South Africa

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Between September of 2016 and February of 2017 we visited South Africa twice. The first time three weeks, and the second time one week. Unfortunately, there were "encounters" both times, although the first time was much more serious.

End of September we were wrapping up our visit to South Africa with a stay at a lodge in Madikwe Game Reserve, North West. The lodge very small scale and on the ground of the reserve. Our private lodge was next to a watering hole, which means elephants were just several meters away. The lodge is classified as a four star hotel and is indeed quite luxurious with a large bathtub, outside shower and air conditioning. Through the eyes of the arachnophobe some other features stand out at first glance: the lodge is built on wooden poles and it's not exactly airtight around those poles. That is, you can stick your finger through and be outside. Also the roof is thatched. I had not been confronted with a thatched roof before but it logically is effective at keeping insects out than other types of roofs.

The encounter was on the first day, unfortunately, when I spotted one on the ceiling. It was more than 15cm in diameter. I am not proud what happened next. I was reduced to a catatonic state. Later on we reached out to a Ranger, who was very understanding and helped remove it, while I was outside somewhere. That night I did not sleep, although I was very tired and the bed was equipped with a mosquito net. It did not help that there where a couple of tiny insects under the net already. Because of the limited sleep I got we decided to leave the next day. The lodge manager was very understanding fortunately and even offered to arrange other accommodations.

The second visit was in February. Here the encounter was in Greyton, Western Cape. We were visiting a braai at friends. The garden was very dense with plantation. Later in the evening I noticed a rather big one (although not nearly as big as the one mentioned above) on a wall in the garden. I fled inside and that was the end of that.

For both occasions most of the other stays were either at "Western" 4 star hotels in the cities or Bed and Breakfast type of hotels, and they are exactly what you expect from Western hotels, considering insects. An honorary mention for the Knysna Hollow Country Estate hotel in Knysna, Western Cape. There were mostly thatch chalets at this estate, but we were lucky to get one of the few Superior Eco Estate rooms, that were basically large apartments with full width sliding doors. It was very modern and very well insulated.

Also I should mention that at De Hoop Nature Reserve the lodges had thatched roofs, although there were separate (non-thatch) ceilings. I saw basically no insects in the lodge there. In L'Agulhas we stayed at a smaller hotel. There were some tiny ant-like insects in the bathtub, but that was all.

Time of year & season: September, beginning of spring + February, summer

Locations: Western Cape: Cape Town, Greyton, Caledon, Hermanus, L'Agulhas, De Hoop Nature Reserve, Knysna. Eastern Cape: Port Elizabeth. KwaZulu-Natal: Winterton. Gauteng: Johannesburg. North West: Madikwe.

Occurence: two times

Arachnophobe score: 6/10

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