“You can sleep when you get to
5:30 am – The phone rings - its the wake up call. We open our eyes and shake out remnants of the vivid dreams induced by our malaria prophylactics. Nothing too intense (or violent, as some people report), but certainly more vivid than usual. We get dressed in many many layers of clothing. Pre-sunrise morning temperatures hover in the mid 30’s F.
5:55 am – A night porter knocks at our front door, ready to escort us down the wooden path to the Boulders Lodge. Guests are not permitted to walk around the property unaccompanied before sunrise or after sunset. And depending on the proximity of any game sighted near the lodge, guests are sometimes not permitted to walk through certain areas on the property unaccompanied during the day either.
6:00 am – The guests and guides congregate in the lodge. Tea, coffee, juices, cakes, muffins, etc are served…some caffeine and calories are encouraged to fuel our senses on the morning drive. All the guides in the area have already been in radio communication with each other to discuss where various groups of animals may have traveled over night and whether or not any kills were reported. The guides often pre-agree who will go in each general direction on the properties. In doing so they must consider the type of animals in pursuit so as to avoid placing an over abundance of pressure on the wildlife (potentially causing them to relocate their dens, for example). I, being a know-it-all of course, engage our guide JD in lots of conversation about nature, absorbing his vast knowledge, explaining what I can about our habitats in
6:15 to 6:30 am – The guides and guests exit the lodge, venture up to the dusty circle drive, and mount the vehicles prepped by the tracker. Each guest is provided a soft sided hot water bottle (serving as a highly effective hand/lap warmer), blanket, and fleece poncho (aka Safari Snuggie). JD the guide readies a rifle with the bolt and ammunition. When asked, Phanuel (the tracker) indicated he’s never in his 20+ years of tracking had to shoot at an animal; warning shots only. Quite reassuring. Also, a machete is tucked in the front grill of the truck. JD assumes the driver seat and mans the radio while Phanuel takes the special tracker seat suspended out in front of the vehicle on the left side where he has the best possible view of game and their tracks. JD fires up the rover and we’re off into the chilly morning winter air, made chillier by the breeze blowing through the open vehicle. JD announces a general drive plan: locating a pride of lions, stalking down an elusive female leopard and her cubs, etc. The guests bundle up and expose only their cold hands to ready their cameras.
6:30 to 9:30 or 10:00 am – Morning game drive. I know everyone's looking forward to reading about all the wildlife, but I have a dedicated post on this in the queue. Stay tuned for the next installment! There is a method to this madness.
9:30 or 10:00 am to 11:00 am – We return to the lodge for our “real” breakfast out on the terrace. By now the sun has warmed the humans and our environs to an adequately comfortable state. Sometimes couples elect to dine with each other, sometimes the guides join in for the meal, sometimes couples maintain their privacy. One morning our AM game drive surprisingly concluded with “breakfast in the bush.” The staff set up mobile food stations, tables, chairs, and place settings out in a quaint little clearing where the guests in each vehicle sat together to dine with the guides and trackers.
It was a nice time to get to know each other without the loud cranking of the Land Rover engine impeding conversation. Genuine conversation. I asked Phanuel about his training: what it takes to become a “senior tracker” (there are evidently only a few handful/s in the country) besides 20+ years of experience. In so-so English, he recounted one particularly memorable story of training in the bush with his tracker mentor. He found himself staring down a lion (who wasn’t at all pleased with Phanuel’s proximity) from 50 meters away. The lion growled, then initiated a “mock charge” (a fake attack). Phanuel said every fiber in his body and thought in his mind urged him to flee. But you run and you’re dead; 50 meters is nothing for a lion to make a kill. His mentor literally grounded Phanuel in position by grabbing and holding his belt. Moments passed, the lion eventually relaxed, and the pair of trackers slowly retreated. “It was terrible,” he said, using his go-to catchphrase Candice and I found most humorous.
11:00 am to 1:00 pm – Downtime. The only true downtime of the day. We usually spent this time bathing (Candice indoors, me outdoors), setting aside some laundry, downloading pictures and backing them up, recharging batteries (lithium-ion and human), and relaxing in the winter sun on the house patio.
1:00 pm – Lunch service begins. Having typically finished breakfast at 10:30 or 11 am, we opted for pretty light lunches. Again, our server Enuel greeted us on the terrace at the lodge and tended to our likings. All the meals were really terrific.
3:30 pm – The guests and guides assemble around one of the lodge bars in advance of the PM game drive. By now, many of the guests (including me, of course) have switched over to adult beverages, but others (fun haters) stuck with coffee, tea, juices, or sodas. Similar to the prep for the morning drive, the area guides have synched up on the day’s animal activities. Each guide has his/her general route planned, informs the guests, and we’re on our way again. The earth’s natural light at sunset (and sunrise) are superb for photography…the other-worldly golden orange glow cannot be adequately replicated by software, and can’t be adequately articulated in my words here either.
5:45 to 6:00 pm – Sundowner. Unbeknownst to many (the first night, at least), the land rover is packed with a cooler full of snacks and beverages. JD and Phanuel bust out the cooler, a small card table, some tableware, and set up shop in a clearing “cleared” for safety by Phanuel. A few small appetizers are served, along with beer, wine, coffee, or tea. As the sun goes down, many of the resident nocturnal predators begin to stir and prepare for a semi-relocation of their pride/pack/herd, etc or perhaps they prepare to hunt, so we must be cautious of where we stop the vehicle, dismount, and imbibe. The sunset in the African sky is spectacular. Just as you’d imagine it or as you’ve seen it on television. One of our sundowner spots was near a small pond providing lovely reflections.
5:30 to 7:00 pm – The PM game drive is very similar to the AM game drive except at night, the trackers really get to flaunt their skills. At night, a different set of creatures emerge. More on this in the next post covering wildlife.
7:00 to 7:30 pm – The vehicle returns to the circle drive and is greeted by a small fleet of night porters who offer lanterns and flashlights for the walk back down to the lodge. A host/ess welcomes each guest with a damp cloth to cleanse our fingers. At this point dinner service is underway, and each couple is free to dine immediately, wind down with a cocktail, or retreat to their house and return later.
7:30 pm and later - Dinner. The staff did an incredible job of making every dinner a unique experience for each couple or family as well.
After our drive the first night, Candice and I elected to go straight from the vehicle into the fire-lit dining room where the chef prepared a 100% vegetarian tasting menu for us featuring one of my new favorite dishes: Lentil Bobotie.
The second night we scheduled a pre-dinner wine tasting down in the lodge's 12,000 bottle cellar. Francois (the sommelier) had nothing specific planned and just let the group’s conversation direct his choices for tastings. One semi-gregarious female guest wanted to explore the differences between Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc, so Francois obliged and our tasting took off from there. We mentioned to Francois that our next destination after Singita was the Franschhoek wine district, so he kindly provided a small pack of recommended wineries in the region. In 45 minutes we concluded and ascended from the cellar. Kobus greeted and informed us he prepared a dinner surprise in our house. A night porter escorted us down the walkway to #7 and we were delighted to find the house completely done up in candles, lanterns, and flowers, some jams playing on the speakers, bubbles in the bath, and a bottle of South African sparkling wine (can’t be called Champagne) chilling on ice.
A slight step up from the Mexican all-inclusives featuring swans sculpted from bath towels...not to be hating on the swans. Or the Mexican all-inclusives. They rock. Anyway, in the main living area, the table was set and a fully vegetarian tasting menu presented. A few minutes later, Kobus rang the house phone and asked when we’d like to begin dinner as well as gathering our requests for any specific wines we enjoyed down at the tasting. Traversing back and forth between our house and the lodge, Enuel served our dinner, two courses at a time, about 20 minutes apart. What a wonderful experience and meal. Really top class service.
Our final dinner at Singita was also a surprise. As the guests returned from the PM game drive, we all filed around the side of the lodge to a secluded area for alfresco dining complete with multiple food stations, lantern-lit trees, space heaters, and a “campfire” burning in the pit. In the middle of the meal, our host introduced an ensemble of the lodge staff who treated the guests to several traditional South African songs and dances. Enuel, who’s voice I’d describe as muppet-like, belted out his lyrics with crazy inspiration and jubilation. A young boy rocked out on his kudu horn. A few guests got up to join in the dancing. It was an original and unforgettable conclusion to our nights at Boulders Lodge.
| Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
