I had returned to work after a 12-day, 4000 kilometre
road-trip over the 2015 Christmas/New Year period - and it was now time to take
a break! So, during the second week of January my wife Janice and I set off for
the Umzolozolo Lodge in the Nambiti Game Reserve. I had been to Nambiti before,
but never to Umzolozolo Lodge, so was rather looking forward to it. I knew that
the Nambiti Reserve was a good wildlife destination and wanted to see what
Umzolozolo was all about – I had heard good things about it. I was initially
not going to write anything about the lodge itself, except to say that
Umzolozolo is a 5-star lodge and I presumed that saying this would be
sufficient – but it is not! What stood out for me was the friendly staff – I
met Dave and Debbie briefly (the lodge managers) but interacted more with Nadia
(the assistant manager/spa therapist/general do-it-all), Mondli (our excellent
and friendly waiter) and then of course, our guide over the course of four game
drives, Reinhardt (nothing was too much trouble for him, even Janice requesting
him to stop every now and then to photograph a tree in the distance was no
trouble at all).
The whole experience was excellent – the food
was good (and they have a ‘bean-to-cup’ espresso coffee machine on call), the
service as good as one will receive anywhere, the game drives were great and
the suite – well, the suite! Janice, who never, but never, has an outdoor
shower, had her first one here and proclaimed it to be very good (which is what
I had been telling her all these years). I too didn’t bother with the double
indoor shower or the large bath – I much preferred the outside shower. We also used
the jacuzzi on one occasion, but I found it too hot to my liking – I like tepid
water! Janice also treated herself to a spa session, a back and neck massage
and proclaimed this well worth the effort and good value for money. On this
topic, a spa treatment is always great as one does get bounced about a bit in
these open safari vehicles, so those neck and back muscles need relaxing. I don’t
need to elaborate on the suite - these photos below say it all (photos courtesy
of Umzolozolo Lodge).
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| The double outside shower at our suite |
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| Bedroom |
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| Deck and Jacuzzi |
We
were also treated to a romantic dinner in our room on the last evening. This
whole experience begins when you get back from your game drive, and a hot bath
has been drawn, with flowers decorating the rim of the bath and bubbles in the
bath, and a table set in the lounge section of the suite. At a decided upon
time, Mondli and Reinhardt appeared with our starters, followed by the mains
(and no dessert – this out of choice as I had heard that too much food is not
good for one!) However, a very good bottle of red wine was consumed, so this
filled that empty spot that may have been taken by dessert. However, what
really stood out for me, was the show that was put on. I would like to stretch
the truth a bit and say that the staff at the lodge had organised this, but I
would be lying. Now, many of you may know that this part of South Africa, (like
many parts of southern Africa) is experiencing a severe drought at the moment.
As we were heading back to our room after the game drive, there were a few (but
a very few) drops of rain (so few that I didn’t bother to cover my camera or myself),
but accompanied by a very, very dark, ominous build-up of clouds. When Janice
had sat down at the table in her lodge-supplied dressing gown after her bubble bath, and the starters
had been delivered, the first bolts of lightning lit up the horizon. Imagine
the scene, you are sitting down to a 5-star meal in the lounge part of you
suite, the full-length glass sliding doors are closed, but the curtains (that’s
drapes to some of my American friends) are open and we have this dramatic scene
unfolding before us. The lightning starts way off in the distance, first as
sheet lighting when it is far away, then a combination of sheet and bolt
lightning as it gets closer, and then bolt lightning when it is really close.
The noise is deafening and the image of the bolts of lightning are imprinted in
the retina of the eye for a few seconds - and this goes on for more than two
hours. I was already in bed after the dinner and the lightning was still
continuing unabated. I learnt the next day that the reserve had experienced
some heavy rain, over 80mm in the north and down to about 22mm in the south
(where we were). Two photos of the bath hereunder (but alas, none of the
lightning), again photos courtesy of Umzolozolo Lodge.
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| Candle-lit Bath |
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| and the flower petals |
So, what of the reserve and the game viewing? With its waterfalls
and diverse landscapes, Nambiti offers many options. Unlike many other game
reserves, Nambiti has the carrying capacity of almost twice that of regions
like Botswana, thus being able to carry more game per acre than most other
reserves. The Nambiti Private Game Reserve was begun in 1999 from what was
originally a cattle farming area. These farms were acquired and then the
mammoth task of removing internal fencing and old buildings started. After some
time the reserve was ready for the delicate task of re-introducing wildlife.
After many years of management, the reserve has now come full circle. The flora
is flourishing and the fauna has settled down into the slow moving time of
Africa. The game drives were great and I particularly enjoyed the open grasslands.
However, I did find that rangers tended not to spend too much time here – was
this because the open plains were heavily inhabited by the grazers (and
therefore maybe seen as “common” and not as exciting as, say elephant or rhino
or lion)? Had I been driving here on my own, at least 50% of my time would have
been taken up in these open plains – they were covered in zebra, blue
wildebeest, warthog, blesbuck, birds of all types and more. Having said that,
we did have some great sightings. I do remember seeing lots of young animals,
probably born in the last few weeks or so, or certainly at the beginning of the
summer. Some of these I did manage to photograph.
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| Young Blue Wildebeest |
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| Mother Warthog with two babies |
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| Young Giraffe |
We
also saw elephant on two (or three?) occasions so I photographed a couple of
them. However, I admit from the outset that I have photographed many elephants
in my time, but I have yet to get that one shot that to me is a “keeper” – I
just don’t have the knack (or is it skill?) to get a good elephant photo. There were
one or two youngsters with the one herd, and the one chap decided to show off
for us a little.
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| Elephants on and off the track |
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| and the youngster that tried to intimidate us |
One
sighting that really stood out for me was one morning as we were driving uphill
and into the rising sun, I saw what looked like strange shrubbery - there were
twisted bare branches just visible over the horizon, framed by a blue sky.
Imagine my surprise when we crested the hill and the strange shrubbery turned
out to be the horns of twelve male kudu, all laying down with their heads up.
I have never seen twelve male kudu together and I can’t explain why there were
so many together
in an area smaller than a tennis court. I took a few photos of them, here is
one below.
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| Male Kudu |
Many other animals were seen, including two adult and two
lion cubs. Unfortunately we got to them just as they were preparing to move
off, but I did get a photo of both the male and female before they moved – the
cubs were just too far away for a decent photo.
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| Male Lion |
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| Female Lioness |
The birds seen were fairly common and plentiful, but I did
see a pair of blue cranes (South Africa’s national bird), quite a few raptors
(jackal and steppe buzzard and Amur falcon mostly) as well as quite a few
others that I could not photograph. Two other birds that I photographed were a
male Amur falcon and a Greater striped swallow – this last-named one
photographed from the outside deck of my suite.
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| Blue Cranes |
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| Male Amur Falcon |
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| Greater Striped Swallow |
General game was plentiful, with many giraffe, zebra,
impala, blesbuck, oryx, warthog, rhino (both species), eland and others seen. I
have a fondness for jackal, (and that’s why I posted two jackal photos) and on
one occasion we even had a water monitor quite close to the vehicle. Some of
these images are…
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| Black-backed Jackal |
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| Zebra Portrait |
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| Reedbuck |
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| Giraffes |
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| Water Monitor |
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| Black-backed Jackal - here you can see two drops of rain |
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| At a waterhole |
I believe that the Nambiti Game Reserve is good value for
money and I won’t have any hesitation in recommending Umzolozolo Lodge to
anyone. If anyone wants more info on this lodge and reserve, have a look at our web-site http://www.nambitireservations.co.za/
- the prices for all lodges are found there. This reserve is easily reached by motor
vehicle, being about 2 ½ to 3 hours’ drive from Durban and about 4 hours from
Johannesburg. After my 4000 kilometre road trip, this was almost like driving
to the shop to pick up the Sunday papers!
