Ethos Marketing

Frank Melling is an English journalist and author who stayed at Amakhosi with his family. Frank was not an invited guest but paid full price for his three day stay with us. Here’s what he thought about his visit:

Amakhosi – A Very Special Place

You couldn’t mistake Shane for a Social Worker, or a Bank Clerk or the Manager of your local supermarket. Strong, blue eyes. Suntanned face, cut with weathered lines. Big, powerful hands. Shane looks every inch like a Ranger in a wild life reserve. This is good because Shane is a Ranger in a wild life reserve!

We lean on the Landrover and take in the magic of the African sunset. Shane takes a slow sip at his drink and pauses. Many things at Amakhosi happen slowly and you have to accept that this is the way things are done here.

Another sip of his Sundowner, another long pause and then Shane speaks. “Amakhosi is a very special place. I’ve worked in some fine parks but Amakhosi is different. It really is a very special place.”

Shane is right. Amakhosi is very different from any other game reserve. It marches to the beat of its own drum and is about as far away from the “Ferrari Safaris” served up to tourists in a hurry than it is possible to get.

Amakhosi can be considered to be either extremely large – or quite tiny. Coming from England, where there are plenty of successful farms of 150 acres, Amakhosi’s 30,000 acres is almost the size of an English County. By the standards of the immense reserves of the Kruger National Park and Kenya’s Masai Mara, Amakhosi is a modest area but, surrounded by undeveloped farm land, it feels huge.

We got this feeling as we drove from Pongola and then left the tarmaced highway on to the compacted dirt road which threads its way to the main Amakhosi Lodge. What should have been a fifteen minute journey took much longer because there was so much to see. Elephants sunning themselves at the side of the road are just not a normal experience in a drive through the English countryside.

The arrival at Amakhosi is spectacular. There is none of the plastic slickness of the five star hotel concierge service. Instead, a genuinely warm, personal greeting and a feeling that Amakhosi staff want us to stay with them. There is time to talk, time to explain how Amakhosi thinks- in fact, time for us as guests rather than just tourism income to be processed, receipted and banked.

There is the same sense of being in real Africa as we walk to our lodge. It would have been easy to make a straight, concrete covered path to the accommodation but, instead, the narrow shale track winds through the trees, past the Weaver birds’ nests and Ant-Lions, until we arrive at our own bit of Africa.

Probably the best way to describe our river suite is quirky – and we love it. Although modern in terms of having a big, and an immaculately presented, bathroom as well as a lounge and spacious bedroom, the suite takes styling cues from traditional Zulu housing. It is neither modern nor traditional but looks, and feels, entirely in harmony with its setting.

There are only eight river suites at Amakhosi and their placement is very, very clever – and extremely subtle. Clearly, we are not the only guests staying at Amakhosi but the feeling is that we are because our suite neither overlooks any other – nor is it overlooked. From our shaded veranda we gaze out over our own area of African bush – and our own section of the Mkhuze River. Sit back in the lounger and sip at a chilled Chardonnay; half close your eyes; soak up the heat and the calls of the Bush and this becomes your very own, very private, African experience.

In fact, the lodge sum up the Amakhosi experience beautifully. Clearly, Amakhosi is a commercial operation but the feeling is that you have bumped into some really nice South Africans who have invited you to stay with them for a few days.

Amakhosi strongly recommends that guests arrive mid-afternoon. The reason for this is that the animals dictate a fairly rigid timetable – and we humans have to fit in around them.

This means that High Tea – actually, very posh snacks – are served around 4pm so that everyone can be in the Landrover in time for the evening trip. During the day, the animals relax and, as our teenage daughter would say, chill out. They are most lively during the evening and early morning and so that’s when we hit the tracks in the Landrover.

The mere mention of a package holiday normally makes me want to head at full speed in the opposite direction but the Amakhosi experience is very different. In fact, anyone wanting a sanitised drive through a European style “Safari Park” would do well to avoid Amakhosi. This is the genuine article in terms of driving off-road and getting close up and personal to wild animals.

It was also a very pleasant experience in terms of meeting other guests. On our game drives, we shared a Landrover with between four and six other visitors. There was always plenty of room and we felt that we were in a group of like minded people. Some were expert wild life watchers – other less so. But all were respectful and shared the same sense of privilege, participating in what was an extraordinary experience. This was no theme park ride but a real adventure.

Just how big an adventure came very soon. For much of the drives, Shane relies on Kikki, his Zulu animal spotter and tracker, who, perched on the front of the Landrover, spies out the concealed animals. For our first wildlife encounter Kikki was very much redundant as we rounded a corner and came face to face – literally – with six tons of fit bull elephant dusting himself down after a swim.

Shane explains that the bull is in musth. During this period, the lucky boy – or perhaps unfortunate – has 60 times more testosterone than normal – plus the equivalent of a very bad toothache. Fit, young, human males get rather keen on a night of passion with the ladies but bull elephants really feel the urge and so become extremely irritable and aggressive.

So, with six tons of very perky elephant tossing dust petulantly over himself, Shane parks the Landrover ten yards away and we sit – extremely quietly – and watch wildlife as close as any tourist will ever be.

Amakhosi’s greatest strength is the speed with which things happen. Or more accurately – don’t. We sit and wait until the bull has a snack; scratches an itch; throws some more dust; waves his head; snorts; turns back towards the river; has another snack; changes his mind and decides to leave; tosses some more dust; waves his tusks in the air; smashes a few more branches down; eyes up the Landrover; has another dust; a further snack – and then finally marches up the track after stopping to raise his trunk over Kikki and the Landrover to find out whether we might make a suitable mate. It’s a magical experience made all the more poignant by the obvious pleasure felt by Shane and Kikki. These are no tour guides watching a timetable but fellow wild life enthusiasts – and it shows.

On the way back to base, Shane admits that this first drive has been an aberrant experience in terms of the number of animals we see – and which see us. After the elephant we watched, awestruck, as a group of lion cubs played in the dust and then we were circled by a huge male rhino doing the evening tour of his own, private, territory. Every sighting is patient, slow and intense – and a million miles away from package tourism.

It is dark when we arrive back at Amakhosi around 7.30, and we need to have a quick wash and then be ready for dinner because it’s a 4.30am start tomorrow morning!

Dinner is a very pleasant experience – not haute cuisine by any means but good food, cooked well and presented with a smile very much in the Amakhosi idiom of welcoming us as house guests rather than customers. There is also an interesting twist. Everything at Amakhosi is included in the list price – even the house wines. Now anyone with a molecule of brain would not normally go near a house wine if they were paid to do so – particularly one included in a set price menu. But, after reassurance from Sonja at reception, we are served a very presentable Chardonnay which slides down a treat with some roasted Impala: yet another surprise from this very surprising enterprise.

The dining area is large and relaxed with lots of space for guests and as we look out into the velvet darkness with the strident, screaming accompaniment of the Punk Rock, frog band – to describe their calls merely as croaks does these frogs a gross injustice – we are reminded that this is very much real, rural Africa.

Back at our lodge, we take the big double bed whilst our daughter sleeps in the lounge and waits for the arrival of our very own Bush Baby, which, as promised by Sonja, makes a night time raid on the packet of biscuits we have forgotten to hide in the fridge. Disney World this isn’t!

It’s been a long day but all too soon Shane is ‘phoning us at 4.30 – wishing us a cheery good morning and encouraging us to get down to breakfast.

We are used to early starts but we’re still operating on British time and this equates to 2.30 in the morning. The animals had better be on good form!

As we set off in the pale purple, water colour dawn there is a real sense of adventure. Shane takes us through the tentative, new born light and floats the Landrover through impossibly tight tracks – some of which are exciting enough to be a theme park ride.

Shane carefully eases us to the southern boundary of the reserve and then we park, right at the edge of a large herd of Cape Buffalo. These large, majestic beasts graze their way right round the Landrover and Shane warns us to stay seated and still. He is meticulously polite but his voice means exactly what it says: stay still and seated.

Later, he explains why. The animals at Amakhosi have accepted the Landrover – but not its individual occupants – as neither prey nor predator. They accept the shape, and smell of the Landrover as devoid of threat or food and this is why we can get so close to them. Change the shape – by sudden movement or standing up – and the rules of the game are waived and all bets are off. In the case of half a ton of Cape Buffalo the rules need to be clearly understood by both parties. Shane cheerfully confides that Cape Buffalo kill more humans than lions and leopards combined and have a foul temper and no fear. We sit very, very quietly.

Towards the end of the morning session, Shane works the Landrover on to the highest part of the hills and we are treated to an utterly breathtaking view of the whole park stretching away to the north. For sure, Amakhosi is not one of the biggest reserves in terms of actual size but it must be one of the most breathtaking.

Carol and I still want to get closer to Africa so, after an excellent Brunch, we persuade Shane to take us out into the Bush on foot. If the Game Drives in the Landrover are a long way from “Ferrari Safari” mass tourism then two hours on foot in the bush takes the experience to the next level – and some considerable distance from recreational tourism.

The first thing is the heat. At midday, it is well over 30 degrees centigrade and this means that we need a lot of water to avoid the blinding headaches which come from dehydration. We drank a litre each in two hours – with no inclination for a toilet break.

Bush walks also require a good degree of physical fitness, first class footwear and a willingness to accept that this is a potentially dangerous experience. Without the Landrover, we are now either prey or predators and for the first time, the animal loving Shane takes out his high powered rifle and has it ready for instant use.

The reward for the heat, scratches and effort is an incredibly intense experience. We thread our way through Acacia trees and untangle ourselves from the “Wait a Minute” thorns and are, within five minutes, immersed in the Bush as it was 300 years before the arrival of white settlers.

Shane’s body language is now very different from the Landrover. We are politely ordered, not asked, to remain stock still if told to do so. Shane’s primary worry is disturbing a female lion with her cubs. We might get threatened; we might get charged; we might get attacked. Stand absolutely still and do nothing. We have no problem in doing this.

Along the river we see a herd of kudu. They are twitchy, nervous. Are we predators? The lead female isn’t certain so she escorts her herd to safety.

All the time, Shane is leading and teaching. Here, look at the harvesting termites foraging. Listen to the Warthogs digging on the other side of a thicket. There are the webs of the Funnel Spiders. Truly, we feel part of Africa.

And then a huge Rock Monitor lizard dives from underneath us and slithers down to the river and I begin to wonder whether I am going to feature on some animal’s lunch-time menu.

Two hours later we arrive back tired, soaked to our skins with sweat and covered in ticks – but very happy that we have felt the Bush at first hand.

All too soon our three days are over. Each one of us has a different highlight from the trip. For our daughter, the best moment was when the Landrover became stuck and we all had to push it out – watched by an amused, young, male lion who really seemed to enjoy seeing the tourists performing tricks for him.

For Carol, seeing a Cheetah kill a baby Wildebeest in one dramatic sprint brought home the seriousness of life in what is very much an area belonging to wild animals.

And me? On our final day, Shane returned to the southern edge of the park and I wandered away from the group simply to take in Africa through sight, smell and sound. Kikki, worried that I might be feeling somewhat under the weather, came to be with me and when I explained what I was doing, he showed me the mountains that he climbed with his friends when he was not working at Amakhosi. Then, quite spontaneously, he invited me to climb with him the next time I came to Amakhosi. How far is that from travel tourism?

Amakhosi Tips:

1) To get the best from Amakhosi, take the time to enjoy the experience. Travel with your eyes, ears and mind open.

2) 4.30am starts and long evening drives are hard work – even for Amakhosi’s rangers. Make the time for a long midday break so that you can enjoy the experience of being in the Bush.

3) The sky is crystal clear and the sun fierce. Use total sun block and wear a hat.

4) Drink lots of water. This is the best way to avoid dehydration and headaches.

5) Despite being hot in the day, the start of the morning drive and the end of the evening drive, is cool – even in summer. Take a jacket or fleece.

6) All the Amakhosi staff are almost certainly keener on wild life than you. Ask them questions and they will be delighted to talk to you at length and in detail. No-one is clock watching at Amakhosi!

7) It’s worth driving to Amakhosi from Richards Bay, Durban or Johannesburg. South African drivers are relaxed and safe, the roads are excellent are there is the chance to stop at towns on the way to get a feel for the country.
For more information please visit www.amakhosi.com or call the Uk office Ethos Marketing for a brochure on 01403243619 or  email info@ethosmarketing.co.uk