After a trip around the largely excellent South Africa National Gallery, a wonderful lunch at Constantia Glen (a wine estate just outside Cape Town), and a welcome rest for my gammy knee before packing, we set off on the next leg of our southern South African trip. This was a short hop east by plane to Port Elizabeth to visit a game reserve north of that industrial city.
The trip was made more stressful than planned by a more than three hour delay to the one hour flight – thereby putting our game reserve tour in jeopardy – and an awareness that Long Suffering Wife (LSW) was indeed suffering from a steadily worsening bout of food poisoning.
We made it to the game reserve in time. However, as the tour was about to set off, LSW realised that the prospect of jiggling about in the back of a jeep for several hours with no access to secure conveniences (there were lions about!) would not be compatible with her worsening condition. As she was ushered off to our overnight accommodation for rest and recuperation, I went off with four others and our guide to see the wildlife.
I’ve not been to a zoo since our sons were small and have never been to a wildlife park before, so I was unsure what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised.
The reserve – the Schotia Private Game Reserve – was relatively small but there was enough cross-country bumping around in a big jeep to make it feel as though we were on a wild adventure and that there was a risk we might not see the important wildlife. In fact, the afternoon, night and then morning tour – which fortunately LSW was well enough to make – delivered a close up view of all of the animals I expected to see, and more. Communication between the guides was effective in getting us to the right places at the right times but the tour didn’t feel formulaic.
We saw lions, monkeys, wildebeest, a porcupine, giraffes, elephants, hippos, water buffalo, wart hogs, zebra, rhinoceros, a wide variety of antelope, eagles and other native birds, huge termite hills and massive dung beetles. All could all be seen at surprisingly close range although my inexperience with binoculars and the limitations of the iPhone camera was a poor comparison to my fellow travellers’ cameras. The termite I was encourage to eat tasted of basil – there’s a first (and probably last) time for everything I guess.
Schotia Private Game Reserve’s Lions – Replete And Slow Moving After Apparently Catching A Zebra The Previous Day
Schotia’s Rather Grumpy Rhinoceroses
The half-hearted charge of a grumpy rhino on one of the other vehicles underlined the truly wild state of the animals. So too did the distended stomachs of the lions who had apparently killed a zebra on our first day and had hidden in bushes to eat it. They were too fat and lazy to move much when we got to them on the night trip and then the following morning.
The braai (South African barbeque) dinner in a traditional style reed-roofed building with open fires and a bottomless bar was generous and I didn’t hold back given I was eating for two in LSW’s absence. Over dinner, our guide shared some of his interesting history as an Afrikaner soldier and dispossessed farmer and his route to becoming a game reserve guide. His views on religion, abortion, and one or two other topics didn’t square with mine but it was fascinating to hear his personal story and his mix of hope and concern for his country. The interlude was also an opportunity to get ideas from my well-travelled fellow jeep occupants (from Germany and Canada) for future overseas trips.
The 20 hours at Schotia was an excellent introduction to what I might have experienced on a larger reserve where more time would have been required and the animals, while greater in number, might have been further away. Maybe we will try the much larger scale of Kruger or Hluhluwe Umfolofi next time (with a better camera) but I doubt we will get better value for money than we did at Schotia.
Various Items From The Most Interesting Part Of The South Africa National Gallery Exhibitions In Cape Town – Old And New Textiles And Beadwork
One Of Several Works By El Anatsui Exhibited In The South Africa National Gallery And Made From Bottle Caps And Seals Sown Together Into Drapes
My Retirement Journey 