Trees-y DOES IT!
Rare and beautiful flora and fauna – as well as the Marine Big Five – abound in a lesser-visited part of South Africa
AVISIT to South Africa usually means ticking off the Big Five from the comfort of a game drive jeep, bumping along through thicklyforested bush and over rust-brown savannah in a cloud of dust, long lens cameras and smartphones ready.
On safari, it’s easy to become mesmerised and excited watching the wildlife in their natural surroundings that visitors often can’t see the wood for the trees — if they notice any botanical wealth at all.
I have arrived at a place where the Dark Continent’s Big Five don’t roam. My adventure is in Grootbos — meaning ‘big forest’ in Afrikaans — a nature reserve embedded in one of the world’s most unique and beautiful eco systems, overlooking Walker Bay in South Africa’s Western Cape. The area has one of the richest concentrations of botanical species in the world.
The natural scrubland heath called fynbos, once wild abandoned farmland, is also an award-winning sustainable travel business that includes five-star rated villa accommodation and farm-totable gastronomy, amid a very romantic setting. Little wonder it is a favourite honeymoon location, booked with a short stay in Cape Town and a tour of the wine routes around the Western Cape.
It is also one of the few places in the world where it’s possible to observe the ‘Marine Big Five’ — taking boat trips from nearby Gansbaai — whales, seals, sharks, dolphins and penguins, with a chance of viewing the endemic huge southern right whale from the panoramic terrace at Grootbos.
Welcoming new arrivals to his family’s private nature reserve is Michael Lutzeyer, a world leader in sustainable tourism, having been awarded some of the highest international accolades.
‘We want to help people to understand the true meaning of African biodiversity, it’s not just about spotting elephants feeding in the forest or rhinos grazing on the veldt,’ says the founder-owner of Grootbos. ‘It’s about how every living thing connects together in this magical ancient land.’
Nearly 900 plant species — seven of them new to science — have been found in and around Grootbos. It’s two hours by road from Cape Town, a pristine wilderness bounded by high mountains that roll down to hidden clifffringed beaches along a dramatic coastline that runs all the way to the most southerly point of the African continent, Cape of Good Hope.
Barely able to tell weeds from the perennials in my own modest flowerbeds, I worry about appreciating — never mind identifying or remembering — the shrubs, medicinal plants and wildflowers we see on our drives.
When Stephen Moss, our handsome botanist guide, mentions a possible sighting of a Cape leopard, our group perks up. Yet, the closest we come to the elusive cat are its claw marks against the bark of a stinkwood tree during our last dinner.
We are seated alongside cooing honeymoon couples and wedding parties under twinkling fairy lights in a forest clearing under the stars. Fantasies of burning eyes watching from the undergrowth creates a frisson of nervous excitement and calls for wine glass refills.
Keeping a sharp look out for a Cape leopard and Vervet monkeys, we bump over the rough terrain in a maze of tracks that eventually take us to the ear-popping heights of ‘God’s Window’, the highest point of the reserve with views of vineyards stretching into the distance for miles on one side and a ribbon of breaking surf along the coast on the other.
Stephen points out dramatic scarlet candelabra flowers, wild sage (a cure for coughs), sour fig (a natural antiseptic) and centuries-old milkwood trees among the many curious and exotic species that thrive in seemingly infertile stony terrain, as well as copious birdlife.
The orange-breasted sunbird is one of 26 avian endemics, with a tinny call, which sips nectar from the floral tubes of an Erica flower and overhead raptors circle on the lookout for the small mammals who hide in the undergrowth. A fleeting glimpse of brilliantlycoloured tail feathers reminiscent of an Ascot bonnet gone askew turns out to be a type of Paradise bird.
Tasting the high life, four of us are billeted in a super large luxury villa, hung with exquisite art and sumptuous textiles, boasting a long swimming pool outside our bedrooms. Private jets and helicopters use the nearby estate air strip and staff whisk guests up to secluded glass-fronted villas, complete with butler, gym and a fridge filled with Cape wines. So no wonder we wander around in a permanent hazy stupor, hanging back like children at Disneyland wishing the fantasy would never end.
But Grootbos has another mission — utterly different from cosseting well-heeled guests. Committed to responsible tourism and sustainability practices, the owners also work to drive
local enterprise development and the wellbeing of local communities. Its non-profit partner, The Grootbos Foundation, has benefitted over 10,000 young people from communities in the area, nurturing further training for careers, encouraging sports talents and subsidising families to allow kids to continue their schooling.
‘Much of what we do are initiatives the government should be undertaking, but sadly that doesn’t happen, due to a lack of money as well as foresight and creating opportunities for this country’s rich youth potential,’ explains Phil Murray, a former teacher from the north of England.
After exploring on land, it’s time to take to the ocean waves on the lookout for the Marine Big Five. But we aren’t in luck. The southern right whale season has ended and the mighty mammals have departed to feed in other waters. Sharks are evidently on strike and the penguins are tottering about on land elsewhere.
Still, a couple of seals and dolphins on the lookout for fishy entrails are spotted near the fishing boats in the harbour. The skipper Dave, hauling in the ropes, asks my nationality, then invites every rugby-loving Irishman and woman to come down to Gansbaai and whale-watch.
‘We have the best of respect for you all, we won the World Cup but you Irish put us in the right place; the game Ireland won against us was our big wake- up call,’ he says.
Steve from Grootbos won’t let us depart without a quick tour of the extraordinary Klipgat limestone caves at Walker Bay. We scramble over mounds of large rocks after dipping a toe in the icecold water of the cove, reputedly a spot where the great white shark has been known to visit. Concerts are sometimes held in the bigger acoustically superb cave.
Fresh water and shelter must have made these caves the perfect home for beachcombers who discovered them around 85,000 years ago. The last cave dwellers to leave traces were fisherhunter-gatherers between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago.
Holding up a test tube Steve shows off a tooth he found in this cave and hopes is confirmed by archaeologists to be ‘really old, maybe over 1,000 years from one of the inhabitants’.
The number of Irish tourists visiting South Africa before the pandemic, especially honeymooners, was growing steadily and now they are returning in force — almost 18,000 visitors arrived last year.
Direct flights from London to Johannesburg and then onwards to Cape Town has given us on this visit a taste of the country’s diverse animal population at Makweti Safari Lodge in the Limpopo province a few hours north of Johannesburg.
A byword in sustainability, it is one of the few unfenced camps in South Africa where animals wander right up to the doorsteps of the traditional luxury cottages perched high above the ground each with private plunge pools.
Another favourite honeymoon location and popular with families who book all the lodge’s accommodation of five cottages at a time, the setting is spectacular.
From the dining room veranda, I watch zebra, kudu and impala graze, warned to keep a lookout on return to my room for other regular visitors such as leopard, cheetah, elephant and the naughty monkeys who want to ‘thrash the place’.
Back in Cape Town, an hour’s flight from Johannesburg, we briefly dip into this vibrant dynamic city’s colonial heritage only to realise that we would need at least five days to properly explore, with more time taking a side tour to the wine lands of Constantia or Stellenbosch, Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated, checking out reputedly fabulous shopping and some must-see museums as well as the celebrated music scene and nightlife.
We do manage a thrilling 12-minute helicopter ride from Victoria and Alfred Waterfront showing off ‘Mother city’, and we take a walking tour of Bo-Kaap, once the enclave of Malay slaves brought over during the Dutch occupation.
We then enjoy superb views on a drive to Chapman’s Peak, eyes agog at the Fort Knox-like mansions wrapped in barbed wire to deter robbers, stopping at Simon’s Town, once a British seaside and port, bastion of apartheid and strictly off limits to non-whites, to have lunch in one of the inexpensive seafood cafes.
At nearby Boulders Beach, there’s a close encounter with the local tuxedo-clad African penguins. Cheek by jowl with other tourists jammed on to boardwalks, our necks are craned for selfies with the waddling, fussing, squawking residents, who are far too busy — and sensible — to notice us.
Around 600 million years old, Table Mountain exceeds all expectations, giving a genteel nod to tourism. We ride up in the cable car in seven minutes to enjoy lookout points and well-marked walking trails.
Sublime views from Table Mountain silences visitors sharing this near-spiritual experience. ‘Mother city’ is the oldest and by far the most beautiful on the African continent, founded by the Dutch in 1652.
It has had a tumultuous history, from colonisation and apartheid to independence and freedom. Shiny skyscrapers, restored colonial landmarks and a vast sprawling sea of impoverished tinroofed township shacks reflect progress and lack of it, mirroring challenges that still exist all over South Africa today.
Marriage proposals have gone viral up Table Mountain, saluting sunset with bubbly from the friendly restaurant-bar that stays open for the final cable car descent here as twilight softly turns the sky from molten red to golden and the first stars appear, surely among the most romantic of settings on earth.