{"id":12733,"date":"2021-12-31T10:03:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T10:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/?p=12733"},"modified":"2022-01-31T18:03:05","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T18:03:05","slug":"red-list-kneejerk-brings-travel-trade-to-its-knees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/2021\/12\/31\/red-list-kneejerk-brings-travel-trade-to-its-knees\/","title":{"rendered":"Red List Kneejerk means impromptu visit to Garonga"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Southern Africa was thrown another curve ball in late November when they told the world that they had discovered a new Covid variant. The UK, followed by other countries rewarded their excellent science and honesty by immediately putting the region back on the Red List.
We had been travelling around South Africa for about 10 days when this happened and I like many others was astounded.
Covid numbers in South Africa are no way near those in the UK. South Africa is far more strict when it comes to wearing masks, sanitising and temperature checks and they were not the only country with the new variant \u2013 they just announced it.
The travel industry was reeling and those of us who have survived the last 2 years were just starting to feel a bit of hope. We knew things would start picking up slowly, but now what were the chances? This could knock even the most adventurous of travellers confidence.
We decided not to rush home to the cold and wet, and frankly more Covid infections. Why would we want to go into a grotty quarantine hotel and pay a fortune, when we could stay in a warm sunny country, with relatively low Covid numbers. My feeling was that the British Government would realise that their kneejerk reaction was exactly that and we could return home without quarantine \u2013 thankfully I was right.
So we decided to really enjoy the South Africa that we had missed so much over the last 2 years and throw ourselves into an impromptu roadtrip! So off we set\u2026.
Once we had left the hustle and bustle of Gauteng, heading north on the N1 (the road that connects Cape Town with Beit Bridge on the Zimbabwe border), the traffic started to thin out a bit and the countryside opened up. Everything was lush and green after the recent rains. After an hour or so, we could see the Waterberg Mountains on our left, I was sorry that we were not stopping in this beautiful area on this trip.
At Polokwane we left the N1 and headed east and after a short drive arrived at Haenertsberg, a quirky little town just off the main road. The area is popular with hikers and mountain bike enthusiasts, we just wanted a place to stay over. Haenertsburg is also a great place to stop for lunch.
The following day we travelled via Magoebaskloof, towards Tzaneen, an area worth exploring if you have the time, as it is incredibly scenic. From Tzaneen the road takes you towards Gravelotte and Mica. Garonga is well sign posted on this road and this was our destination for the next couple of nights.
You will need a code for the gate, and it is advisable to have a car that is slightly higher off the ground, as the road is quite rocky. You need to allow at least an hour for the last part of the journey, take it slowly and soak up the feeling of being back in the Africa bush. The further you travel along the road, the more you feel the remoteness of Garonga.
If unlike us, you prefer the easier route, you can fly straight into Garonga, or get a transfer.
On arrival at Little Garonga and after a lovely welcome, we were shown to the Hambleden Suite. Little Garonga has three suites, The Chiltern and The Buckingham have one bedroom and the Hambleden is a family suite, with two ensuite bedrooms and its own plunge pool.
Garonga has three camps, the original Garonga Safari Camp which consists of six tents, Little Garonga, where we stayed and the newly opened luxurious MCH Tented Camp.
Perched on the hill above the two other camps, MCH offers amazing views over the bush and the distant mountains. Stunning d\u00e9cor and four spacious tents, making this camp the ideal place for a group of friends or a family, and perfect for sole use.
You may be wondering about the name of the new camp\u2026..
Bernie Smith and his team at Garonga Safari Camp and sister camp Little Garonga have been sharing their unique take on a \u201csafari for the soul\u201d with guests for over 20 years. In celebration of this milestone, Bernie started to develop his brand new MCH Private Tented Camp, which opened in 2020.
MCH is dedicated to his own family matriarch – his Mother, Maria Carmela Hambleden.
This tented camp which sleeps just 8 guests and is perfect for a family or small group wanting exclusive use, is a fully solar powered and self-contained camp. MCH has its own team of staff, game drive vehicle and guide for an exclusive Big 5 safari. The camp offers indoor and outdoor dining areas, along with the MCH Bush Boma and fire-pit. A private Sleep Out Deck experience is available for the more adventurous.
The highlight of our stay was going out for a walk in the morning. We had seen buffalo in camp the previous evening, and one of the team had found a leopard in lodge when they came down to get the coffee and tea ready. So we knew that the animals were close. As we started out on our walk we came across fresh Black Rhino spoor, and decided not to follow them on foot. Black Rhinos can be very moody.
We humans are not that capable of walking quietly in the bush and we usually scare off the animals before we can see them, but what makes walking in the bush so special is getting up close to the small stuff. The number of flowers we came across was stunning, but one particular flower had our ranger Sophie stumped. Sophie was determined to find out what the flower was, and posted it on various social media platforms, and eventually she found the answer – Pterodiscus cinnabarinus<\/a>!
After our engaging walk sadly it was time to bade farewell to Bernie and his team and get back on the road – this time heading towards Hoedspruit and then into the Timbavati to Kambaku.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Southern Africa was thrown another curve ball in late November when they told the world that they had discovered a new Covid variant. The UK,…<\/p>\n

Continue readingRed List Kneejerk means impromptu visit to Garonga<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":12739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-default","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12733"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12745,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12733\/revisions\/12745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}