As the endless clouds continued to empty their buckets of rain over the lowveld and our English counterparts had to remain in Johannesburg, an intelligent decision was made to contact Ryan (Wandering Thru), and with the help of Ale, we escaped the deluge via Helicopter.

Day 1

Meeting our friends in Johannesburg, we travelled to the Eastern Cape. We were met by Illios transfers and taken to Shamwari for 2 nights. Greeted by the ever-beautiful Bokmakerie calls and our friendly guide, Truman, we settled into a fabulous ‘castle-like’ accommodation overlooking endless game rich planes. Shamwari, standing for ‘my friend’, was so welcoming and friendly.

On our first drive, scoping at a vantage point, one of the guests cried lion and as if summoning the beasts, 4 cubs came rushing in behind her. We celebrated with some adult beverages whilst keeping a keen eye on the cubs playing in the distance. That was when our guide Truman spotted a male cheetah on the other side of the vantage. Our first drive ended with a panoramic view watching rhino, lions and a cheetah all in one frame.

Day 2

The next morning we woke to a male lion crossing the plains in-front of the lodge, this time enjoyed with a hot cup of coffee in hand. Truman then took us to this beautiful male who unknowingly held company with a melanistic (black) springbok baby. Then off to grab a closer visual of the male cheetah from the night before. The drive didn’t end there as returning back to the lodge we managed to view the mother lion and her cubs feast on a freshly killed warthog.

Under the midday sun some of our group visited the Born Free foundation, an initiative to rewild and rehabilitate poorly treated indigenous species, returning with an insatiable love for Frank. Frank was the rhino’s companion who turned out to be quite an oversized sheep with an identity crisis.

Then as the afternoon began we rejoined Truman to head far north, passing rhinos and valleys vibrant with bitter aloes. A special sighting for us was the Denhams Bustard, a lifer for myself. Reaching the North we tracked black rhino and found two relaxed specimens. About 100m further we were engulfed by elephants, seeping out from the mountain, an awe inspiring spectacle.

Day 3

Our final morning drive with Shamwari did not disappoint. A male lion with Kalahari genes was called in over the radio and we shot off. He was moving quickly through the Albany thickets, soon we found out why, he had been marching towards a fresh buffalo kill, presumably taken by himself the night before. We watched with awe as he suctioned his head into the ribcage, a gory farewell from Shamwari. After breakfast we said our goodbye to Truman and the amazing staff at Shamwari and whisked off to Kwandwe, ‘the place of the blue crane’.

After driving for just under 2 hours we arrived at Heatherton, the reception and welcome party for Kwandwe. From there we met Carmen (guide) and Lucky (tracker) who drove us to ‘The Fort’, an old, converted fort located on a plain with a distant depression, indicating the presence of the great Fish River valley.

On our first drive, given the private nature of the reserve, we were able to sit at a cheetah sighting (with 2 sub-adult offspring) and take in all their behaviour whilst a ‘pride’ of ostriches, numbering at least 20, wondered into the distance nearby a herd of elephants. From our drink stop that evening Lucky even added some extra seasoning to the drive by spotting 4 black rhinos appearing out of the distant thicket. On return we had a welcome delay with ‘Gogo’ and her gang (White Rhino’s) curiously parading around the vehicle – interacting with all our emotions.

Day 4

Awakening to lions calling is quintessentially Africa, and this morning was just that. Lucky found our target within just a few minutes – a pride of lions. We viewed them briefly when the call came through of a leopard. Getting there just in time, the full team got visual of a young male leopard wandering into adrainage. Circling the area we noticed a spooked black rhino and calf running off in a manic state for miles into the horizon. From that point onwards the black rhino WhatsApp group okayed our presence and every 10 minutes our team was treated to sightings of this shy endangered species.

As the day heated up, we all took a much needed nap, only to be woken by excitement as a cheetah wandered past the ‘fort’. As game drive approached, the cat had already disappeared so we moved out of the area to check the other ‘smaller’ river on the property. We encountered a bizarre sighting of a huge female leopard tortoise digging her nest. The night had more in stall for us as Lucky’s waving spotlight froze on an animal that had eluded me for so many years, an Aardwolf. Both the creature and the vehicle stalled for a couple of minutes and then off it disappeared back into darkness, returning to its mythical reputation.

Day 5

By this stage our team was in synch – we rose from bed and invited the sun to follow, then came the Carmen greetings and coffee. Rehearsed like pros we were out viewing a bat eared foxes den, watching them as they observed us in return. Then a brief visit to a dassies’ mansion before locating a pride of lions and retreating to ‘the fort’.

In the afternoon we returned to relax with ‘our’ familiar pride and one female subadult began a doomed hunt entertaining us in the heat. As the sun began to fatigue we spotted a fully intact dead eland with no signs of scavengers. Our final evening at the ‘fort’ was celebrated with an unforgettable boma dinner. Joined by Carmen and Lucky, we were spoiled with a traditional Braai which transitioned to songs and cake for Big Johns 60th.

Day 6

As our alarms rang for the final time we rushed to the site of yesterday evening’s motionless Eland. After a few minutes, the head of a brown hyena peered from behind the rump. We then enjoyed a prolonged and memorable sighting of one of the strangest animals in Africa as it fed and then slowly wandered off. The next sighting was just as extraordinary – a wildebeest calf, recently born, exploring his new surroundings and herd whilst simultaneously attempting to locate his mother. The radio was alive with reports of tracks. A maze of leopard spore had bamboozled the guides whilst simultaneously captivating us all.

As check-out loomed, our watches refused to pause so we began to head out the area, but Lucky had other ideas, spotting the outline of two cryptic ears concealed in the grass. There she was, a female leopard. We approached and she sauntered alongside our vehicle briefly before dropping back into the river’s valley. A special goodbye from a special place.

Photos by James Raatgever