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How to pack like a pro for gorilla trekking

Uganda is one of the last places on earth to see endangered mountain gorillas in their natural forest habitat. You’ve booked the bucket-list wildlife experience of a lifetime, but a visit to these iconic creature requires a walk on the wild side – into the African jungle. It’s named the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park for a good reason, and it’s best to be prepared.

Here’s a foolproof, tried-and-tested list to use while packing for gorilla trekking.

Also read: Gorilla Portraits from Trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

Waterproof clothing

The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is a rain forest, and the lush region often experiences showers. You can trek in anything, but keep in mind that once wet, walking in sopping clothing can really dampen the mood. Consider waterproof trousers, or even gym tights, as long as they are lightweight and quick-drying. Like any safari, try to keep clothing colours as neutral as possible (dark green, khaki, greys and black all blend into the environment). Definitely pack a raincoat too. Ensure it has a roomy hood to adequately cover your head plus elasticated wrists and waist hem so that no water seeps into your dry layers below. Find one that’s lightweight and can fold up into a small bundle, it’ll be easy to stash it in your backpack until needed.

Waterproof boots

On arrival at the briefing point for gorilla trekking, you’ll notice that all guides and porters wear a trusty pair of gumboots. Take a leaf out of their book and bring a pair of waterproof hiking boots. Ensure they are worn in and comfortable because tracking the gorillas can take anything from half an hour (if you’re lucky) to six hard hours of hiking. The experience of a lifetime can be easily ruined by having to slosh around in wet shoes and socks. Which brings us to the next point.

Long, thick socks

Fire ants. They may be tiny, but they can be torturous. Keep them out by wearing a pair of hiking socks that are long enough to put over the hem of your trousers.

Gaiters

Over your long socks, strap on a pair of waterproof gaiters. Socks should be enough to keep out the ants, these guys are more to ensure that rainwater doesn’t slide as easily into your shoes. Think of it as blister prevention.

Layers

Like your feet, it’s best to dress the rest of your body in layers too. The high altitude means you’re likely to set off in the cool of the morning, but it’ll heat up rapidly as the muddy slopes begin to kick up the heart rate. Long sleeves and trousers also protect against prickly vegetation and save your limbs from scratches and bugs.

Gardening gloves

You’re likely to scoff at this one, but they really do come in, er, handy. Some paths and trails wind through Bwindi, but the gorillas seldom stick to these. You’ll have to follow the gorilla family as they chew their way through the forest to the very best foliage. Guides slash a course using machetes, but due to slippery mud, you’ll often need to grab onto trees, vines and thorny ferns for support. Doing so, using a pair of gardening gloves makes this so much more manageable.

Small, comfortable backpack

Plan for the worst-case scenario. You might be out in the forest and walking for a full day. Take water, a packed lunch, sunscreen and your camera. A Camelbak water pouch will allow you to sip while you stroll (be sure to keep hydrated at altitude). If you’re carrying a lot of photographic gear, consider taking a fully waterproof dry bag to stash the critical stuff and a ziplock bag for your smartphone.

Where to stay when gorilla trekking in Uganda

Gorilla Safari Lodge has 18 luxurious cottages set in lush, colourful gardens overlooking the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, which is a five-minute stroll away. Memorable touches include complimentary shoe-washing service (you’ll be grateful after all the mud!) and hot water bottles at turn down. Some units (all of them are named after gorilla families or individuals) have a bath and cosy indoor fireplace – ideal after a long day on foot.

Everything you need to know about Gorilla trekking in Uganda

You need to arrange your wildlife permits to trek with gorillas before arriving in Uganda. Sun Destinations can arrange these permits for you and suggest the best dates and itinerary to work around this availability. Before booking, you need to decide which experience you’re after.

There are two ways to see Uganda’s mountain gorillas. Tracking gorillas ($600 per person, half the price of those in Rwanda) can take anything from three hours to a full day and allows a full hour observing a gorilla family.

There is also the gorilla habituation experience ($1500 per person), which is a full-day excursion and enables four hours alongside a gorilla family. It’s currently only available in the Rushaga district, which is precisely where Gorilla Safari Lodge is. Fitness is plus as the excursion requires a full day of walking through the rainforest, but your efforts will be rewarded. This experience allows four hours with a gorilla family and provides an intimate opportunity to observe wild gorillas with a team of researchers, trackers, rangers and leading conservationists.

Tips for travelling to Bwindi

Apply for your Uganda visa online. It takes roughly five working days and costs $50. visas.immigration.go.ug

Gorilla Safari Lodge is located in a misty valley and often experiences cool to cold temperatures. Pack warm jackets, especially for mornings and evenings.

Hire a porter. The porter system supplies employment to the surrounding Bwindi community. It works on a rotation system (it’s good and fair) but unemployment is rife so often the porters only get to work once a month. It costs just $15, which is sometimes a porters full salalry. Tip kindly if they have done a good job.

Take both Visa and Mastercard options because drawing cash from ATMs can be problematic. Bring US dollars in small denominations. Tipping is widely expected, and there are no cash facilities close to the lodge.

The Week in Pictures : Forget Flora, Winter is the (Feline) Fauna Season!

Friday flew past faster than a Peregrine falcon swooping in on its prey, which meant that we didn’t have the chance to release our much loved weekly edition of the “Week in Pictures” – we owe you a bumper edition of pictures. The Lowveld is buzzing with predator activity at the moment. When the bright colours of the bushveld die during the winter months, the life beneath the thickets comes alive. In summer the flora booms and in winter the fauna booms. There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this – the thinning of the bushveld just means that we are capable of viewing more during the winter months. During the lush summer season when the land is laden with velvet greens, the magic happens out of sight. Winter gives us more scope to spot the predator activity.

Let’s do a quick recap of the sightings from our Kruger camps. This week, Ezulwini Game Lodges and Umkumbe Safari Lodge have delivered the most noteworthy sightings across the board.

Our media team spent a few days at Umkumbe Safari Lodge during the course of the week, and were rewarded with a few interesting predator sightings. The cat sightings for Umkumbe proved to be more lion orientated than leopard. Rogem took delight in the 3 different lion sightings enjoyed on the traverse. One of the prides spotted was the Styx Pride – a pride that is looking quite battered and scruffy from their various confrontations with other local prides. The Styx Pride made a kill, but it seems one of the ever powerful Birmingham males stole it from them.

Rogem reported an absolute abundance of elephant herd sightings and avid shutterbug, Gem, managed to take incredible photos of the vehicles surrounded by these grey giants. When Gem and Rogan left Umkumbe, guide Shaun sent in reports of more lion sightings. And this time it was the 2 Talamati males and a Southern Pride male.

Like clockwork, one of the elusive leopards appeared out of nowhere. Ntsumi decided that the leopards needed a bit of airtime, so she made a guest appearance for Shaun.

Ezulwini Game Lodges big cat sightings rivalled Umkumbe’s predator sightings this week. Guests were introduced to the might Machaton male lions swaggering through the bushveld, and managed to see a herd of burly buffs engaging in a dusty scuffle with the tawny kings. The Machatons eventually took down one of the more frail buffs, which meant that the boys were kept well fed for quite sometime. In true Balule game drive style, the Kudyela lionesses and cubs were spotted – also enjoying a kill ! To throw into the lion mix, another lioness and 2 cubs also took down a buffalo. At this stage, Angele speculates that these lions were the Singwe females.

During the course of the week there were also African wild dog sightings, sightings of Chavaluthu the dominant male leopard and his 4 – 5 year old daughter Faka Nochvela. Oh…And 3 cheetah were also spotted.

Nsala Safari Camp, cocooned between the Klaserie, Umbabat and Timbavati reserves, continues to tick along with their sightings. The team have enjoyed a spate of sightings of the Western Pride of lions together with their cubs. Walkers Bush Villa have enjoyed a spate of sightings of leopards hovering around the outskirts of the villa. There was also a unique event on the Walkers traverse, where the Giraffe Pride took down a hippo! A unusual choice of prey for lions. Africa on Foot and nThambo Tree Camp managed to enjoy a sighting of the elusive Nyeleti the leopardess, a skittish and injured male leopard chased off by hyenas, abundant elephant calves asserting dominance and a pride of 4 female lions that came to drink at the waterhole.

Chacma Bush Camp delivered a unique sighting of an African fish eagle hunting prey, and have enjoyed a ton of other general game sightings.

Chapter 2 : The Little Klaserie Hyena Cubs Emerge from Margaret’s Khaya

About a week ago we released the first 3 videos (Chapter 1) of the discovery of Margaret’s Khaya, a hyena den on the Klaserie traverse. Before we discuss the next 3 videos (Chapter 2) it’s vital that we furnish you with a quick recap. Chapter 1 discussed the discovery of a buzzing hyena den deep in the thickets of the Klaserie. Rogem learned of the active den and headed straight to the area in the hopes of finding the youngsters. They weren’t disappointed with their bushveld mission. When they approached they area, they came across a couple of juvenile hyenas nursing. Team Rogem spent time observing the alphas taking care of their young. At a later stage they returned to the den and discovered an even younger set of cubs ! It became clear that this massive active burrow currently houses a number of cubs varying in age.

Cue chapter 2’s videos. This series of videos showcases the behaviour of the young cubs exploring their new world. The tiny brutes cheekily emerge from the entrance of the den site, and tentatively sussed out their surrounds while constantly checking in with mom. They stumbled back and forth from the entrance, seemingly wanting to explore the unpredictable world beyond the den. In the first video we see the cubs testing the waters. The other 2 videos show the cubs becoming a bit more confident in their environment. Notice how the alpha females are very quick to usher the youngsters back into the safety of the den with a quick intimidating shove.

These tiny hyena cubs are displaying textbook behaviour. Naturally curious and confident, the cubs love nothing better than to clamber over older cubs, pick up vegetation and engage in playful behaviour with older cubs. These entertaining antics are actually vital for increasing bonds within the clan, building strength and asserting dominance. Hyena cubs are born ready. These scavenging carnivores are born with their eyes open and also have an aggressive attitude, which serves them well in the wild. Cubs stay in the den like structure for up to 18 months where they enjoy the safety of their community. It’s within this intricate burrow system in disused aardvark dens that hyenas learn how to handle themselves in the wild.

Currently, the cubs are still in the den area and guides from both camps have enjoyed prolific sightings of these successful scavengers.

We still have the final chapter to release – stay tuned.

Click here to read Chapter 1, the discovery of the hyena den site.

New Activity at Tuskers Bush Camp: San Bushman Experience

The San People are the ancients of southern Africa, believed to have a genetic lineage dating back some 80 000 years. It’s without a doubt that the humble hunter-gatherer San people are the oldest inhabitants of Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and South Africa. The hunter-gatherer communities found within various regions in southern Africa pre-dated the arrival of other humans, and over centuries they were eventually forced to live a more modern lifestyle. To date there are many direct descendants of the Bushmen dwelling within certain pockets of wilderness in southern Africa, where they either live as close to their original lifestyle as possible or spend time educating and introducing others to the original San way of life. At Tuskers Bush Camp we now offer a Bushman experience that introduces guests to the traditional Bushman lifestyle.

The San Bushmen possess an expansive comprehension of the bushveld. It’s astounding just how far their wisdom extends. What other group of people in the world have such insight into how to use the natural world to their advantage? Coupled with their wisdom of the wild is their survival skills, which certainly put Bear Grylls to shame.

The San’s innate knowledge of the wild is embedded in their ancestry and their genes. The younger generations ensure this way of the wild is kept alive by living as naturally as possible in their communities and introducing others to the authentic Bushman lifestyle. Their stories of surviving in remote, harsh conditions and resourcefulness in the wild needs to be carried through the generations and kept alive.

Unfortunately, modernity has meant that the Bushmen can no longer live a 100% semi-nomadic and natural lifestyle like their ancestors did. Modern generations now mix with locals and live in various pockets of wilderness in communities on the outskirts of where they once thrived on ancient landscapes.

A couple of the local guides at Tuskers are descendants of the San community in the area. Their wisdom and respect for the harmony of the wild is admirable. The Bushman experience is a 2 – 3 hour walk through the wilderness that provides an immersive, educational and humbling experience. For centuries, the San lived off the land, utilising various berries and leaves for medicinal purposes, hunting for food, making fire and learning how to dig for water during periods of drought. Skills that are present today with our San team at Tuskers.

Armed with this arsenal of knowledge, the friendly locals at Tuskers love nothing better than to share their knowledge of the natural world with passionate guests. While Teagan Cunniffe was on assignment at Tuskers, she learnt plenty of useful skills from the locals when she went bush tracking.

We don’t want to delve too much into what you might learn from your Bushman experience at Tuskers, but here are a few examples of how the San people profit from nature.

During the drier winter season, groups would erect structures close to waterholes. These structures were more permanent than their summer shelters, because they’d return to these spots during winter.

The women foraged for berries and edible plants, while the men hunted for meat. Both men and women were treated as equals.

Ostrich eggs were eaten and the empty shells used to collect and store water.

It’s quite common to dig down deep for water roots and squeeze out the water.

Some Bushmen communities use the toxins in beetle larvae to coat the tips of their arrow for hunting.

Walkers Bush Villa Guests Watch Lions Devour Hippo

When lions identify a potential source of prey, a well-thought out plan of action takes place before the ultimate graphic showdown. Witnessing a pride of powerful lions executing a kill of their mobile meal is like watching a horror movie in action. Crimson tempers flare in the middle of fine dust clouds while the target of the attack desperately fights for survival, pushing hard against the threat of death. In the bushveld there is always the fine line between the brutal and the beautiful – it’s the way of the wild.

Lions have a habit of taking down general game or target the weaker individuals within buffalo herds. These choices of prey are the norm, but lions can be opportunistic and will ambush whatever prey presents itself. This is exactly what happened in the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve a few days ago when the team witnessed a remarkably unusual event.

Guests from Walkers Bush Villa and Walkers River Camp witnessed the Giraffe Pride of lions grappling and tackling a giant hippo. Villa manager, Shirell Lynch, said that it was a once in a lifetime sighting for their team. The Timbavati is renown for its unique predator activity and abundant cat sightings, and certainly lived up to its reputation with this unusually graphic and turbulent sighting.

When a lioness locks eyes on an unsuspecting target and signals to the rest of the pride that it’s “Go Time”, the individuals take up various positions ensuring that all angles are covered and target is surrounded. Then it’s the stalk, a scuffle and an ambush. Watching a pride in action makes you realise the sheer power of these cats! Most of the time we spot the pride in the after glow of a kill or dining on the remnants of their prey. To see a full kill in action or part of the take down, is a privilege. Both the Walkers River Camp and Walkers Bush Villa guests were in an enviable position.

Shirell gives us a detailed account of the event.

“The sighting was after dinner. Charles and I heard the hippo fighting off a pride of lions close to the villa. We jumped in the vehicle and went out to find them. By this stage, the pride had taken down the hippo. The hippo fought for its life for over 1.5 hours while the lions were trying to suffocate it, and eat it at the same time! We went back to the camps and picked up the guests to show them the sighting. Our photos depict what the guests saw. We went back the next morning and the greedy lions had already finished the mammoth carcass! This was the first time that any of us had seen a lion pride take down a hippo!”

The Week in Pictures : 67 Animals to Spot on Safari

This “Week in Pictures” we’d like to remind everyone that it’s Nelson Mandela’s birthday, a day that is now fondly referred to as “Mandela Day”. From 1942 right up until his death, Madiba spent 67 years fighting for social justice. He is a global icon and a change maker. On his birthday we spend 67 minutes (1 minute for each year of public service) giving back and inspiring change. Today, we thought we’d remind our readers of the number 67 in whatever small way we can. So we’re using the number to list 67 animals to spot on safari in Kruger ! We’ve also added a few recent images fresh from game drives in our Kruger camps.

Lion
Elephant
Buffalo
Leopard
Rhino
Cheetah
Honey badger
Hyena
African wild dog
Hippo
Nile crocodile
Impala
Waterbuck
Kudu
Steenbok
Wildebeest
Jackal
Marabou stork
Vultures
Martial eagle
Bateleur eagle
Tawny eagle
Ground hornbill
Rock python
Black mamba
Puff adder
African wild cat
Civet
Spotted genet
Warthog
Chacma baboon
Vervet monkey
Saddle-billed stork
Lilac-breasted roller
Southern yellow-billed hornbill
Nyala
Bushbuck
Giraffe
Zebra
Dwarf mongoose
Bushbaby
Ground pangolin
Porcupine
Ostrich
Ground squirrel
Serval
Scrub hare
Pearl-spotted owlet
Sable
Roan
Aardvark
Elephant shrew
Bats
Rock dassie
Dormouse
Dung beetle
Baboon spider
Scorpions
Golden-orb spider
Mosquito
Aardwolf
Spring hare
Herons
African fish eagle
Terrapins
Lizards
Rock monitor

Learning the craft of coffee in Uganda’s scenic Crater Lake district

The town of Fort Portal, roughly 300km away from Uganda’s metropolis of Kampala, is surrounded by a series of curious crater lakes formed over 8000 years ago. The unusual scenery, panoramic hiking opportunities and close proximity to the chimp-trekking capital of Kibale National Park makes this a thriving tourism region.

In between trekking, walking or birdwatching the avian abundance of the Bigodi Wetland, you might notice the area’s rolling fertile farmlands. Fort Portal is the heart of Uganda’s tea-growing region, and the plantations are abundantly evident, enrobing the stepped hills in its unmistakable jade shades. However, a guided community walk highlights the smaller subsistence coffee crop that’s totally unique to this East African country. Let us introduce Robusta.

Uganda’s unique coffee crop

Just beyond the moist evergreen rain forest of Kibale National Park (located a mere seven kilometres from Crater Safari Lodge) lies the opportunity for an immersive education on Uganda’s coffee bean, from crop to cup.

First, some background. While Ethiopia is famous for being the birthplace of Arabica coffee, Uganda has its very own variety. It is known to be the birthplace of Robusta coffee, where the coffee plant naturally occurs in some of the forests. However, unlike Ethiopia that produces only Arabica coffee, Uganda is a producer and exporter of both varieties: Robusta and Arabica. Uganda is also a leading coffee producer in Africa thanks to its favourable, life-giving climate and coffee remains the country’s top-earning export too. During 2018, Uganda exported an astonishing 288000 tons of coffee.

The crater lake region (so named thanks to the volcanic activity that saw their circular creation) and Kibale forest provide the perfect growing platform for Robusta. The richly fertile land of volcanic soil and plenty of rainfall make this a place of verdant hillsides where farming is still practised using traditional methods. Fields contain diverse ranges of plantlife from bananas, mangoes, avocado, millet, yams and sweet potato. Look closely, and you’ll find that among these crops, coffee bushes flourish in between.

A coffee safari in Kibale

‘Coffee is for firming up friendship’, says my community guide Patrice Ariganyira. We meet early at The Golden Children headquarters, where a variety of tourism activities are on offer, and set off, past the roadside market and down a dirt track to learn about the craft of coffee in Uganda.

Patrice explains much more besides Uganda’s unique coffee crop. Stopping at tall matoke trees, he shares the age-old process of distilling the yellow fruits into banana gin, points out the striking plumage of the Great Blue Turaco and also tells us a little bit about tea. Thanks to British influence in Uganda, this was the beverage of choice for many years.

After soaking up the agricultural scenery, we make a stop at Regina’s home. Outside her house, a piece of beige tarp-like cloth keeps an assortment of cherry, forest-green and ebony-coloured berries from mixing with the dirt. It looks like a multicoloured carpet of skittles, but it’s a collection of harvested robusta coffee fruits drying out in the Ugandan sunshine. Settling down beside the mat, Regina then proceeds to pick some of the duller brown berries. The driest of the yield.

First, the covering of the coffee bean has to be shed. Regina expertly tosses the kernels between basket and sky blowing the coffee fruits mid-air so that the husk separates from the green bean within. She offers one to taste, but there is little to savour. That’s why the roasting comes in handy. Stirred rapidly around a pan over a hot fire, the small beans darken to the colour of charcoal, and that unmistakable aroma of java fills the little outdoor shed. Once charred, the seeds are then pounded into recognisable coffee grinds. Added to some hot water and with a bit of sugar whisked in, it’s the taste of a morning wonderfully spent.

Where to find other cups of coffee near Kibale

The Bee Hive Bar & Bistro at Bigodi is a newly opened cafe cheerfully painted in yellow and brown and serving up a particular blend. Gorilla Conservation Coffee is a social enterprise of Conservation Through Public Health, an award-winning NGO, which pays a premium price to help coffee farmers who live beside the gorillas of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Supporting the local farmers helps to defend the critically endangered gorillas and their fragile forest habitat. Currently, the Gorilla Conservation Coffee supports 500 farmers through training in sustainable coffee farming and processing.

The Bee Hive also sells honey that is harvested from hives strategically positioned on the boundary of Kibale National Park, installed to deter elephants (and the damage they can wreak on crops).

Sit down to enjoy the earthy combination of coffee and honey between excursions (The Bee Hive is conveniently located directly opposite the Bigodi Wetlands Sanctuary), and you’ll be supporting two great causes as you sip.

Otherwise, Crater Safari Lodge serves up some of the best brews with a view and overlooks the second largest crater lake in Uganda, Lake Nyinabulitwa, which translates to ‘Mother of Lakes’. Crater Safari Lodge is also within close proximity to the acclaimed chimp trekking destination of Kibale National Park.

#GuestSafariReview : Megs Donati Visits nThambo Tree Camp

Megs Donati, a recent guest at nThambo Tree Camp, enjoyed a rather successful safari ! We noticed her incredible wildlife photos from game drives at nThambo Tree Camp flooding the Instagram airwaves, so we decided to catch-up with her. She sent us a review of her stay coupled with a few photographs from her time in the ‘veld.

Here is her #GuestSafariReview of nThambo Tree Camp :

nThambo is a little piece of heaven set in the middle of the African bush. Where you’re truly in the wild.

We saw so many animals in such a short space of time. All down to our amazing guide Elmar who even spotted a leopard in a tree! We saw a heard of elephants with a baby who was the sweetest little guy! He hid behind his mumma until he was sure he was safe then came out to play.

A safari isn’t only about the animals but the people who you experience these magical moments with. The staff at nthambo made sure we had the best time and I’m truly grateful to all of you.

I love it so much here I can’t wait to go back. Our time here I will never forget.

Thank you Nthambo my African home.

Step Inside Walkers Bush Villa

Discerning guests are drawn to Walkers Bush Villa because of its sense of exclusivity and grand sophistication. This is the ideal safari hideaway in the game-rich Timbavati Private Game Reserve, and offers an opportunity for small groups or families to tailor-make their own safari experience. Furnished with eclectic art and hints of Africa throughout, Walkers is certainly reminiscent of a bygone era. The villa offers its visitors an opportunity to be surrounded by luxury interiors and wild surrounds in a revered reserve. At Walkers, the villa is yours and yours only. A private chef and guide are at your disposal and will be flexible in terms of your needs.

Walkers is located in a big 5 area within the Timbavati on private land belonging to Ingrid and Howard Walker. The location is ideal for game drives and the large waterhole is a major drawcard for predators. Local lion kings like the Black Dam male lion often make an appearance for eager guests. Elusive leopards are often spotted on the outskirts of the villa and massive breeding herds of elephants frequent the small waterhole at the end of the perfectly-kept lawns. The location offers unsurpassed game viewing opportunities from both the grounds of the villa and the corners of the ‘veld.

But what about your accommodation? The place where you retire to after exploring the rugged surrounds is nothing short of stylish. We know we’ve introduced you to the ornate interior and furnished you with ample videos and photos, but our new manager has sent through a fresh batch of images from the villa. And we love nothing better than a brief visual walk-through of the rooms to gauge the kind of atmosphere expected prior to arrival.

There are 4 bedrooms at Walkers, one of which is the master bedroom and the other 3 the standard bedrooms. Each of the 3 bedrooms surround the courtyard and offer a sense of privacy. In total, the plush rooms sleep 10 people.

High-thread count linen and the highest quality mattresses are kitted throughout. Expect a maximum level of comfort while being surrounded by untamed surrounds and mysterious bushveld sounds.

The master bedroom, the pies de resistance, adjoins the main house and boasts an indoor bath and shower; and an outdoor bath in private area. There is also an adjoining sleep-out room that is also accessible from the patio.

We trust you’ll enjoy Shirell Lynch’s visuals of the interior of Walkers Bush Villa, the exclusive safari option in the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve.

Roam-an History

Roam Private Game Reserve is not only home to a veritable kaleidoscope of flower species, and harbour to thousands upon thousands of endemic animal, bird and insect species, but it is also an area steeped in fascinating history.

Until the other day – around 250 million years ago – a vast inland sea stretching more than 400 000 square kilometres covered what is the Karoo today. As the planet’s climate slowly changed, the water evaporated and left a lush basin crawling with reptiles and amphibians. Later on, it was inhabited by the types of plains game and predators that can today be seen, for instance, on the savannas of the Serengeti.

A combination of further climate change, and more recent ubiquitous sheep- and cattle farming as well as changing weather patterns caused the verdant grasslands to recede, slowly morphing into the semi desert that it is today.

The Karoo, covering nearly 40% of South Africa’s land surface (the largest plateau of its kind outside of Asia) and straddling four of SA’s nine provinces, is also an archeologist’s and paleontologist’s dream. Rich fossil beds spanning more than 600 millions years of history suggest we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface, so to speak. It has also been suggested that the Karoo, out of all the world’s many fossil-rich areas, may hold the highest number of evolutionary secrets and the answers to many questions.

The people that lived here, the hunter-gatherer people of the San, among others, thrived in this area for many millennia and lived in perfect harmony with the land and the creatures that roamed it. As a matter of fact, people inhabited this area for more than 100 000 years, and digs that found early Stone Age tools suggest human occupation here go back as far as a million years. Exciting archeological finds of animal bone- and plant traces have also led to important discoveries regarding the diets of early hominids.

Rock art and other signs of the San people that lived in and around the area of Roam Private Game Reserve, give further insight into the fascinating lifestyle and habits of these people. In fact, it’s no accident that the team at Roam introduced a coalition of cheetah to its 5 000 hectares of Karoo scrubveld, as the only known San painting of a cheetah can be found not far east of Roam. A cheetah’s biggest edge in the hunt is its phenomenal pace, and it is this quality that is so tailor made for the flat arid plains of the Karoo. And it’s no wonder the Roam coalition has adapted so seamlessly.

Point is, it is an area dripping in extraordinary history, and on a visit to Roam one gets a sense of ‘if only these koppies could speak’… An awareness of some ancient mystique that lies buried among its gentle undulations, and a consciousness of the countless untold mysteries burnt into the memory of this scorched piece of earth. Add to that the Karoo’s blazing night skies and a Milky Way that glows like nowhere else in South Africa, and one’s own worldly problems become instantly negligible, and a sense of perspective is restored.