A question of balance

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This was published 12 years ago

A question of balance

Local flavour ... rhinos graze.

Local flavour ... rhinos graze.Credit: John Borthwick

On safari, John Borthwick soon realises there's plenty to learn about the wildlife, and tourists, in Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve.

"WHAT do I do if I get bitten by a lion?" It's the sort of jaw-dropper question that tourists sometimes ask in Africa. I'm at Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge, a top-notch South African private game reserve, ready to depart on our evening safari drive. While waiting, I browse a magazine that has collected some of the most bizarre queries asked by foreigners, for instance: "Where do the rhinos lay their eggs?" (Japanese tourist) and "What time can we expect the lions to roar?" (American tourist).

It's safari time. Six of us - four guests and two staff - climb into an open Land Rover to search for those roaring, allegedly egg-laying creatures, as well as giraffe, eland, hippo, elephant and many other species. This is an evening safari because the animals usually retreat from the midday heat, resting to conserve their energy, then come out again towards the late afternoon to hunt when it is cooler for kudu, buffalo, waterbuck and the like to forage. The animals' appetites thus determine our timetable - each day we spend about three hours tracking game in the early morning and the same in the evening.

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We follow a male leopard until almost dusk, then stop for a gin and tonic sundowner and canapes at the magic moment. Our guides are driver Brett Du Bois and eagle-eyed tracker Antony Ubissi. For the best view, spotters like Antony sit on a dicky-seat perched above the front left-hand fender. I'm sure the question has been asked: "How often does the tracker get eaten?"

Never, I presume. There has been no game hunting at Sabi Sabi for half a century and the animals are so accustomed to safari cars and human scents - sun lotion, Rid, Chanel? - that they ignore us. Basically, we're not worth biting.

The male leopard we've tracked prowls nonchalantly beside our car for several minutes then sits down just metres away for a rest. ("No, sir, you can't get out for a closer look.")

A herd of buffalo.

A herd of buffalo.Credit: John Borthwick

We guests soon manage to spot mega fauna such as rhino and elephant from a distance but Antony and Brett also see the mini fauna we miss, such as a white tree frog or a chameleon camouflaged on a leaf. They point out a dung beetle trying to roll a 10-centimetre diameter ball of dung in order to woo his girlfriend, who sits nonchalantly on top. This heroic little beetle might be Nature's living answer to the question from one tourist who, according to the magazine, asked: "Why don't they clean up the park by picking up the elephant dung?"

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With darkness falling, we head back to the lodge for cocktails and dinner. No one has asked (as a German once did): "At what time do they round up the animals and lock them in cages for the night?"

The Sabi Sabi game reserve, 500 kilometres east of Johannesburg in Mpumalanga province, is a 6500-hectare bushveld domain that borders the enormous Kruger National Park, with no fences separating the two. ("Who cuts the grass in Kruger Park?" - yes, a visitor has asked this.) The roll call of African Ark creatures that roam here includes that safari industry cliche, "the big five" - lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo and elephant - as well as some 200 other animal species and 350 species of birds. In addition, daily we see antelope, wildebeest, banded mongoose, hooded vultures, fish eagles, broad-billed rollers, impala, duiker, hyena and warthog, although no cheetah or zebra. It's more like "the big one hundred and five".

A male lion takes a stroll.

A male lion takes a stroll.Credit: John Borthwick

It may be Africa red in tooth and claw out there but back at Earth Lodge, life is far more genteel. Its 13 stand-alone guest suites plus the main reception and restaurant buildings are low-set constructions in earth tones, discreetly recessed into the hillsides. The entire lodge has been recently refurbished to even higher standards. My suite is cool and, with an area of 108 square metres, enormous. It's endowed with panoramic windows that look out over the plains to reveal at different times rhino, elephant and waterbuck. Very smartly appointed with artworks and wi-fi, the suite has no television to distract me from the vision of those plains, the night's falling moon, the earthy aromas at dusk or, when the midday heat gusts off the land, the outdoor pool.

Sabi Sabi's bar and indoor/outdoor dining areas overlook a waterhole. At lunch on my first day I look up to see a large elephant drinking lustily just 50 metres from my table - the day is spectacularly hot. Having quenched its thirst, the elephant sluices itself with a huge shower and ambles on. Now, back to my entree - chilled green pea soup.

There is a cool library and an underground, 6000-bottle wine cellar. The cuisine is fresh and international rather than distinctly African but the occasional game meat served includes a delicious gemsbok venison. Dining on it in the traditional African outdoor barbecue area known as the boma, I'm surprised to learn that this word is not, as I had assumed, of local origin but is a colonial acronym: British Officers Mess Area.

The Earth Lodge day bar.

The Earth Lodge day bar.

Meanwhile, back in the bushveld, dinner is a degustation menu on the trot, a progressive feast in which everything eats something else. We see what remains of a large buffalo that was killed by lion just 24 hours earlier. After half a dozen species have had their way - and takeaway - all that's left is the skull and even that has been picked bare by the vultures who brood nearby. The answer to the Chinese tourist's question of "What do I do if I get bitten by a lion?" must surely be "How do you feel about vultures?"

We spend an hour tracking a pride of 13 lions (mothers and cubs). The older lionesses are waiting behind, riding shotgun against two rogue males stalking the pride and intent on hunting the young, even of their own species. Life in Africa's grand menagerie is a simple, symbiotic arrangement: "Kill and be killed."

High in the canopy, a troop of rowdy baboons bark to their kin, warning of a leopard nearby. This also alerts an impala we are watching that has just given birth to a vulnerable, spindle-legged calf. "Breeding season is like a candy store for the leopards," Brett says. He and Antony have brought us close to the impala - both guides are extraordinary at finding these needle-in-a-haystack creatures.

The Earth Lodge.

The Earth Lodge.Credit: John Borthwick

Sensing the feline predator, a tall nyala antelope and several pretzel-horned kudu stand twitching, primed for flight. We shut down the engine, watching and listening to the chitterings and roars that punctuate the silence.

And that is the pattern of our Sabi Sabi days. Safaris morning and evening; excellent meals before, between and after them. The option of a spa treatment. A siesta, a good book, cooling plunges in my pool, another G&T. Read a few more howlers from the list of daft questions such as, "Do giraffe hunt in packs?" and "Where is the nearest McDonald's?" Lean back in my deckchair and survey the great plains studded with granite outcrops, acacia, thornbush, marula and a thousand types of tree.

"Who planted all the trees?" one Italian asked.

Lionesses congregate.

Lionesses congregate.Credit: John Borthwick

The writer travelled courtesy of Sabi Sabi and South African Airways.

Trip notes

Getting there

South African Airways has daily non-stop flights from Sydney to Johannesburg. 1300 435 972, flysaa.com. There is a one-hour Federal Air shuttle from Johannesburg to Sabi Sabi, from $283 one way. fedair.com.

Staying there

Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve has four luxury lodges — Earth Lodge, Selati Camp, Bush Lodge and Little Bush Camp. Rates at the premium Earth Lodge start from about $1154 a person a night and include twice-daily vehicle safaris, walking safaris, all meals and selected beverages and wines. sabisabi.com.

When to go

Low season is May-July; high seasons are January-April and August-November. Autumn and winter (southern hemisphere) are dry periods when the bush is less dense and many animals frequent the waterholes. In spring and summer there are many newborn animals and some excellent birdwatching.

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