EDITOR’S LETTER

NICKY FURNISS

Before lockdown started, I was fortunate enough to go on a trip to a lodge in the beautiful Waterberg area.As part of my stay, I spent a night on a “sleep out” platform – an open air bedroom in among the tree canopy with no barrier between myself and the sounds of the bush, and my bed and the stars above. I was dropped off after dinner, and after changing into my PJs, I poured myself a sherry and climbed into bed to read. Later, as I was about to turn out the light, I pulled up the blanket at the foot of my bed only to be surprised by a flurry of movement – a small, slightly misshapen creature that I subsequently identified as a field mouse. While it had certainly startled me, I find mice rather endearing, so instead of panicking, I pushed the blanket off the end of the bed and said aloud: “Right, Miss Mouse, you can sleep down there and I’ll sleep up here”. I had a wonderful night’s sleep and was woken early the next day by the sounds of the birds and the slowly lightening sky. After I got dressed, I gently lifted the blanket on the floor, and was met with a series of miniscule squeaks and not one, but multiple little bodies! It turns out mummy mouse had very recently had babies – they had all been clinging to her the previous night, hence her slightly misshapen look. And when I say, recently, the game ranger who I showed them to estimated that they were no more than a day or two old. They were the sweetest little creatures, and I was pleased that I had helped in a small way to give them a cozy place to spend the night. Later that day the rangers moved the new family – gently and considerately – to a more suitable home (complete with a box to shelter in) lest another guest be less obliging to sharing an open air room with a family of mice. This was not my first time on a sleep out platform. A previous time in one of the country’s national parks, we had slept in sleeping bags under a shade cloth tent of sorts, after a wonderful day of walking through the bush. There was a full moon that night, and while I had fallen asleep quickly, my partner had stayed up listening to the bush and watching the water hole not far in the distance. He woke me up at midnight, whispering for me to be quiet and giving me a pair of binoculars. Once I managed to focus my bleary eyes, and the binoculars, I saw a magical and unforgettable sight – a whole herd of rhino placidly drinking at the water hole in the moonlight. It is these kind of experiences that make me love being South African and living in this country. Our natural heritage is such a treasure and one which every South African should experience in some way, at least once in their lives. With the lifting of domestic travel restrictions, these natural places are once again open to us, and without international guests, many lodges, hotels and B&Bs in and around them are offering vastly reduced rates for local visitors, or policies of “travel now, pay later”, making them accessible to a whole new range of potential guests. There has almost never been a better time to grab your binoculars and your bird books and head to the bush. If you are able to, I hope you will be able to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity (and here’s hoping these kind of preferential local rates last post lock down), and that you too will have some wonderfully memorable experiences, whether they be baby mouse tiny or Big Five huge.

Happy travels, Nicky