South Africa
Leap into a real-life version of The Lion King with a visit to the Kapama Game Reserve, where the Big Five roam and endangered species are protected
Crack. “That was a tree,” our guide Ruan says unnecessarily from the spotter’s seat on the front of our open-top safari truck. We’ve seen broken branches strewn along the dirt road and vegetation ripped from the ground to expose its tasty roots. And then there’s the dung, giant steaming balls dropped in untidy trails. Yes, something large is afoot in Kapama Game Reserve.
An eager party of amateur animal detectives, we’ve learnt from Ruan and fellow guide Andre that rhinos stop to poop and leave behind tidy albeit large mounds. Elephants, on the other hand, walk and drop their waste at the same time. Aha! We have our suspects.
But finding them isn’t so easy; their wrinkled khaki hides are so well hidden in the thorny acacia bush that we’re beside a mother and calf – close enough to see mum’s long black eyelashes – almost before we know it.
“Even though they are such massive animals, their camouflage is ridiculous,” Ruan says. “It’s hard to believe an animal that size blends in so well.” Engrossed in feeding, the giants pay us no mind, their trunks tugging foliage from the trees and curling it into their mouths in one continuous circle.
Kapama – nearest town Hoedspruit – occupies 13,000 privately-owned hectares on the western edge of South Africa’s famous Kruger National Park, an hour’s flight northwest of Johannesburg.
The wild elephant herd roams the grassland and bush with other “must-see” animals of the illustrious Big Five: Cape buffalo, lion, the elusive leopard and precious rhinoceros. But what brings wildlife lovers to Camp Jabulani, the luxury Kapama lodge where we are staying, is a 15-strong herd of “ellies”, the core of which was rescued in 2002 from Zimbabwe, where they had been orphaned by a culling program and trained to carry tourists. Their owner was losing his farm and the animals faced death. Lente Roode, who founded the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (HESC), brought them and their keepers to the centre and set up Camp Jabulani on surrounding family land. Here, travellers can enjoy safari experience at its best – luxury accommodation, wildlife, good food and sunset drinks, with some extra large hosts.
ELEPHANTS AND OTHER ANIMALS
Up until April, elephant-back safaris were part of the Camp Jabulani experience. But with international opinion heavily weighted against the practice, last year the Roode family decided to phase out the rides. Now Camp Jabulani’s trained elephants roam Kapama during day, accompanied by grooms to keep them away from the wild herd, before returning to their stables at night. Guests can still spend time close to the elephants though, and hear guides tell stories about the animals. There is Jabulani, a calf rescued by Mrs Rood in 1997 and handreared at HESC before finding a new family when the Zimbabwe herd arrived. Tokwe is the nurturing matriarch; Sebakwe, the dominant male, is famous as being on a label of South Africa’s national liqueur, Amarula. The baby is Timesa, orphaned by the drought afflicting the country, and welcomed into the herd last November. “There wasn’t a dry eye that day,” camp manager Christo says as he leads us on an afternoon walk through the bush to watch the elephants. Even more magical is sitting by a waterhole at dusk for traditional sundowner drinks, watching silhouettes move slowly across a backdrop of setting sun and the Drakensburg Mountains in the distance.
But it isn’t all about the elephants. Kapama is also home to 42 different mammals and 350 species of bird, and safari drives to see them take advantage of the early morning or late afternoon light. We see impalas and warthogs by the dozen; elegant giraffes and roaming Burchell’s zebra.
In two days, the guides find lions three times, rhinos and a pair of young male hyenas. Ruan says that focusing on everything – not just the marquee animals – you get a better safari experience.
THE LODGE
Jabulani means “rejoice” in the Zulu language and who could not be happy to stay at the Relais & Chateaux-accredited lodge. The main building, set amid trees and overlooking a waterhole, houses a dining area and communal lounge with couches and inviting open fireplace. A suspension bridge across a seasonal creek bed – its dry surface shows up animal tracks each morning – leads to six individual suites. Each has a private plunge pool and a freestanding stone bathtub that’s a good substitute when the weather is too cool for an outdoor dip.
Three-course lunches and dinners are part of the tariff. One night might be a braai – traditional barbecue – where among the piles of meat and side dishes are South African specialities such as Boerewors sausage, served with pap (polenta-like maize) and chakalaka, a spicy tomato and vegetable stew.
Decor throughout is safari-style: timber, earthy textures and colours; animal-print fabrics and artwork reflecting the surrounding bushland and its animals.
TO THE RESCUE The nearby HESC opened in 1990. Its early focus was on breeding cheetahs, but it has expanded into conservation programs for other species and is a rescue centre for orphaned and sick animals. The first beast we meet is Belgian shepherd pup Bullet, who is being trained to join older dog Zee in keeping HESC and Kapama safe from poachers. Today, Bullet’s target is a ball but one day he will be on patrol to protect the region’s precious white rhinoceros.
Poaching is a huge problem in the Greater Kruger area; another rhino orphanage closed this year after poachers broke in and killed two babies for their horn, which is mistakenly thought in eastern Asia to have magical medicinal powers. HESC has its own white rhino nursery where calves are cared for, a sheep as their surrogate mother, until they can be released back into the wild.
As the safari tour drives us around the HESC “projects” – a baby elephant wandering freely with its own human keeper and surrogate sheep mum, two rescue leopards perched in a tree, enclosures of lazing cheetahs – birds of prey circle above. They are waiting for the next delivery to a patch of ground known as the “Vulture Restaurant”.
We watch and wrinkle noses as a ute – a bakkie as it’s known in South Africa – pulls up and dumps its load of meaty leftovers from predator feeding. Down come the vacuum cleaners of the bush to pick clean the bones. Hooded and white-faced vultures jostle with marabou storks, a creature whose thoroughly revolting looks earn it a place among the “Ugly Five”, alongside the wildebeest, warthog, spotted hyena and vultures.
To put it in context of The Lion King, the Vulture Restaurant is a gruesome but fascinating reminder of the Circle of Life. The writer was a guest of South African Tourism.