The mane event in South Africa
Michael Kealey gets his teeth into South Africa and avoids the big cat – by a whisker!
Do you mind if I have a cigarette?’ While usually a simple social request, it took on a greater resonance because it followed an unsettling encounter with four very annoyed lions. The speaker was Branden Young, an enthusiastic and hugely knowledgeable game warden. There seemed to be a slight tremor in his hand as he lifted the lit cigarette to his mouth, following the agreement of the group he was leading. It had been quite a day.
Branden works on the Inkwenkwezi Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It’s 18km by 8km and is home to a huge variety of animals – elephants, giraffes, rhinos, zebras and impala, among other things. However, its pride – pardon the pun – is its collection of white lions and the cubs that have arrived as part of a successful breeding programme.
It was some of their mums and dads that got a bit angry with us.
It was the golden hour towards the end of a long day, in which we had set off at dawn and which had included an exhilarating time on quad bikes, when we entered the area set aside for the lions. From the safety of our Land Rover we gorged ourselves with beautifully lit photographs of the majestic beasts at rest and play.
It was now time to leave through what we had joked earlier were Jurassic Park double gates and fences. However, something had spooked the lions, so when Branden left the jeep to let us out he was faced with a ‘mock’ charge by the eldest animal, with another male and two lionesses pacing menacingly towards us. There would be no second warning, Branden told us later.
Jumping back into the vehicle, Branden reversed so that it formed a barrier between the lions and the only exit. Climbing quickly over the passenger seat, he opened the gate, leapt back in, making noise to briefly distract the animals, before speeding towards the relative safety of the area between the two fences and jumping out again to closing the inner gate. We all breathed a sigh of relief. To let us know whose territory we had entered, the lions started to bellow loudly at frequencies that meant they could be heard 5km away.
While fully confident of our guide, it was a little scary. Darkness was falling; the time when lions hunt. In pitch black they can see 300 metres, humans less than ten. Nevertheless, it was exhilarating and exciting to see, in such close quarters, the might of these kings of the jungle. It was an excitement no doubt shared by one of the reserve’s recent guests, the South African actress, Charlize Theron.
Given her place in the Hollywood firmament, it may be no coincidence that Inkwenkwezi means star in Xhosa, one of 11 official languages in South Africa. It was what Nelson Mandela spoke when he was born not far away in the village of Mvezo just over 100 years ago.
Given his status as the father of the nation, it is no surprise that celebrations marking Mandela’s birthday are taking place throughout South Africa this year. They will be capped by an open air concert in Johannesburg in December, headlined by Beyoncé and Jay-Z, with Ed Sheeran and Pharrell Williams dropping in for good measure.
A couple of hours drive from the game reserve is Qunu, where Mandela spent most of his youth. It’s where he returned after stepping down as president, building a retirement home in the area in the belief that ‘a man should die near where he was born’. It’s where he is now buried. Neither his home nor his grave is currently open to the public, although there are hopes that might change.
Qunu seems almost as quiet and remote now as it was in the 1920s when Mandela worked herding sheep and cattle among subsistence-sized fields of maize. The locals still live in rondavels, traditional circular buildings with mud walls and pointed thatched roofs. Modernity sometimes intrudes with solar panels providing electricity and heat.
Here I had the good fortune to meet Zim and his wife Noxolo, who belong to the Madiba clan, a name by which Nelson Mandela often went. Zim explained the African suspicion of European houses. Their corners appeared to them secretive and dark. The circular shape of the rondavel is more open and hospitable. It certainly appeared that way as we tucked into a lunch prepared by Noxolo, which included Mandela’s favourite of Umngqusho, made of maize meal and beans.
There is real poverty in Qunu and surrounding villages. In some townships, corrugated iron shacks no bigger than garden sheds serve as homes. This may be a legacy of the area being part of the former Transkei, an ‘independent homeland’ during the apartheid era.
However, there is also real pride both in what has been achieved following the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison and in
MANDELA BELIEVED A MAN SHOULD DIE NEAR WHERE HE WAS BORN
the area’s African traditions.
Pride in the former is evident in the Nelson Mandela museum, housed in the old Transkei Parliament in Mthatha (formerly Umtata).
Pride in the latter can be seen in Ngxingxolo village, not far from the game reserve. Initially a little wary of possibly cheesy cultural tourism, I was immediately won over by the exuberant Xhosa singing and dancing. The volume within the rondeval is startling and it’s impossible not to become involved.
A 20-minute drive, but a world away, is the resort of Morgan’s Bay, where well-off Johannesburgers and Durbanites decamp in the summer. With wide sandy beaches all the way to the mouth of the Great Kei river, it is an excellent vantage point for spotting dolphins and, during the sardine run in July and August, whales.
A great way to enjoy the beach and its surroundings is on horseback with Wild Coast Riding Adventures – suitable even if, like me, you are a beginner.
The coast north of Morgan’s Bay, through the Eastern Cape into Kwazulu-Natal, is pounded by massive breakers from the Indian Ocean. For good reason it is known as the Wild Coast. Like our Wild Atlantic Way, its beauty has lain largely undiscovered, except by locals, until recently.
Like here, some of the driving along the coast can be a challenge. For example, there are several kilometres of unpaved road on the quickest way to Morgan’s Bay via a ferry across the Kei River. But just like Ireland, a little patience will be repaid. I stopped off at Port Edward and Coffee Bay to be rewarded with beaches and views to die for.
On a morning stroll from the four star Coffee Bay hotel along the beach, modernity and tradition intersected again. A group of five women and three men, in colourful clothing, stood at the ocean’s edge, singing and praying. I discovered that one of them was a traditional healer who purports to cure anything from marital difficulties to bed wetting.
As flights to eastern South Africa will almost certainly involve a connecting flight, a good option is to fly with British Airways from London to Durban. Direct flights start on October 29 next.
Stopping in Durban will allow you to sample the local staple, bunny chow. Effectively a curry in a scooped-out loaf of white bread, it reflects the cuisine of the large Indian community which came to South Africa in the 19th century to work in the sugar cane fields. You can also surf and swim with the locals, protected by shark nets, before heading to the Wild Coast.
For a surprising reason, Irish people, especially those from Northern Ireland, will feel at home in Durban. Its city hall was built in the early 1900s following a design competition. The winning entry was, however, based on drawings that had previously been used. As a consequence, Durban houses an exact replica of the city hall in Donegall Square in Belfast.
The Wild Coast is the road less travelled. It rewards those who go off the beaten path. It’s where savvy South Africans take their holidays. The locals know best.
Take a walk on the Wild Side.
THE WILD COAST REWARDS THOSE WHO GO OFF THE BEATEN PATH