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Published: December 27th 2006
Map of South Africa
Kruger Park and Sabe Sands are east and north of the 'a' in Pretoria running along the border with Mozambique (Moz.)up to the border with ZimbabweARATHUSA LODGE, SOUTH AFRICA
Note: Click on photos to enlarge. Hello and welcome to our latest travelblog. We hope you vicarious travelers enjoy this. For you many who have been to South Africa, you’ll no doubt recognize much and, hopefully, relive some experiences.
I have been trying to figure out the best way to approach writing about our three-month southern Africa camping tour, and decided that breaking it into digestible-size segments might be best. So this is
Part I, Arathusa, Sabie Sands, South Africa. Background: At the end of our year in
Pretoria, South Africa, where Bernard was attached to the University of Pretoria, Law Faculty, Human Rights Center, friends from South Carolina joined us for a trip that included not only South Africa, but Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.
Ernie Byers and Kaye Carmichael have been friends of Bernie’s since he was stationed with the Air Force in Charleston in the 1970s. Good natured and easy to travel with, the four of us became inseparable for the months of April, May & June 2006.
The inseparable part was because our mode of travel was a double-cab 'bakkie,' better known as a pick-up truck to Americans, and
a ute (short for 'utility' vehicle) in other parts of the world.
Definitely not the most comfortable form of travel for long distances, it was the bakkie we’d had for our year in SA, and while not 4-wheel drive, it had high clearance and a differential for tough spots (which we needed!!). The most comfortable seat in the bakkie was the driver’s, so of course we ALL wanted to drive as much as possible.
But before we gave up our apartment in Pretoria and headed out the highway, we were treated to a very special long weekend at a private game reserve. As many of you know,
Kruger National Park (see map, area northeast of Pretoria) is probably the premier nature park in southern Africa. Kruger is bordered by Mozambique to the east. On the west, South African, side of the park where much private land is held, some of the fences between Kruger and the private parcels have been removed (lots of regulations as you might imagine, as in no hunting, and only certain private reserves are allowed to partake). But for those partaking, what a bonus in that all the animals that roam Kruger now have
The Bakkie
We "pimped our ride" with a canopy and roof rack which were always loaded to the max access to the private lands. It is a win - win situation because now Kruger has in effect been enlarged and the private reserves now have Kruger animals calling them home.
Our good friends
Peter and Sue Poole have dear friends,
Shirley and Dirk, who own such a reserve abutting Kruger, beautiful
Arathusa Lodge. Arathusa, in Greek mythology, was a wood nymph and favourite of Artemis, goddess of hunting and of wild animals.
Arathusa it has been in Shirley’s family for eons, and unlike many adjoining parcels, has not been made into a commercial enterprise, but kept for private family use. It is a large piece of property, most left wild, but the private lodge can sleep 10, which works out beautifully because the safari vehicle holds 8, plus Dirk the most amazing driver, and Shirley with all her camera equipment.
Now you are probably wondering how we got so darn lucky, well that is totally thanks to Sue and Peter, a most delightful couple who befriended us and showed us a side of South Africa we could have only dreamed of seeing without them. The link is circuitous: Ernie & Kaye have friends in Charleston,
Ken & Jan Poole. Ken’s brother Peter and wife Sue live in Pretoria. Ernie says, hey, here is a contact, look them up. Well, you know how strange that can be, but we called them anyway, they invited us to a dinner party (turns out they lived within blocks of us!), we all fell in like immediately and were fast friends for the remainder of our time in SA. Sue and Peter met Shirley and her first husband when they were all in the Round Table (a civic club) together, which you can only belong to if you are under 40 years old. Sooooo, they’ve known each other awhile.
But how Sue got Shirley to invite total strangers is a testament to their friendship and trust in each other. There were other friends invited:
Gloria, Derek and their nephew, Barrett, and I’ll be darned if we all didn’t hit it off immediately - lots of laughs, shared interests and we were all thrilled to be together for a once in a lifetime experience. It was a first-class weekend and the game viewing was unparalleled. Truly, we kept saying to Ernie and Kaye “it doesn’t get better than this.” And
it didn’t; it got different, but never better.
The reasons for the premier game viewing were (1) we were on a private reserve so could go off-road to track animals, and (2) our tracker,
Martin, is one of the best in the business. Other commercial reserves are always trying to hire him away from Dirk and Shirley, but Martin is loyal, and for that we are most thankful.
Game Viewing: What can I say, how to express the most amazing outings, humm. Well, first our routine: We got up before dawn, gulped down coffee and out we went driving through the reserve with Martin on point following tracks, looking for scat and “sign.” The commentary from Martin went something like this. “See here tracks, a female and young leopard, looks like mom got a kill, she will likely take it to a tree and let the little one eat.” Then off we’d go over bumpy terrain with Martin giving hand signals to Dirk who was our most skilled and intrepid driver, across gullies, over brush, and yep, there was the tree to which the leopardess had taken the kill and the young one was gnawing away on what
looked like a small impala.
We’d spend the early morning game watching - we saw the
Big Five (lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and elephant) our first day in Arathusa, ho hum, yawn, sure another RHINO! No, we did NOT get bored. (See photos)
Mid-morning we’d stop for
bush tea, either at the hippo pond or some other scenic outcropping. A good leg stretch was much appreciated. Then more game viewing on our way back to Arathusa for a hardy breakfast. The rest of the morning was 'at leisure,' which meant nap time because it is almost noon now and we’ve been up since before day break. But the views from Arathusa were so lovely, the breeze refreshing, the grounds so well kept and beautiful, the rooms so tastefully appointed, well, day 'in luxury' was more like it (see photos).
Immediately next door to Arathusa was a for-profit resort, Elephant Pleins, where a night per person cost approx. $1,200(!!) which was not an unsual price for the resorts in Sabie Sands. We had access to their health spa (see photos) and one day most of our group, well the women anyway, "partook of the waters" as they say.
The men went to the bar to watch a football (soccer) game. In SA if it isn't football, it's rugby or cricket. Bernie tried to learn the cricket rules while in South Africa. Many is the frustrating afternoon Peter spent trying to explain first the terminology and then the nuances of the game to Bernard, but I'm afraid there was no teaching the old B a new trick.
After a nap, a swim, massage or reading, we loaded up again for a late afternoon game drive. Our first evening out we were fortunate enough to see a female
cheetah and two cubs. When they are lazing around on a full stomach they aren’t spooked easily, so we spent a nice long time observing these graceful creatures. Because cheetah are so seldom seen in the wild, we tell folks we saw the Big 5 plus 1.
There were so many other unique and beautiful animals to be seen: all kinds of antelope (including
Kudu), the easily spooked
zebras and warthogs, strange yet fascinating
giraffe and other creatures such as
dung beetles (see photo, page 2). We watched these amazing insects in awe as they formed rhino dung into perfect
balls, and then rolled the balls straight uphill and down the road. Their eggs will be encased in the balls providing a home and then food for the newly hatched beetles before they make their way out of the 'brood' ball. Folks say the dung beetles and their processing of dung is the reason South Africa has so few flies - yes, the country is practically fly free!
And of course there was the ever difficult to photograph, but equally beautiful bird life. We spent much of our leisure time wandering around with our binos watching brilliantly colored birds flit about and being captivated by their songs. A few of the larger ones could be more easily photographed. The hornbills (48-60 cm./19 - 25 in.) were so numerous at times as to be a nuisance. Then there was a tree full of marabou storks, but taken from such a distance as to make these birds that get as big as 152-cm. (5 feet!), look small (see photo page two).
As the sun was going down, we’d head to the hippo pool for sundowner drinks and snacks (see photos, page 2).
Now with our heads abuzz with the
sights and sounds of the bushveld, and our stomachs full of biltong (a South African specialty - similar to jerky, but oh so much better) and wine/beer/scotch, we head back to the lodge. Not too quickly though, this is a great time for animal view and even in the dark Martin was able to show us wonderful things. His eyes picked up the slightest movement or change of color, from a
chameleon to a
male leopard in the grass (see photos, page 2).
As we approached Arathusa, our stomachs would start growling as we’d only had the sundowner snacks since breakfast, so we’d be ready to get back and begin a wonderful evening of eating, drinking, and going over and over our experiences of the day. Dinner was held in the outdoor boma - a truly delightful setting. It was fun to attend to the evening braai (BBQ) of which the South Africans excel - they love their meat cooked over a fire and do it to perfection. One night we had a lamb that had been buried in a fire pit all day - yummy, it was all mouthwateringly delicious. I must mention Phineas and Rosie here, Martin’s
Lion Pair
We saw several prides of 6 or more, but these two were special wife and her father, who did all the really hard work looking out for us. What gracious and wonderful people and I cannot believe that none of my photos of them turned out!
When the long weekend came to an end we were loath to leave, but leave we did and the 5 hour drive back to Pretoria was done with our heads spinning from the wonderful animals and sights we’d seen, and our hearts overjoyed by the new friends we’d made. Yep, we said it before and we’ll say it again, it doesn’t get better than that!
Note: Be sure to look at page two of this blog as there are many more photos that relate to the narrative above. At the bottom this page you'll see
and you need to click on the 2 or next.
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