Good guiding is so often lacking, so it’s such a pleasure to get guides that not only know their stuff (anyone can regurgitate facts) but are intimate with nature and it shows. Check out the footprint blog post here to see if you can identify the spoor of this cat at Phinda. I had a bit of a game going with guides who were trying to catch me out. After all, after visits to 200+ safari lodges and hundreds of game drives, I should have learned something.  They had me on terrapin spoor!  I didn’t have a clue.

Is Conservation a Sustainable Business?

Phinda was created in 1991 in Maputaland, KwaZuluNatal, through collaboration between wildlife idealist Dave Varty and visionary financier Alan Bernstein. They wanted to prove that conservation could be a sustainable business and that the core ethics of care for the land, wildlife, and people was workable.  More than 20 years later they were proved right and &Beyond now manages 3.5 million hectares of conservation land, employs over 2,000 people and runs 33 safari lodges in five African countries plus India. That’s quite something!

Noah’s Arc of Animals Arrived

Varty already owned Londolozi bordering Kruger, but Phinda in the south east of the country was altogether different territory. The land was cattle grasslands, pineapple plantations and sisal farms, but its position was strategically important. Phinda was bought and stocked with wildlife; 18 elephants, 12 cheetah and 26 white rhino in 1991. Then 7 lion, 2 hippo and 20 more elephants the next year, and so on with cheetah, buffalo, antelope, giraffe and a whole Noah’s ark of species populating the reserve.  So it continues, relocating wildlife into and out of Phinda; like the 2 male lions recently moved from Tswalu Desert Reserve to Phinda to increase the gene pool. And the first private game reserve donation of white rhino from Phinda to the Okavango Delta, sponsored by Motorite Insurance Administrators, in 2013.

Botswana has strong security to protect rhino, assisted by the military, and while Phinda might not have quite that, the amazing relationship they have with the local community, aided by an historic land claim settlement, means that strangers are quickly reported and the already tight rhino security at Phinda is stepped up.

Black Rhino Tracking On Foot

One of the highlights of a trip to Phinda is their Black Rhino Tracking on foot. Sipho Ewane is the Senior Tracker at Phinda Forest Lodge and what looks like an impenetrable thicket is full of clues for Sipho. Black rhino are shy, secretive and slightly bad tempered and their extremely good hearing, as opposed to rather poor eyesight, gives them an instinctual reaction to charge first and ask questions later. It’s for this reason that whatever Sipho says, you do!  With silent hand instructions and guarded whispers, Sipho leads you through Big 5 country as close as it’s safe to get to this spectacular, dangerous animal.

While you’re seeking the elusive rhino, it’s quite possible to come across other big game, like elephant, buffalo and lion. The only sensible thing do is follow instructions from Sipho or your ranger. There are other activities too like a Zulu Village Tour, horseriding and the Flight of the Fish Eagle over the coastline with options like deep sea fishing, scuba diving with whale sharks and watching turtles come up to nest (from November to February).

Phinda has 6 Lodges

Phinda has 6 lodges on 23,000 hectares with 7 distinct habitats: Rock Lodge, Mountain Lodge and the sole-use cottages of Zuka Lodge are in the mountainous southern part of the reserve. The contemporary Zulu-Zen Forest Lodge, intimate Vlei Lodge and gracious sole-use Homestead are in the unique sand forest of the northern section.

Each lodge offers a different experience, and this is perhaps why 60% of Phinda’s guests are repeat visitors. Who wouldn’t want to keep coming back when all the boxes of a great safari can be ticked off; fantastic game viewing, superb guiding, chefs that mingle with guests and cook very well, a whole variety of accommodation and landscapes, and ethical ideologies put into practice.

Awards are often showered upon &Beyond, with Phinda taking such accolades as one of Condé Nast Traveler’s World’s Best Places to stay in Africa and Middle East, and one of the 1,000 Places To See Before You Die, in the best-selling book of the same name. 

Now that I’m great friends with &Beyond I can’t wait to see where they send me next. Yes, all my reviews are from hosted visits – i.e. I don’t pay to stay there. I’d have to be a millionaire otherwise, but I can assure you it doesn’t cloud my judgement. I’ve been doing this too long to be swayed by mere luxury! What a tart!

Have you been to a CCA/&Beyond Lodge? What have you got to say?

He’s quite an unusual you man, having tested out the American Dream to see if he could start in a new town with $25 and by the end of the year have $25,000 and a furnished apartment. He succeeded and wrote his first book about it.

He then left everything behind to go out and discover the world. He came back with no money and a memory card full of extraordinary experiences.  Now the question is, what would you do if you had many years left to live and you wanted to start taking One Year at a time?  I guess you’ll have to read his book to find out.

One lucky reader can get to do so for free if you email me at carrieh@iafrica.com telling me why you think the journey is more important than the destination. 

If I’d been on the back of that bakkie I’d have been wetting myself!

There was a stalemate until Mr Lion started creeping towards them, then jogging, then running; his eyes fixed determinedly on the men on the back. At that point the truck went into reverse in a flurry of exhaust and dust! Our ranger got spooked and scarpered in the other direction – can’t figure out why! Saw the maintenance truck a few minutes later with all human cargo present – who’d want that job!?

After travelling all around the gentle country of Swaziland, completely landlocked by South Africa, I’m just finishing a couple of chapters for a new road tripping book, and thereafter will post my reviews of safari in Swaziland. It’s highly recommended and very affordable.

Send me your best lion pic and I’ll put it up on the blog.

Read my favourable review of Lion Sands Ivory Lodge here.

Nick was a leading entrepreneur in the South African safari industry and part of his legacy are the three superb Lion Sands game lodges; Lion Sands River Lodge, Lion Sands Ivory Lodge and Lion Sands 1933.

Safari Tart sends her condolences to the More family.

Africa’s first specialist, dedicated, non‐commercial centre to care for baby rhinos opened at the Wildlife & Cultural Centre at Legend Golf & Safari Resort in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. See more about The Rhino Orphanage on Facebook .

I watched Dereck and Beverly Joubert’s amazing film ‘The Last Lions’ at a trade showing last year and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house – certainly not mine! I write about African safari but didn’t know that lions are endangered in the wild. Their extraordinary film shot in Botswana showed otherwise.

• Best Director of a Wildlife Programme: Dereck Joubert
• Best TV Wildlife Programme, Wildlife Films
• Best Cinematographer of a Wildlife Programme: Dereck Joubert
• Best Editor of a Wildlife Programme: Susan Scott and Candice Odgers

Dereck & Beverly are filmmakers in residence (in Africa) for National Geographic and have won almost every major filmmaking award during their careers. But there are no Hollywood pretentions about them. They are wildlife people, and while they spend months at a time in the wilderness capturing gasp-inducing animal moments on film, they are also people people. Beverly is gorgeous and Dereck is rugged – they are as impressive as their films and the message of ‘The Last Lions’ is conveyed through personal appearances and lectures, but it’s the film that communicates the most poignant  message that African lions have a finite future unless something is done to protect them!

The Joubert’s have launched the Big Cats Initiative with National Geographic to “Cause an Uproar” to help stop the decline of big cats in the wild.

 The Jouberts’ commitment to conservation also led them to create Great Plains Conservation; a conservation tourism business with safari lodges in Botswana and Kenya. It generates revenue for African communities to help care for their natural and wildlife resources and protect land for Africa’s dwindling wildlife populations. It could be considered the ultimate in responsible tourism, not only incorporating local land owners and communities, but providing havens for Africa’s wildlife and gives guests a superb experience. Win win!

See more in this post about Great Plains Ride Kenya. 

Follow the Jouberts on Twitter: @dereckbeverly

But these pics taken by Will Burrard-Lucas over 5 days in February 2013 on foot, by vehicle, by boat and from his fiendishly clever “Beetle-cam” in Luangwa, describe the glories of the Luangwa green season eloquently. And the Green Season’s not ALL ABOUT BIRDS  - although this is one of the best times of the year for ornithologists………          there were also bumper sightings of  leopards (can there ever be too many leopards?)!

Potential guests worry that it rains all the time in Green Season, but in reality, game viewing is rarely interrupted and the small chance of getting wet is more than made up for by the incredible beauty of the bush. Luangwa is in a tropical region, so the usual pattern is a few days without rain, a gradual build up of thunderheads, a spectacular tropical downpour from lasting about an hour, then back to hot sun and blue skies!

Many of Norman Carr Safari guests make an extra trip in Green Season because the flights are cheaper, the rates are better (especially with a return guest discounts) and it’s a wonderful time to head into sunshine from a northern winter. Sounds great to me!

Norman Carr Safaris have invited me to visit and that sounds like a fine idea to me!  They are after all the forerunners of safari in this remote region of Zambia renowned for big game. Norman Carr established Luangwa’s first safari camp back in in 1950, when an African safari meant hunting. But Norman developed the pioneering idea of taking people to look and photograph animals, rather than shoot them. Today Norman Carr Safaris operate six camps in South Luangwa, namely Kapani Lodge, Luwi, Nsolo, Kakuli and Mchenja bush camps and in June 2013 they will open their newest camp; Chinzombo.

Who should go on safari in Zambia?

You mustn’t be the kind of person that freaks if insects get into your room, or someone who likes the certainty of brick walls and designer interiors. This is traditional ‘Out of Africa’ safari, deep in the bush with no fences. It’s for anyone who loves the trill of being in the wild, wants to feel the African earth under their feet,  loves to take photographs and gets high from being close to big game, all the while knowing that an expert guide has your back. It’s real safari!  

Here are some interesting weather stats for the Luangwa Valley: 

January – March (Green Season)

Max temp 31°c min temp 20°c

Average rainfall 200mm per month

April & May

Max temp 32°c, min temp 19°c

Average rainfall 100 mm in April 0mm in May

June & July

Max temp 30°c min temp 10°c

Average rainfall omm

August & September

Max temp 35°c min temp 14°c

Rainfall omm

October (sometimes known as suicide month – look at the max temperatures!)

Max temp 44°c min temp 22°c

Average rainfall 0mm

November & December

Max temp 38°c min temp 22°c

Average rainfall 100 – 150 mm

Norman Carr Safaris have teamed up with Chongwe Safaris in the Lower Zambezi to create an unforgettable duo of wild safari destinations, encompassing the whole range of safari experiences including, walking safari, game drives, specialist birding, canoeing and fishing on the Zambezi and any number of other adventures and surprises dreamed up between them!

To finish off a Zambian safari, the best place to chill out and recuperate from the very early mornings at camp is Victoria Falls. The Zambian side of Vic Falls near Livingstone has plenty of superb riverside lodges for sundowner boating, visits to the Falls and maybe some crazy adrenaline activities like bungy jumping, white water rafting, high-speed boating, the bridge walk, and many more.  Or opt for a cultural village tour, market shopping or just sitting by the pool overlooking the Zambezi River with the mist of Victoria Falls rising 1km into the air – especially in the Green Season!  I have a very soft spot for this area (I lost my heart to a Zambian lodge owner once…but that’s another story)!  I’ll only tell it if you persuade me!

It was a superb affair and their 15 min video had me shedding a few tears as they showed the beauty of the landscapes and animals where their lodges are to be found. My tears were really of joy at feeling so enormously blessed to have visited most of the areas. “How have I been so privileged” I wondered and squeezed out another tear that plopped into my champers!  Along with ignoring South African travellers, they ignored South African journalists as well. No longer, I’m told! But just in case this was a once-off, I purloined another glass of bubbles from a passing waiter.

The party was to launch the Wilderness Safaris Residents Programme. It’s membership is limited (to I think about 500  members – I stand to be corrected) and for R5,000 you get a 2-year membership which allows you to take advantage of discounts amounting to 40-60% off the published rates at Wilderness safari lodges and Wilderness Air flights and road transfers.  When you break it down, it’s an amazing deal and the only proviso is that you are resident of an African country (and have the funds to still spend upwards of R2,500 per person per night and fly into a remote location). All immediate family members listed on the contract are deemed principal members and a principal member must accompany each booking. This means anyone in your immediate family can take a discounted safari with  up to 9 other guests. All Wilderness Safaris-owned lodges are included and they are speaking to the owners of the lodges they manage to get them included too.

Wilderness Safaris do a lot of good for conservation and the community and the Residents Programme membership fee goes directly to Children in Wilderness - a life skills educational programme for rural children.

If you want to know more email: residents@wilderness.co.za or visit the website, or SMS “Safari” and your email address to 34007 (in South Africa).

I used to do the former but have long since opted for the latter and I’ll gather up info for another blog post to showcase the best tented safari camps.  However, with inspiration from Field Candy – a tent manufacturer  in UK who deliver worldwide - I might start camping again. Take a look at these, but don’t expect no-one to notice you!:

Which tent is for you? Leave me a comment.