So you’re sitting on your couch, doing the couch potato thing that has become the sloth half of the population’s favourite trend, when you realise... Like an elephant, you have a memory, and that memory includes an elephant. In fact, it includes hundreds of elephants meeting up at a confluence of rivers in the far north of a neighbouring country.
You want to leap off the couch and see elephants again in real life. Not on National Geographic channel or sofa safaris, but in front of you. You want to smell their dusty mustiness, see their wrinkles in all their grey glory, and watch them saunter through the wild waving grasses. IN REAL LIFE.
The haze starts to clear, after all you live in South Africa, a country of nature reserves and wilderness that people from all over the world travel long-haul to visit. For you, there’s a game reserve literally around the corner. It’s easy; get on your smartphone, type in shamwari.com and book a trip.
You’ve been wanting to go for ages, years perhaps, and you’ve heard only good things about this private reserve in the Eastern Cape; close enough to drive, or a short flight if you’re further inland.
I was still languishing on the couch when I got lucky. The Lifestyle travel editor offered me a short trip to Shamwari in celebration of the reserve’s 30th birthday. I packed my overnight bag.
WELCOME VISITORS!
Most game reserves put on a welcoming show for their guests: a lion silhouetted against a gloriously setting sun, a rhino calf snuggling up to its mother, gangly giraffe grazing on the green tops of tall trees. Shamwari is no different. Our welcoming committee was a gathering of elephant at a waterhole in front of our tented lodge where, a few minutes into our first game drive, we were treated to a crowd of all ages and sizes greeting each other and frolicking in the mud.
Everyone has a favourite elephant story; the time a big bull flapped his ears in your direction, or a matriarch shuffled her nursery of young ones straight past your vehicle, each one holding on with its trunk to the curly tail in front, like in the cartoons. Sometimes it feels like the more you see, the more you want to see. As human animals we are obsessed with animal animals. I’m sure there are many theories and even philosophies about this fascination; for me, it’s that there’s no judging of a wild animal. Whatever it does is in its nature to do. We can’t judge a lion for killing a lamb; there’s nothing disgusting about a vulture picking a zebra’s bones clean. Nature is intriguing and the further we are from it as human beings, the more we seem enticed by it.
IT’S #SHAMAZING
Shamwari has a reputation for being amazing, and it didn’t take long for the group I was travelling with to start yelling (softly) “it’s Shamaaazing” at every sighting. From the angulate tortoise among the yellow flowers to the five lions yawning on the side of the track, we were treated to something special every few minutes — as if on cue. With Jan Dykema, our game ranger and guide, we were on a mission to see the little five (elephant shrew, ant lion, rhinoceros beetle, buffalo weaver and leopard tortoise), the big five and everything in between. No pressure. Just a bit of code over the radio, and we head off in the direction of the next wonderful happening.
Within half a day we’d seen zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, a fabulous scrub hare, a few types of mongoose, two lion groups, impala, waterbuck, kudu, gemsbok, two beautiful tortoises and many, many birds. An almost surreal sighting was the pod of hippos in a small pool, far from any flowing river — according to Jan, they had probably spent the night walking to find the pool. We drive through savannah, forest, fynbos, thicket and grassland — Shamwari is home to five of South Africa’s eight major biomes.
On one windswept hill, we watch a rhino family walk slowly across the plain; if this threatened species is safe anywhere in Africa, it is at Shamwari.
REHAB & CONSERVE
Small things make me happy, like saving a bee from a web or a butterfly from a puddle that got too deep, so I can only imagine the exhilaration of saving something big. Like a buffalo or a rhino, a porcupine or a meerkat. Which is what the people at Shamwari do through their state-of-the-art wildlife rehabilitation centre and their collaboration with the Born Free Foundation.
“I don’t want to put jam on your lips,” is one of animal care manager Glen Vena’s favourite sayings, while his mantra, inspired by Nelson Mandela, is “Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world”. His work at Born Free’s two sanctuaries for big cats attests to this and he has his audience in tears and laughter with his stories about the lions and leopards in his care.
These animals — rescued from dire conditions in circuses, zoos, war zones or canned-hunting factories — cannot be returned to the wild, but it’s a reasonable/generous compromise that they can live out their natural lives in this sanctuary. This is the “jam” on our lips ... it could be sweeter. But the alternative is far more bitter.
Back to judging: it’s only the human animal that treats animal animals carelessly and cruelly. But Glen tells us to dry our tears, and we do because we are also going to visit some of the creatures temporarily residing at the rehab centre. It’s the hottest part of the day (38°C) when we get there and most of the animals are cleverly hiding in the shade, so it’s left to the meerkats to put on a show of cuteness and make us smile again. The hardest part for these suricata (a genus of mongoose endemic to Africa), says centre supervisor Lisa Horn, is having to wait until there is a pack big enough to return to the wild because if released on their own they’d be attacked by an established group.
I start dreaming of long, cool iced drinks. And, as if by magic, it’s time for refreshments, which Shamwari and its five-star chefs provide and provide and provide ...
FOODIE PARADISE
Ours is a lightning visit, so we see three of Shamwari’s seven lodges, eating breakfast at Sindile Lodge, lunch at Long Lee Manor, supper at Sindile and breakfast No 2 at Eagles Crag. With so many banquets in such a short time, we are constantly eating — and the food is beyond sublime. As a decades-long vegetarian, I have grown used to being teased for eating “rabbit food“, and I have, in fact, ingested much lettuce in my life — but the charred lettuce with sesame seed, miso dressing and kewpie mayo dished up at Long Lee Manor is the umami treat of a lifetime. There’s also a pan-cooked beetroot dish that, judging by the carnivores’ faces, may even compete with the fillet.
In the Pool Club at Long Lee Manor, which overlooks the rim pool, which in turn overlooks a popular watering hole, we top up on sweets, biscuits and iced coffees before an afternoon game drive. I meet George there, a tourist from the US who tells me he’s been to Shamwari 18 times since its inception. I imagine he has a loyalty card! And I am deeply envious.
0 of 4
The three lodges we visit are worlds apart in design and atmosphere: Sindile is tented luxury open to the elements and commanding huge views; Long Lee is an Edwardian-style mansion, with an emphasis on socialising and entertainment; and Eagles Crag is nestled into the side of a mountain, all seclusion and romance.
It’s not only the animals that conspire to make guests feel welcome and important, the rest of nature plays its part too. As we’re blowing out the candles on a chocolate cake — one for each decade of Shamwari’s existence — a storm starts up across the valley, the thunder joining in our “happy birthday” song and the lightning adding disco vibes to the celebration.
And then it’s time for sleep. It’s been a glorious day of long views, great food and lots of #shamazing moments, and I am taking new memories of elephants into my dreams.
Scop was a guest of Shamwari Private Game Reserve
0 of 5
PLAN YOUR TRIP
GETTING THERE: From Gqeberha, it is a 75,5km drive via the N2. Transfers are available.
ACCOMMODATION: Shamwari has a choice of seven lodges: Long Lee Manor has spacious rooms, an exquisite pool with views of a waterhole. Sarili Private Lodge offers a bespoke itinerary and a private staff, including a personal chef for families or groups. Families with children staying at Long Lee Manor or Sarili have access to Riverdene Lodge’s adventure playground, with rope walkways, climbing walls, slides and ziplines. Facilities are colour-coded according to age and ability and are under constant supervision. Sindile, the flagship tented lodge, is ideal for a luxury break or romantic getaway. Bayethe offers luxury tented suites. Eagles Crag lodge offers seclusion and luxury. Explorers, a camp set deep in the bush, provides an ideal base for walking safaris.
RATES: The rates at Shamwari vary according to which lodge is booked, the number of guests as well as seasonality. The reserve offers regular last-minute specials for domestic travellers, which can be booked 30 days prior. Normal lead-in rates (not including specials) start from R12,485 pps and include food and standard beverages. T&Cs apply. To find out about rates and availability, call Shamwari on 042-203-111, e-mail reservations@shamwari.com or visit shamwari.com.
WATCH: Watch ‘Shamwari Untamed’ Netflixhttps://www.netflix.com › title on Netflix to get up close to the conservationists who care for the reserve’s wildlife. Also great viewing is Shamwari TV’s 100th episode — about the remarkable release of rehabilitated hippos. On Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTh-b2n0Kfk
WONDERFUL FACTOID
Thirty years ago, a young game ranger tied a garden chair to the back of a Willys Jeep to take a honeymoon couple on a game drive. It would ultimately turn an unknown game reserve in a region not known for safari tourism into an internationally recognised destination. The reserve was Shamwari in the Eastern Cape and the innovative ranger was Joe Cloete, who is now its CEO.
Today it’s hard to imagine that Shamwari Private Game Reserve, with the big five, luxury lodges, fleet of customised game-viewing vehicles and more than 400 employees, was once farmland where few of the indigenous species, once so plentiful in the region, remained. — Shamwari
SHAMWARI ON SCREEN
• Shamwari Untamed
The reserve stars in its own Netflix show, where viewers can experience the exciting, essential work of the conservationists who care for the incredible wildlife there.
• Shamwari TV
The reserve also has a Youtube channel, called Shamwari TV, on which it shares tons of amazing wildlife footage taken on the reserve. Check out it’s 100th episode, which shows the remarkable release of three rehabilitated hippos.
