap in the air-conditioned rooms.

 

 

Any break in the bush is great, and we were fortunate to have sightings of many animals and birds, including Elephant, Leopard, and wild dog. We had an aardvark run between us while were doing a walk. Only problem, is that my mind was elsewhere and I missed the whole thing. A moment that I won’t forget was the visit to one huge old baobab tree cluttered with birds. It’s so humbling to stand next to a tree which has stood for so long. As a treat, we had the elephant come and greet us while we were at the tree.

 

 

 

You could see the Africa Geographic February 2012 edition for the account on the wild dog tracking or

 

Edited January 25, 2012 by dikdik

[Bugs]

How about this is the next venue for an ST get together

Absolutely.

[Game Warden]

2010? Seems we have been waiting too long for this trip report... watch out for sunburn on that baldspot. It's why I'm growing my beard to brush it up and over with the Charlton flick...

[Bugs]

A couple more photos .....

 

[Bugs]

2010? Seems we have been waiting too long for this trip report...

 

2011 to follow.....

[Sverker]

We were all from Cape Town, and flew to Joburg where we hired a minibus and drove through to Zanzibar border.

Quite a long detour to Tanzania ...

 

But seriously - in what range of money is partner/membership?

[Bugs]

We were all from Cape Town, and flew to Joburg where we hired a minibus and drove through to Zanzibar border.

Quite a long detour to Tanzania ...

 

 

I had better clear that up - There is a border post between Martins Drift and Platjan called Zanibar. Seriously!!

[Sverker]

My thought of getting someplace in Africa to call "my own"-ish is at least 20 years, but I have never done anything serious to finalise it. Probably it is impossible, but still I want to investigate.

[lipadi]

Hi Bugs,

 

Thanks for the report and pics ! Has anyone got a picture of you jumping off the Cruiser to go grab that python. It certainly was one of the highlights of that trip !

[Game Warden]

Lipadi: I want to see more posts and updates from you about LL in the Lodge, camp and operator news subforum please

[Bugs]

Hi Bugs,

 

Thanks for the report and pics ! Has anyone got a picture of you jumping off the Cruiser to go grab that python. It certainly was one of the highlights of that trip !

 

OK - for those who don't see the humour take a look at Brady Barr when he captured the python that bit him.

 

[Game Warden]

That's tiny compared to some of the monsters on your farm...

[RedLeopard]

But seriously - in what range of money is partner/membership?

 

Like Dikdik I'm also a shareholder at Limpopo-Lipadi (and for my sins responsible for the website). Its probably easiest to drop us an email at enquiries@limpopo-lipadi.org and I can forward you the overview document with further details on share prices, levies and so on.

 

Heading out there at the end of next week - and I promise a trip report once back and regular Facebook Page updates while there, subject to no lightning knocking out the router! :-)

 

 

Magnus

[RedLeopard]

Lipadi: I want to see more posts and updates from you about LL in the Lodge, camp and operator news subforum please

 

Hi Matt,

 

I promise I'll make sure to get round to this once back in a few weeks :-)

 

Is there an easy way to pull content across here from Facebook?

 

In the meantime have a look at these cool elephant (and other stuff) shots from the trail camera at Mac's Pan in December. The sequence starts out at a normal angle and then it seems a nocturnal visit from the elephants sees it given a nudge to a more jaunty position!

 

http://www.limpopo-lipadi.org/index.php/gallery/trailcam-gallery/trailcam-macs

 

 

Magnus

[Game Warden]

Redleopard: I'm very happy for you to upload the overview PDF to the operators forum, in fact, with Safaritalkers interested, it would be rude not to The operators forum is for processional use as you know, and if members here buy into the project, they are also buying into conservation. (And the more that do, the more spare bedrooms will become available for the old GW!)

 

So please make that kind of info available here, if you wish.

 

Matt

[Treepol]

Can anyone tell me what the rainfall in the Tuli Block has been like this season?

 

The Northern Tuli Predator Project blog indicates there were good rains in early December but I'm wondering if these were sustained? I'm interested in Mashatu as I know the rangers were hoping for a good rain this Christmas.

 

I'm returning to Mashatu in September which is later than I have visited in previous years - what sort of day/night temperatures can we expect?

 

Thanks,

 

 

Pol

[Sangeeta]

Very happy that this worked out so well for you, Dikdik. Looking forward to those vids GW referred to. LL looks spectacularly beautiful.

[Bugs]

I continue with the December 2011 visit.

This time the rains had fallen. We flew into Francistown, and we could see the swollen Shashe river from above.

 

The reason for going via Francistown this time was to collect my Jeep and trailer, which has been parked there since our Zimbabwe trip. Unfortunately the flight lands just after 4.30pm. We wasted some time collecting the Jeep and buying supplies, which saw us driving most of the way in the dark. The risks of driving in the dark cannot be understated. I remember a few years earlier on the same road, I had narrowly missed a herd of cattle on that road while driving into the sun. To add to this my experience with hitting a kudu 20 years ago was all too fresh. This time we has a close encounter with some cattle, but the closest was a group of donkeys standing in the middle of the road. There was just no way I was going to stop in time, and in the last fraction of a second, I managed to weave my way through them. Fortunately Donkeys stand absolutely still. The drive was made more difficult by the fact that the insects were out in a plague, and my water sprayer was broken. The windscreen was a blurr.

 

Below is a taste of the insects that the rain brought in.

 

The evenings we sat in the open lounge with the lights off, and listened to the resident hippo chomping through the fresh grass.

 

One evening we met a Roman Spider - it had is jumping on the furniture. I scrambled for the camera, but it was too fast. Its the craziest and most scary spider we have ever seen.