I am sitting in the middle of a pride of nine lions in an open game vehicle. The lions are roaring, but because they hunted last night they are not too hungry. Just as well, because the game vehicle has broken down and we are stuck in the darkness.
My friend Marie and I are old bushwhackers, so we are enjoying the moment. The ranger is understandably worried. Even more worried is the Cypriot honeymoon couple on the back seat. She is coping, because she was born and bred in Benoni. Not so her young husband, Kiri, who has never been to Africa, let alone the bush, and is, frankly, terrified. “No problem,” we all assure him. “The lions just see us and the vehicle as one big unthreatening animal.”
There are five lions on one side an arm-stretch away, and the four on the other side are about 3m away.
The stars shine down, a Fiery-Necked Nightjar is calling, and so far there has been radio silence after our SOS.
At that moment, one of the big black-maned lions gets up, walks over to the vehicle, eyeballs Kiri, throws back its head and gives a mighty roar.
Kiri disappears under the back seat, to emerge only hours later, when we finally get back to camp.
Madikwe Game Reserve, North West, just five hours’ drive from Joburg and 20 minutes from the Botswana border, has become one of South Africa’s fastest-growing safari destinations. It’s easy to understand why. It’s one of the few reserves in southern Africa that is malaria-free (a huge bonus), it’s huge (75 000 hectares), and not only does it have the obligatory big five, it’s also home to the highly endangered wild dog, the painted wolf.
Madikwe is one of those conservation success stories that have put South Africa on the map as a world leader in the field. Created in 1991, it’s a unique alliance between the North West Parks Board, private enterprise and local communities. If you’d come here 20 years ago you would have found degraded cattle farms, rusty fences, broken-down kraals, thick bush and not much else. Enter the well-named Operation Phoenix, during which more than 8 000 animals of 27 species were successfully relocated to the new Madikwe Game Reserve.
Two decades later, the reserve is pumping with game. Our first morning we watch a pack of nine wild dogs demolish an impala, before beginning to play and groom each other in the early-morning sun. Later that morning we find a young lioness, obviously lost from her pride, mooching about on the dirt road uncertain which way to go, and calling mournfully. Grant, our ranger, reassures us that she’ll find her family before dark.
One evening, as we stop for sundowners as another unbelievably gorgeous African sunset stains the sky, we see a lone gemsbok watching us, looking strangely out of place in this thick bush. The usual image of this stately, super-brave animal is against a desert landscape.
Imagine rhino wallowing in deep squelchy mud, then scratching themselves in blissful abandon against a thick tree trunk; fat zebra and sleek wildebeest chomping the lush grasses; stately giraffe peering over the tops of high bushes; a brown hyena munching something in the bushes, black-backed jackals trotting purposefully along, and colourful birds everywhere – Crimson-Breasted Shrikes, Lilac-Breasted Rollers, Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbills, Blue Waxbills – the bush is a riotous rainbow of flying colours.
We stay at Buffalo Ridge Safari Lodge for the first two nights, a lodge co-owned and co-run by the same company that runs the De Hoop Collection in the Western Cape (whale-watching galore) and the local Balete community – a pioneering project of community upliftment through ecotourism. The staff are enthusiastic and friendly, the lodge, built on a cliff side with sweeping views over the bush to the horizon, comfortable and welcoming. (If you’re not too stable on your pins or too sound of wind and limb, be warned, because there are lots of steps and steep climbs here.)
Franco, our local guide, not only finds the animals and birds for us, he introduces us to the bush in bloom. Wild flowers are everywhere, and in the open spaces the ground is carpeted with colour. White wild hibiscus, purple poison apple, scarlet wild zinnias, the yellow everlasting flowers of the hairy nidorella (the lodge puts these blossoms on honeymoon beds for everlasting love), and multicoloured grasses – pink, green, golden and brown.
We then move on to stay at the ultra-luxurious Tuningi Lodge where a 300-year-old fig tree stands sentinel over a busy waterhole. In February, when we are here, elephant sightings are scarce because there is so much surface water available throughout the reserve, but in winter, Grant tells us, this waterhole is a pachyderm Picadilly Circus, with elephants coming and going day and night.
Tuningi welcomes children – not always a factor with many five-star lodges – and even has dedicated children’s programmes. Specially trained staff and rangers will take the kids off your hands on their own mini-safaris if you are craving some quiet or private time, and there’s a special family unit – Little Tuningi – designed for parents travelling with their children or small groups looking for privacy. (All this luxury doesn’t come cheap, but watch out for special deals, especially during the off-season.)
Madikwe doesn’t have the great rivers, ancient riverine trees and dazzling variety of habitats that Kruger offers. But if it’s game (66 species) and birds (more than 400 species) you’re looking for – in a malaria-free zone – then Madikwe hits the mark. - Sunday Independent
l Kate Turkington was a guest of Tuningi Lodge and Buffalo Ridge Safari Lodge
If You Go...
The Madikwe Collection owns a number of different lodges in the reserve. Check them out at:
Tel: 011 805 9995
E-mail: reservations@madikwecollection.com
Web: www.madikwecollection. com
Madikwe Game Reserve, one of the few reserves in southern Africa that is malaria-free, is in South Africa along the Botswana border about 20km from Gaborone.
Only a few hours’ drive from Joburg and Pretoria, and about 45 minutes via air charter to any one of the two landing strips in the reserve, Madikwe is now one of South Africa’s prime safari destinations and one of the biggest big fivereserves in the country.
Positioned within the 75 000-hectare Madikwe Game Reserve, the exclusive Madikwe Collection is an accommodation portfolio that consists of six private four- and five-star lodges able to accommodate 100 people in total.
Because of the environmentally sensitive nature of the reserve, development has been zoned and kept to a minimum and all the lodges have been created in a low-density fashion to ensure minimal impact on the environment.