ON SAFARI…

Left: Frank & Lisa

Frank and Lisa whom I met one wintry day at the Tesuque flea market were out on a three month visit! We spent the month of February tracing a 6000km spiral around the eastern and southern sides of South Africa from Johannesburg via the Kruger and Maputaland to Cape Town. After spending two weeks in the Cape Town area and visiting Aurora, they flew up to Namibia for a 20 day self-drive tour in the desert. After two weeks I got a message: "We want to stay longer, please make it 25 days".

Hearing Lisa’s tales about her trepidation at the thought of coming to Africa and the fears of the people at home that pleaded with her not to go, were both a source of amusement and concern for me. I understand those fears as I was afraid of going to America the first time – all those earthquakes, tornados and Los Alamos! Lisa and I laughed over all these apprehensions while we sat at lovely friendly lodgings with all the modern conveniences such as air-conditioning, sipping G & Ts, watching birds and animals in beautiful surroundings.

  Pair of cheetahs sheltering from the heat of the day

Frank and Lisa’s safari was a collage of typically South African experiences. We visited African villages where black entrepreneurs are managing to keep something of the rich African traditions alive for their children, their ancestors and us, visitors alike.

THE KRUGER PARK

We spent four days game driving in this huge wilderness. We saw heaps of animals, but the highlight must have been the huge hyena nursing her pup in the road! We were the only ones around, which was often the case, and we approached politely, so they hardly even looked at us and let us watch from about 18 feet. The cub was using the storm water drainage tunnel as a den.

Once, at a watering hole we saw some majestic sable antelope, warthog, an elephant staring down a rhino and a giraffe drinking, all at the same time.

Life at the camps was lively too, with Frank having a standoff with an alpha Vervet monkey. A Purple-crested Turaco ( Lourie) gave us a wonderful display of its bright plumage and even flew when I asked it to, so that we could see the brilliant red primaries! We stayed in lovely air-conditioned self-contained chalets with patios. I agree with Frank that Pretoriuskop must have the best swimming pool in the world – the one side and floor is an enormous granite boulder that slopes into the water, and makes a good sunbathing rock too.

Lisa: "I'd say that elephant was close."

KOSI BAY TURTLES

Kosi Bay is always an adventurous destination – it is really out in the ‘bundu’ (bush or wilderness!) with no tarmac roads. It probably won’t be that way for long – from what we heard from people in the area, it is next on the development list.

Left: This woman has a cooler box on her head! She stopped to let us take the photo when she saw us.

Below: Traditional fish traps at First Lake, Kosi Bay.

We spent 6 days visiting remote camps that were only accessible by foot, boat or a bouncy two hour 4X4 trip. We used all three modes of transport including a quiet morning bird viewing canoe trip. It was 40 degrees C the day we hiked across First Lake, so we took to 4X4 and boating after that. We spent time speaking to many different people in the area, and found out something of how the increase in tourism and personal freedom in the New South Africa is affecting people in these rural areas.

Below: Dung beetle in action, Zululand

We were especially interested in trying to understand the intricacies of the lives of local entrepreneurs as well as subsistence farmers and fishermen who are getting squished between this massive tourism machine owned by the wealthy and worldly, the conservation authorities and the local chiefs. Some of the ‘Indunas’ or chiefs appear to rule with a somewhat iron fisted grip which ironically appears to prohibit their own people’s entrepreneurial efforts, meanwhile outsiders are not affected and therefore have an added advantage. We did however meet an inspirational woman who was offering a free tourism workshop through a no-government organisation (NGO).

Two local women have been given permission by the conservation authorities to lead night walks along the environmentally sensitive turtle breeding beach. They took us on a fantastic nocturnal turtle tour. We walked a mile or so along the beach before coming across a Loggerhead turtle closing up her sandy nest. We watched her heave herself back down to the waters edge and then glide off into the dark sea.

A few minutes later we found a group of little loggerheads (about two inches long) making their way down the beach towards the white foam which leads them to the relative safety of the ocean. There were crowds of ghost crabs out, hunting for them. The little turtles look like wind-up toys – they don’t stop moving their flippers for a moment! Apparently less than one percent survive.

We turned back after this incredible sight, thinking we had seen it all, and then found a very large track heading right up onto the dune. This clue was left by a giant Leatherback turtle, over 5ft long. She was in the process of laying her big soft eggs, and was unperturbed by us standing around behind her as she completed her laying, buried her eggs and hid her nest by shoving heaps of sand from side to side and 10 feet into the air! We were told that they lay about 6 times during the four mid-summer months. This was the second week in February, towards the end of the season.

We then spent two nights at Kosi Bay Forest Lodge which is a wonderfully successful luxury lodge set in indigenous savanna. The land is leased from the local community and the delightful staff members live within walking distance of the lodge. It is beautiful, low key and tranquil with cheerful singing and good aromas emanating from the kitchen. The luxury tents are dotted around in amongst the surrounding trees and plants, which were mostly undisturbed during the building. I had a pair of Pongola squirrels chasing eachother along the branches around my tent. One evening we sat in a bird hide watching the birds coming and going at a little pond. Most notable was the tiny Pygmy kingfisher with its pink, blue and orange plumage and red bill. The en-suite bathtubs and showers at Kosi Forest are outside in foresty ‘bomas’ (reed-walled enclosures) under the stars!

Above right: My tent.
Above left: A bathroom boma at Kosi Forest Lodge.

Below: A rural Zulu homestead, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

In Zululand we visited Simunye, a modern traditional Zulu village that also embraces visitors. Many of the residents go to school and work in the local town, about ten miles away. For many of them this means an hours hike up out of the valley which is normal in many rural areas of SA. Others herd the cattle and look after the crops, village or guests.

Everybody meets at the lip of the deep lush valley at 4pm and descend by ox-wagon, horse back or 4WD to the little village. The evenings are family time and all the children and adults join in entertaining the guests with visitor rituals, such as meeting the chief, sharing food and Zulu beer and enjoying (and joining in) traditional music and dancing.

We were housed in large rustic rondawels which are based on the traditional Zulu huts with thatched roofs and ethnic décor. The en-suite bathrooms have bath tubs big enough to sit in, made of rocks. Everything is candlelit. The village is well-manicured and we had the horses walking past, a hen brooding and the cattle being put in the ‘kraal’ (corral) outside our homes that evening. Many of the people only speak Zulu, and one could hear their soft chatter through the grass bee-hive huts the next morning after the village guitarist had gone around playing his wake-up tunes.
The feeling of belonging was fantastic and I didn’t want to leave!

TABLE MOUNTAIN
We arrived in Cape Town in March, just in time to see the giant King Protea, Protea cynaroides and three species of orchid bloom on top of Table Mountain! My sister, Andy (‘A’) lead her characteristically fascinating and barefooted tour of the summit of Table Mountain and its unique vegetation. We watched the orange ball of the sun disappear over the ocean’s horizon and a moment later a bright green light appeared – the famous ‘green flash’.

MUSIC, SEA KAYAKING & ANOTHER 'GREEN FLASH' SUNSET
In January another group from New Mexico came down to Cape Town for a few days. I met one of them, Betty at the Travel Bug/Railyard slide show. They joined me for an evening picnic at an outdoor African music concert at the National Botanical Gardens on the slopes of Table Mountain.

The following morning we were off on a sea-kayak trip out of Hout Bay to rocky Duiker (‘diver’) Island to see hundreds of Cape fur seals. Seals covered the island and the water churned with flippers, noses and tails. There were surfing seals, sleeping seals, seals puffing as they escorted us. A little pod of dolphins appeared in the distance on our way back to the beach. A’s (bare-footed) Table Top Tour ended with glasses of wine sheltering next to a boulder in a very strong wind and another ‘green flash’ sunset. This fascinating group then went to a conference that was attended by Nelson Mandela, F W De Klerk and Jacob Zuma. This was when Mandela made international news with his critisisms of George W. Bush re the Iraq war.I would say Mandela’s message is “Simunye!” – ‘WE ARE ONE’. There is no 'them', there is only ‘all’.

Frank & Lisa: "Did you ever see an elephant convention?"

ANOTHER CASE OF THE TRAVEL BUG
I have a third New Mexican visitor (sent by Greg at the Travel Bug shop in Santa Fe). This time it is Loretta who is currently in the country for 7 weeks. She is on a 42 day safari with a group of twelve or so travellers aboard one of the trucks run by the company I used to work for.

Her route is the one I described in my Travel Bug Shop ‘SLIDE SHOW SAFARI’ at the Railyard, Santa Fe, in November last year: up the west coast from Cape Town, through western Namibia to Etosha, across to the Okavango and northern Botswana, Victoria Falls, through western Zimbabwe to Johannesburg, the Kruger Park, Swaziland, Zululand, the Drakensberg Mountains, the Karoo, Garden route and back to Cape Town in mid-June.

Vanessa 'Lookin' cool' at the Rasta shop, Knysna township. Lisa soon had the juke box blasting... reggae of course! Picture by Frank ( in mirror).

LLANDUDNO
I have finally settled in Cape Town and am staying at a lovely (bright pink!) beach cottage a stone’s throw from my FAVOURITE beach in Cape Town. Llandudno is ten minutes from the city, along the wild windy cliffy coastal road on the western side of Table Mountain. The beach is flanked by huge dramatic granite boulders, beautifully sculptured by the wind and water and the massive waves are popular with surfers and whales. Pictures next time....

There is a lovely hike to the summit of ‘Little Lion’s Head’ overlooking Llandudno and much of the peninsula. A and I were up there watching May’s full moon rise over the Hottentot’s Holland mountains and saw a third green flash sunset. This is becoming a habit!

Llandudno Beach is THE place to enjoy a sundowner (that is an alcoholic beverage at sunset) and yes, Betty, it will be included in my “safari guiding portfolio”! You are all welcome!