We arrived at the Haina Kalahari Lodge, our base for the next 4 days, at the end of the afternoon. In this 11,000 hectares game reserve, they offer both campsites and more luxurious accommodation. We were welcomed by Ludwig and Hannetjie, the new managers. The lodge was nice and welcoming with a cosy lounge and a view on a waterhole. We had booked for camping, but I was in a splurge mood and asked for availability and pricing of the bungalows. My craving ended as soon as I saw the fees. Instead of spending an insane budget for only one night, we chose a in-between option, camping but spending significant time in the lounge, having dinner there and enjoying activities with them every day. Luckily there was only another couple while we were there, allowing us to hang around. We had a drink and went to set our camp. We were picked up a bit later for an enjoyable dinner, and driven back again to our campsite, located 6 kilometres away from the lodge. We were camping in the middle of the forest, with no one else around but Southern yellow-billed hornbills and crimson-breasted shrikes.
Game drives in Haina
We were picked up early morning for a game drive by Wynand our guide and sat in the land-rover, me in the back with Farhad and Suzy, and Eff as co-pilot. We drove a bit when Wynand spotted fresh lion tracks. He explained us how to estimate the freshness: uncovered they are really recent, if covered with bird tracks they are from the morning, if covered with mouse or small mammal tracks, they are from the night before. That was a very useful advice that would help us later on during our self-drives. He followed the tracks and here they were: 3 lion cubs hiding in the bushes. They were observing us with curiosity yet with caution, when they looked in the distance and started running in line. A tiny fourth one made his appearance in the run. Wynand turned around to follow them but we lost sight of them. He stepped out of the car for tracking, came back to drive forward and stepped out again, until he asked for one of us to drive while he was doing the tracking. After few seconds, Eff casually agreed to be the driver, like “whatever… if you really need me to”. But I could see the hairless top of his head beaming with pride and his inner child jumping around from excitement of having his dream coming true. He was driving off-road avoiding the thick bushes and driving atop the thin ones as advised by Wynand. We lost track of the cubs, tracks going in too many different directions. But we receive a call from the lodge saying that another pride had been seen further away along the fence of the property.
Five minutes later, we found them. There were three lionesses and five cubs devouring an oryx. It was amazing to observe them. The noise stroke us first. They are such noisy eaters!! One of the cub was especially into it, tearing big chunks of meat and getting his face bloody red in the process. He was fierce even with his mum whom he kept growling at when she was trying to get her share. The small ones were very curious of us: one was watching us from behind the bush, while another one came closer to lay down in the sun, as if posing for the photographers. But it was already quite hot, so he quickly went back in the shade, having a bite of the feast on his way.
The lionesses started to drag the oryx further inside the bushes to protect their prey from scavengers. One of them also removed the “dirty” parts as they eat everything except stomach and intestines. She extracted the stomach to bury it cautiously in the sand. Apparently they can’t stand the smell, therefore they do so for their own comfort and keep jackals, hyenas and vultures away. She was so meticulous, going back at it when she realised it was not enough. She just forgot she had curious cubs, as one of them came right after to undo the good work of his mum. I guess kids are the same everywhere… They were on the other side of the fence in the neighbouring lodge. But Wynand got a permission to cross through a nearby gate and drove us only few metres away from the pride. We spent almost two hours with them. They were very relaxed with us around, some sleeping totally uninterested by our presence and others watching us, especially the older female who kept observing our movements and listening to our voices. At some point, she was looking straight into my eyes, and it felt like she was reading my soul. Such a unique and intense moment. Being around lions is very special and they let you stay quite near as long as you do not show any aggressive behaviour or harass them.
Unfortunately it was time to go back to the lodge so we left them at their nap. We went back to the campsite to have lunch, and did a self drive in the afternoon. We looked for a leopard but didn’t see any. Even the lions were done with their meal and had disappeared in the bush. The rest of the game was quite scarce, apart from few kudus always jumping and escaping from the road. We ended a bit early to have drinks and dinner at the lodge with Farhad and Suzy. It was relaxing and nice to enjoy a bit of luxury before going back to our campsite.
It was nice to camp though. That night we clearly heard a lion roaring. It sounded quite near, so we were quite excited by our upcoming game drive the next morning. Unfortunately, it was not as successful as the day before. Wynand followed the tracks of the lions, two brothers frequently visiting the reserve, but they had crossed the fence to go to the national park. Instead we saw kudus, which is really less exciting, to a point that Suzy told me she would scream if we would make another kudu stop! We went back to the lodge for a brunch and spend a lazy afternoon there, waiting for our next activity.
Bushwalk with San people
Farhad and Suzy had recommended us to do a bushwalk, an activity offered by the lodge. We spent two hours in the heart of the reserve with three San bushmen and Wynand who was our translator of the day. Wynand has been born and raised near a San community, so he speaks their language fluently. It was quite interesting to see the young white guide interacting with the bushmen with so much passion and respect for their culture. We walked in the bush for a short while, following our barefoot guides, and listening to their “clicking” stories. They showed us the type of wood they use to make their bows and arrows, how they find the poison they use for hunting, how they hunt, the berries they collect and eat, all other basics on surviving in a somehow hostile nature.
It was fascinating to listen to the rythm of the clicks, and to look at our surroundings with completely new eyes. We walked to a tiny hut where they taught us how to make fire and how to get water during dry season. Water can be found in a plant root. You cut it, shave a bit of the pulp and squeeze it to wash your hands first and then shave some more to squeeze the watery juice directly in your mouth. We would be totally unable to redo all this on our own, but we enjoyed this walk a lot.
We went back to the lodge for a last dinner with Farhad and Suzy, who were leaving the following day. Farhad went behind the bar, serving drinks to everyone, and we had a very good time with them and the lodge team. It was like being among friends in a nice and relaxing setting, most likely a perk of traveling off-season with only four guests. It was our last night of indulgence as well, as the lodge was fully booked the following night so we were not able to have dinner there, priority obviously given to paying customers rather than campers. We said good bye to our fellow travelers and went to sleep. A long day at the Central Kalahari Game Reserve was ahead of us.
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