Month: August 2012

Working in the Safari Lodge Industry in South Africa requires most of the staff to live on site; we work on a three week on and one week off basis. You basically live where you work, as you need to have hands on deck at all hours of the day.

During your week off, the majority of the staff will visit their families and loved ones who live all over the country. I am very fortunate that my parents manage a Safari Lodge in the Waterberg district of South Africa so from one open space to the next, but my brother lives in Johannesburg – one of the major cities. So this is where I spend my off week.

I have been living in the Hoedspruit area, also known as the Lowveld, since 2004. This is where I started as a Student Ranger and I have just simply never left.  Legend has it that if you drink the water of the lowveld – you will never leave. I cannot help but think this is very true indeed.

To better understand this you have to take a journey with me – a car ride from Johannesburg to Vuyani Safari Lodge, and experience it through my eyes.

I set off from the city at about 09h00 am, refuel my car and make sure that I have adequate refreshments for the journey. I now have to travel through a part of the city to get to the freeway leading home, and of course there is still morning traffic, I turn up the volume on the radio and start singing along – as this might take a while. After roughly 45 minutes and some very questionable singing (I received quite a few stares from the other motorists) I reach my exit to the freeway and see that there had been a broken down truck in the middle of the road, hence the tardy traffic. Not to worry – I am now Lowveld bound.

Roughly about 3 hours into my journey the sky suddenly looks beautifully blue, the countryside has transformed from informal settlements to the picturesque highlands, and I pass through the town of Dullstroom which is very popular for Fly fishing. I roll down my window and take a deep breath of fresh air. Children are skipping on the sidewalks, every restaurant is full of happy faces and the mood is contagious. A huge smile appears on my face and I wave to the parking attendants – who seem to be entertaining anyone and everyone with their song and dance.

As I leave Dullstroom the road snakes through the Highlands and for miles the grassland stretches out before me. I spot at least a dozen sheep, happily marching along with their shepherd. The creeks and dams shimmer in the sun and look mighty refreshing, I decide I might take up fly-fishing but then remember how disastrous my previous attempts had been and quickly banish the idea.

Travelling further the landscape changes drastically from rolling grass hills to rough mountain terrain. I drive up and down the passes and look down at the lush green agricultural fields. It is amazing how the crops make for such a beautiful view. I have now passed some local townships and I am approaching the Abel Erasmus mountain pass. Once you have entered this pass it is almost like entering the world of Narnia. The trees close above you creating a shady green tunnel. There are colossal wild figs on almost every rock and the lichen gives the mountain a yellowish green appearance. Up and around I go – snaking around the massive boulders a breath taking waterfall appears – it seems like the water is flowing directly from the mountain. But hidden beneath the sea of green is an intricate web of little streams. I long to hike to that waterfall and dip my feet in the crystal clear pool.

I approach the Strydom Tunnel; tunnels have always amazed me. I imagine how tough it must have been digging these huge holes in the earth so many years ago, in 1959 to be exact – in days where modern tools did not yet exist. I exit the tunnel and see the mighty Olifants River at the bottom of the Drakensberg and the great Lowveld stretched out in front of me, and I know that I am home. I immediately feel a sense of warmth and familiarity welling up inside. As I look into the distance for a second I am truly grateful that I can call this beautiful country my birthplace.

I drive past the well known Castle shaped Manoutsa Park holiday resort (which has long surpassed its prime) I see the friendly hawkers en route – selling fruit to the passersby. In the winter months all the citrus brighten the roadside. Oranges, lemons, grapefruit and avocados. In the summer you will see an array of watermelon, melon, papaya and deliciously juicy mangos.

I cross the Blyde River and know that the town of Hoedspruit is near, I still have my window open all the way and I love the wind on my face. As I enter Hoedspruit I immediately see a familiar face, as you can imagine this is a small town and community, so one gets to know everyone around. I wave; it turns out to be one of my close friends who works on a neighboring reserve that offers African safaris like we do.

I travel through town and make my way to the Moditlo Private Game Reserve. I see the first road sign indicating “Antelope Crossing” and I know that I have arrived, I am home…

*Justine Ferreira

Elephants are emblematic in Africa. Often people seem to immediately associate an African Safari with these colossal mammals, and with good reason. One can observe a herd of Elephant for hours – and they will never seize to amaze. They are intelligent, incredibly graceful and surprisingly stealthy. They also have the tendency to disappear within seconds. Now you might think that this is impossible – but it is absolutely astounding how swiftly a 14 000 pound animal can vanish into the bush. Elephants are exceptionally human like – in behavior especially.

Elephants are group animals, they move around in herds, and they are enormously sociable. The herd is often directed by a female or Cow called a Matriarch. She is the leader and is in charge of decision making and overall well-being of the rest of the family, much like we, as humans, have our own Matriarch in every household. The herd will mostly consist of closely related females and their calves. Males tend to leave the herd after puberty and will often form alliances with other males. (Again the similarity to human behavior is uncanny)

They have an incredibly long gestation period of approximately 22 months, usually one calf, weighing about 200 pounds, is born, and cared for by the mother and other cows – they are known as “allomothers” Elephants are most fertile between the ages of 25 and 45 and can reach a staggering age of 60!

Elephants can consume a shocking 300 pounds of vegetation per day. They do not sleep much, as they are constantly on the move to forage for food. Their digestive system is not very efficient and only about 40% of the food is properly digested. They use their trunk to pluck leaves and grass, and their impressive tusks to tear at branches, which can cause enormous damage.

African Elephants are ranked among some of the most intelligent species in the world. They have a very large and highly intricate neocortex, a trait also shared by humans, apes and certain Dolphin species. With a brain that weighs around 11 pounds, elephants have the largest brain of all land mammals; it is similar to that of a human’s brain in terms of structure and complexity. Elephants exhibit a wide variety of behaviors; including those associated with grief, learning, allomothering, mimicry, art, play and a sense of humor, to name but a few.

It is pretty safe to say that these giant animals are more “human like” than we could imagine. In my experience as a guide on safari it is always astonishing and entertaining watching a herd of elephant. The way they communicate without making even the slightest noise, how carefully they wrap their trunk around a branch and pull it down to reach the delicious Marula Fruits at the apex of a tree. The very graceful steps they take when moving around the grassland – almost noiseless. One would assume that an animal of this size would noisily be trampling everything in its path. But elephants truly have the refinement of a ballerina when it comes to moving about. This is why they can disappear so swiftly and unobtrusively. The most entertaining is to observe the little ones or calves. That first moment when they realize that they have a long trunk as a nose, and they are completely unsure of how to operate it. I have witnessed a youngster blowing bubbles underwater and then stand on its own trunk, only to come to the conclusion that it is rather a painful act, even though it took him at least four or five stints to realize this.

I have also seen Elephant crossing railway lines; this is one of the most fascinating encounters I have had the privilege to note.  They will place one foot very carefully on the track and feel around with their trunk, then using one giant foot at a time they proceed to cross the entire track in a couple of minutes. Astonishing!

Elephants are truly majestic creatures and once you have had the pleasure to see even one, it becomes very hard not to fall in love with these gentle giants almost immediately.

May the grace of the Gentle Giant be with us in Africa always…

*Justine Ferreira