SPA safari fundraiser a roaring success
By Natalie Hardy July 4, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

For many people, going to the game parks of South Africa is once in a lifetime, if at all. Six lucky people participated in the first SPA safari fundraiser this past April. We converged in Johannesburg the morning of April 27, from varying points in Europe, Mexico and the US.

From there, we were driven to Polokwane, aka Pietersburg, a good three hours north of Johannesburg. The owner of the Plumtree Lodge welcomed us and provided delightful suites for well-earned rest after long flights. We welcomed this brief respite before an early-morning departure the next day to Kruger Park.

We drove through tea plantations and the Drakensburg Mountain range eastward, skirting high high-security fences alongside the road which, they said, were containing wild animals on private reserves. Suddenly, we were at the Philabora Gate entrance into Kruger, then drove another hour toward Letaba Camp, the final Kruger destination. On this road, we spotted our first giraffe, reaching high into the treetop, its neck disappearing into the form of the tree trunk. The birds were spectacular and abundant. Perhaps the loveliest of all was the Lilac-breasted Roller, sparkling with iridescent blues, lavender and green. An occasional impala piqued our interest, and we realized the animals were there, though not always visible.

The first three nights we were “self-catering” at Fish Eagle Lodge in Letaba. This is a mighty mission for the organizers. They calculate every item for every person for every meal for three nights and four days. Supplies are then packed in coolers and boxes and bags, and hoisted into a trailer which is hauled behind one of the vehicles. Our organizers do this to raise funds for Rotary International as well, and are flawlessly organized.

We drew up in front of Fish Eagle Lodge, a sprawling gracious building with two bedroom wings, a spacious prep kitchen and ample living/dining area which looked onto an expansive backyard, complete with tables, benches, grills and a view over a riverbed 200 feet down a ravine. This is camping? “Well, somebody has to do it,” is one of the favorite local responses.

We were called at 5:15am to be out for coffee at 5:30 and then on the road at 5:45 for game drives at sun-up. These drives were the luck of the draw. One never knew if we would see anything, or suddenly everything. In fact, the second day’s evening drive had been without reward and we headed back to camp before closing hour. And there, right outside the gate of the camp itself, were several elephants peeling bark and leaves from the mopani trees. We were 10 feet away from them. Rule of the Road: Elephants have the right of way. Amidst wonder and snapping cameras, we slipped inside Camp Letaba before dusk when the gates were closed for protection.

The next morning we went on a walking safari accompanied by two heavily armed guides, one a woman. What a unique perspective! On the ground, one is closer to the animal tracks, droppings and little details not otherwise seen. The hyena, for example, has chalk-white droppings This animal has the strongest jaws in all the wild, crushing and ingesting the bones of its prey and leaving a high-calcium dropping.

Our last day in Kruger we headed out at dusk to the big bridge for animal viewing. A young man already there came running up to us saying, “There are lions just on the far bank.” We barely suppressed a shriek of excitement. We drove across the bridge, watching Cape Buffalo crossing the road further up the hill. “There they are!” Four young males and a female lion lolled on the river bank in the dusk. An old bull buffalo sauntered up the bank a few feet from them. We thought we would be audience to a kill. We held our breath. “Does he see the lions?” we whispered. They evidently had ideas of an easier venture later and let the bull pass. We sighed with relief. Kills are not pretty sights.

Kings Camp, where we stayed the night, is aptly named—11 five-star units with a capacity of 22. We returned from the evening game drive. I opened the door to my unit—dimmed chandelier, flickering aromatherapy candles, platform Victorian bathtub filled with perfect-temperature water and bubbles. I threw off my clothes and stepped in, slowly sank down, extending my legs, stretching my back, inhaling the perfumed aroma of bath salts. Common response from locals, “Yes, another tough day in Africa, but somebody has to do it.”

We spent four magical days and nights at this private park within the Timbavati Game Reserve. The animal viewing was sensational. The very first night’s drive (before the bath) yielded a leopard in a tree. In my several trips to South Africa, I had never seen this. Within 24 hours, we had seen the Big Five—leopard, lion, rhino, elephant and buffalo—up close and personal. It was a charmed trip. A passage from my diary on May 4 reads, “Sunday. With good-natured banter, we say, ‘Let’s see a rhino today. If not, no breakfast!’ When Cynet, our driver, and Remembrance, our tracker, took us out in the 10-person Rover, we often found what was requested. So on this morning, when we asked for rhino, our guides found footprints within 20 minutes.

Remembrance hit the ground walking and we drove in another direction. We searched and searched, and drove for kilometers through the bush. Two hours passed. There was radio communication between driver and tracker. Suddenly, we came into a clearing and there it was—a rhino resting on its side on the ground. We drove to within eight feet of this gargantuan tired critter who, the guides said, had traveled many a mile that night. We could not believe our eyes.”

One of our participants, Liz Stone, wrote the following, which from my perspective sums up the experience, “I suppose that most people would remember the hyena kill that was taken over by the lion. Of course, so do I. But the most vivid impressions were two-fold: An early drive when, out of the morning mist I realized that there was a huge giraffe, really towering above the nearby trees, peacefully eating breakfast. It was a moment, totally unexpected, that told me where we were. The other memory is the last morning drive, just feeling that being there was enough. We didn’t need to see the animals—we knew they were there. It made me realize how small people are in the general scheme of things. I wouldn’t have known that at the beginning of the safari. It takes time to humble yourself a bit and appreciate the whole world, not just the human part.”

On May 5, we took a short flight from the parks back to Johannesburg Airport and continued to points south on the continent: East London, Capetown, Hogsback. Hogsback? Does that sound like a place out of Harry Potter adventures? The magical part was appropriate to our entire trip.

Natalie Hardy is the current director of the Sociedad Protectora de Animales. Her husband, now deceased, was born and educated in South Africa. She has lived on four continents and taught on three. Her current focus is raising the profile of the SPA to conform to a higher consciousness involving animals.