We have seen a great deal of South Africa in the past five days. We left Mariette's house bundled up in winter coats and hats, off to our first game lodge, Ant's Nest. We were given directions from a seemingly knowledgeble friend of the Van der Walt family so headed off on the smaller roads to avoid rush hour traffic through Johannesburg and Pretoria. The morning sunlight was warm very early on and we were able to strip off one layer then another in short time. If we have learned anything about travelling in South Africa it is that nobody gives us accurate information about how long it takes to get anywhere, including a store merely 10 minutes away. But, we knew this from the last trip and still hadn't learned it properly. We meandered through many towns and villages, fortunately on tarred roads which were often pockmarked with potholes and raggedy edges. It took us a good 7 hours. The friendly guy who gave us directions said 5. Not too bad when I think about the next legs of our adventure. The notable part of the trip was at last finding the "driveway" or entrance to Ant's Nest farm. The last leg of road was rough gravel. At the entrance the right half of the road had caved in and there was a gaping maw at least five feet deep, twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide. My brain said, ooh, now the adventure really begins! The entrance road was a roller coaster of dips, rocks, thorny branches and extremely steep terrain which we navigated very slowly. I generally get very excited when we have approached this kind of road. My kid-like brain kicks in and I am giddy! Janita is the wise one, worrying about the rental car, the potential damage and ultimately the cost we may be incurring We did get there in one piece and our marriage still intact. Along the way we came across a family of warthogs or vlakvark who amicably lead us on to the lodge. We were greeted Downton Abbey-style by several smiling faces, black and white. In the next whirlwind we shook hands, exchanged names and gently were escorted to our cottage.
As we past the front of the lodge, there on the other side of a low stone wall, really in the back of the garden, were five rhinoceros, renosters!!! Janita was at her camera bag in a jiffy. I practically ran to the cottage to gather my wits. The smiling face of our greeters merely smiled deeper and shuffled me on to the cottage. We stayed in a rondavel, a round thatch-roofed cottage built with wood, stone and slate. It is a typical style for lodges because it just exudes Africa, plus it is the best for keeping in or keeping out heat. It is also beautiful! The farm has 6 rhinoceros, down from at least 10 last year due to poachers. Rhinoceros are being slaughtered for their horns because it is believed the horn has medicinal properties. In Asia, it is believe to improve virility, cure cancer and a number of other health problems. Rhinoceros horn is made up of the same material as our fingernails. Chewing our nails is probably just as effective. But, the market is driven by greedy men. The problem now is that instead of just poaching for the horn, they are killing the animals to extinction to make the product priceless! South Africans are livid and are eager to prosecute harshly. Unfortunately, the poachers are difficult to catch, well armed with the highest technology to find the animals, and generally are very poor Africans that are hired by the really bad guys. Similar to the mafia, the big honchos rarely get caught. Ant's Nest has taken to feeding the rhinos morning and evening to keep them close by when they are the most vulnerable.
We went on an evening game drive and saw many grazing zebra, giraffe, warthogs, impala and birds of all colours and sizes. It is typical to end an afternoon drive with a "sundowner", beverages and snacks in a lovely, picturesque location. We had our sundowner with 6 rhinos munching rhino feed at the owner's lovely home. We were on a lawn safely five feet above the huge animals. I was not convinced they would not be able to climb the wall, but did get close enough to one rhino to touch her horn. They are really big animals that look prehistoric; remnants of an age when very tough hides and gigantic weapons were the norm. Despite their size they can run up to 45 km per hour. Faster than the fastest man on earth I was told. They acted so placid and were kind of cute. In a second they would quickly turn to challenge eachother, snorting, kicking the earth and mock charging. There were two mothers and their "babies" (one was almost as big as her mother), an orphaned male youngster and the father of all the young ones. We even saw one of the young ones nurse. The young rhino lay on her side, somehow getting her horn out of the way to suckle. The youngsters would follow their mothers, mewing like kittens! Not kidding! Our evening ended with a fabulous meal shared by the rest of the guests and two of the guides, Jacques and Nick. This apparently is the tradition of Ant's. We enjoyed the company of a two young women, one from Germany originally and one from Britain as well as a couple whose life work was to establish sports facilities and programs in poor communities. They introduced us to the Waterberg Biosphere and other social/community projects.
The next morning Janita and I bravely joined the other less experienced riders for game viewing on horseback. No lions on the property, but don't forget the rhino. They are wild and generally suspicious, fast too. We found the rhino near a waterhole, so the guides kept the waterhole between us riders and the rhinos. Once we returned to the lodge and dismounted, we were invited to climb into the Land Rover to go for a "bush lunch". Shaky legs and all, this almost seemed unreal. On the top of one of the hills, with a panorama view, we had a lunch cooked on an open fire, with the ubiquitous beer and wine. There was a lot of that offered to us at the lodges, perhaps to help jangled nerves from the crazy driving and excitement the bosveld generated.
The afternoon was spent on a birdwatching bush walk, just Janita, Nick the fabulous guide and myself. We learned so much about the flora and fauna. Nick could identify animal tracks so expertly that he could determine the gender of the banded mongoose who had walked along the track. He told us about the Lion Ant, the African Gardenia, several very thorny bushes and many birds, mainly by their calls. We were both beside ourselves with happiness. I had so longed to be out in the bush, safely, since I first came to South Africa! That was 2007! The car or Land Rover had been too confining, not a way to really know Africa, her land, her smells, her sounds and shapes. We returned to the lodge, after the sundowner and rhino show, of course, full of sights, sounds and smells that I will never forget. At that point, both Janita and I were committed to taking the guide course that Nick had taken and be game guides right there. Well, at least the short version of 2 weeks. A year out in the bush camping every night might be hard on two 53 year olds. What the heck, I can start something new anytime!
The last of our adventures at Ant's Nest was still to come. That night, unfortunately our last there, we had to find where dinner would be served. As I left our rondavel in the dark, to my right I saw a flicker of light from a fire or flame. We discovered a stone wall encircling a private, firelit boma, open to the stars! There were oil lanterns, chairs in a half-circle around a huge blazing fire, a candlelit table set for all of us and an open fire with another beaming staff member grilling. Meat is an essential main event in every lunch and dinner in South Africa, be it beef, kudu, springbok, ostrich, mutton, chicken or eland. The boma kept us warm-ish. There were blankets on the back of each chair to help with that. No one wanted to leave that night, cherishing the company and the unique experience.
The next morning, Janita and I took the ride of our lives. Remember, I love the roller coaster experience when driving. Sam took us up to Ant's Hill, a second lodge, UP on the hill. It was an exciting, thrilling and a bit scary "game drive" over rough track. We did see some blesbok and jackal along with rhino tracks, to name a few and Sam was willing to stop for the good picture taking opportunities.
Our visit to Ant's Nest concluded with an energizing conversation with the owner, Tessa Baber, about the social and economic needs of the area. She was actively involved in the upliftment of Vaalwater and the neighboring settlements. We talked about efforts initiated and the unmet needs of the young adults who were floundering. We heard about the country's large problem of teenage pregnancy, potentially encouraged by the minimal subsidy the young mothers could get from the government each month. Minimal is an understatement. The bottom line was that basic skills were lacking; especially business, money management and the motivation or sense of the possible. Skills for Africa, where could we fit in? Here were active efforts and need for more in cultural, social and environmental areas! I was ready...
We lastly stopped at The Fold, a home for orphaned and "vulnerable" children. We brought a bag of clothes, school supplies and toys. There were about a eight kids there when we arrived who greeted us with a hug. I felt uncomfortable mainly because I didn't want to be the white lady who brought things for the needy black kids, but I was. Silly, sad. They posed for a picture each holding a donated item then sang a song, something about Jesus being King or the like. The Fold founders were very Christian and from Oklahoma.
From an unknown mountain area in the rural province of Limpopo, the Waterberg transformed in our minds to a vibrant, exciting and rich place to return to, possibly to settle?
