Whichever way you cut it game drives are addictive, for me anyway. I got back yesterday from a weekend at Kwafubesi Tented Camp in the Mabula Private Game Park and already I’m missing it. It’s a very different experience from the one I had in Zimbabwe, the games drives we had in and around Hwange were something else in my book, but the weekend Deb and I just got back from was still amazing. There is something so very exciting about game drives in general. The idea of heading out not knowing what you will see, only knowing what you hope to see. The expectation and the excitement when you maybe spot something you hoped for, or something unexpected and especially something you haven’t seen before is fantastic. Ok, it’s a little but toned down in a game park as your ranger, if not you yourself, pretty much knows exactly what is in the park and probably has a pretty good idea where to find it. In this sense Kwafubesi was no exception but the entire experience over the course of the weekend combined with the location and the amount of grounds Mabula has make for a fantastic destination which is relatively close to Joburg, if you’re just looking for a few days away.
We arrived on Friday lunchtime after a 2 ½ hour journey and had lunch at the main lodge prior to being collected by our weekend’s ranger/guide for the 20 minute journey to Kwafubesi itself. We arrived to a ‘welcome’ drink before being shown our accommodation for the next two nights and, despite my previous post, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the tents now have power and not, as I had been believed, gas! The main room itself was as good as any hotel room and the en-suite had all you could wish for, although to this day I still find it un-nerving to see the ground beneath you through the gaps in the floor boards while using the bathroom!
We had booked a package which included all meals and 2 game drives each day so, after an hour or so to settle in our room, it was time to head out and see what the day had to offer. At this point I should probably go on record with saying that I was hoping, over the course of the weekend, to see Lion and Rhino. In Southern Africa there is a lot of mileage made out of what they call the Big 5 – Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion and Leopard. Having seen elephant and buffalo aplenty while in Zim I was hoping for lion and rhino, Leopard would be nice but that’s definitely a matter of luck. Although Mabula is a Big-5 location Chris, our guide, had only seen leopard 4 times in the just over a year he’d worked here.
All of the game drives, we did 5 in total while there, were superb. The first drive was really almost a getting to know you for the group that were at Kwafubesi. There were 8 of us on the drive, although 2 would be leaving after the morning drive the next day. Still we had a very successful drive, the highlight being the elephants which it was a pleasure to see. Mabula has about 8 ellies and all bar one, a young male who has been forced out of the group, were at one of the dams where we found them taking dust baths and, two at least, mock fighting into the water. Other highlights for me included giraffe, an Eland and, in the distance, a White Rhino mother with young. (I won’t cover everything we saw here but I will put up a full list on the blog.) This was my first ever sighting of a wild Rhino and for me it was a very special moment, even though much closer sightings were to follow over the course of the weekend.
Once the drive was completed it was back to camp for a welcome back drink and an absolutely wonderful supper in the main camp area. This is undercover with a thatch roof but open sided and giving wonderful views into the bush. The camp itself has an electric fence around it but it is quite high and is designed to stop the elephants getting into camp and wrecking the place. It would also stops the giraffes I guess, although to my knowledge they don’t have the reputation for breaking things that elephants do!
As we had an early start for our morning game drive most of the folks headed off to bed after supper and I also gave in, after a quick couple of spiced rums of course! Sleeping in the tented accommodation proved to be something that takes a little getting used to. It’s amazing how much louder all the night noises seem when the only thing between you and them is a thin’ish piece of canvas! As the tent is raised off the ground on a wooded platform it means that during the night you can actually hear things moving round beneath you which can take a little getting used to in itself. Never the less I eventually drifted off and had a pretty good night sleep all in all.
