A Tour Through Zululand

I was about to embark on a 6-day tour through Zululand with two clients, one of whom was a keen birder, so I was looking forward to this, even though the middle of winter is not a good time for birding. My itinerary was to take me to St. Lucia for one night, the Hluhluwe uMfolozi Park for two nights, Mkuze for one night and then to the Ithala Game Reserve for the last night. My bags were packed, the camera was ready and I was off.

We arrived in St. Lucia and headed to the mouth of the lake for some birding before we checked into Lidiko Lodge. Here we saw hippos, crocs, both Giant and Pied kingfishers, herons, African fish eagle and also, surprisingly, the near-threatened Open-billed Stork and an Osprey – the Ospreys are according to “the book” not meant to be here during this time, but some may overwinter in South Africa. This one obviously did not read the book and decided to stay for the winter – St. Lucia is in any event imminently better in winter than Scotland! That afternoon we went on a drive into the Eastern Shores and to the Mfazana Hide – my first visit to this hide. I must say, I was pretty impressed, this is a big hide, with a well laid out path to reach it, clean toilets and four viewing areas at the hide itself, all looking out over a pan. However (and there’s always a “however”), don’t go there in the afternoon. The sun is directly in front of you (the hide faces west) and not only does the sun inhibit your photography, it also reflects off the bright water, making general viewing difficult to impossible. There were some Malachite Kingfishers, Squacco Heron, both Great and Little Egrets and then some crocodiles. I did take some photos here, but…

The next morning we went on the newest concession boat for a two-hour cruise on the lake – great! We departed forty-five minutes before everyone else (they mostly depart at 10:00) and there were only the three of us on the boat, together with the guide. This is a much smaller boat than the others, with a low draught, getting one close to the shore – which we did, looking for Fiddler Crabs and mud-skippers. We also saw plenty of hippos, some crocodiles and plenty of birds, too many to mention here. A bird that stood out was a Palm-nut Vulture which flew overhead and the flamingoes from last time were still present in the estuary. Quite a few of the near-threatened Caspian Terns were also seen. One bird that did play its part was the Giant Kingfisher – this bird stayed put as we got closer and closer to it, so close that I could almost have reached out and touched it!

That afternoon we headed into the Hluhluwe uMfolozi Park and to Hilltop Camp, seeing very little en route – buffalo, giraffe and zebra and that’s about it. That evening the clients went on a sunset drive for three hours and saw white rhino, buffalo, giraffe and some Spotted Thick-knee (I kid you not – this is its new name!) and some nightjars. No big cats, hyena or much else was seen on this drive. The following morning we returned from a three hour drive before breakfast having seen some impala, rhino and buffalo and after breakfast, another three hours that produced more buffalo, white rhino and nyala – but mostly nothing. We did do some birding at the Maphumulo Picnic Site, which was not too bad, with quite a few nyala and some baboons seen on the far bank of the river. The drive in the afternoon again produced some general game – we had yet to see any of the cats or even elephant, which are normally plentiful in this park. My photographs for this day were of the Samango monkeys (again) taken in the Hilltop Camp!

 

The following morning early I headed out to Umfolozi section in the south of the park – some people claim that game viewing here is the best – but this trip did not convince me that this is true. En route we did see two elephant and later that afternoon, again two elephant in another area, on the way back. In between the elephants, the normal buffalo, nyala, rhino, impala, zebra and wildebeest were seen. What was quite interesting at the Bhejane Hide, where we had also stopped, was that there was a buffalo drinking, and flanked on either side of him were groups of zebra, all making sure that they gave the buffalo his space, as befitting an animal much larger than them. 

 

In the late afternoon, en route to exit the park, and about ten minutes before our exit at the Memorial Gate there was some back-up of traffic. Scanning the distance with my binoculars I detected some movement, eventually being able to point out four lions – two lionesses and one older and one younger male. I can honestly say that in my entire guiding career, this is the furthest that I have ever sat and watched lions! I had to - we were ten minutes from the exit and had seen hardly anything in about eighteen to twenty hours of driving in this reserve and these were our first cats. These animals were little specks in my binoculars – with the naked eye they would have been almost impossible to see.

The following morning we headed out early from the Ghost Mountain Inn in Mkuze with our picnic breakfasts to the nearby Mkuze Game Reserve and the newly refurbished Kumasinga Hide, my favourite spot in the province! Imagine my disappointment upon arriving at the hide to find that some enterprising professional wildlife photographer had about twenty or so people at the hide, teaching them how to take photographs. In between their talking, (words such as lighting, catch-lights, depth-of-field, shutter speeds, angles, f-stops and bus stops were words frequently used – okay, not bus stops, but some of them did not seem to know the difference between a f-stop and a bus stop), their laughing, dropping tripods, dropping coffee mugs and flasks and in one instance, a lens, it was a wonder that any animals came to the hide. But come they did…wildebeest, nyala, impala, warthogs, zebra and the odd birds. 

 Man, photography was difficult – I had found a good seat and stayed put, but the learner photographers (from all ages between 20-odd and probably 70-odd) all moved about, clomping noisily on the wooden floor in their designer boots, dragging camera bags, tripods, pillows and the dregs of their breakfasts behind them. So, when the animals arrived in their various groups at various stages, there was the inevitable mad scramble by these people to get their photos. I had them leaning over me, breathing down my neck, bumping me, crowding me etc.etc. One would have thought that a “professional” photographer – if this is what he was – would have briefed them before-hand that one should keep noise levels to a minimum at a hide in a game reserve that is visited by wild animals. I did hear one of the say that he was hoping for a black rhino to make an appearance – I fear with all this noise this would not have happened. We stayed there for probably an hour and a half or so and then moved on – the light was poor (it was mostly overcast) and the crowd was getting noisier and noisier. We did stop at the main camp for a bit of birding and I was lucky to see (and photograph) a Yellow-spotted Nictator.

We arrived at Ithala in the early afternoon and the clients went on a sundowner drive where they saw wildebeest, duiker, a Spotted Eagle Owl and zebra. They did follow up on elephant but could not find them, only the fresh spoor - broken branches and fresh dung. The next morning we drove the various loop roads into the open grasslands, but saw very little. In the late morning, making our way to the exit gate, one of the clients spotted two Black-backed Jackals in the distance. Their behavior was quite strange – it was late morning and they were still up and about. More than that though, the one jackal kept up a constant yapping and staring into a thick bushy area. After spending about fifteen minutes here I saw some movement in the thick bush, and then a leopard made its appearance! This is what had excited the jackals (and what excited us) but again, as with the lions a few days previously, this was very far away (and also only about ten minutes or so before we exited the park). Unfortunately this was way too far for a photo, but the leopard moved out into the open and crossed over a small hill, to disappear from view. The light was stunning, the leopard was out in the open and the background (a knoll of round boulders) would have made a perfect photo, if the animal had been a lot closer! 

I must say that I was rather disappointed, after having really looked forward to this tour. My experience in the Hluhluwe uMfolozi Park has mostly been good, with some good sightings, but then again, there have also been times when game viewing was desperate – this was one of those times. The hide at Mkuze could have been great (the sun did give some nice light from time to time) but those photography students… Ithala, if not for the leopard, would have been very disappointing, especially in view of the fact that it is quite a long drive from here back to Durban. Oh well, next time.

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The Aussie Invasion to the Hluhluwe uMfolozi Park - Keith Marallich

During the past month I was fortunate to have two separate Australian groups with me on tour, one for three days and the other for four days. Both these tours were to the Hluhluwe uMfolozi Park, with the last tour also including a one-night stay in St. Lucia. The first group had come to S.A. to take part in the Comrades Marathon and I collected them from the hotel in Durban the very next day. Needless to say, after a little run of 89 kilometres (for my American friends – that’s fifty-five and a half miles!) they weren’t too energetic, limping and dragging their tired bodies onto the vehicle. One chap even operated on himself in Hilltop Camp by exorcising the nail on one of his big toes – I tell you, these Aussies are tough!

With the first group we arrived at the Nyalazi Gate entrance into the park and what do we see? A group of about thirty teenagers who had seen a lone elephant bull about forty metres from the gate, and they were now trying their best to attract this animal’s attention, shouting loudly and waving their arms about, hoping to get him to come closer. Only teenagers would do something like this. Before I had even alighted from my vehicle to possibly politely ask them to desist from their risky behavior, another guide in an open vehicle had stopped and in no uncertain terms told them to return to their two mini coaches, remonstrating with their guides – if that is what they were, for they were both laying down next to their vehicles, taking a nap! Fortunately the elephant did not react, although it would have been interesting to see a five-ton enraged bull elephant bear down on thirty noisy teenagers, and what their reaction would have been – an elephant can cover forty metres in almost no time. Anyway, we were fortunate that nothing bad happened, as we would then, in all likelihood, have blamed the elephant, calling it a “rogue” or some such nonsense. 

On their night drive and during the next few days, many more elephants were seen, as well as rhino’s, plenty of giraffe, buffalo and general game. At one stage I remember telling them that giraffe are known to sometimes chew bones and I could see the look of skepticism on their faces, but I stuck to my story. I had hardly finished telling them this when we came upon some giraffe, and what was the male doing? Yep, chewing on a bone. Vindication! One animal that I did see, and have never seen before in this park (and come to think of it, have never seen since) was a Rock Hyrax – a common Dassie! This was early in the morning and it was on the road towards the Memorial Gate, but did get out of the way when we approached. In the Ithala Game Reserve, about two and a bit hours north and inland from the Hluhluwe uMfolozi Park, there are literally thousands of these endearing little animals, so I know them well, but have never seen them here before.

One evening as darkness was falling we were returning to camp, just before the gates closed when we saw a tiny white rhino stuck in some thick mud at the Zincakeni Dam, with a frantic mother in attendance. Her behavior was what alerted us the plight of the little one and this chap was definitely stuck – the bank on his/her side was too steep to scale (it had obviously fallen down the bank) and the other side had quite a bit of water to contend with. Rhinos cannot really assist their young as elephants are sometimes able to do, and this chap was definitely not going to get out on his own. The best that I could do was to return to camp and get the camp manager to alert the section ranger to this. By early the next morning both the calf and mother were nowhere to be seen – well done to the authorities for intervening in the plight of this now under threat species.

On the boat trip on Lake St. Lucia there was the usual large numbers of hippo, some crocodiles and plenty of water birds. Among them were pelicans, squacco,  green-backed and goliath herons, pygmy geese, fish eagles and surprisingly, four greater flamingoes in the estuary.

As with most people, these guests too desperately wanted to see predators, but unfortunately not a single predator was seen – not even on the night drive. Not a cheetah, wild dog, leopard, lion or hyaena at all.

The second group had come to Durban for a friend’s wedding and were now with me in the Hluhluwe/Umfolozi Park. Their night drive delivered, among others, two hyaena, some elephant, rhino and giraffe but not in any great number, so a bit of a disappointment – cats are always a bonus on a drive. 

We had seen on the sightings board at Hilltop Camp that lion had been seen down south in the Seme area, so they prevailed upon me the next morning to go to that area to try and find the lions. We spent a good few hours in this area, and saw almost nothing – two rhino, a small herd of impala and three zebra! It was at this stage that I was ready to tear my hair out in frustration, when there was movement on the road ahead of me – four wild dogs! At last, some predators (and pretty rare ones at that). As usual with wild dogs, they were on the road, but on the move, so did not hang about for too long, but that one sighting made the early drive worthwhile. After breakfast we went out again and were fortunate to see a herd of between fifty and seventy elephants, crossing the road ahead of us. Again unfortunately, apart from this sighting, very few other animals were seen and we returned to Hilltop Camp for lunch. Sadly, there was another sighting of lion that had been seen at the Seme area that day, (but not by us), so for the afternoon they again prevailed upon me to try and find these animals. So what did I learn that afternoon? I learnt that you can never make the same mistake twice, because the second time you make it, it becomes a choice and not a mistake. This is what happened – we saw almost nothing. I had my camera with me, and did not use it once in this 3-hour drive - there was nothing to see!

The next morning before breakfast we came upon a herd of between 100 and 130 elephant, slowly moving alongside a hill quite close to the road, so we spent quite some time with them. I did not take any photos of them – in fact, the only photo I took on this drive was of a bird. Most of the photographs that I took on both trips were taken inside Hilltop Camp – monkeys and birds! Here one can get fairly close to them as they are used to human presence inside the camp. This group so desperately wanted to see a big cat and we did not find any.

That afternoon we arrived in St. Lucia and did a game drive to the Eastern Shores. I believe that this is a very under-rated reserve. Most people visit here to get to Cape Vidal and don’t treat the wildlife as they would in somewhere like the Kruger Park or the Hluhluwe/Umfolozi Park. One sees vehicles laden with people and fishing rods, and they just want to get to the beach and cast a line, ignoring the large numbers of kudu, warthog, reedbuck, bushbuck, zebra, waterbuck and more that are found here. 

Along the road mid-afternoon one of my guests spotted something in the distance – a leopard! We kept this animal in sight and eventually were able to get close enough for some decent photos. What luck…we had now seen our predator and this, in my opinion, made the tour. We saw him stalking some warthog but did not see if he was successful in making a kill, but what an honour to observe this magnificent animal making super use of the cover and the wind direction to get close to his prey, paying very little attention to us.

I have been around long enough to know that one does not always get what you want but I would have thought that, especially with my second group, we would have seen more than we did. All in all we spent about 16 – 18 hours on game drives in the Hluhluwe/Umfolozi Park on a full day, and the only highlights were two herds of elephant and four wild dogs, in my opinion a poor return for the number of hours on the road. A three hours drive on the Eastern shores yielded kudu, warthog, reedbuck, bushbuck, zebra, waterbuck, buffalo, bush-baby, genet and of course, the leopard!

Unfortunately with wildlife viewing there are never any guarantees. I have been on many, many game drives in the public reserves all over South Africa and all are different. However, one has to be aware that whatever is seen is pure chance, there are no guarantees that a specific animal will be seen at a specific location or reserve – you have to take your chances. Some game drives are very good, and then the following day, in exactly the same area, nothing is seen – this is nature and how it works. Having said this, when one goes to the private lodges in the private game reserves, the chances of finding specific animals, especially the big cats, is more than good, it is excellent. For example, the private reserves in the Eastern Cape normally always produce lion and cheetah, the Phinda, Amakhosi, Thanda and Nambiti in KwaZulu-Natal, cheetah and lion (and very rarely leopard), Madikwe in the North-West lion and wild dog and then the Timbavati and Sabi Sands, lion, leopard, sometimes cheetah and occasionally wild dog. So if you visit a park with the idea of seeing a specific animal, you have to choose carefully and the private lodges are your best option - if you are happy with what nature shows you, the public parks are good enough.

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My Recent Visit to the Kruger Park – Keith Marallich

I recently had occasion to guide a tour of four youngish Germans to the Kruger Park. I was looking forward to this; I had not been to the Kruger for some time and was looking forward to visiting the spiritual home of so many South Africans after a long absence. I picked this group up at the O R Tambo in the late morning and made my way to Hanna Lodge, on the Panorama Escarpment. This was a good choice, as it gave the clients some time to unwind and more importantly, offered them some good food, something that would be sorely missed during the next few days! Upon arrival at Hanna Lodges’ entrance gate, we had to stop for a flock of ostriches that seemingly were all over the place, together with large numbers of warthog and in the distance what looked like hartebeest and impala. Hannah Lodge was a good as ever, and dinner that evening was superb. Even though there were not that many people in residence at the lodge, they did not hold back on the food, and a fine dinner buffet was on offer. 

The following morning after a good breakfast we made our way down the Abel Erasmus Pass and entered the Kruger Park at Orpen Gate. I must say that I was immediately aware of the fact that this area had received much rain – in fact, they had cyclone weather together with some flooding earlier in the year and evidence of this deluge was everywhere, manifested in the amount of surface water and in the previously dry riverbeds that were now constantly trickling water. I was a little concerned about this as my experience is that if there is water available at previously dry pans and waterholes, animals are scarce near the public roads and difficult to find. This was the case, and we did not see much on the 47 kilometre drive from Orpen Gate to Satara – some elephant, lots of impala, zebra and some hippos at the Nsemani Dam. This scarcity of animals may also have had something to do with the time of day, mid morning to mid midday, possibly the worst time for game viewing.

After checking in we went on an afternoon drive on the very popular S100 – reputed to be one of the best game viewing roads in the entire Kruger Park, but all we saw here were some general plains game, although we did have a nice sighting of some elephants drinking at the N’wanetsi River where it crosses the S41 road. Unfortunately, with the setting sun which we were driving directly into and the dust of the S100, visibility was poor so not much was seen on the first day. I suspect that this is what rally drivers must experience being behind faster cars on the Dakar Rally through the desert, all this dust and low light! I was hoping for an improvement for the following few days. 

Now with a good few hours under our belt today, everyone was looking forward to dinner, and we duly arrived at the dining room at Satara in preparation for our dinner, only to be told that they do not serve dinner any longer! The reason? They have increased the dinner prices and because of this people stay away - they do not have enough customers to justify a buffet, so they only do one on Saturday nights (and this night happened to be a Sunday night, so I was twenty-four hours too late or six days too early)! Now I am no economist, but maybe, just maybe, lower your prices, take dinner reservations (with a deposit if needs be) and then cater for those people that have booked dinner – it workd at Hilltop Camp in the Hluhluwe uMfolozi Park. The result of this was that we were obliged to have dinner in the cafeteria, where we ended up with burgers and toasted sandwiches for dinner. Fortunately for me, the clients understood and were not that upset. More was to follow on the food front the next morning – this time it was through my mistake – no-one else can be blamed.

After our slap-dash dinner I decided that we would not return to Satara for breakfast (one does not want to take too many chances here, does one?) – we were to stay at Skukuza the following two nights, so I resolved to do an early morning game drive in the Satara area and then have breakfast/brunch at the Tshokwane Picnic Site en route to Skukuza. As is my wont, we started out early and I did quite a long drive along the S36. We saw some general game and lots of elephants. At one point in the early morning, in some fairly thick bush, a bull elephant broke out of the bushes, out of nowehere and came straight for us, ears well open, standing tall and trumpeting – this was serious stuff! With some fairly deft backing up, (brag, brag), and the elephant coming down the road after me, a fine time was had by all. I suspect that the elephant was either chasing another one, which we did not see, or was being chased by another one, which we also did not see, or was following a breeding herd or something else along those lines, but whatever the reason, he decided that he had better things to do after all and left us in peace to wipe the sweat from our collective brows. He disappeared into the bush, trumpeting all the time, sounding very much like a large group of vuvuzela bearers at a World Cup soccer match, getting fainter as he moved further and further away to whom knows where.

Where the S36 re-joined the tar road, we came across two dead lions just off the road. Actually, after a while they both moved, so they were not dead, but they may as well have been. The only excitement they afforded us was when the sun got too warm and they moved into deeper shadow and out of sight. Time to move on, bacon and eggs are calling.

When I arrived at the Tshokwane Picnic Site in response to the call of the bacon and eggs (and this was now mid-morning), lo and behold, I discovered that this popular picnic site was closed! This was because of the flood damage from earlier in the year, and I admit, this was my mistake – I should have checked to see if it had re-opened. Alas, we now had no option but to push on to Skukuza where we then had an early lunch, very similar to last nights’ dinner, but acceptable, this was after all lunch.

I was not going to make any mistakes with any future meals, so I went to the restaurant at Skukuza to see what they had on offer for dinner as in my previous and many visits here, it had always been a buffet (as was the case at Satara), but to my consternation I found that they too had done away with the buffet, but were offering meals on an a la carte basis, and the menu for each individual day was posted at the entrance. The menu? Too little choice (one in the group was a vegetarian, which was not catered for) and too expensive for what was on offer. Fortunately, Skukuza, being the largest camp in the Kruger Park, has two restaurants, so we ended up having all our dinners here at the Selati Restaurant. They have a fixed a la carte menu that may change only twice a year, and although fairly expensive, their service and meals are not too bad and certainly the best that is to be found in the Park. No complaints here.

The next morning we did a meandering drive down to Lower Sabie for breakfast – I wanted to see what has changed here in terms of their meals, and also, this is a good region for some great game viewing. Lower Sabie does not offer the buffet breakfast any longer, so we had the set breakfast at the cafeteria – a choice of three breakfast dishes. Not too much of a problem, how much can you really mess up bacon and eggs and toast? Game viewing was quite good, with a nice sighting of two lionesses, one of which was pretty bored with being stared at and showed this by giving off a massive yawn. It was on this road that we also had a good sighting of a trio of white rhinos.

For future visits to the Kruger Park I am a little concerned about the meals. The Kruger Park, although a great wildlife destination, was never known for its fine dining and gourmet meals – they are after all a wildlife conservation organization and this is where their focus is. All the camps used to offer a buffet dinner (of varying degrees it must be said). However, it now seems as if each camp has its own meal system on what may or may not be on offer for dinner. If the two largest camps in the park, Skukuza and Satara do not offer a buffet, and the second largest camp in the Kruger Park, Satara, only has cafeteria meals available for dinner, what of the smaller camps? I will have to tell future clients that any visit to the Kruger may result in a lottery as far as dinner is concerned, and any client who feels that they have to have good meal choices that are well presented, may have to look at a private concession lodge inside the park or a lodge in the private Sabi Sands or Timbavati Reserves adjacent to the Kruger. Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with the quality of the food that we had, it is simply the presentation, choices and level of service that one has to grit one’s teeth about when dining at the camp cafeterias. I can get by with a “take away” type of breakfast and lunch, but want something just a little bit more refined for dinner! May, just maybe one day, SAN Parks will look at getting outside commercial restaurants into the Kruger Park – it can’t be too difficult having someone like Spur at these camps, surely? (For those internationals who don’t know Spur, it is a standard South African family restaurant, serving basic meals, but with so many choices, and even though it is not fine dining, it should suit almost everyone.

What about the main reason for the visit – the wildlife? We saw lion every day, except for our first day on arrival, and were quite lucky to have a fairly good leopard sighting one afternoon. Bird sightings, even though this was mid-April, were still pretty good with a martial eagle and a ground hornbill posing very nicely for us along the main road between Lower Sabie and Skukuza. The rest of the “big5”, elephant, buffalo and to a lesser extent, rhino, were regularly seen and then of course plenty of zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, wildebeest and more seen in abundance.

I have included some photos hereunder – this is simply a small selection of the photos that I took on this trip, and covers a cross-section of animals that were seen – I trust that you will enjoy them.  

Madikwe Hills - Chris Moerdyk report

February 16 2012 at 08:27am


By Chris Moerdyk

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You don't have to worry about bathing outdoors only the animals can see you, and they don't care.

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There is no greater feeling of contentment than standing stark naked on your own private deck surveying an unbroken vista of pristine Africa, following an early-morning skinny dip in your own private plunge pool and an invigorating outside shower. It is the ultimate in communing with nature even if it terrifies myriad animals and birdlife which, after many decades, have probably never adapted to seeing homo sapiens in the buff.
I love the bush with a passion. Nothing on earth destresses me quicker than the smell and all enveloping warmth of Mother Africa at her natural best. But I do get somewhat miffed when I am forced to spend my first waking moments and that half-hour before I go to sleep sharing Ma Africa with strangers.

I want her all to myself.

I also get a little bitter and twisted when, on a game drive, we happen to come across something exciting such as a pride of lion next to the road, or a leopard dozing in a tree, or a kill when, within minutes, we are surrounded by dozens upon dozens of game vehicles, cars and lumbering camper vans that turn a tranquil Mother Nature moment into a Hollywood production of whirring cameras and frenetic pointing and shouting.
Which brings me to a little bit of serendipity I experienced recently –in one of the best luxury game lodges I have visited anywhere in Africa, in one of the best-managed game reserves on the continent.

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I am talking about Madikwe Game Reserve, set in the Marico bushveld slap in the middle of Herman Charles Bosman territory and nestling up against the Botswana border.

The reason I have fallen in love with Madikwe is not because of its big five or almost 500 bird species, but because of its management – game rangers and trackers who try as hard as possible to keep out of each other’s way so that you always feel you are on your own. And, most importantly, their wonderful rule that no more than three game vehicles may gather in any one place. A brilliant rule that should be applied everywhere. But, before going on about the spectacular game and our sighting of black rhinos and an extremely rare bird, a word or two about our lodgings.

The Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge is what one would expect of a five-star establishment, and more.
It is set on the side of a thickly wooded hill with the entire lodge raised off the ground to about mid-thorn tree height and joined by a network of wooden walkways. The entire lodge is built around rocks and trees and every suite is charmingly decorated to look like part of your own luxurious family holiday home rather than one of those terribly contrived hotels where they measure the distance between the magazines and the fruit bowl on the coffee table and make sure that your goodnight chocolate is absolutely in the centre of your pillow.

Madikwe Hills is elegantly casual. Our suite had a large lounge, massive bedroom, huge dressing room, a bathroom from here to eternity, all glass fronted with views over the acacia-studded plains. A huge rambling front deck was raised above ground level and incorporated a plunge pool which was at a perfect temperature to allow you to have a refreshing dip without making your testicles contract to somewhere near your backbone. But my favourite feature was the magnificent brass outdoor shower which I chose over the indoor version in the bathroom. With the entire unit private and protected from public view, I could swim and shower in the raw – communing with nature and getting a little sun on my lily-white bum even though it scared the animals. On our last morning we had a young bull elephant no more than 50m from the deck watching me shower. He stared for a bit, waved his trunk fairly suggestively (I thought) then wandered off shaking his head. I think he was laughing but he might well have been looking for somewhere to throw up.

Our morning and afternoon game drives were superblyprofessional under the guidance of our ranger, Barend, and tracker, Lebo.

We got to see a pride of lion, white rhino, black rhino, elephant and buffalo but somehow missed the leopard. Still, four out of the big five is pretty good going for a few hours. Madikwe is also well known for its wild dog. We didn’t see any but we were told that they were seen heading en masse in the generaldirection of Botswana at about the time I was skinny-dipping. Anyway, with both my wife and I keen birdwatchers, as were the young couple from the UK who shared our game drives, we revelled in Barend’s ability to spot birds. We added four more lifers to our bird list. But it was number 473 on our list that gave us the most joy.
It was the rare yellow form of the crimson-breasted shrike – something most birders only dream about and which even Barend had never seen before.

Equally exciting was not only managing to find a family of rare black rhino but having one of the young males mock-charge us –with the result that the video I took is now one of the most prized in my wildlife collection.

Madikwe Hills Lodge is one of those places that exceed your expectations from the word go. The service is outstanding, the accommodation better than most and the game viewing superb. But, most of all, with so many reserves becoming more and more crowded, Madikwe – and particularly the location of Madikwe Hills Lodge – makes you feel that you really are in wildest Africa. That you really are in the back of beyond. In fact, it’s more than that. Just think of the back of beyond and you’ll find Madikwe Hills just beyond that.
Strangely enough, it’s only a five-hour drive from Joburg or Pretoria but most guests choose to fly in to the reserve airstrip on Federal Air that operates between Gauteng and Madikwe.

But here’s another interesting thing. Round about the beginning of every year is animal mating season in Madikwe. We saw impalas rutting away as though there were no tomorrow;lions mating with almost royal disdain for the whole process of procreation; amorous white rhino males being rebuffed by tetchyfemales trying to have amud bath; turtle doves scurrying about the ground in ritual mating dances; and two baboons bonking their hearts out in the middle of the road. But it was when I was watching the male rhinos being given the cold shoulder that it suddenly occurred to me that whenever I paraded about our deck in the raw and had a bit of a skinny dip, my wife would sneak away and lock herself in the bathroom. - Saturday Star

If You Go...

l Madikwe Hills Private Game Lodge: Six stars in my book
Game viewing: excellent
Accommodation: 10 out of 10
Cuisine: 7 out of 10
Service: Always with a smile
Spa and gym: I don’t do gym but the reflexology almost beats showering in the sun
Malaria and goggas: Madikwe is malaria-free and goggas are kept at bay with efficient mosquito netting
Temperature: Even in January it was in the mild mid-20s with moderate humidity. It does get cold on winter nights and early mornings