Day 46--Cape Town, South Africa

7 October. Enroute from Johannesburg to Cape Town

I’m sitting on a South African Airlines’ 737 flying back to Cape Town following our 3-day stay at Impodimo (im-poh-DEE-moh) Game Lodge. The last 3 days have been absolutely, the highlight of the voyage so far. After what seemed like months of back-and-forth among Shamim, Maria, Betsy, and me over where we should go on our African safari and which place had space to accommodate our 6-person party, I think we’re all convinced we settled on the best place.

After landing on the dirt strip in west Madikwe, we taxied to a stop in front of an open-air Land Rover, where our young guide, Travis, was waiting to drive us to the lodge. Travis is a 27-year old South African from Cape Town who decided early on that he didn’t want to spend his life indoors. He fits the image of a big-game guide: a little under 6’ tall, tanned with a trim beard and moustache, attired in light brown safari shirt and shorts, he looked exactly like a guide should look standing by the rover. Travis enrolled in a game management program at what South Africans call a technical school, and, after graduation, he traveled to Madikwe and was hired by Impodimo as a trainee guide. That was 2-1/2 years ago, and he has since been certified as a fully certified guide.

Travis loaded us and our few bags into the Land Rover, and we pulled away from the dirt strip as the Caravan took off over our heads heading for the other side of the park. The drive to the lodge took about 20 minutes over rutted dirt and gravel roads leading into the sparse grass and low trees of the African bush veld. As we rounded one of the first curves in the road, there, off to one side of the road, chewing on the newly sprouted leaves of several trees, were 5 giraffes towering above us. I felt like Sam Neill in “Jurassic Park” when he sighted the brachiosaurus for the first time. Maybe, more accurately, I felt like a 5-year-old seeing the tall, graceful, weird, beautiful giraffe for the first time.

When we arrived at Impodimo, we were greeted by Michelle and Linea, two of the managers, who showed us around the lodge. Impodimo is a 5-star resort, and it fully deserves the rating. It’s build in, for lack of any other description, African-safari style: lots of wood and stone, overstuffed bush furniture, thickly thatched roof, elegant but in a rough-hewn sort of way. The lodge and 10 surrounding chalets sit on a hillside just above two watering holes, one small just a few yards below the pool, the other, larger one about 100 yards further down the hill. The watering holes and the resort sit on game trails used by elephants, leopards, rhinos, and other game living in the park.

After arriving at the lodge, we learned that our rooms wouldn’t be ready for a few hours, so we settled in to enjoy the views and surroundings. Madikwe Game Preserve was set aside in 1991 when the So. African or North-West Province government bought up many non- or low-producing farms, built a 150 km electrified fence around the area, brought in indigenous animals—all animals in the park are native to the area, though most had been driven out or killed as farmers moved in—and leased parcels to 20-or-so lodges. The only way to get into the park is through a lodge. They don’t permit drive-thrus, as they do in some of the other parks, such as Krueger, the most famous game preserve in So. Africa.

The goal on a safari is to see, up close and personal, as many animals as possible. The gold rings are sightings of what are called “the big 5”: elephant, rhinoceros, lion, leopard, and cape buffalo. Cape buffalo? Yes, because, like the other four animals, cape buffalo is a game animal, previously hunted for either trophy heads, skin, horn, or tusk. In the case of the buffalo, the magnificent horns on the old bulls were the prizes.

Our chalets were finally ready about 2pm. The chalets are, in a word, luxurious: king beds surrounded by mosquito netting, outside deck overlooking, in the case of mine, amenities in a 5-star hotel, plus my favorite: a shower on the outdoor deck. In the roughly 48 hours we spent in Madikwe, I took 5 very long showers on my deck. The food was wonderful, the animal sightings were incredible, the bed was soft, the staff was friendly. But what I’ll remember most of Impodimo Game Lodge is standing on my deck in the moonlight as the outdoor shower rained down on me in a torrent—make that a flood—of hot water. Keep the lions; take me back to Impodimo for the outdoor shower.

But the lions are pretty cool. The daily drill at Impodimo, as for most of the safari lodges, begins at 5:30am with a wake-up call from the guide assigned to one’s group. In our case, the group consisted of the 6 intrepid hunters: Jim and Shamim, Bob and Maria, Betsy Bloom, and me. We’d assemble at 6am for coffee and biscuits—cookies and a few breakfast cakes—then climb into the land rover for the morning safari drive. The land rover is like a small section of a theatre balcony: three layers of passenger seats stacked auditorium-like behind the driver’s seat, with each passenger row able to accommodate 3 passengers. So our land rover could have held as many as 10 passengers, with one sitting next to the guide. In our case, we safaried with only the 6 of us.

The morning drive looking for animals took us on dirt and gravel roads to every corner of the massive park. The process reminds me of the military chant: “hurry up and wait.” After hustling into the land rover, we’d sit, sometimes for an hour or more, as Travis drove us over deeply rutted, sometimes muddy paths looking for big game. Of the 12 hours we spent driving around Madikwe, surely no more than an hour was spent eyeball-to-eyeball with animals. Less for the big 5. But that hour was well worth the other 11 we spent watching scenery go by.

I can’t describe all the sightings because that would take more time and space than I have. But suffice to say we “bagged” all 5 plus many, many more species that were just as interesting to watch. We even saw two of the elusive, very shy leopards, both on the last day, and both only briefly as they darted across the road in front of us trying to make their escapes into the bush and up their hills.

Watching the lions—a set of brothers and another set of cousins—was wonderful. They are magnificent animals though, like their housecat cousins, they spend most of the day sleeping. Our sighting of 2 rhinoceros was far too fleeting, but they, too, are magnificent and enormous. We watched as a herd of cape buffalo, at least 25 strong, moved slowly across a field, traveling from one watering hole to another. And elephants are everywhere in Madikwe. They were one of the first animals we saw. And, as we drove along the highway enroute back to Johannesburg, we saw an elephant standing near the farthest south boundary, as if to say goodbye.

The one encounter I’ll probably remember most vividly happened Tuesday evening. As we were driving along a road about ½ hour before sunset, we rounded a curve and saw in front of us, no more than 50 yards up the road, an enormous bull elephant ambling slowly down the road toward us. He was being followed by another land rover full of tourists, but he was coming directly for us. Travis stopped the land rover, and the six of us sat there mesmerized as the bull made his way up the road, getting closer and closer with each step. By the time he had moved to within 25 yards, we could hear each foot step softly but firmly plodding onto the dirt path. And we heard his snorts, as if he was telling us to move aside because the road is his. It certainly was.

Bob and Maria were sitting behind me in the land rover, and now, with each step, I could hear Bob saying, quietly but urgently, “Travis, start the jeep.” Then, “Travis, let’s start the jeep now!” with a tone now bordering on panic. By this time, the bull was no more than 10 yards in front of the land rover, still moving toward us. Now Bob was very firm: “Travis, start the g---d---d jeep now!” At about that moment, Travis did, indeed, restart the land rover and back slowly away from the monster and into the grass alongside the road. We sat there for the next few moments as the bull, without missing a rhythmic footstep, moved past then turned into the veld and plodded away. It was almost as if he had been playing the old “chicken” game with us. And once we backed off, the game was over.

After the morning drives, we returned to the lodge for a large brunch of eggs, fruit, yogurt, granola, breads, and meats. Then we were on our own to read, nap, or lounge by the pool until 4pm high tea. Tea included tea and coffee plus small sandwiches and cakes. Then it was off to the evening drive, another 3+-hour ride along the bumpy roads looking for game. At sundown, we’d stop, and Travis would unpack from the rear of the land rover a table, cover, and two wicker baskets. In the baskets were setups for mixed drinks, wine, and beer, plus cookies and biscuits. Travis would mix drinks for us as we stood and watched the sun set over the African bush. Yes, it was exactly like that.

We’d return to the lodge by 8:30pm, where the staff greeted us with hot towels and, if we liked cocktails, followed by a wonderful dinner. Monday night, I enjoyed roast ostrich; Tuesday, I ordered the salmon. Both meals were gourmet quality.

Finally, Travis escorted us, armed with a rifle, to our chalets. We weren’t allowed to walk the resort paths at night because of the danger of running into animals. Travis told us that he’d had encounters with all of the big 5—lion, leopard, elephant, cape buffalo, and rhino (a black rhino, the aggressive kind)—walking the paths of Impodimo at night. So we were grateful for the escort.

I spent both evenings the same way: shower outside, pour myself a glass of wine and sit, wrapped in the provided bathrobe on the outdoor deck watching for the reflected eyes of big game. I didn’t see anything by the moon either night, but the atmosphere couldn’t have been better. I climbed into the netted bed by 11pm both night.

Wednesday, after the morning drive, we had brunch then waited for our driver, who arrived at noon and took us in a van for the 4-hour drive to Johannesburg. We arrived back in Cape Town at 9pm and were back onboard the MV Explorer by 9:45pm.

I’m now back in the faculty lounge on Thursday evening, finishing up this blog before we sail away from Cape Town.

This morning, Jim, Bob, and I taxied to Royal Cape Golf Club, where we played 18 holes on the oldest course in Africa, built in the 1880s by the British. It had a definite British stuffiness about it, but the course was in beautiful shape, and the weather was perfect: sunny and cool. I played miserably, losing $30 to Bob. But, as they say, a bad day on the golf course beats the best day at work.

Tomorrow, it’s back to work.