“See the real Africa at Umlani
Bushcamp, enjoy the ultimate experience of true wilderness and
seclusion in a camp that accommodates just 16 guests, in traditional African
reed and thatch huts. At a Classic African Safari Camp”
This is how Umlani Bush Camp in the Timbavati Nature Reserve
describes itself and how the owners would like guests to experience their
hospitality. In today’s modern World,
getting away from it all, is what so many seek when visiting the Bushveld. At
many venues, the break is not that complete, WiFi, TV, air-conditioning,
telephone and such. At Umlani, guests
are able to really get away from all these modern connections, to experience
the African Bush, in the way that many believe it should be and in comfort.
This is how Lana and I discovered the Umlani 3 star graded
Bushcamp to be like.
The camp is indeed rustic, all reed and thatch with some
brick under thatch buildings. Styled much as the early pioneer farmer / hunters
would have built a camp. A number of separate rondavels overlooking an ephemeral
river – presently dry – with a waterhole beyond.
also included in the tariff are all
locally branded spirits and beers as well as their house wines and soft drinks. These are stored in a cooler box at the view
deck/luncheon venue and in the dining room, just help yourself. High ceilings
and being open on the sides, allows these rooms to be pleasantly cool. Remember
no air-conditioning here, no fans either, very limited electricity - one power point for the recharging of batteries. Despite the weather being
particularly warm, peaking at 37degrees C each day whilst we were visiting, we
did not feel uncomfortable in any way, possibly it being a dry heat also
helped.
The pool is partially shaded so that would be the ideal way to cool off
and then to relax there in one of the hammocks or in one of the surprisingly
comfortable log and mesh recliners.
Our room (rondavel) was fortunately their brand new Eco
Rondavel, This is a brick under thatch structure, with windows instead of screens and has a
turbine extractor fan set at the peak which sucked out the warm air, certainly
keeping this room cooler that those without this clever feature I am sure.
Comfortable bed with effective mosquito net, as with no
air-conditioning, one would needs keep the windows open, a big plus is that one is then able to hear the night sounds from the bush. we were lucky to hear the lion calling and a side-striped jackal too. The bathroom was
partially covered, well the loo and basin were,
..with the shower open to the
skies.
A bonus for this Eco Rondavel is that there are some battery powered LED
lights, the bed-side lamps and one in the bathroom. This is such a good idea, still
very eco-friendly but for folk not used to paraffin lamps, almost a must. Lana
and I were at another Lodge where paraffin lamps were the only means of
lighting as well, a guest had screwed the wick down to extinguish the light
when going to bed – only, she had screwed the wick down and out of the
mechanism, which made it not ignite in the morning when she needed light to get
ready for the early game drive. She was quite distraught. I sincerely hope that
Umlani Bushcamp introduces this limited electric light concept to all the accommodation unts.
Contrary to this, Lana and I were so impressed when returning
from the afternoon/ evening game drive, arriving in camp after dark to see the plethora
of paraffin lamps, like a fairy tale garden illuminating the dinner table and
room.
Drinks around blazing fires,
exchanging the days sightings with other guests, enjoying the stars, the ambiance and companionship. The silence of the night was broken by the beating
of a drum, dinner had been announced and our chef described what she had
prepared.
The dinners were really delicious too, tomato soup to start
followed by a really good Ox-tail main and then a fruit dessert. Another night it was a Thai styled chicken
dish. All help yourself and plenty for all. Three star plus, a slight negative could be that if Ox-tail was not really on your wish list,
that was it, no alternative, unless you had detailed your dietary requirements
to the chef before-hand. All the while
our hosts made sure all had sufficient to drink and joined in with anecdotes
and tales of bushveld life.
It was the bushveld and its wild inhabitants that we were
really here for. Sinhle, our Ranger and Maurice the Tracker, were to give us some
really wonderful experiences. After a safety briefing we were out there on a
maze of roads searching. It did not take too long before we had a leopard and
her cub right there next to us as they bonded and relaxed close the cubs safe haven,
in a river bed.
Then a couple of male
lion that were for all intense and purpose, dead to the World! They wouldn’t
even stir, maybe the occasion flick of a tale proved that in there, there was
life.
A really lovely sighting of a breeding herd of elephant, they ambled past our vehicle, some so close..
 |
| such a happy chappie |
...some
buffalo and rhino and thus the Big 5 all in one game drive and all so clearly
and close too. One of the Buffalo sightings with the inevitable oxpeckers, had the
rare yellow-billed variety doing their thing.
Yip the sightings in the
Timbavati are not at all bad. We had
some amazing time with the leopard and cubs,
which were so special.
Emotions had run high amongst the guests on our vehicle one
afternoon at one of the sightings. We had found a female leopard – waiting in
ambush for prey at a water-hole.
With
our arrival she decided to move off, so we followed her. She walked right past a Steenbuck who froze and watched her pass.
 |
| Steenbuck top left |
She started calling,
then stopping, venting her territorial call, wonderful to hear so close, not
quite the call one would expect and more like the rough hand sawing of timber.
The call for her cub became more frequent and so too the ‘territorial call’. We
must have followed her for more than three kilometers from when she first started
calling for her cub.
Our Ranger became quite concerned and suggested that there
was a possibility that her cub had been discovered and possibly attacked. She
seemed to be calling more frantically – stopping occasionally to lie down. Then
up and call and on.
What a long way we had followed her. She lay down again and
we even started to presume that something might have happened to her cub. Best we leave her, as
another vehicle had arrived to see her, we decided to depart and possibly hear
the fate of the cub from this vehicle’s Ranger later. We turned the vehicle to exit the sighting... when,
there, running through the veld, was a tiny bundle of fur, cryptically coloured
in the afternoon light, but making it as fast as it could, directly for Mum.
The affection at the reunion was enough to bring tears to my eyes, what with
the fear of the cub having possibly been killed, fresh in our minds.
There were
exclamations of relief and joy from our vehicle’s occupants, we left in high
spirits, Sinhle had a smile back on his face – so life plays out in the wilds
of Africa.
At one of these sightings, the radio call that White Lion had been
found came through. That was it, we left the cub in the embrace of its mother
and sped off (well sort of) to see this rare genetic strain, discovered first
in the Timbavati and written about by a friend of mine, Chris McBride, back in
the mid 1970’s
They were quite far from where we were, we arrived just in time as the sun was about to set. There
was the fear that we might have to abandon our quest to see them should we
arrive after dark, as there were 4 cubs and Park policy has it that no light may be
shone near very young cubs – we were in time, no lights needed. What a sighting, 3 snow
white little wooly kittens and one tawny, all 4 from the same litter.
Then there
was mum, a white lioness and another white adult as well as a tawny in this pride. What a privilege to have been able to see so many of these truly special cats, in
their true wild environment. There are now a few more white lion in the Timbavati area, than the
original 3 that Chris found and wrote about.
The Umlani Bushcamp is a no frills bushveld getaway, that
really does produce the goods. Clean comfortable camp, excellent food,
knowledgeable rangers and seriously good game viewing with quite a diversity of species.
Lana and I, in so many
ways preferred this down to earth hospitality, one just needs to know what to
expect from this excellent value for money venue - I hope the above pictures and info will make your stay more enjoyable.
Photographs by Jeremy and Lana Williamson
No comments:
Post a Comment