Game Drive has passed some of the largest baobab trees in South Africa. There, we guide Muzwandir ntloko (ZWA) to grasp deep scars along ancient bark. “These marks are evidence that elephants once roamed here,” he says. These spectacular creatures are estimated to have disappeared from the area almost 100 years ago. Through planting, grassland restoration, carbon sequestration and opening wildlife corridors, the hope for the current sustainable safa revision is that other apex species, like the Lions, will one day return. For now, the bushes are still packed with life. Our game drive reveals abundance of giraffes, zebras, cudus, nyaras, hippos, waterbucks, rare birds and butterflies.
Photo: Few and Fall Bhondo
On my last morning we hike the Sengi Trail, one of many routes established by the lodge based on routes already trampled by wildlife. “The baboons love this path,” says Dawn Buyens, the lodge's conservation manager and lead ecologist. “They are part of the maintenance crew.” Along the way, our guide, Moses, is also a local healer, showing medicinal plants, including Spekboom, a succulent plant with natural preservative properties. We stop by a rocky outcrop and enjoy steamed coffee and buttermilkrask.
