Expatriate Magazine (13)

TR A V E L
and yellow-billed kites within minutes of leaving the elephants (somewhat more suspicious), the unfeasibly
lodge; blackbreasted snake eagles and a bateleur soon large kori bustard (the heaviest ﬂ ying bird, though at an
afterwards. One of the excitements of the game reserve average 30lb, it doesn’t do much of this), and shimmering
as opposed to a safari park is that one never knows what lilac-breasted rollers. Five species of swallow rake
will present itself, suddenly appearing close to the truck the air for insects, including the European escaping
from behind a bush or from a crack in the rocks. Today the Northern winter by a prodigious ﬂ ight. Samuel
we see a mother and baby white rhino - distant cousins Johnson asserted that in Europe they “certainly sleep
of the horse and tapir – trotting across the road yards all the winter” and after “ﬂ ying round and round, all in
from the car, the baby preceding the mother as always a heap….throw themselves under water and lye in the
in this species (the black is the reverse). bed of a river”, but then Dr Johnson was never fortunate
We drive on through narrow and rutted tracks enough to come here.
between wickedly thorny bushes, and resting in the Back at the lodge and after a buﬀ et breakfast of fruit,
Sun on rocks we see small furry creatures called locally cereal, eggs and game sausages (from farmed animals –
dassie: the rock hyrax, looking like a large rodent but nothing, even ﬁ rewood, is taken from the reserve) we
actually the closest living relative to the elephant. We have the day at leisure. As one can’t safely go for a stroll
drive on and spot the elegant pin-tailed and shaft-tailed we have idleness thrust upon us, and so with a clear
whydahs; then as the Sun gets higher and burns away a conscience doze, read, and sit on the balcony of our
slight morning chill, an adult leopard tortoise and later bungalow looking out over the extraordinary wildlife
an inch-long baby. Edmund stops in a clearing and we cinema happening right in front of us. As we watch,
get out to stretch, feeling vaguely adventurous to be on groups of animals, some happy to be in mixed company,
the ground in lion country, and enjoying strong coﬀ ee others preferring only their own kind, approach the
from the neat folding table he has surprisingly set. An water to drink. A lone warthog trots up nonchalantly,
option which we didn’t have time to explore is a bush followed by an impala nursery group, mainly females
walk, or safari on foot. This would be the ultimate with a large number of quite small foals. The Sun gets
thrill, obviously covering much less ground but allowing higher and apart from the busy jacana trotting over the
ODGE
an even more unmediated connection to the earth and weedy surface of the lake, the powerful heat quietens
its animals. the watering hole and I lie down for an hour’s delicious
U GAME L
We drove for another hour or so, during which we sleep. Tau has also recently invested in a beautiful spa –
T
A
had close encounters with zebra (utterly unconcerned), another way of ﬁ lling the quiet hours in the heat of the
40 EX P A T R I A T E
Safari.indd 40 08/06/2009 15:11:39
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