A Secret Safari in South Africa

by Marco Monteiro-Silva, 19 March 2008

Four days, seven ecosystems, 22 000 pure, uncut hectares of wilderness and a ranger with a heart as big as a buffalo...these set the stage for our Phinda experience: a non-stop KwaZulu Natal Safari of such incredible wildlife and luxury that it catapulted the word 'awesome' back into this boy's safari mumbo jumbo.

The First Drive

It was clear from the outset that Grant, our experienced ranger, would have his hands full with our group of seasoned safari folk.

Paging through what he liked to call 'the menu' (a thick illustrated species guide of South African wildlife) we made our dream lists: big five, cheetah and black rhino were thrown in, as were painted reed frogs, various acacia trees and honey badgers.

The Phinda Reserve has seven distinct ecosystems - considering that even the mighty Kruger only has five, we might just see more here than we bargained for.

It's a Jungle Out There

High up in the mountains, our first major sighting is a close encounter with a black rhino. Phinda is home to 20 of the 3 700 black rhinos left in the world and seeing one is a rare opportunity. Many people don't realise that it's the black rhino that is in fact a member of the big five. White rhinos just don't count in the real big five stakes.

Suddenly we're reversing fast; an elephant bull charging at us, his head swinging and trumpet blaring. For the first time in forever, I froze up, forgetting to take photos while the bull came at us again. Being mock charged by a cocky elephant bull is remarkable; reversing into a lion pride while this is happening is just plain awesome.

As the night sucked away the daylight, we spent an hour with the lion pride as they began to wake from the day's haze. The pride is incredibly intimidating with some unusual dynamics at work.

The alpha male, fearing a vendetta from a pride in the north (he killed the brother of the north male some years back), has kept his three sons in the pride instead of chasing them away - hoping to keep the battle-scarred pride strong. The sons are growing fast and we watch as they constantly fight to try and keep dad away from the day's kill - trying to weaken him for what will be an eventual stand-off.

Cheetah Rock

At Phinda, it seems that at every dusty corner you come bumping and bashing around some small slice of wildlife is doing its thing. Warthogs usher their babies carefully across dirt roads, impala jump invisible hurdles and European rollers tumble through the big blue sky, their ugly squawks bursting from somewhere inside their beautiful blue feathers.

And then - payday. We stumble across a cheetah and her three cubs lying on a dirt road and carefully track them through the waist-high yellow grass. They eventually come to rest on a rock - perfect for hunting on the open sunlit plains.

The opportunity to spend so much time at a single sighting is something more than magical; we seem invisible to these sleek predators and are allowed to witness an African morning of pure cheetah life.

Sunrise

The early morning wildlife antics play out frantically but all we had to do was sit at a waterhole.

A nervous nyala eventually summons up the courage to drink as our cheetah family watch him carefully; a thick buffalo bulldozes a path to the water, chasing off our favourite spotted family. Grant just smiles. It seems he has a thing for buffalos.

In the water a crocodile tries to stalk some warthogs while on a mountain slope high above the waterhole, two male giraffes are trying to impress a female. A lazy thud echoes over the water as the males swing their necks in arching sweeps, smacking their heads into each other's sides.

Safari Siesta

Back in the sleek comfort of my Mountain Lodge suite, I grabbed some board-shorts; it was off to my deck and private pool for a swim before the afternoon's game drive.

Lying in the cool, clear pool I opened a bottle of Phinda White (made exclusively for the reserve by Villiera). I leant over the edge, drinking the icy Chardonnay and watching a pair of female Nyala grazing below.

Elephant Sunset

The boat sputters into a soft smooth ride. Everyone leans back, and soaks up the sunset along with their gin and tonics. As the wind picks up, wrinkly grey periscopes rise up from the long grass on the riverbank. We drop anchor, mesmerised as the sun sets to the sounds and silhouettes of elephants slurping water and gargling in thick hollow swirls.

Tracking the Wild

The night ends with a mouth-watering bush dinner. I fulfil a lifelong dream when Grant offers me the tracker's seat on the drive back to the lodge. I swing the spotlight in wide sweeps as I bounce around, my limbs jiggling and dangling in the wild night. I spot duiker, genet and jackal on the drive much to the whoops of encouragement from behind me.

I flop into bed exhausted: the early wake up calls are taking their toll, along with my unwillingness to ever have an afternoon nap - I simply don't want to miss out on any second of this safari. I fall asleep and my dreams become a safari collage of cheetah images set to the soft bubbling of kassina frogs. Bush days become bush dreams - it just can't be helped.

There's No Place Like Phinda

We choose to commemorate love in various ways - with ceremonies, traditions and rituals - marking the moments of joy and suffering that punctuate our life.

Before leaving Phinda, I managed to satisfy my curiosity about one such ceremony. During our stay I'd noticed some tattoos peeking from under clean-pressed khaki. After some goading, Grant lifted his shirt up - much to the ladies' delight.

Along Grant's entire upper back was an imposing tattoo of a buffalo face - jaw raised arrogantly and eyes manic. When the bush is in your blood - it's IN your blood - and people around you can't help but be infected by this love.

When on a KwaZulu Natal Safari you'll not only see incredible wildlife sightings but meet some unforgettable people...people like Grant... at places like Phinda.

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