TRIP TO PILANESBERG Game reserve

Pilanesberg Game reserve.Look at the hill /"Mountain" to the left and you will see the Lodge buildings peeping over tree tops.

 

Background on Pilanesberg:

 Pilanesberg is a public game reserve in the Bojanala Region of the North West Province, about 2 hours drive North west of Pretoria and Johannesburg. Prior to 1979 when it was proclaimed as a reserve, the indigenous game populations were severely depleted due to commercial farming in the area. Then, “Operation Genesis” swung into action, which was an ambitious project to restock the land with game, remove the scars of human settlement and develop tourism infrastructure.
A 110 kilometer (68mi) peripheral big game fence was erected; 188km (117mi) of visitor roads developed and 6000 head of game re-introduced. This constituted the largest and most expensive game stocking and land rehabilitation project ever undertaken in any African game reserve at the time.
Today the reserve contains 55 species of large mammal including the “Big Five”, 354 bird, 65 reptile, 18 amphibian, 132 tree and 68 grass species.

  Road trip

From our farm, here in sleepy Marchand, its appx 900 kilometer drive to Pilanesberg. Using the very worst tarmac [?] roads that South Africa has to offer.

The trip comprised driving to Upington- Elephanshoek- Kuruman- Vryburg- Lictenberg- Koster- Phokeng- Pilanesberg.

 Lenie ,Ellen and I set off around 11.00 am on Thrusday morning promising each other that the route would be as important an experience as the game lodge....” Important” is NOT quite the adjective I would use as the roads were so bad. A combination of single tarmac roads with HUGE potholes, no fences either side, so that our forward progress was frequently interrupted by goats, sheep, donkeys and pedestrians..none of whom had the slightest idea of the dangers of travelling in the wrong direction and across the highways without looking in each direction first.

 Added to this vast sections of the road were undergoing repair, and there were many signs warning us of up to 30 minute delays to get through single file traffic. This road [the N14] is supposedly the arterial commercial road from the Northern Cape to Gauteng and the capitals of Pretoria and Joberg.

I have to admit that once we had been released from a particularly long que, I put my foot down and was summarily stopped by the crazy policemen here who just leap into the road waving their arms like mad men. Somehow we managed to talk our way out of a hefty fine.

We planned to overnight in Vryberg, and arrived at Villa Brocante [guest house] at around 6.00.pm. Definitly ready for a relax with a large glass of wine and some decent food. Fantastic place, offering - beds and bathroom a small restaurant and fantastic friendly service.

After an early morning wake up we departed making for Lichtenberg..the roads worsening all the while as this area has been the subject of unusually high rainfall in the past months . In Lichtenberg we decided to stop for a coffee and having found a safe spot for the car, marched around this bustling little town until we came across a reasonable place for coffee.  As we departed Ellen and I were tickled the advert for Mama Maria . On closer inspection  we discovered that there was in fact no end to her healing abilities!!!!!!

Lichtenberg was reluctant to release us, and every time I attempted to follow the sat nav instructions to Koster, we were abruptly stopped by boulders blocking a highway..after going around in circles for far too long, I stopped and asked. “Oh there is an off road diversion..only the locals know about it!” so stiffening my upper lip I listened attentively  and watched the waving arms, then for the next two hours we bounced along dirt roads behind huge lorries that churned up red dust and filth so that by the time we neared a proper highway the car had changed from black to a coppery brown.

We approached signs for Pilanesberg and Sun City,with great relief. The quality of the roads changed suddenly  and quite dramatically, reminding us of German autobahns [ had we just driven through a time warp?..Later we discovered that the English football team had stayed in Rustenberg during the world cup and the amazing brand new infrastructure had been hastily created  for their comfortable access in and out of the area [!!!!]

Ar around 2.30 on the Friday we arrived at Bakebung game lodge, in Pilanesberg , and had to park the car there and wait for a transfer up to our lodge in an open sided trecking vehicle..a further 20 minutes on unmade tracks..but this was Okay as we were now in “safari mode”

Arrival at our lodge

Having bounced our way to the base of a small mountain,  set in acres and acres of long waving grasses, we were instructed to “hop down” and climb the 157 steps of varying sizes up to the lodge which sits on the very top of the small mountain. The only help was a hand rail and the adrenalin that was pumping....the heat of the day was oppressive and before long [about half way up] we had to stop at a conveniently positioned bench for a rest.

Ellen and Lenie about a third of the way up

It was worth the climb..stunning..stunning lodge, a thatched and canvassed “Mother” lodge with eating facilities , and after a further climb..passing a swimming pool carved in the rocks, Lenie and Ellen were directed to their own  thatched cottage, as was I..fantastic views down across a very different kind of valley to the one in Kakamas..this one had grazing herds of gazelle, 

Wilderbeast,  Impala. Our cottages were built on cantilevered platforms that protruded from the sheer mountain sides and we were surrounded by green tree tops , so that it felt as though we were in tree houses from our spacious  individual sun decks. No expense had been spared with the chic African decorations inside the cottages..Luxurious sunken baths and large beds with crisp Egyptian sheets, full minibars , waffled dressing gowns.

 

 The three day break that Big had arranged for us, promised to be a combination of private and very bouncy game drives returning to the comforts of a stunning lodge and our own fantastic cottages.I have to admit that I began to consider the effort of 157 steps as a necessarily  harsh portal into to our sanctuary in the clouds.

The game drives:

Our guide for the trip was Zander , young and incredibly enthusiastic about the animals, insects  and flora. I do think he was somewhat overwhelmed by the three of us taking over his macho game vehicle with our bags and all manner of  emergency paraphernalia that might come in useful. In reality, we were taken very great care of by him. Frequent “rest” stops and he was very patient when we regularly dissolved into fits of giggles over some minutiae  that had infected us all. All while we were meant to be watching out for leopards /lions etc...Poor man.

Younsters showing off on the track in front of our safari vehicle.

 

 

youngster [under a year old feeding from his Ma [they feed for two years]

Advancing on our vehicle

Retreating from our vehicle

Shouting at our vehicle!

                                                           

Anyway, following our arrival, Zander made it clear that he was keen to take us out on an afternoon/night drive and to meet him for tea [yes high tea] in the mother lodge. After a delicious tea we set off. He gave us all safari coloured thick lines cagouls..we were expecting rain . 

Rain pelting down

A family of warthogs racing for cover

Zebra getting wet

Dissapearing for cover.

Within 20 minutes the heavens opened..thank goodness for the cagouls...within another 20 minutes the rain had stopped and the sun was starting to set.

Pair of  young male Impala

Had to put in a giraffe picture!

Pilanesberg at dusk

...I have to say I LOVE night drives and was very very excited.  It was quite stunning watching the sun descend on the park. The the animals who graze and roam freely during the day begin to  draw together in groups and seek safe places. In the hour before dark,the park is busy with elephant, zebra, wilder beast, giraffe, and the small and large antelopes swapping shifts with the dwellers of the night who bring a very different atmosphere to the drive. It feels more delicate, more dangerous..all the senses become acutely sharpened .  Zander our ranger  talks softly to other rangers on the radio about sightings, and in an instance we gather speed and career along the dark tracks, being buffeted by cool night breeze and moths caught in the jeeps spotlights.Lions have been sighted.

 The smell of the night differs to that during the day time..and eventually we were treated to a   spectacular sighting; A protective female lion  walking with her very young cubs around the edge of a lake, owls hunting for rodents, the earth rumbling calls of one male lion to another  across many hectares of velt.  

Eventually  around 8.30 pm, Zander returns us to the base station and we are shattered as we climb up through the darkness to the lodge. A five course meal gets the better of us and we almost don’t hear Zander tell us he will wake us up at 4.30 am for the early morning drive.

He does not disappoint...As I am a difficult morning person, I set my alarm for 4.00 and am up and showered and have made coffee by the time my door was knocked upon. I arrived at the mother lodge to meet another guest a French lady who had been golfing 20 kilometers away in Sun City when we had arrived yesterday. We sat and both tried to make friendly conversation..clearly we both found entente cordial hugely challenging at 4.45.a.m. No sign of the girls..so as Zander was pacing the decks and listening on his radio to the excited chatter of the other rangers already out and spotting..he asked me if I would go and check on Lenie and Ellen... They received my knock with bleary eyed surprise, and Ellen waved a cheery hand...”Dont worry we will be with you in 10 minutes” I took a very slow walk back to the mother lodge. All vestiges of entente cordial were now gone..it was freezing cold and The French lady , Zander and I had totally given up eye contact let alone conversation.

Through the dark we heard the girls approaching... they greeted us, there was a pregnant pause... “Are you waiting for us?” they asked. WE all navigated the 157 steps in silence.

As we drove through the pitch black morning, the breeze created by the jeep, froze us. Lenie looked as though she was on a ski ing holiday in many layers of clothing a couple of hats a scarf ,cagoule and large green blanket. It was certainly a bracing way to wake up. None of us in the jeep that morning were very chatty...but when we saw a pair of black backed jackels slipping through the tall grasses the adrenalin started to pump.

.and then a spotted hyena..on the trail of a kill, and then elephant making waking sounds to their herds....amazing. By 6.30 it was light and we happened upon the fairly rare sight of a Hippo grazing..they usually do this under the cover of night..so we stopped and watched his grazing..He was watching us as well!

He then decided that he wanted to cross the track excatly where our vehicle was

 

Clearly irritated!

thats the front of the car in the foreground..and he was MASSIVE!

 

thanked our lucky stars that we were in such a well equipped car. Zander stopped at a rest place,[ by this I mean ramshackle toilets, protected by a high wooden fence from the free ranging animals]  and while we were queuing for the ladies..he prepared coffee and delicious muffins from the “ pic nic application” in the back of the safari vehicle. WE were just tucking in when a huge open bus arrived full of visitors to the park...these tourists were from one of the hotels outside the park, and had obviously been up early but  were dressed in light clothes..some of the children looked absolutely frozen and many of the grown ups eyed our steaming cups of coffee with green eyed envy. But the law of the jungle applies here..survival of the fittest and all that, sowe poured more coffee, downed our muffins and set of on stage two of our morning safari. Fantastic and on our return to Mother ship in the clouds,at around 10 am,we were treated to a disgustingly opulent cooked breakfast, which we all ate with great relish.

The time between morning safaris and afternoon safaris is ones own on this type of break, so we slept, and read on our sun decks being distracted by herds of animals below us, swam in the rock pool and generally relaxed until tea and another night drive beckoned.

blue wilderbeast

 

Early morning hi jinks

All in all a wonderful experience  and in great company. Lenie ,Ellen and I shared much laughter and enjoyed each others company so much. On Sunday morning, we had to wave a sad farewell to The mother ship, Zander, Pilanesberg and head East for Joberg where we had to collect Big from the domestic airport. He was delighted by how upbeat we were and what a fantastic time we had had. All too soon we had to drop Lenie and Ellen off at the International terminal for their return to Holland and after overnighting in Joberg with friends, Chris and Leanne, we travelled back on that awful road to The Valley that is Marchand.

Life in the Valley: Owls and snakes [again!]

So a short return to Marchand, before Little and I head out to UK again in 23^rd March. Big departed on 5^th March to offer assistance to the boys with the challenges they face of running a company, he will return on 16^th March.

Life is quiet here on the farm, the dogs offer huge amounts of company and now that I have taken over Bigs role as “Chief Powel l”ranger, I have the added responsibility of making sure that he is fed watered and has daily flying practice to strengthen his damaged wing. We still hope that he can successfully be returned to the wild.

Powell who is not called Powell..getting bigger.

He is able to support his wieght now..look at those fury legs! You can see how low he carries his right wing.

On the evening that Big left, I braced myself and donned leather gauntlets [the gardening ones] to remove Powel who is not called Powell from his cage.. he objected hugely and after a minor tussle in the confines of his cage, I carried him very gingerly out ,to the piece of grass [away from the pool!] and set him down on the grass. At just this moment Moses and Mrs Smalle happened around the corner,and Moses did one of his long low whistles as Powel who is...etc, leapt across the grass in long hops and then stopped, I smiled at Moses and by way of explanation, held my green gauntleted hands out and mimicked the act of flight, then when he looked confused I did a big [green] thumbs up sign. At this point Powell..etc, decided to take his first short flight and I whooped with joy. Moses and Mrs Smallie were gone when I turned around. Catching Powel..etc, was no easy task, not because he is able to fly high..no he is not at this advanced stage of flight yet..but he was determined to evade my attempts to return him to the cage..which I think is a very good sign...he and I have continued with this nightly flying practice and there is a noticeable difference in how much stronger his damaged wing is...I think it will not be long before he flies the coup altogether and hope that Powel..etc, stays until Big is back, as he has become very fond of this bird.

On Saturday night, after the excitements of his first flight, as the twilight drew in, another larger spotted eagle owl flew into the garden, and settled on the fence post at the far side of the grass..it stayed there for some 30 minutes until Bongo spotted it and made a fruitless  but energetic dash across the lawn for it. Big said that he was convinced the mother owl was still in the vicinity ..maybe this is here waiting for her last chick to return...if it is, I don’t think she will be waiting a great deal longer.

We are still in High snake season [for this reason I cant wait for the heat to begin to dissipate...by the end of March I hope. Once again we have had a nasty snake  slithering around. Not in the house this time. I was doing my laps of the pool when Smallie appeared at the door of Moses house and his face changed from one of greeting to one of horror..”SLANG” he shouted, I was too late to see the offender..but Smallies managed to tell me..[strange that I understand Africaans when its about snakes] that it was a long black snake...sounding remarkably like the spitting cobra that Moses had an earlier encounter with in the garage. Once again this one slithered into the garage, where Smallie and I kept an eye until the troops..namely.... Moses, Carlos and another man from the factory arrived.

They gingerly pulled everything from the garage, and to Bongos delight the only things that they discovered were frogs..after five minutes of watching Bongs, prodding and patting and and pinging around with the frogs, my nerves couldn’t stand the possibility of him coming across the snake, so I dragged a very unhappy Bongs into the house, where he proceeded to give me “death eyes” for ruining his fun. The snake was never discovered..so I do not plan to go into the garage for the foreseeable future. Thank goodness the car is not kept in there. And before i HEAR YOU ASK.....the very important Bronco Lane Throwing Knife is out ,and in action again.

Our 10 geese have taken up residence outside the lounge window, they love to sunbathe here and paddle in the moats that Moses had built around the palm trees.

The bossy one in the foreground is just strutting over to me to warn me off.

 MANY THANKS

Huge Kisses to all...I look forward to seeing a little more of everyone when Little and I return in  late March. For now I  would like to say a huge" thank you`" to everyone for their help, support and kindness over the past few difficult weeks.  Tazzy and David, you truly are legends.

And Jessie, Tommy, Finn and Little,  you all know  how proud I am of you, but here is a public declaration of my admiration of your spirit and strength, what a team! special kisses for you all and see you soon.

To Lenie and Ellen, thank you for the laughter and fun..it was a great tonic spending a few days in the wilderness with you both.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kisses on the lips.

From deepest Darkest

Dawn