African Safari - July '13 - Day 7 in the Bush

Having waxed lyrical on many occasions with regard to taking pleasure in the simple things in life, particularly the fact that life is just too short for palatable food, quaffable wine and bearable company, in my opinion it all needs to be extraordinary. Don't get me wrong, extraordinary doesn't mean expensive taste in wine, nor well connected company, and I've already said enough about my view on the secret delights of peasant foods in my previous post. No, sometimes it's the simplest of pleasures that provide the true treasures in life.

To help illustrate my point; tonight we were sitting in our open game vehicle with engine off watching a magnificent black rhino walk straight towards us. Rhino, and black rhino in particular, can be rather unpredictable beasts, with the bulk of a 2 ton truck and the aggression of, well.. a black rhino. As it got to within 20m or so, it suddenly stopped, turned to face a small rocky outcrop to the side in the bush nearby and proceeded to charge lifting his massive horn wildly, when all of a sudden a spectacular male leopard ran from his hiding place. Not that a leopard would have even dreamed of attempting to ambush a rhino, but the rhino just felt pissed off by his presence, and made it known, because he can. The analogy is this. Sometimes when one is focused on the large 'rhino' in life, anticipating its charge and skewering one's Landcruiser like a kebab, one forgets to look into the bush, behind the rocky outcrops of life, for the splendid leopard, and would otherwise be mesmerised and totally oblivious to the great yet small things one simply passes by unnoticed.

Later tonight Dyl and I got us a little lost yet again, during a long evening/night drive, though we finally made it back home. We decided not to have a fire tonight, but rather to heat up a pre-prepared meal in lieu of time and hang about on the deck. 

On walking out onto the deck we were greeted by a herd of elephant right in-front of us, no more than 10m away walking slowly along our side of the bank of the Olifants River. Tiny calves, only weeks old were being shielded from the outside by mothering young cows, and the deep vibrations of the older matriarch's purring communication was clear as she spotted us and cautioned the herd. We watched in silence as 24 elephant casually past us by.

As they disappeared a loud splash occurred in the river in front of us. On shining our torches at what appeared to be overzealous hippo going night swimming to their own tune of REM, a massive bull elephant emerged from the water and stood facing the direction of where the herd had just disappeared. Obviously an amorous fellow in search of a bit of passion. But instead he turned and walked up to our deck, the top of his head about the same height. His large tusks clearly visible as we purposefully avoided shining in his eyes. Clearly inquisitive however he edged closer, grunting and purring and shaking his head in attempt to intimidate and warn us of his might. Eventually his tusks could have touched our feet, he was so close but we dared not move an inch. I decided that talking to him in my deepest, calm voice was appropriate now, and he appeared to listen, everybody on the deck absolutely rigid. Then he slowly sniffed the outside shower head, and reversed up against the tree that the shower head is attached to and proceeded to wipe his bum up and down the trunk like a pillar of Kleenex Babysoft. We didn't take that as a sign of any disrespect you understand, as he clearly had an itchy bum. Then he came forward again, rubbed his cheek on our railing, pulled a few leaves off a nearby thorn tree and proceeded to literally disappear into the darkness without a sound.

Front of the deck where the bull elephant came right up to the previous night, and his 'toilet paper' tree to the right

Those are the special, albeit at times heart stopping moments, that make it all the more real and incredibly special. We are after all merely guests in what has been their wild land and routine for thousands of years. Indeed a privilege.

African Safari - July '13 - Day 6 in the Bush

One of the most important things about being in the bush, or life in general, is the quality of food and beverages one partakes in. Most of you who know me well know that I'm not a fan of fussy, haute cuisine type food, moulded into cylindrical shapes with far too much ponsiness, hand to ingredient ratio and more concern about impressing the eye rather than flabbergasting the tongue. Having had my fair share of 'fussy food' and 'stuck up' wines that people think aught to be drunk in my time, I have settled into a far more brutally honest perspective in taking pleasure in the 'real food' and quality accompanying beverage, and not worry about what other people might think.  Of my greatest disappointments in wine many have been some of the most expensive interestingly enough.

Some of my finest moments have been spent around an alfresco table in rural France or Italy, or a tiny table for two in a tratoria near Grieve in Chianti or beside an out of the way canal in Venice (where I intend to retire intermittently with the bush and write a book or two one day soon..). The food often described as peasant food by somewhat embarrassed hosts, strangely enough, yet prepared with only the finest of fresh ingredients one couldn't find in any fine grocery store. The Rialto Market off the Grande Canal perhaps or merely stopping one's Fiat or Alfa (or Citron for Pierre the French Fighter pilot fans) on the side of the road between Todi and Montepulciano in Umbria and Tuscany or between Saint-Émilion and Pomerol in rural Bordeaux to pick the freshest wild herbs and mushrooms has to be the ultimate. 

So, cooking and eating in the bush (as with just about any other place for me), is more of a ceremony than merely a meal eaten for the sake of hunger and wine or beer drunk merely for the sake of quenching a thirst. Life is just too short for that. 

Family in the boma

In the bush I love to have a fire, no matter what we're eating. It needs to be prepared properly preferably with wood or at least wood charcoal (otherwise it's not a fire and definitely not a braai). Yet it need not be artistically prepared, but must burn large for a while whilst we sit around it and chat about the day's events and pause to listen to the sound of silence mesmerized by the licking flames. In the bush however, the 'sounds of silence' are anything but silent. Anything from crickets to lion and hyena or grunting hippo, which make it all the more rewarding and a little nerve wrecking at times with the odd rustle of a bush or crack of a tree nearby in the pitch dark.

So today we had left over risotto for lunch. It's the kind of 'extra peasant' leftovers one has from the 'peasant' meal the previous night. Now I'm talking proper risotto, with porcini and portabilini 'shrooms, great white wine (Brothers possibly), home-made stock and other ingredients mixed with love and a decent sized bicep or two, what with all the necessary stirring required. The left overs are however too good to go to waste and deserving of Arancini di Riso (risotto balls with mozzarella and salami, dipped in egg, flour and rolled in bread crumbs), fried 'til crispy and all eaten by hand, dipped in a caramelised onion or olive marmalade (the only marmalades made for normal people under 70!). Just ask me and I'll tell you how.

Tonight it was springbok fillets from my old school mate Steve Botha-Maresch, with his own secret sprinkling of The Local Grill spices, straight on the the hot coals, with butternut and butter and a few fresh herbs wrapped tightly in tin foil, cooked on the grid alongside. All accompanied by a Wendouree Shiraz-Motaro 1995 from my very generous, Aussie grand relative-in-law in, Graeme Muller. It was superb.

After all had headed for bed, bar Dyl and I this time, sitting back at the fire with a few fresh logs (leadwood me thinks as they just burn and burn..), listening to the calls of lion and hyena again tonight, and the rustling of hippo out if the water grazing beside us, I just can't get enough!

African Safari - July '13 - Day 5 in the Bush

View of the house from the river bank (I took this very quickly before sprinting back to safety - it had to be done)

Lazy start to day 5 in the bush, with the boys deciding that a sleep in was in order. Much lion and hyena calling activity throughout the night, but the morning was quiet and uneventful, despite much bird watching from the deck and some small maintenance chores that we'd be avoiding up until now.

The night drive route I chose this eve was a long one, but to one of my favourite dams where we've been lucky to spot incredible game over the years. But tonight in the warmth of the setting sun all was quiet, bar sand grouse, franklin, sociable weavers, and guinea-fowl amongst others, heading for their night roosts. Just the clink of our drinks glasses broke the evening sounds as the crickets started up, and the occasional fart from the boys in the rear of the vehicle followed by a small giggle and a shudder of the vehicle, and much gnashing of teeth amongst the rest of us. Fortunately, open game vehicles have a dual purpose, that is for sure..

Tonight a bottle of Raka Quinery around the fire, and a Dominican for me, with not a sound but the rushing Olifants River beside us. Chris and Dyl headed for bed after a while, leaving Alex and I to fend off the wild beasties on our own. Of course made all the easier by great, easy, lingering discussion on matters of worldly importance such as, "Dad, who were you best mates at school?", and "What did you guys do for fun?", followed a little while later with, "Are they all still alive?", and other facets of life that make sitting around a fire with my boys something I cherish and hope to continue for years to come.

Wrap around view of the Olifants River

African Safari - July '13 - Day 4 in the Bush

The late night induced silence this morning in the Landcruiser was unceremoniously disturbed by Alex yelling, "Stop! Hey look it's Mr Fogarty". After bringing the vehicle to an abrupt stop our attention was drawn, with Alex's help, to a small dung beetle attempting to push a rather large ball of rhino dung out of a kudu spoor (hoof impression - for the uninformed). It did indeed resemble the profile picture of the Bishops Prep rugby, waterpolo, Xhosa, Afrikaans master. And for those of you not in the know about the mighty little dung beetle one may be too hasty to regard this analogy as a disparaging one. Needless to say, dung beetles are incredible little creatures although they may spend much of their life in the poo (so to speak) or merely in search of it. Not unlike many humans, the female entices the poor male on, often climbing on top of his carefully rolled and relatively large ball of dung, in which she intends to lay her eggs. All the while the male attempts to impress her with his strength by rolling the ball in a direction, now made impossible by her looming, protruding presence, added to the otherwise perfectly cylindrical shape of the ball. So the harder he tries to go in a direction, the more he finds himself going in a circle.. I'm sure he mutters as he comes around again, "god I'm sure I've been in this sh#t heap before". The beauty of having brought our boys up loving and appreciating the bush, the more it's the little things that we spend time exploring and fascinated by, be they beetles or birds, intricate spider webs, mongoose or other small critters that one can miss if one isn't attuned to them.

Male dung beetle battling away with female hitching a ride

Somewhat reminiscent of that poor dung beetle, I managed to get us a bit lost this morning, taking a route that we'd never explored before (which is something I love to do). I don't generally mind getting lost, so long as I can eventually work out where the hell I am. But this time even the vegetation eventually looked odd and unfamiliar. The worry for me was that as I pretended to be fully in control and knowing exactly where I was, there were cacti succulents growing on the side of the dirt track which made me think that we'd moved beyond the Tropic of Capricorn. Christina intuitively (obviously) spotting my rather quiet demeanour as I blundered on ahead pretending to be cool about it all, on spotting a giraffe, commented rather flippantly, "Perhaps we should ask him for directions..?". But I don't entertain that sort of thing, that would be defeatist, and so I blundered on until the vegetation changed back to something more familiar, thank god, and a track I recognised became visible on a distant hill. I should know better than to not have my most reliable navigator, Dylan, by my side.

This evening we decided to keep our sundowner drive closer to home, due to our rather long expedition this morn, and so headed for a relatively nearby waterhole. As it is with the wild, all is not what it seems, and many a tourist has found that out the hard way, never to live to tell the tale from the tail, you understand.. As we went about pouring our whiskies, wine and cool drinks, whilst passing the snacks between the 3 rows of seats, 5 magnificent white rhino appeared from nowhere for their own evening sundowner drink. Meantime two side striped jakkal (foxes) lay undisturbed in the long grass for ages, only to be almost trodden on by a poor, unsuspecting herd of wildebeest making their way to the same waterhole. Then all hell broke loose as one bull rhino charged at full speed after another and some wild grunting and smashing of horns ensued just out of site, but the clashes were unmistakable.  "That's all very well until someone gets hurt", I'm sure I heard my mother mutter.  Some serious Aspirin would be required a little later, I have no doubt.

Now back at the lodge, having had our boma braai and usual stargazing routine with great wine and some entertaining stories, a distant lion is roaring to our right, some way away, followed by that earie ongoing roar-pant whilst a hyena is giggling in the distance behind us. The river seems louder but the hippo are eerily quiet tonight..

White rhino join us for a sundowner

Wild African Safari - July '13 - Day 3 in the Bush

Cape buffalo bull keeping an eye us

As much as an alarm clock may not appear to have any place in the bush and in nature in general, this morning it got us up to 5 o'clock coffee and rusks. After a little flask filling, for the essential second cup a little later, into the Landcruiser for our early morning drive. The boys, sitting up at the back of the open vehicle brandishing spotlights to lighten up the otherwise pitch black bush on either side of the dirt tracks, in search of yellow eyes (antelope and larger browsers and grazers), red eyes (nag apies - night 'apes') or orange eyes (feline creatures) as we head out in the cold early morn. I often find it difficult to explain to people unfamiliar with the wild African bush, how incredibly lucky and rewarding it is when one spots something of significance in the wild purely by accident. Sure one has to know where to and how to look, but in a wild area spanning 170kms East to West and 500kms North to South one can appreciate that this is no zoo. Stumbling across the big 5 is extremely rare (unless one is being shuttled about by game rangers in constant radio comms with their colleagues and breaking the silence with radio crackling sharing of sighting info amongst them. Even then there's no guarantee. So you can hopefully appreciate the significance of what I've been sharing with you to-date.

This early morning madness didn't go unrewarded either. After about an hour of driving through the bush we stumbled across a heard of approx 300 Cape buffalo, including some impressive bulls and even an albino calf only a few days old. Literally surrounded by the large herd, we eventually managed to head back to the house, only to stumble across 11 lion on an impala kill including cubs a kilometre down the road. Needless to say there wasn't much left of the small antelope by the time we got there, and with a hungry pride of that size there is no doubt that they will have to kill again tonight. Something to consider for our night drive..

A huge brunch of omelettes for those humans amongst us followed by an early afternoon zizz before heading out in the cool of the late afternoon for sundowners at another favourite water hole. As we headed East, a beaut, lone black rhino came trundling out of the long grass off for a drink at a nearby waterhole. All this while I am acutely aware of some serious poaching activity happening only a few kilometers further East as I type, with Anti-poaching teams and local rangers all in hot pursuit.

Black rhino with two ox-peckers on his shoulder

Our prerequisite drinks at a dam a little later although quiet, was still brilliant with prolific bird life abound and the sound of guinea-foul getting ready to roost. A cacophony of sound that only a bushwacker could appreciate. A sound for me that IS the bushveld in the evening, and something I dream about when I'm not here.

Back home, risotto, though not altogether a wild African bush meal, made with the same love and fresh ingredients it can be a little of my two loves in one. Italy in the African bushveld. Needless to say, I had prepared myself with a beaut Chianti Classico, which although not in the same large vain as the Aussie Wendouree Cab/Malbec 1991 of last night, was a softer and excellent, earthy accompaniment and fireside companion. It doesn't end there.. No sooner had we finished dinner around the fire, we were startled by a branch breaking behind us, only to shine our torches onto a large bull elephant munching to his heart's delight, not at all fussed by our presence. In the foreground a lone hippo grazing, with little notice of one another. Some of the family fled for safer heights up the stairs, but soon realised their foolish fears and returned to the fireside for more lingering chats, accompanied by a cigar and I hasten to add, a little schnapps (in lieu of grappa), Milky Way brightening up the sky as orange sparks sprung out of the cracking fire as if to join them. The hyena are going in the distance already. Lets hope the baboon get some peace tonight..

Wild African Safari - July 2013 - Day 2 in the Bush

My boys at the boma with the Olifants River in the background

Well we're back on the bicycle, so to speak. Had our first braai (bbq on steroids) in the boma (outside open braai area). Thanks to Alex and Dylan's vigilant torch shining, at even the slightest noise or rustle, and even no noise at all which was all the more alarming. Not a single lion was to be seen this time (not that they weren't able to spot us of course). But out of sight, kind of out if mind and the ribs were worth it. A nosey civet and grazing hippo were busy doing their thing just below us.

Mock charge?  We weren't sticking around to find out

All this preceded by a rather eventful evening game drive earlier, where we were forced to detour after a herd of elephant decided to stand their ground. One particular young testosterone charged bull being determined to show the herd his brave prowess, as he flapped his ears in apparent irritation in our general direction and made the occasional half hearted mock charge at the Landcruiser. Needless to say, the latter proving rather worth it's weight in effortless 3 point turn, bush whacking style as we turned tail. The detour however proved well worth it with numerous sightings of birds of prey, including a pale chanting goshawk with freshly slaughtered tree squirrel firmly ensconced in it's grasp and a magnificent sighting, albeit it rather brief, of a leopard as it crossed our path clearly on a hunting mission as the sun set. Of course the ever essential Sundowners (drinks in celebration of sunset - or any reason really) were a mandatory start to the night at our chosen waterhole for the evening, with mock Bitters if one held one's G&T to the deep orange of the setting sun. I say that, because 'one' forgot to buy Bitters for pink gin, but I thought my diversion rather ingenious, even if I say so myself..

Sundowners with 'pink' Gin

The night ended with my favourite pastime in the world, flanked by my two boys, kitted in fleece ponchos and beanies, listening to the sounds of the wild African bush, chatting about the meaning of love and life in general. All whilst I worked on reducing a robust Cuban to a mere Spud puff Crisis on the wooden deck overlooking the bubbling Olifants River below. Our silent shooting star gazing was later broken by the sound of pandemonium however, as a troop of baboon began 'bogeming' loudly and rather hysterically, clearly disturbed by lion or another leopard below. As silence fell once again some time later it was time to turn in to face whatever tomorrow's river flow brings with it..

Wild African Safari - July '13 - Day 1 in the bush..

First night at the lodge in the bush at Olifants River Private Game Reserve (part of the Greater Kruger Park) and we settle down for a whizzo and a glass of wine to celebrate the magnificent sunset from the deck overlooking the Olifants (Elephants) River, only for Alex to spot what looked like a lion's rear poking out of the bush below. 

Turns out two lioness' with cubs are living in the bush just 20 meters from our outside shower and open boma (outside fire and braai/bbq area). They later wandered up in the dark past the boma under our careful watch and lay in our driveway until deciding to move on in search of fair game for a kill, half an hour later. 

View from the deck - Note Alex with his constant accessory - until it popped on a thorn tree

The challenge now is, do we use the boma to braai our 18 week wet aged sirloin, fillet and springbok fillets (beautifully nurtured to tenderness by my old mate and restaurateur extraordinaire - Steve Maresch of The Local Grill fame), and my delectable osso buco pooitjie, marinated spatch cock chooks, etc., or do I get the old, seldom used Weber up onto the veranda deck for fear of us being taken as lion bait..? I'm thinking, a large roaring fire in the boma may suffice to keep the beasties at bay, but I can't be sure. One thing I do know, is that the rest of the family won't share my enthusiasm, so I may be there alone. Best I get my best Cuban out for hand to hand combat..