He’ s much bigger and stronger than she is, so she climbs up the bank, settles under a bush, and waits nervously but hopefully. He slumbers on.
Our drive continues. We tick off spotted hyenas, white rhinos, a herd of Cape buffalo crossing in front of us, and after another glorious African sunset and a round of sundowners, on the spot-lit drive home, a scrub hare, a bush baby, a spotted genet, a side-striped jackal, and a white-tailed mongoose, the biggest of the mongoose family.
Later in the boma, around a crackling fire, under stars so bright you could reach out and grab them( most of the foreign guests have never seen such a dazzling stellar display and are oohing and aahing), we feast on scrumptious homemade food and sip great South African wine.
Welcome to Africa’ s most famous game reserve, MalaMala.
Why is it world-famous? Not only because of superb standards of service, sound and principled conservation policies, the vast size of the property( with unfenced borders with Kruger National Park and 20km of Sand River frontage) and possibly the finest, most consistent game viewing on the sub-continent; but also because MalaMala has always been at the forefront of change. It was the first private reserve in South Africa to make the move from hunting safaris to photographic ones, and now is once again leading the way.
March 1, 2016, marked a momentous occasion both for MalaMala and the South African eco-tourism industry when the‘ new’ MalaMala Game Reserve was born – a private-public partnership between Mr Michael Rattray, legendary founder and previous owner of the reserve, Mr Stephen Saad, owner of the adjacent Kirkman’ s Kamp, and members of the N’ wandlamhari Communal Property Association.
Now the local community is firmly and importantly established as an enduring and exciting part of MalaMala’ s ongoing history.
There are also exciting new projects planned( including a new camp and a state-of-the-art photographic vehicle), but the spirit and soul of the place – beloved by so many thousands of visitors over so many years – will continue to inform MalaMala. And yes, your guest experience will continue to be simply the best … ■
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