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On
safari!
Going bush and getting up close and personal with Africa
is a hell of a thing, writes Sharon van Wyk of The
Mail & Guardian – Part 1 of a 3 part series
of articles December 2003
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I’ve often wondered how Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner
managed to beat their way through the African bush in
the old Hollywood classic “Mogambo” without
ever breaking out into a sweat. And (in Ava’s case,
at least) in high heeled mules to boot!
I’ve just been on safari and I “perspired”
considerably, but then I left the old stilettos at home
(tottering can be tiresome).
Safari. It’s a wonderful word, evoking images of
colonial sorts striding out into the wilds of Africa in
very inappropriate clothing, sleeping in scorpion-infested
tents and drinking copious amounts of gin and tonic to
fend off malaria, old chap.
A lot has changed, thankfully, but the modern equivalent
still offers a chance to get up close and personal with
the spirit of mother Africa.
Under the cloak of the “Five Rivers Safari”
you can choose between areas as diverse as the Okavango
Delta, Central Kalahari, Caprivi Strip and the Upper Zambezi
basin.
Safaris these days require you to pack light (sorry, Ava)
with a maximum of 12kgs in a soft bag and the usual hand
baggage. This is because transfers between camps are in
small five or six-seater Cessnas, so bags have to be squished
into tight spaces, as do passengers. Basically, if you’re
not a contortionist when you leave, you sure as hell are
when you return!
In my case the squishing began in Maun with Mack Air,
one of several charter companies working out of the northern
Botswana town. A 25-minute flight north in the blistering
heat of midday with the charming Faris at the controls
brought us to the first port of call - Xakanaxa Camp.
The name requires some bushman-like clicking to produce
it properly, but most non-clickers like me pronounce it
Kaka-naka. Run by Bob and Flo Flaxman, the camp is located
on the Khwai River in an area of seasonal swamp in the
Moremi Game Reserve. It’s undeniably one of the
prettiest spots around, shaded by jackalberries, morulas
and knob-thorns and overlooking vast expanses of reeds,
which are occupied by a veritable cornucopia of birdlife.
Xakanaxa has its own resident crocodile; a small family
of bushbuck and a hippo nicknamed Pavarotti which is prone
to midnight strolls around camp.
The camp consists of a large reception area and small
curio shop, 12 twin-bedded tents, with a communal lounge
area, dining room and boma-style fireplace where guests
gather after dinner to exchange stories of the day’s
adventures. There is also a plunge pool set in a small
pool deck with a separate lapa-cum-sala providing much-needed
shade in the heat of the day.
A short walk from the main camp is Pandani’s, a
satellite camp of four tents with their own lounge and
dining area and separate plunge pool overlooking a small
lagoon on the Khwai.
Pandani’s can be booked out in its entirety by small
groups of up to eight people.
The tents themselves are a marvelous illustration of how
camping need not mean roughing it. High twin beds swathed
in percale cotton linen with log-hewn furniture offering
space to unpack clothes and store essentials. Rugs on
the floor lead footfalls to the en-suite bathroom. Surrounded
by wooden fencing to fend off prying eyes both human and
animal, the toilet, basin and shower offer the chance
for guests to commune with nature.
Hot and cold running water and an inexhaustible supply
of Doom, Tabard and Peaceful Sleep mean that you stay
clean while bugs (and there are plenty of them) are for
the most part kept at bay.
At this juncture it is probably best that I mention something
which may seem obvious. Bush camps are not for those who
scream at every little creepy crawly or worry about wild
Africa coming too close for comfort. After dark you do
not wander around – you are escorted to and from
your humble abode to and from the dining room and lounge
areas. There are no fences to keep small hairy things
and larger, furry things out. There is only your tent
canvas or lodge wall to keep you in.
Animals and goggas wander in, and out of camp with impunity.
And by animals I mean everything from water monitors,
snakes, monkeys and hippos to hyenas, lions, leopards
and elephants.
After dark there is generally no power, meaning that light
is provided by storm lamps, oil lanterns and candles.
Mosquito coils keep the little biters away and the only
way to keep a good flow of air through your abode is to
keep flaps down or windows open.
Malaria is a very real and ever-present problem and anti-malarial
measures are a must, whether it be medication or spraying
thoroughly each night.
Indeed, a healthy respect for and interest in bugs is
probably an advantage while on safari. In the rainy season
especially the lights around the dinner table at night
can attract a huge range of bugs, from cicadas (press
them gently and they buzz obligingly) and grasshoppers
to long-horned beetles and several kinds of mantis.
At Xakanaxa the Flaxmans do everything they can to make
your stay the most enjoyable it can be, and you soon settle
into a nice routine. Early-morning wake-ups begin each
day, with coffee, tea and biscuits and cereals at the
lounge before heading off with your guide on a three-hour
game drive.
The guides are all very experienced and knowledgeable
about the area and its diversities. Some, like Metsi,
named after the water, have had some very close encounters
with the Moremi’s four-legged inhabitants.
Back at Xakanaxa generally by 10 o clock, Flo and Bob
greet you and escort you to the dining room for a lavish
and exceedingly filling brunch, after which the rest of
the morning and early afternoon are yours to relax, catch
up on some snoozing and cool off in the plunge pool. Then
it’s tea-time with cakes and snacks and off on a
late afternoon drive, stopping for sundowners at a suitable
spot en route before returning to camp for dinner and
drinks around the fire.
The meals are wonderful, with home-cooked fare lovingly
prepared and presented. The wine flows and after-dinner
Amarulas are the perfect way to wind down for bedtime
in Utopia.
Guests have the option of taking game drives in the Moremi
or boat trips into the swamps, with short forays into
the reed-lined channels on the traditional mokoros. These
days the mokoros are fibre-glass as opposed to hollowed
out trees in an effort to protect the woodlands around
the swamps.
The Moremi Game Reserve has everything but rhino. Consistent
poaching has all but decimated Botswana’s rhino
population and attempt to reintroduce both black and white
rhino have been largely unsuccessful, except for in small
pockets in the Chiefs Island area of the Mombo concession
within the Moremi.
It means you don’t get to see the Big Five, but
certainly the remaining four are available in abundance.
In addition, sightings like red lechwe, the rare sitatunga
and tsessebe more than make up for the absence of rhino.
And the birdlife is out of this world, with carmine bee-eaters,
pied kingfishers, rufus-bellied herons and African fish
eagles as common as mossies.
After the lush wetlands of the Delta, the 55-minute transfer
from Xakanaxa via Mack Air to Deception Valley Lodge in
the central Kalahari area brought with it a huge contrast.
Where there had been river channels and swamp there was
now an unending wilderness of parched land with its own,
peculiar brand of stark beauty. Where there had been a
hot, but moist climate there was now the blistering heat
of an almost desert environment. The thermometer hit 42
degrees C as we landed at the Deception Valley airstrip.
Deception Valley Lodge is located on a 15,000-hectare
private farm adjacent to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve
in central Botswana. It’s a 20-minute flight from
Maun.
The lodge is owned and run by Braam and Susanne Badenhorst
and is managed by Bruce and Arenell Robinson with the
help of Johnny and Jackie Minaar.
This is San country and members of the local bushman tribe,
the Basarawa, work at Deception Valley Lodge as trackers
and bush educationists, taking guests on walks into the
bush and giving them a glimpse of the San way of life,
using Bruce and Johnny, who act as guides, as intermediaries.
The lodge consists of five twin chalets with comfortable
sitting rooms with cosy couch, coffee table and mini-bar
and spacious bedrooms cooled by ceiling fans. The bathrooms
have large Victorian-style baths and outdoor showers.
Connected to the main lodge building by a series of wooden
walkways, the facilities are all open to the bush, again
with nothing to keep the wilds of the Kalahari at bay.
At the main lodge is an open-plan dining area with a huge,
sleeper wood table. Here a range of marvelous, home-cooked
meals are served by Arenell and Jackie which are guaranteed
to satisfy even the most grumbly tummy. There’s
a cosy bar and comfortable lounge area with a selection
of reference books available for guest use and outside
is a braai area and fireplace where guests congregate
for drinks. Upstairs is a small curio shop selling bushman
artifacts and items of interest. There is also a nice
pool deck with a decent-sized plunge pool, loungers and
umbrellas to fend off the scorching sun.
A family of porcupines is in residence at the main lodge.
Spike, Lucy and their daughter Cheeky put in nightly appearances
for the guests’ and guides benefit alike and the
chance to get close to these strange but fascinating creatures
is a highlight.
But without a shadow of doubt the chance to trek into
the bush with the San Bushmen is the main draw card at
Deception Valley Lodge.
Two tribesmen, Xhasi and Sthibo, worked with Bruce to
educate me in the ways of the Basarawa, digging up bi
– a huge juicy tuber – and showing me how
they scrape and gouge it, and finally crush the scrapings
to drink the precious liquid it unlocks. It’s bitter
to the taste but certainly life sustaining in such a harsh
environment.
They also showed me the kan-nie-dood bush from which they
harvest their fire sticks. These they rub together to
make campfires.
The kan-nie-dood also offers up a curious poisonous grub
which lives in its root system. This grub, when squashed
and squeezed over arrow tips, becomes a deadly poison,
helping the Bushmen to bring down steenbok and kudu.
I was also shown the San hardware shop, which comes in
the form of the brandy bush. The wood of this bush becomes
pliable when heated in fire and is harvested to make throwing
sticks, bows, spears, digging sticks and walking sticks.
Kudu sinews are used to make bowstrings. All of the above
are packed into a soft skin bag and provide the San with
everything they need to survive in the Kalahari.
A bit of target practice with a bushman bow soon elevated
me to the ranks of honorary San as I discovered a natural
ability as an archer. The few short hours spent in the
bush with these incredible people was an experience I’ll
never forget, and one which has shown me just how resilient
the human spirit is.
Life at Deception Valley Lodge runs on the same timeframe
as Xakanaxa, with early wake-up calls, morning game drives
or bush walks, brunch, siesta or swim, afternoon snacks,
afternoon-evening game drive and sundowners and a hearty
dinner and drinks. The difference is the environment and
the type of game in the area.
Aardvark, pangolin, springhares, brown hyena and huge
Kalahari lions make the place truly special, as do the
sightings of leopard and honey badger. Then there’s
the smaller, more unusual inhabitants such as the lethal
black hairy thick-tailed scorpion, huge baboon spiders
and a variety of snakes and lizards.
During my stay there was a huge rainstorm, which afforded
me the chance to see long-dormant bullfrogs digging their
way out of hibernation and frolicking in fleeting desert
puddles.
Deception Valley Lodge’s brand of home-from-home
hospitality and the down-to-earth approach to life in
the bush is a breath of fresh air compared to the stresses
and strains of urban living, and is the perfect partner
to Xakanaxa and the Okavango Delta. It’s a definite
not-to-be-missed experience.
ENDNOTE:
Next week Sharon van Wyk experiences lion infanticide
at Kwando Kwara Camp in the northern Okavango Delta
and the magic of wild dogs at Kwando Lebala Camp in
the Linyanti area close to the Caprivi Strip.
About the areas:
Botswana is roughly the size of France or Texas but
with population of only 1,7-million. More than 40% of
the land is reserved for conservation and wilderness.
The topography of the Okavango was formed through process
of erosion and deposition. Two things influence the
topography – first is the flatness of the area
which makes termite mounds the highest landforms. The
land slopes very gradually – 1km for every 4km
- to the southeast. Secondly there are very few rocks
or stones.
The Okavango Delta lies within the Kalahari basin –
a depression of wind-blown sands which extends from
the northeastern corner of South Africa to just south
of the equator in the DRC.
The underlying bedrock is volcanic sedimentary rock
and the entire area is seismically active and prone
to quakes.
Historically, it is thought the Okavango river extended
to the sea but there are different schools of thought
as to which sea it flowed into – some believed
it joined the Limpopo and flowed into the Indian Ocean,
others that it met the Orange River.
Flow movement was arrested due to tectonic movement
which caused a series of parallel faults and a section
of the earth’s crust to collapse, leading to the
formation of the inland delta, as we now know it. Geographically
it is known as an alluvial fan.
The Okavango River enters Botswana at Mohembo after
traveling 1000km from its source. It’s channeled
through what is known as the panhandle – a 15km
wide swathe between two of the geological faults. There
is a 6000 sq km area of permanent swamp, beyond which
is a 12000 sq km area of seasonal swamp, fed by an infinite
number of small channels. This becomes open grassland
when floodwaters recede in the dry season.
Four rivers influence Botswana today – the Upper
Zambezi, Kwando, Okavango and Limpopo.
The Central Kalahari, as its name suggests, is located
roughly in the middle of the Kalahari basin. Water is
scarce here, a fact learnt through hard experience by
the Dorsland Trekkers in the late 1800s.
The trek party of roughly 300 boere families and their
agricultural retinue reached the area hoping to find
water. A mirage fooled them into thinking they had found
the precious fluid and the deceit gave Deception Valley
its name. Approximately half of the families perished.
The descendants of the survivors still farm around the
Ghanzi area.
The local inhabitants of this stretch of the Kalahari
are San Bushmen of the Basarawa tribe.
This
article has been edited for inclusion in the Moremi Safaris
and Tours website.
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