Take a walk on the Wild Side, go online and view the North West gallery! To see more of the North West Province visit the picture gallery at SellingLongHaul.com


Image Conscious


Opposite: A lazing lion at Makanyane; Main Panel clockwise: Giraffes show surprising elegance when moving through the bush; Making a friend at the Elephant Wallow, Sun City;


time for refl ection in Madikwe; The eyes have it for this hippo; 'Try this as a toothbrush'; bush fl owers; Below: A rare wild dog; breakfast in the bush at Madikwe Safari Lodge


DAY FIVE A Walk on the Wild Side "The adrenalin rush generated by encountering rhinos just yards away from us was a genuine lifetime


experience for me" Alfredo de Benedicto, Global Travel a la Carte


Before they can offer guests walking safaris, game rangers in South Africa have to complete intense training and pass several exams, including walking into ‘encounter situations’ with the big five of lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and buffalo. It’s an activity on offer at Madikwe Safari Lodge. For our final safari experience in Madikwe, some of our group leave the 4X4s behind and set out, in single file and in silence, behind Gregg, our reassuring ranger. After marvelling at butterflies, a variety of birds, spider nests, locusts inside flower bulbs, wildebeest and zebra, we have our Adrenalin Moment: three rhinos, lounging under an acacia bush, about 75 yards ahead of us. We kneel in silence, our hearts


almost thumping out of our T-shirts. Amazingly the rhinos seem not to notice us, which Gregg explains is due to the wind being in the 'right direction'. After 20 minutes or so, slowly and quietly we move away from the rhinos and our awesome Close Encounter of the Big Five kind. Madikwe River Lodge has a


final surprise for us: a superb breakfast prepared and cooked in a clearing in the bush. As our


vehicles pull up the staff are already at work cooking eggs, bacon, sausages and more from their improvised kitchen under a canopy of Marula trees. Madikwe and Sun City are just 90 minutes apart, which means your clients can enjoy a morning game drive in Madikwe, have breakfast and still be in Sun City in time for lunch. Sun City, South Africa’s original


entertainment resort, gained a name for itself on the back of its casinos, glitzy cabaret-style entertainment and hosting Miss World contests – but today it is a family-orientated resort that offers a wide range of attractions. These include two championship golf courses, water park, bird garden, reptile centre, supervised kids club, lake with several watersports and a man-made beach with a wave machine that provides thrills for body surfers. After a filling Indian-style buffet lunch


at the Sun Terrace Restaurant in the Sun City Hotel we find ourselves standing on the ‘launch platform’ of the highest (280 metres), fastest (120kmh) and longest (two kilometres) zip-line in the world. There are a few ‘Oh my Gods’ and


‘I’m not throwing myself off that’ before, in pairs, we slip sheepishly into our harnesses, clip ourselves to the double-reinforced steel-wire zip-line and, on the count of ‘Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Clip Release' take the plunge. We hurtle down the wire, the wind squashing our faces as the bush below races towards us. Later, back at the opulent The Palace Hotel, most of us take a plunge of another sort, by relaxing in the hotel’s stunning large pool, complete with tumbling waters.


'Seeing wild dogs


was a privilege' By Heidi Kemsley


“Our sighting of a pack of wild dogs in Madikwe on a night game drive


was, for me, one of the highlights of the whole week. It had long been a dream of mine to see these rare and endangered creatures in the wild. "My other highlight was the early-morning walking safari we did in the same reserve, with our Madikwe Safari Lodge ranger, Gregg. It was a real thrill sneaking up on three dozing male rhinos who, thankfully, remained completely unaware of our presence"


www.tourismnorthwest.co.za 09


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20