Southern Africa: Will these Touring Tigers meet the Big Five?
M-I-Z…Ka-pa-ma!
Our journey has reached its crescendo! We rallied for the transition by air from the metropolitan Johannesburg to the wild and untamed greater Krueger National park area in northeast South Africa. The flight took only about 35 minutes to the Hoedspruit airport where we were met with a trio of open-air Land Cruisers for our journey to the Kapama Private Game Reserve. I assumed there would be some distance to cover and was surprised to find the entrance to Kapama directly across the road from the airport. That would be just the first of many Kapama surprises in store…
Within a few minutes of entering our home for the next three days, the caravan of safari vehicles ground to a halt as a pair of White Rhino were spotted just off the road. It was an exhilarating start to our stay given this wasn’t even an official game drive and just our transfer to the River Lodge with our luggage still in tow (quite literally in a trailer behind our Land Cruiser). Amazing!
A different kind of exhilaration applied to the feeling of being introduced to Kapama’s River Lodge. This place is a special kind of swanky, y’all. Stretching across 13,000 hectares, it borders Kreuger National Park. The rooms and amenities are spectacular as are the multi-course meals with all manner of beverages included -- so drinks on me!
We loaded up for our first game drive at 4:30 pm on Day 11. Our Touring Tigers divided up into three groups of six to seven each which meant we all got “window seats” in our 11 passenger open-air safari vehicles. Each group has their own guides that remain with them for the duration of our stay. My group’s Ranger Greyton and Tracker Melvin are a hard-working team that would lead us on total of six game drives. They generously shared their expertise and personal stories on each excursion out into the Bushveld (SAT word for you right there). They absolutely made the experience for us and were just a heck of a lot of fun to spend time with.
Our affinity for these guys may also have been increased because they were the keepers of the delicious (and boozy!) refreshments that were served on each game drive. The sundowners enjoyed in the unique golden (MIZ!) glow of African sunsets out in the bush swapping stories of the unique animal encounters of each of our three Touring Tigers groups had encountered may have been my favorite part of this trip.
In case you are keeping score that Rhino we encountered upon entry brought our Big Five tally to four after meeting up with lions, elephants, and Cape buffalo during our drives in Chobe and Hwange. That left just the elusive leopard. Within 45 minutes of our first Kapama game drive our quintet was complete as our team took us off road through thick brush and thorny branches to gaze upon a female leopard lounging in the shade.
That leopard encounter to kick things off was one of many highlights we would soak up in the African sun over three days. With grit and determination our guides set out to do their best to have us experience the Big Five all WITHIN Kapama. It took us to game drive 5 (of 6) to get them all but we did and much more!
Elephants taking down a tree (to scarf on the tasty leaves of the canopy) followed by two of them growling, charging and threating fisticuffs
A pack of four brother lions sleeping in the morning sun and not giving two sh*ts that we were sitting 10 feet away. We could literally hear them sigh with disinterest.
Listening to a leopard (our second sighting) gnaw and grind the bones of his dinner (sorry, little dassie).
A hippo snorting in a display of his disdain for our presence on his beach
Seemed that Zazu (aka Flying Banana aka Yellow-billed Horn Bill) was following us everywhere. Perhaps he was on orders from Mufasa to keep an eye on the Tigers or perhaps there were just a bunch of those birds everywhere
A smell-him-before-you-can-see-him warthog moseying up during lunch at the lodge to scratch his back and his bum on a log.
A hyena walking up on us while our full group was standing in the bush enjoying our sundowners and him deciding to lay down and listen in while enjoying the same sunset
I tried to record the names of the animals that we saw in the wild during this adventure. The 70+ that I logged is surely just a fraction as I no doubt missed more than I got jotted down here . (Feel free to correct or add to the list!)
I’ve shared here just a handful of the special moments that I will cherish from this trip of a lifetime. Our AHI guide, Jeremy, enhanced this experience beyond measure. Far beyond keeping our Tigers tethered together and on time, he painted the story of Africa for us. During our last sundowner together he shared a quote from Brian Jackman, a British journalist and author. And though Jackman isn’t a product of the world’s first and finest J-school, he did sum up the magic of this place beautifully:
“Africa changes you forever, like nowhere on earth. Once you have been there, you will never be the same. But how do you begin to describe its magic to someone who has never felt it? How can you explain the fascination of this vast, dusty continent, whose oldest roads are elephant paths? Could it be because Africa is the place of all our beginnings, the cradle of mankind, where our species first stood upright on the savannahs of long ago?”
Well said, sir. I am black and gold grateful for this incredible experience I was blessed to enjoy with my partner in life and a new group of Mizzou friends. Here’s a health to thee!
- Jayson & the Touring Tigers of southern Africa