The Intrepid Explorer Issue 20

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za • 4th Edition 2017 R29.90 Incl. VAT

FORE A GOOD CAUSE

THE BIGGEST BLACK HOLE

Taking golf to the extreme

Exploring the world’s largest cave

WEATHER PERMITTING The most remote island in the world

PARA TO DAKAR

From broken back to rally success

NO CLIPPING THESE WINGS

Amateurs conquer the Seven Seas

postcards from the

edge

Peter Van Kets bikes across Africa

This magazine is

The official Cape Union Mart magazine

FREE with purchases over R500

› THE REMOTEST AFRICAN SAFARI – Untouched North Luanga in Zambia › TRAIL BY TRACKS – Traversing India by train › WHERE IS WILLIE – Willem Richards’s duathlon per day across the continent › LIFE THROUGH THE LENS – The majestic wildlife work of Grant Atkinson

THE NEW RANGE ROVER VELAR

DON’T WORRY, IT’S FRIENDLY.

With its bold purposeful stance and foil stamped front grille, the New Range Rover Velar may appear rather intimidating. But remember, it’s still a Land Rover with legendary go anywhere capability. Over unfriendly terrain, it will always be your best friend. landrover.co.za

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

The Intrepid Explorer issue 16

1

CONTENTS

4 TH ED IT IO N 2017

24 06 FOREWORD

Andre Labuschaigne, Cape Union Mart CEO

08

EDITOR’S NOTE

Our Joy in our World

THE BIGGEST BLACK HOLE Matthew Holt explores the world’s biggest cave in Vietnam

PETER VAN KETS Postcards from the Edge. Peter Van Kets and Jacques Marais biked from Angola to the coast of Namibia

12 18 NO CLIPPING YOUR WINGS ON THIS ONE

30 THE LONGEST HOLE

Janine Avery talks to the Clipper race crew about their crazy sailing adventure

26

Angus Begg speaks with Adam Rolston and Ron Rutland about their extreme golf adventure in Mongolia

42

36 weather permitting Graham Howe visits the most remote island in the world

from one blouberg to the next Simon Capstick-Dale catches up with Willie Richards on his latest endurance challenge

2

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

CODE

COLOUR

OUT017

Army

OUT017A

Sky

OUT017B

Amber

DRYBAGS - 5L / 10L / 15L / 20L

EXPLORER RUCKSACK

A simple lightweight 40L Rucksack, ideal for sports, travel or camping.

• Airflow Back System - Tension suspended mesh back that allows air to flow freely between your back and rucksack, keeping you cool and dry.

• Compression Straps - Used to reduce the bulk of the rucksack. Also aids balance.

• Secure fold-up closure to keep goods dry.

• Easy squeeze buckle and handle.

• Made of 600D nylon-coated PVC tarpaulin • Ideal for camping,fishing,boating,driving,river rafting, or other outdoor activities.

• Polyurethane coating on the inside permits the fabric to be 100% seam taped.

• Double stitched and reinforced point for durability.

• Highly water resistant Class 3 Rating • Available in blue, red, yellow and black.

• Straps - at the chest and hips help to stabilise the bag and distribute the load securely and comfortably.

• Multiple inner pockets for small items like cellphone, pens, wallet, etc.

• Material - 420D Nylon • Product Size: 55cm x 35cm x 70cm

OUT004

Class 3 – Waterproof so tight it floats or can handle quick submersions. The product could be permeated by water in any of the following applications: prolonged submersion, submersions greater than 3 feet in depth, high water pressure applications.

12

MONTH

WARRANTY

MONTH

24

MONTH

WARRANTY

WARRANTY

24

Contact proudly distributed by L&G Tools and Machinery

SWATCH

Available at

Tel: +27(0) 31 717 6800 Fax: +27(0) 31 717 6868 E-mail: sales@lgtools.co.za www.lgtools.co.za

CONTENTS

4 TH ED IT IO N 2017

48 FROM PARA TO DAKAR ngela Williamson covers Joey evans A jounrey of courage and determination

64

joy to the world We feature Cape Union Mart’s new gear and garb for the festive season

54

68 LIFE THROUGH THE LENS In this edition we feature the masterful works of Grant Atkinson

trial by tracks Gillian McClaren takes a night train across India

60

74 ON THE WILD SIDE The latest news from the outdoors

80 CAPE UNION MART STORE LISTINGS

82 THE LAST LAUGH Graham Howe explores the art of falconry

a remote africa Sarah Kingdom visits North Luangwa, a place of total isolation

4

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

84 THE LAST WORD We talk to Elana Afrika about her African dreams

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

FO R E WO RD

Can you feel it? -

Summer is finally here and the adventure season is in full swing!

A

s South Africans, we have so many avenues to explore with our family and friends.

Whether hiking our beautiful mountain trails, camping along the seaside, seeing the Big 5 on a safari drive or simply enjoying a potjie in the backyard with loved ones – we are fortunate to have all these adventures in the palm of our hands.

However, this year will be tough for some South Africans, as the Western Cape battles one of the most severe droughts in history.

With the influx of tourists, we urge all visitors to do their bit and save water. As a company, we are dedicated to help alleviate the pressure of the drought and have implemented a number of measures at our head office to do so. Our efficient store staff are also geared up and able to assist in providing the best advice and products for you to do your bit.

As we say farewell to 2017 and welcome 2018 with open arms, it is an opportune time to reflect on goals set, goals achieved and goals that need reassessing. This provides one with a great opportunity to set those Big Hairy Audacious Goals too, that you would never have imagined embarking on. Whether it’s indulging in a rich, adventurous experience like trekking up Kilimanjaro or going white river rafting on the Orange River – always try and set one goal that will challenge your limits and take you out of your comfort zone. I bet you, these experiences will leave you richer and wiser.

Adventurers know that the road takes them to unexpected places. This edition delves into a host of interesting spaces and places for you to dream about and work toward visiting. We continue to celebrate this adventure called Life, and wish you well on your own explorations. Relish and celebrate each moment – no matter where the journey takes you.

Yours in adventure,

Andre Labuschaigne Chief Executive Officer Cape Union Mart

6

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

Make every step an

ADVENTURE Quick Draw lacing system for a secure fit

Directional lug pattern for superior traction Antibacterial footbed controls moisture and keeps your feet dry

Men’s Newport H2 Sandals | R1599

Men’s Arroyo Sandals | R1799 Waterproof leather uppers

Men’s Uneek O2 Sandals | R1399 Anatomical footbeds for added comfort

Women’s CNX Clearwater Sandals | R1499 Slim and lightweight, perfect for

Women’s Whisper Sandals | R1399 Quick Draw lacing system for a secure fit

scrambling through rock pools

3495 E & OE

ONLY AVAILABLE AT SELECTED CAPE UNION MART STORES SHOP ONLINE | WWW.CAPEUNIONMART.CO.ZA |

FANS FIND OUT FIRST

Call 0860-3333-29 or visit www.capeunionmart.co.za. Stores nationwide. Available at selected stores only. Products subject to availability. All our products are covered by our famous 5-Way Guarantee, ensuring that you get the best price and advice along with the fairest exchange policy.

Colours mat vary in store. Prices correct at time of going to print and are subject to change without notice.

E D ITO R ’ S N O TE

OUR JOY IN OUR

“Few things make the life of a parent more rewarding and sweet as successful children.”- Nelson Mandela

A

s 2017 comes to a close, I reflect upon the wise words of our dear Madiba. In a year that has been fraught with both personal and professional turmoil and change, it is my greatest blessing and my constant stabiliser to come home to my children each day. As soon as I see my two-year-old little girl running out the door and shouting “Daddy, Daddy” with the happiest of smiles, everything else fades away into a peripheral haze.

I am also extremely proud of my older kids, who have turned into such incredible young adults. It feels like just the other day I asked my 17-year-old daughter, when she was the same age as my youngest, what she wanted for Christmas. She contemplated it deeply and replied, “Something pink, please Daddy!” How wonderful to have no concept of material wealth, but to just be content with a colour.

We have made it through another year, albeit with a few more bruises and wrinkles. We’re the lucky ones, those of us who still have our health and family; I know of many who have lost their loved ones in 2017, including our friend and incredible Art Director, Stacey, who lost her father just before this edition went to press and we send her all our love and condolences from the Intrepid Explorer team.

For those of you who are fortunate enough to have some time off during this festive season, revel in it and soak up each minute.

Whether you choose to relax and do as little as possible or if you decide to get out into nature or finally do that shark-cage dive or jump off that bungee bridge – now is the time.

Don’t hesitate. Go out there and enjoy life, spend quality time with your family and children. Life is so precious and during the course of a frenetic year we may forget it’s the little things in life that are our biggest treasures.

My son and I are heading off to Lake Malawi on a 10-day kayaking trip across the most incredible islands. It is something we have planned for years and it is finally happening. I cannot wait.

Thanks as always for being our loyal readers and for all the fantastic feedback, we have some incredibly exciting new ventures with The Intrepid Explorer planned for 2018 and look forward to sharing them with you.

Enjoy the holidays and remember the wise words of American author James Dent, “A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawnmower is broken!”

Until 2018, live the life of adventure.

Robbie Stammers Publishing Editor

PS: Don’t forget to like us on Facebook to get access to loads of fresh content, and download the full digital version of this edition with many extras FOR FREE via Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

Congratulations to our winners from the last edition; The winners of the books are:

NIALL BORLAND from Grahamstown & EJ JOUBERT f​rom JHB and the winner of the Zion wetsuit and Boston Breweries beer and apparel was SASKIA HOWES from Cape Town.

8

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

“In life I only do things I can stand behind. In sports and also in my job. That‘s exactly why I like Deuter. With passion, experience, and expertise – you just feel it in their products. That way I can reach my athletic goals, experience amazing moments on the mountain and concentrate on the essentials.“ FUTURA 30 SL BACKPACK DANIEL BÜRKLE is actually a key account manager. In his heart he‘s really an alpinist, freerider, and skiing instructor. What connects him with Deuter is his love for sports and also a passion and ambition to keep improving.

3495 E & OE 3495 E & OE

ONLY AVAILABLE AT SELECTED CAPE UNION MART STORES SHOP SHOP ONLINE ONLINE || WWW.CAPEUNIONMART.CO.ZA WWW.CAPEUNIONMART.CO.ZA ||

FANS FANS FIND FIND OUT OUT FIRST FIRST

Call Call 0860-3333-29 0860-3333-29 or or visit visit www.capeunionmart.co.za. www.capeunionmart.co.za. Stores Stores nationwide. nationwide. Available Available at at selected selected stores stores only. only. Products Products subject subject to to availability. availability. All All our you get get the the best price and and advice advice along along with with the the fairest fairest exchange exchange policy. policy. our products products are are covered covered by by our our famous famous 5-Way 5-Way Guarantee, Guarantee, ensuring ensuring that that you best price Colours mat vary in store.

Prices correct at time of going to print and are subject to change without notice.

Colours mat vary in store.

deuter.com

C ONT R IB U TO RS › Simon CapstickDale’s love for adventure was born in a mokoro, paddling down the narrow arteries of Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Having documented his adventures in publications ever since, his incurable itch for experiential travel has not abated—along with his obsession for collecting passport stamps. When not boarding the next flight out of Cape Town, Simon prefers to spend his time reading non-fiction, watching hours of sport, and researching prospective travel destinations. Next stop: Vietnam. › Graham Howe is one of South Africa’s most experienced lifestyle journalists; he has contributed hundreds of food, wine and travel features to South African and British publications for more than 25 years. When not exploring the Cape Winelands, this adventurous globetrotter reports on exotic destinations around the world as a travel correspondent, and for the weekly travel show on SAfm. › Angela Williamson is an eternal adventurer, an avid writer and a creative soul.

Having spent over a decade abroad and travelling extensively, Angela is now back living in Cape Town, running her own business as a Freelance Digital Marketer, Sub-Editor and Writer. Angela spends her days constantly absorbing inspiration, immersing herself in her writing, and in turn creating pieces that send people onto their own mental journeys, weaving the magic that is, storytelling. › Gillian McLaren is a travel writer who enjoys interacting with people from different cultures, exotic food, scuba diving, bird and game watching.

She has visited 54 countries and lived in seven of them. Photography is her latest passion.

10

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

Explorer The Intrepid

› Jacques Marais is a pro photographer/author who regularly contributes to a wide selection of premium adventure, travel and outdoor magazines, both in SA and abroad. His short stories feature in an adventure anthology and during the acclaimed ILLUME Red Bull Sports Photography Awards, Jacques was honoured as a TOP 50 finalist from a field of well over 20,000 international shooters.

Most recent honours include both a Gold and Silver Award in the respected SONY Profoto Awards. › Angus Begg likes to giggle, but he’s serious about his craft. A CNN awardwinning television producer, he was the first South African broadcast journalist to report from the chaos of Somalia in 1992. Angus has gone on to cover every aspect of travel—whether rural communities clashing with wildlife, tracking the Serengeti migration, hiking Table Mountain, or searching for that perfect Sauvignon Blanc. › Sarah Kingdom is an Indian Mountaineering Federation–recognised mountain guide. Born and brought up in Sydney, Australia, and now resides in Zambia. She regularly guides on Kilimanjaro, and has climbed and guided expeditions in Nepal, India, Tibet, Russia and Turkey. Sarah owns an 8 000-acre cattle ranch in Central Zambia, where she currently resides when she’s not climbing. › Janine Avery is the first to confess that I have been bitten by the travel bug… badly. Raised by a menagerie of artists, creatives, scientists, researchers, biologists and botanists she is a lover of all things travel from basic tenting with creepy crawlies to lazing in luxury lodges. She is also passionate about many things and she loves taking audiences on a journey through her travel stories but her puppies will always remain her first love.

Live the life of Adventure

Publishing Editor ROBBIE STAMMERS robbie.stammers@anapublishing.co.za Art Director STACEY STORBECK NEL stacey.nel@anapublishing.co.za Design TARIQ CASSIM tariq.cassim@anapublishing.com Chief Sub Editor WALTER HAYWARD Advertising Sales Manager KEITH HILL keith.hill@anapublishing.co.za Advertising Sales Executive PETER SAVAGE-REID Office Manager SUSAN BALL susan.ball@anapublishing.co.za Financial Manager LISA DE VILLIERS lisa.devilliers@africannewsagency.com Social Media Platforms TACITA McEVOY from SocialMediaNow tacita@socialmedianow.com Editorial Contributors Graham Howe, Simon Capstick-Dale, Angus Begg, Matthew Holt,Sarah Kingdom, Gillian McClaren, Angela Williamson, Jacques Marias Photography Cover: Jacques Marias Graham Howe, Sarah Kingdom, Matthew Holt, Angus Begg, Grant Atkinson Cape Union Mart www.capeunionmart.co.za Marketing Manager: Odile Hufkie Printer RSA Litho Distribution Cape Union Mart stores MDA Distribution Media Support Services PUBLISHED BY

CEO, African News Agency (ANA): Grant Fredericks Physical address: 176 Main Road, Claremont, 7700, Cape Town Postal address: PO Box 23692, Claremont, 7735 Telephone: +27 (0) 21 683 0005 Website: www.anapublishing.co.za

No article or any part of any article may be reproduced without the prior written consent of the publisher. The information provided and opinions expressed in this publication are provided in good faith, but do not necessarily represent the opinions of Cape Union Mart (PTY) Ltd, Insights Publishing or the editor. Neither this magazine, the publisher or Cape Union Mart can be held legally liable in any way for damages of any kind whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from any facts or information provided or omitted in these pages, or from any statements made or withheld by this publication.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

Making tracks for others to follow.

Projecta’s tried and tested DC/Solar Dual Battery Charger revolutionised the world of Dual Battery Chargers, leaving others to play catch up.

Utilising state-of-the-art componentry, it has always handled both smart and conventional alternators with simultaneous solar and DC charging. Trust the innovators, not the followers.

You won’t believe what’s ahead.

Designed and tested in Australia; Ideal for African conditions

Projecta Intelli-Charge DC/Solar Dual Battery Charger • Easy installation & setup in vehicle or under the bonnet • Class leading operation up to 80˚C • IP67 rating – dust & water resistant • Shock & vibration proof • A host of safeguard features • Supports Gel, AGM, Wet and Calcium batteries • 3-stage charging for a safe, comprehensive charge

For more info visit www.projecta.com.au

Available from

CHARGING SYSTEMS PTY LTD. info@csaf.co.za T : 011 447 1370 www.csaf.co.za

J AC Q UES M A RA I S

edge

POSTCARDS FROM THE

Peter Van Kets is no ordinary adventurer. Peter has skied to the South Pole, completed a solo row across the Atlantic Ocean, sea-kayaked across Mozambique, and in his latest expedition Peter mountain biked from Angola to the coast of Namibia, which is over 1,200km!

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY JACQUES MARAIS

12

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

JAC Q UES M ARAI S

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

13

J AC Q UES M A RA I S

D

uring this epic ‘Beyond the Desert Edge’ expedition (which is a humanpowered expedition from the Angola border, via the Skeleton Coast, Hartmann’s Valley and the Namibian hinterland finishing in Walvis Bay), he joined forces with awardwinning photo-journalist Jacques Marais.

THIS IS THEIR STORY… “This is one of those tales of derring-do that came together over a good few years, and, of course, a good few cold beers”, explains Peter Van Kets. “Jacques Marais and I have bumped into each other, spanning over well over a decade now, both of us attending dozens of different adventure events taking place across sub-continent.

And every time we spoke, we said we should plan an expedition together.”

“It had to be something spectacular, and had to take us into terra-incognito”, Van Kets explains, “and together we decided on northern Namibia”.

Somehow their diaries were finally in sync earlier this year, and within a few months, Van Kets and Marais came up with ‘Beyond Expeditions’, a new brand aimed at having ongoing adventure

14

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

collaborations together.

The first of these would be ‘Beyond the Desert Edge’, and what an adventure it was to become! A world-first, this expedition would see them (with a logistics and support team) ride mountain bikes from Angola to the coast of Namibia. “To be honest, I did a lot less riding than Pete” admits Marais, “but then, my job was to capture the essence of this incredible journey, which meant being in the right place at the right time”.

In conjunction with the ace videographer, Peter Kirk, a key function was snapping high-quality photos, POV videos from a range of action cameras, plus traditional video and drone footage. Fortunately, the adventurers managed to garner exceptional support from main sponsors ‘Dunlop’, as well as from ‘General Motors’.

Part of their expedition focus was to test a new GrandTrek off-road tyre, flown in from the factory in Japan, before being fitted on Isuzu 4x4 vehicles. “This allowed our support team (brothers Peter and Graham Kirk), to stay in touch with us whilst we were riding through a region abundant with desertadapted elephants, lions and the black rhino”, Van Kets explains.

A financial contribution from ‘SPAR’ helped with key provisioning; ‘Wilderness Safari’ supplied in-depth desert knowledge and guiding; technical outdoor apparel

came from ‘Hi-Tec’; our human-powered means of transport, the never-say-die bicycles from ‘Giant’; as well as additional support from ‘Ciovita’ (MTB shirts); ‘HoldFast’ (Rack Systems); ‘Spot Africa’ (tracking); ‘DripDrop’ (Oral Rehydration Systems); ‘Bean There’ (coffee) and “Darling Brew’ (craft fuel).

Finally, at the crack of dawn on Monday, September 4th, 2017, the ‘Beyond the Desert Edge’ expedition set off from Serra Cafema, a breathtaking fly-in ‘Wilderness Safari’ tented camp on the Cunene River.

The journey from the Angolan border (which is approximately 1,200km), will take them through some of the most inhospitable terrains on planet Earth, where eventually they will finish in Swakopmund, Namibia.

“With our Isuzu KB’s in tow, we cranked

PREVIOUS SPREAD: Peter Van Kets at the entrance valley into the Kaokoland ‘Garden Route’ during the Dunlop ‘Beyond the Desert Edge’ Expedition THIS PAGE: The riders had to negotiate some serious dunes on their ascent out of the Cunene River, up against the Angola border OPPOSITE PAGE: The only people we encountered during the first five days were some Himba villagers, near Serra Cafema

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

JAC Q UES M ARAI S

the expansive dune fields to the south of the Cunene, and then crossed into the remote Hartmann’s Valley”, explains Van Kets. From here, the riders biked into the arid Namib desert interior, dog-legging via a rugged Damaraland moonscape on to Brandberg and Spitzkoppe, before finishing in the Dorob National Park, near Swakopmund.

As an adventure photo-journalist, Jacques Marais has shot many images in extreme locations around the world, including Outer Mongolia, Bolivia, Madagascar and Greenland, but this ancient desert posed a number of new challenges. “We were fortunate not to experience extreme temperatures as associated with the Namib, but the insidious dust proved a constant battle”.

Meanwhile, on the bike, PVK had to contend with soft sand and extreme rock in places. “To me, however, ‘Beyond the Desert Edge’ was more about natural exploration than ego-driven adventure”, says Van Kets. “Our route took us along the edge of an arid and fragile world, and we wanted nothing more than to share this incredible journey with everyone!”.

“It is impossible to capture the imagery and experiences that go hand in hand with an expedition such as ‘Beyond the Desert Edge’ in a single article. Instead, this article aims to focus on a few of the most incredible stand-out moments along the way.” Van Kets muses.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

THE CUNENE ASCENT “It was an immense war of attrition, even on our mega dik-wiel (thick wheel in Afrikaans) fat-bikes, we dueled head to head with sand dunes and the infamous Rocky Pass. Cranking – Pushing - Portaging.

Now and then being forced to drop our wheel pressure, whilst swearing…often, and thinking many times, God, if the whole ride is like this, we’re going to die in this desert! (Ok, maybe not quite that dramatic, but you get the gist).”

“I quickly realised I was totally unprepared for my fat-bike and was clearly going to have a hard time on the saddle’, Van Kets says. “The bike was new and I’d only spent a few hours in the saddle. I’m of the opinion one can get used to anything; I mean, how different can it be? How stupid that thought was though! I should have been the first to know never to use a new piece of kit on an expedition like this. In the end, I survived – with serious damage to my nether regions, and had to issue myself a few ‘Rule 40’s’ along the way!”

MEETING THE HIMBAS “Every now and then, a dune-face descent lifted our spirits though, and then, about 5km into the morning ride, we reached a small scattering of low mud huts, where local Himba people had set up a transient family kraal. The tribes live a very isolated life, with little to no contact with the

outside world.

We didn’t know it at the time, but this would be our last human contact for five days (outside of our communication with our expedition team, of course), until we reached the Hoanib River”, explains Van Kets. Marias goes onto explain, “Pete got one of the local boys up on his fat-bike, much to the delight of the kids, and we bought armbands to serve as a symbolic token to our passage through their amazing land.”

RIDING THE GARDEN ROUTE “The Sechomib River dust-lined (not sure what dust-lined is meant to be?) very close to the Skeleton Coast Park, and we cranked right along this this unmarked edge. Cue bleak, abandoned plains, illuminated by a watery sun orbing above the Hartmann’s ranges to the east. The area is known as the ‘Garden Route’ of Kaokoland, and is truly spectacular.

At first glance, it looked utterly devoid of life, but upon closer inspection, the landscape brimmed with flora. The green sheen we saw off the bikes were lichen fields, with millions of these ancient (and miniscule) botanical dinosaurs rooted amidst the profusion of rocks. Pete and I lost ourselves within the utter drama of the landscape, cranking off-piste via a succession of valleys, each more mindblowing than the one before”, explains Marais.

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

15

J AC Q UES M A RA I S

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Pedalling the arid Hoanib River; Ursus Major, or ‘Bear Rock’; Giraffes on the edge of the Skeleton Coast National Park; Sunrise in Damaraland

FINDING THE BEAR “We scrambled up onto pinnacle outcrops like desert dervishes, and gazed out in awe, across a huge valley, then we blasted our bikes back onto the curve and swerve created by the gemsbok hooves. Eventually, our route bombed into a scattering of stone-stacked outcrops, where a massive rock (shaped exactly like a bear) must have stood guard for countless aeons.

This proved a perfect spot to stop for a quick snack, and to listen intently, while our ‘Wilderness Safari’ guides shared their in-depth knowledge on the wild Kaokoland region. Their help in highlighting the plight of these delicate ecosystems we passed through, was critical to the success of ‘Beyond the Desert Edge’, as they helped us stick to existing tracks and tread lightly, thus minimising any damage to the fragile environment.” Marias says

INTO THE HOANIB “Pete set off on a solo mission to smash the final 20km into our Hoanib River camp, cranking on a sandy descents into the river course, studded with massive Ana trees and varied low vegetation.

The colours, even though subdued, look near-psychedelic to us after more

16

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

than four days of monochrome rock, sand and stone. A mother and baby giraffe arabesque across our path right where the desert edge lies alongside the river, and one can but marvel at how megamammals manage to survive out here in the arid heart of north-east Namibia.

In fact, were it not for these linear oases – blessed with giant trees and subterranean water, the desert would never be able to sustain either the herbivores or their associated predators.”

MEETING THE DESERT ELEPHANTS “There’s nothing we can do, except sit tight with bated breath as two of the magnificent larger bulls decided to investigate our camp and have lumbered over to the vehicles, sniffing inquisitively around them with their trunks held high.

They show off their impressive ear-flapping bravado, and then wander over to the massive old trees lining the bank, to continue grazing.

It is here where an incredible scene unfolds around us, with the bulls tip-toeing to reach the browsing line, less than 20 meters away from us. According to our ‘Wilderness Safaris’ guide, it is only the larger

elephants (and possibly giraffe bulls) who are able to reach the nutritious pods and lower leaves of these impressive riverine trees.”

CONTRIBUTING TO #CITW Both Van Kets and Marais are official ambassadors for ‘Children in the Wilderness’ charity, and part of the aim of ‘Beyond the Desert Edge’ will be to raise maximum awareness and funds for this charity organization, which is solely focused on sustainable solutions for conservation in wilderness areas.

LOCAL DONATIONS: Any donations from SA citizens will receive a tax-deductible 18A certificate: Account Name: Children in the Wilderness (Mkambati) Bank: Standard Bank Account Number: 023031735 Branch Code: 001255 Branch: Rivonia Swift code: SBZAZAJJ More information at www.childreninthewilderness.com

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

NO

CLIPPING YOUR WINGS ON THIS ONE

Photographs by Clipper Round the World Race, Kevin Sawyer, 5 Star Stories

JAN IN E AVE RY Combating 40, 000 nautical miles around the world sailing in high seas, where most participants have never even sailed before, Janine Avery talks to those crazy enough to take up the challenge

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

D

rifting back from a fitful sleep, you awake to find yourself on a 70 foot racing yacht in the middle of a storm, there are waves crashing against the hull and 20 people surround you but 40% of them have never sailed before in their lives and the rest have never done an ocean crossing; And it’s your job to lead them safely around the world. This is just another day for Capetonian Dale Smyth, the skipper on-board the aptly named ‘Dare To Lead’, a yacht participating in the “Clipper Round The World” race.

It’s a challenge like no other, and the brainchild of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world), the Clipper race is now on its eleventh edition.

This record-breaking 40,000 nautical mile yacht race is open to anyone crazy enough to take up the challenge. No previous sailing experience is necessary and individuals can choose to complete the entire circumnavigation or just compete in select individual legs. The organisers supply the vessels, with a qualified skipper and, this year, over 700 crew will take part over eight legs.

This includes people from over 40 nationalities, including 14 South African crew members split up amongst the boats. “Over the next eleven months, our crew and skippers will get to face everything Mother Nature can throw at them.

Upon their return they will have crossed many of the world’s greatest oceans. Very few people get to say that.” says Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.

In fact it’s a challenge that Smyth himself almost didn’t take on. “I actually didn’t intend to skipper this race. I was just doing a bit of training work for the Clipper race over some months earlier this year and suddenly ended up being asked to skipper at very short notice, so I’ve literally been thrown in at the deep end.

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind for me. Most of the skippers have been involved almost a year before and I jumped in a month before,” he says. But that was just the beginning of his gruelling adventure. The next step involved getting the 20 people on-board to get long, in difficult conditions, while sailing the boat as quickly as possible - it is a race after all. This involves an intense shift-based routine of six hours on, six off, followed by four hours on, four off. Each crew member also takes turns doing a 24 hour galley duty where you have to

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

19

J AN INE AV E RY

do the cooking and cleaning for all on board. “You should try cooking at a 45 degree angle for more than 20 people. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Eventually you just eat freeze dry because you can make it in the bag and you have a spoon to clean,” laughs Thomas Herbst, an engineer on-board team for Great Britain.

But the biggest challenge has to be getting a completely amateur team to sail around the world in these trying conditions. The team doesn’t really sleep much, the boats are very physical, any change in wind strength or direction requires a sail change, which is extremely labour intensive, and then there is cooking, eating, cleaning, sailing, navigating and of course making the boat go fast. “The performance of the boat, 24 hours a day, is our top priority. We are constantly working on that.” says Smyth. Braam Malherbe, a motivational speaker who is not shy about taking on a challenge; having run the entire Great Wall of China and rowing double-handed from Cape Town to Rio, says that, “The Clipper race is a phenomenal event of skill and endurance, particularly for the young people sailing.

They have guts and tenacity. For me, doing extreme endurance events demand purpose beyond ego. With the team embracing a common purpose and vision, one can achieve the seemingly impossible.”

In order to prepare for these tough conditions, all the crew endure four weeks of intensive training in England where they are taught how to sail these beasts and how to stay safe on-board. There’s a big focus on safety and making sure that each

20

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

crew member understands how the boat operates. “I have just completed my training. I feel tired, my back, my hands are in agony, but I will be fine. They say ‘no pain, no gain’.” Says David Marige Moroko (known as Sello), a 26 year old who grew up in a township and had never stepped foot on-board a boat or even seen the sea before signing up for the Clipper race.

After the training each race team is put together based on age, sailing level, skills outside of sailing, and what legs they will be participating in. “We have on our boat the youngest person in the fleet who has just turned 18, while the oldest competitor to date is 76. We’ve got engineers, we’ve got nurses, doctors, website and media people.

We’ve got a guy on our boat that drives trains on the underground in London. It really is a mix of people from all sorts of walks of life!” says Shona Davies, a Communications and Strategy Director who fell in love with the sport during varsity but hasn’t sailed since. In every port, each team loses or gains a handful of crew but always retains a core set of people who are doing legs around the world or back to back. “It’s good in a way, it brings a bit of freshness to the crew and there is always that core group that ends up carrying the ethos of the boat forward, but is nice to have people coming in and out.” says Smyth. It also means that before the race even starts, everyone has got to meet people across the various vessels. “We were lucky, we had a great team, we all got along really well, and you get to know people from each boat so when you step off the dock there is a great camaraderie.” says Herbst.

And it’s this idea to promote teamwork, determination and leadership skills that brought ‘Dare To Lead’ to sponsor a vessel, making theirs the first boat ever to promote an inspirational concept, rather than a brand or place. ‘Dare To Lead’ founder Dirk van Daele, who took part as a crew member in the Clipper 2009-2010 Race explains, “When a team of people from varied backgrounds – privileged or not, experienced or novice, of any age, race or culture, grows together through the unique challenge of the Clipper race, we believe that each individual participant will unlock their own potential to become a leader and a force for good in their personal lives, at work and in their communities.” Also on-board the ‘Dare to Lead’ boat is a number of ambassadors from the ‘Sapinda Rainbow Foundation’, which trains young and underprivileged South Africans to learn new life skills and encourages them to become leaders in their communities. Nqoba Mswazi is one such individual, returning to the race after competing in the 2013-2014 edition, with the aim to become the Clipper race’s first black skipper. “To be honest, I love PREVIOUS SPREAD, LEFT (TOP TO BOTTOM): The helicopter captures the Clipper Round the World Race fleet on their way to Liverpool for the race start; Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world and the brainchild behind the race; Dare to Lead, skippered

by Capetonian Dale Smyth, is backdropped by iconic Table Mountain just before the start of Leg 3 from Cape Town to Australia THIS PAGE: Onboard one of the boats on the stormy leg to Cape Town

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

Hike. Bike. Explore. the fairest Cape

THE MARINE

THE CELLARS-HOHENORT

THE PLETTENBERG

Hermanus, Whale Route

Constantia, Cape Town

Plettenberg Bay, Garden Route

Three unique hotels, oering exceptional experiences and celebrated cuisine in the fairest Cape, South Africa.

The Cellars-Hohenort in Cape Town’s leafy Constantia, The Marine in Hermanus and The Plettenberg in the idyllic Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route. These three iconic 5-star hotels exemplify South African hospitality and boast unique locations, memorable guest experiences and unrivalled service.

Whether visitors are looking for the ultimate escape to the great outdoors, a relaxing seaside escape or an action-packed family holiday, each hotel is perfectly located to suit the most discerning adventure seeker, with fynbos-covered mountains, dramatic seascapes, tangled forests and spectacular reserves - all within easy reach.

THE COLLECTION

by Liz McGrath

+27 21 794 5535 reservations@collectionmcgrath.com #MyMcGrath collectionmcgrath.com

J AN INE AV E RY

LEFT TO RIGHT: Onboard Dare to Lead on a media sail in Cape Town ; The fleet bids farewell in the parade leading up to the start in Cape Town

challenges because they help me grow and be the bigger person. The most important challenge is to be patient.

Patience is the key.” says Mswazi.

And perhaps Mswazi has hit the nail on the head, because when you throw a group of people in each other’s pockets for that period of time in a high stress situation, then people management, patience and self-motivation truly is the name of the game. “I think there is a lot of self-motivation that is required and I’m not going to lie, it gets tough when it’s cold and wet and the guys haven’t had much sleep. But I think everyone is pretty game and they’re here for the experience of their lives so they’re putting in the effort.” says Smyth. However not everyone makes it through and the crew tell stories of some people that sign up for the entire circumnavigation only to drop out at the end of the first leg, having had enough. “I think for a lot of them it’s quite an eye opener. It is very cold, very rough. Some of them thrive in the environment; some of them will probably never sail again in their lives.” continues Smyth.

Smyth and the leading boats reached Cape Town on the 18th of October after a cold, wet and rough second leg. ‘Dare To Lead’ arrived just 17 minutes behind the leader, after 14 days of racing, with South Africans on-board the first two teams. It was a tough leg which saw a number of calamities, including a collision with a whale for team PSP Logistics, resulting in them arriving just three days before they were due to set off again. “These teams have effectively been involved in a 3,500 nautical mile sprint, and keeping that level of intensity up for two weeks whilst racing across the South Atlantic is one tough test for any sailor. I have big respect for the effort put in by all the teams.”

22

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

says Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.

Janette Potgieter from Pretoria, a corporate investigator with no prior sailing experience agreed, “There are no words that can describe what we have just gone through. We have gone through 14 days of rough seas, high winds, light winds, laughter, a few tears! it’s an emotional roller-coaster but overall absolutely stunning.” The last three or four days would be the most exhausting, with a neck to neck sprint to the finish where one bad sail change or one wrong choice with your sail settings, by these amateur teams, can make all the difference to that podium position. But for Smyth, arriving in Cape Town was the highlight of his journey thus far, “This city is just incredible. Sailing in here, it has got to be the most breathtaking backdrop to a city in the world and it’s hard to beat. It really is just incredible.”

But he didn’t get to enjoy his home town for long because on the 31st of October, the boats set off again on the third leg. This leg will see the teams crossing the Southern Ocean on their way to Western Australia, a journey that will no doubt deliver some extreme and exhilarating sailing conditions. In fact, it has already proved to be a rocky leg for some, with team ‘Greenings’, who won the leg into Cape Town, running aground just off Cape Point, mere hours after the start, sadly ending the boat’s attempt at a circumnavigation. Derrick Levy, an ex-Springbok water-skier and owner of ‘Boating World’ (distributors of Jeanneau and Fountaine Pajot sailing yachts in Cape Town), saw the teams off at the start. Levy says, “It was quite a sight to see the boats set sail from Cape Town with Table Mountain flanking the yachts as happy crew waved enthusiastic goodbyes to all

those who had come out to support them.

These men and women may not be trained sailors but they have taken on a challenge like no other and are a true inspiration to anyone that loves the sea.

They will cross the most remote oceans on the planet, harnessing the power of the wind to get them where they need to go and we will watch with anticipation to see what happens next.”

FAST FACTS ABOUT THE CLIPPER RACE During the Clipper Round the World Race each team will have a single opportunity to play their ‘Joker’. The ‘Joker’ means that all points gained from the yachts finishing position at the end of the nominated race will be doubled.

Dare to Lead played their joker on the Uruguay to Cape Town leg, putting them in first place on overall standings at the end of that stage. To sail around the world, completing each stage of the Clipper Race, will set you back £49,500.00, while individual legs are priced between £5,500 and £7,000.

Tie every warp, line, sheet and halyard together from the Clipper Race fleet and the ropes will stretch for a massive 15 kilometres – that’s twice the height of Mount Everest. Even before the race has started the crews will have completed a combined total of almost 500,000 training miles. Sadly, the third fatality in the race’s 21 year history occurred onboard team GREAT Britain on the most recent leg between Cape Town and Australia. Simon Speirs was a highly experienced dinghy sailor and was given a sea burial by his team.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

ACCESS ALL YEAR ROUND! Travel to the top with Table Mountain Cableway’s CABLE CARD

Cable Card Holder Benefits: • Access to the Cableway for a year • One return trip per day, weather permitting • Avoid ticket office queue • Discounts on selected items at Shop at the Top and Table Mountain Cáfe • Quarterly e-newsletter ADULT: R640 | CHILD: R325 | ADULT & CHILD COMBO: R750 The Cable Card can be purchased from the Cableway Visitor Centre at the Lower Cable Station Rates valid until 30 September 2018

Tel: +27 21 424 8181 Email: info@tablemountain.net Tickets available at: www.tablemountain.net

MAT T HE W H O LT

24

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

M AT T H EW H OLT

THE BIGGEST BLACK

Hole Exploring the darkness of the world’s biggest cave is like being forgotten by time. Matthew Holt goes spelunking in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MATTHEW HOLT AND FIONA MCINTOSH

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

25

O

MAT T HE W H O LT

ur headlamps cast tiny pinpricks of light on the chamber walls, while all around was darkness. A gigantic stalactite – over 30m long and several million years old – cascaded down from the ceiling, like lava caught in mid-flow.

“The Dog’s Bollocks”, announced Watto proudly, puncturing the silence with his flat Yorkshire vowels that sounded straight from a Monty Python sketch. Strangely, the incongruous commentary made our expedition through Son Doong even more memorable.

Nha-Ke Bang National Park is a honeycomb of subterranean grottos, including the world’s biggest cave, Hang Son Doong.

First explored in 2009, “Mountain River Cave” was only opened to the public in 2013, with fewer people having visited it than have stood atop Everest.

We were staying at Chay Lap Farmstay, owned by the Vietnamese company Oxalis, which has the exclusive permit to run trips through Son Doong. We met our team at the safety briefing. In addition to Fiona and me, there were eight other punters, including a philosophical Romanian professor, a brash Vietnamese stockbroker and a mysterious, sexagenarian Czech, who had visited this region in the 1960s during the Vietnam War. There wasn’t

Several days earlier, Fiona and I had arrived in Son Trach, on the edge of the Annemite Mountains. It was classic Vietnamese scenery; finger-shaped peaks, slowly meandering brown rivers, water buffalo submerged in muddy pools and women in wok-shaped straw hats bent double in paddy fields. Add a guest house with a poolside bar and it was very pleasant, but we hadn’t come here to lounge about at ground level.

With underground rivers boring through the karst terrain, the Phong

much spelunking experience between us – but, beside a modicum of fitness, the primary qualifications were having a spare US$3000 (R41 000) and fast keyboard fingers, since Son Doong trips sell out within hours of being posted, a year in advance.

Our lead guide was Ian “Watto” Watson, a blunt but soft-hearted Yorkshire man, who’d potholed around the globe, despite looking more suited to fairground boxing.

Our retinue also included six assistant guides, two cooks, 20 porters and a

26

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

government ranger: while we faced several challenges on the trip, malnutrition and a lack of attention weren’t amongst them.

The next morning, our party slithered down a muddy trail into a deep gorge; the lush jungle alive with clouds of giant butterflies, with wings like book pages.

There used to be elephants and tigers too, but the main predator now was leeches, as we quickly discovered when tiny ticks stuck to our arms like Velcro, inflating within seconds to the size of fat slugs.

Reaching the valley floor, we followed the Rao Thuong River, criss-crossing from bank to bank. On the first crossing, we gamely attempted to boulder hop across; the second time, we faffed around, taking off boots; and the next dozen times, we

PREVIOUS SPREAD: On the boss on the lookout for dinosaurs.

THIS PAGE LEFT: The Dog’s Bollocks stalactite.

MIDDLE: Exploring Hang En above camp.

OPPOSITE PAGE: River crossing in Son Doong.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

M AT T H EW H OLT

just ploughed through, resigned to wet feet. We hiked for three hours on the first day, which was quite enough. Though we’d been in the country for several days, we still found the humidity draining.

We spent the first night in another cave, Hang-En, which was also in the speleological premier league. A modest head-high cleft opened up to reveal a huge chamber, replete with an underground lake, which served as our swimming pool. With candles flickering on the scalloped cave walls, and a dinner menu comprising papaya salad, coriander chicken, chilli beef and pork in peanut sauce, it felt more like an exclusive eco-hotel than a cave.

We were even serenaded by thousands

entrance to Son Doong was discreet and slightly menacing; a gash in the cliff plunging straight down into the underworld, with subterranean rapids roaring below.

It was discovered in 1990 by local hunter Ho Khanh, who, remembering tales of a mountain dragon, thought better of entering. Several years later, he divulged his discovery to some British cavers exploring the region – but, having whetted their appetite, tantalisingly couldn’t find it again till 2008.

The following year, a team of six British cavers, primarily from Yorkshire, came out.

Their journey to the cave was adventure enough, with snakes, poisonous spiders, giant centipedes, blood-sucking leeches

the incredible subterranean architecture.

There were giant stalagmites and stalactites over 70m tall; tiers of crystal clear rimstone gours, like infinity pools; and trays of cave pearls, the size of cricket balls.

Taking photos of them was like shooting a Hollywood movie, requiring precisely positioned tripods, perfectly still models, carefully choreographed flash lighting and multiple retakes – and we spent several hours capturing blurred images of features such as the Dog’s Bollocks and Hand of Dog. (First mapped by the pioneering British team, the cave’s prominent landmarks typically had irreverent names, which were sometimes witty puns on features in other famous caves, or other times plain rude.)

of swifts, returning to their nests at dusk, darting and diving above our heads. The magic began to fade, however, when we noticed splattering around us, forcing us inside our tents to shelter from the bombardment of droppings. And when we packed up the next morning, scores of baby swifts hopped pitifully about, dragging broken wings, having fallen from their nests high above.

Leaving Hang-En, we re-joined the Rao Thuong valley for a couple of kilometres and half a dozen more river crossings. The

and unexploded bombs from the Vietnam War. Despite several exotic injuries, however, they made it in and – over the next few years – progressively penetrated the cave, with several of the pioneers now working as lead guides for Oxalis.

While only 8km in length, we spent two days traversing Son Doong, staying at two campsites en route. There were several technical sections, including rock bands and river crossings, where it was necessary to set up belays and safety lines. But the primary reason for our leisurely pace was

At its most spacious, Son Doong measures over 200m high by 150m wide, outsizing Borneo’s Deer Cave as the world’s largest cavern. Inside, however, it was impossible to appreciate the scale, our headlamps making virtually no impression in the voluminous chamber. Comparisons of how many Boeing 747s or Saint Paul’s Cathedrals theoretically fit inside just don’t capture the sensation of being surrounded by so much dark, empty space. When I walked away from the group and turned off my torch, it was like being swallowed

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

27

MAT T HE W H O LT

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Cave pearls; heading up to the Garden of Edam; admiring stalagmites in Son Doong.

by a black hole.

While classified as a single, uninterrupted chamber, Son Doong is punctuated by two large dolines – or sinkholes – where the cavern’s ceiling has collapsed, leaving large mounds of debris on the floor and gaping holes in the roof.

The first doline was named “Look out for Dinosaurs” and, scrambling up the scree towards the light, I half-expected to see pterodactyls wheeling overhead. We emerged in a circular depression surrounded by 150m high cliffs, with a large calcite pedestal – or stal boss – illuminated in a shaft of morning sunlight.

The primordial atmosphere was snapped

28

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

when we found shrapnel from a bomb casement dropped by an American B-52, with Phong Nha-Ke Bang on the route used by the Vietcong to ferry troops and provisions to the frontline. After posing for photos on the stal boss, we clambered down the opposite scree slope back into darkness.

The second doline, a few kilometres on, was called “the Garden of Edam” (after the Garden of Eden in Deer Cave, which takes itself more seriously). Sunshine and rain entering through the hole in the roof had allowed a small jungle of luxuriant vegetation to thrive, and we had to barge through a tangle of trees and creepers.

Having camped just beyond the Garden of Edam, the following morning we came to an underground lake, 600m in length and sufficiently wide that our headlamps died in the void. Four small rowboats had been stored in the cave and we took turns paddling across, two to a boat, with a porter laboriously shuttling them back. The flat-bottomed, plastic vessels were as stable as wake boards, and it took some concentration not to flip. With just our faltering headlamps to guide us, it felt like we were crossing the River Styx – but my morbid musings were interrupted by a loud splash, when the boat containing the Romanian professor and Vietnamese stockbroker capsized.

Reaching the far side of the chamber, we moored and cautiously disembarked on to an aluminium ladder, which led on to a caramel-coloured cliff. Known as “the Great Wall of Vietnam,” this 90m high calcite band had repelled the first expedition and, till only recently, marked

the end-point for commercial trips, which then retraced their steps. Craning my neck, I could make out the headlamps of Watto and an assistant guide, perched on a ledge high above. Though the damp rock offered surprisingly good traction, I was grateful for the belay and fully appreciated the commitment of the first party to climb it, in the dark, not knowing where it led.

As it was, from the top of the wall, a bell-shaped ray of light led to an exit in the flank of the mountain, from where some fixed ladders and ropes took us down to the valley floor. A couple of hours later, we emerged from the jungle onto a tar road, to find our bus already waiting.

That evening, back at Chay Lap Farmstay, we celebrated with hot showers, fresh clothes and champagne. After all, life’s successes are fleeting. Son Doong is only the biggest known cave in the world for now, until someone discovers a bigger one – which might be tomorrow.

FACT FILE Entry to Hang Son Doong is tightly restricted. Oxalis, the sole licensed operator, runs weekly trips between February and August. The 4-day trip costs US$3000 and is limited to 10 clients. It requires a moderate level of fitness, but no prior caving experience.

Oxalis Adventure Tours | Jungle & Cave Trekking Tourswww.oxalis.com.vn Oxalis provides high quality cave and jungle adventure tours in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park & surrounding cave systems.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

the ultimate african experience At Nomad, we can make your every wish and dream come true if you are looking for an authentic experience in Southern or East Africa. No matter what your requirements are, give us the opportunity to make you an offer and then organise your holiday - it will be your best ever! As we have been operating in the industry for more than 20 years, we have strong connections with accommodation suppliers and we have built our own fleet of top of the range adventure trucks. You will not find a more professionally operated, locally based adventure touring company in Africa, so come and travel with us!

CAMPING TOURS

ACCOMMODATED TOURS

SMALL GROUP TOURS

Join us on one of our scheduled tours in our purpose built adventure trucks as there is no better way to have a truly unique and authentic experience in Africa! We provide all of the camping equipment, the guides, an exceptional itinerary, your transport and most activities and all you need to bring along is a great attitude and your willingness to join in and expect the unexpected.

Our scheduled accommodated tours are also operated on our purpose built adventure trucks and the only difference between these tours and our camping tours is that at night, you will sleep in 3 to 5 star accommodation that has been prebooked for your comfort.

All meals are prepared by your cook on tour and will be served from the adventure truck.

Our small group tours are offered in a camping and an accommodated option and the difference with these tours is that we only take a maximum of 12 guests on our 24 seater trucks. This means that each of our travellers enjoys their own double seat as well as their own window seat throughout the entire experience! This truly is the "business class" of adventure touring!

TAILOR MADE ADVENTURES Join us on safari in Africa with your friends and family! No matter what you require, whether it be a 5 star romantic honeymoon to a backpacking nature trail, we can organise it all for you. Whether your travel party is made up of 2 or 200 travellers, we'll design a holiday that fits your ultimate requirements, and we'll do it at a competitive rate to! Tell us your dream and we'll deliver it. Our team of well-travelled and dedicated individuals will provide you with a detailed itinerary, suggest accommodation, professional and friendly service and all the support you need to make travelling in Africa an absolute pleasure.

BIG ENOUGH TO COUNT. SMALL ENOUGH TO CARE

book your tour today T: +27 21 426 5445 E: nomad@nomadtours.co.za www.nomadtours.co.za

AN G US BE G G

THE LONGEST

HOLE

30

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

Taking golf to the extreme – adventure junkies Adam Rolston and Ron Rutland tee off in Mongolia and start a legendary golfing journey. By Angus Begg

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

31

AN G US BE G G

T

hey had been playing golf for 68 consecutive days. Much of Mongolia was behind them, and plenty lay ahead. While manoeuvring their 150kg golf bag through their second mountain range, adventure junkies Adam Rolston and Ron Rutland had plenty to think about, as Ron wrote at the time. ”What a remarkable journey thus far!

We have completed 16 836 strokes and covered a total distance of 1 626.7 kms.

We’ve now golfed over 1 200km (of the estimated 2 000km final hole length), in 48 of the 80 days planned, played 13 000 shots, and lost (only!!) 71 balls.”

Ron’s not new to this game of grown boy’s adventures. I know this because I interviewed him when he arrived in England in mid-2015 on a bicycle after his first expedition. Then bored with work, and if I remember correctly, life, in June of 2013 he had departed Cape Town on that same bicycle, zig-zagging through every country on the continent en route to Cairo before crossing to Istanbul and pedalling to Brighton, just in time to catch South Africa lose to Japan in the Rugby World Cup. Adam Rolston, a rugby-playing student then starting his studies in Product Design in Hong Kong, had followed Ron’s journey.

So when they met up in Kenya a few years later, Ron showing Adam’s rugby team the (African) ropes, they started planning an adventure.

They wanted to walk it, so it was to be about golf, and after a search of locations with no fences to get in the way, Mongolia was the unanimous choice. They decided they would make the adventure about “the longest hole”, and Mt Bogd Golf Club, a championship course outside Ulan Bator (Anglicisation of Ulaanbaatar), on the far eastern side of Mongolia, would be where they would sink the final putt.

As for the route to be followed, they enlisted an expedition company to help plot a route devoid of marshland, where the grass wasn’t too long.

32

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

They decided to tee off as far west as they could, the furthest distance from the hole while still being in Mongolia.

This turned out to be Khurten Peak in the Altai Mountains, bordering Kazakhstan to the west, Russia to the north, and China to the south.

From Hong Kong as a base, they flew the two hours to Ulan Bator, then to Olgii, from where it was five hours in a Russian jeep going west to the national park.

Then two camels and three horses to the base camp.

If that sounds rustic, it was about to get as backwoods rough as golf can get. But t o help draw attention to their swinging efforts they had received front page

PREVIOUS SPREAD, LEFT PAGE: (TOP) R on and Adam were looking for a place without fences.

(BOTTOM) This was no ordinary Par 5.

PREVIOUS SPREAD, RIGHT PAGE: (TOP) P ush me Pull me. Ron did the pulling, Adam pushed and swung.

(BOTTOM) With no factories and cities for most of the journey, they couldn’t have imagined clearer skies.

THIS PAGE: (TOP) U lan Bator, capital city of Mongolia, and the Mt Bogd Golf Club golf club.

(BOTTOM) L ow light was frequently extended on the Mongolian hole.

OPPOSITE: (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) Across plains and rivers and mountain ranges, through Mongolia they pushed, pulled and swung.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

AN GUS BEG G

recognition – official sanction from the European PGA to have their golfing tour de force across Mongolia recognised as one long hole.

Everything was to be by the book, starting with an official tee-box set up on Khurten Peak. “Adam played the hole exactly like golf”, said Ron, “dropping out, whenever the ball vanished into long grass or water… entirely within the rules.”

By now, Ron was an experienced, can-do traveller. “I designed a cart (weighing 150kg), like a horse and trailer.

Carrying plenty of water, up and down steep passes. I would haul, Adam would push, hit the ball, run ahead, come back.”

A low handicap golfer playing off

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

what he thinks is a 2 or 3 handicap, Adam says they had developed that system out of necessity.

“We were a bit naïve thinking we could hit 140 yard shots and find the ball. So Ron would go ahead 40 or 50 yards, I’d basically aim for him, and he’d find the ball.”

Adam says that when they headed into the Gobi desert after seven or eight days, the landscape flattened out, and they could change clubs.

“Our optimum was a 7 or 8 iron (to keep sight of the ball), and although I was playing with a backpack, after 2/3 days I got used to it and adapted to the swing, punching the ball here and there”.

Blisters apparently were no big deal.

“I wore gloves for first three weeks… then the body adapted, my hands got harder, and I stopped using them.”

The biggest hassle for Adam was the terrain.

“As much as I was playing the shots, I was helping Ron get the 150kg cart up the humps and easing it down the bumps on the other side.” The Irish-born Hong Kong resident said it took two weeks to get to Khovd, Mongolia’s western-most city.

“It was flat and dry, the cart was heavy, the route was hard to negotiate.”

The next stretch was 850km to the city of Bayan Khongor, and with Ron carrying ankle and hip injuries by this stage, their pre-planning with the local guiding expert

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

33

AN G US BE G G

LEFT: Seats were rarely seen, so when a couch was found it was welcomed.

BELOW: The support was amazing

Many sports involve balls, and of the 400 the pair had had dropped strategically across Mongolia, they lost 135. Not bad for a long hole with its fair share of obstacles. paid off; they pretty much knew what was ahead of them, with every river-crossing, mountain and valley plotted on their GPS. After the desert, the 8 iron and the custom-made golf cart swung and hauled their way into the mountains and valleys of Khangai, the country’s tourism drawcard, known for its pristine forests. The cold of the central Asian autumn was creeping closer, but all was going to plan, albeit with a few changes – they’d been joined by a dog, “UB” (after Ulan Bator) – and challenges.

34

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

Beyond fully laden carts, golfing up and down treacherous and rocky mountain passes and trying to avoid the midday desert heat, Ron said there were a few buggers.

“For me at least, it was difficult being a vegan in one of the most carnivorous countries on the planet, battling swarms of mosquitoes, and the general fatigue and aches and pains brought on by the sheer volume of work required to complete the expedition before our visas expire.”

Something they forgot when Adam sunk the ball at Ulan Bator’s Mt Bogd Golf Club.

As with any adventure, the Longest Hole had extreme highs and some testing lows. Ron says it will be hard to forget.

“The highs of being able to walk across time zones of a country as vast as Mongolia and truly experience some of the most awe-inspiring landscapes imaginable.

Night after night of sleeping under cloudless skies… free of light-pollution, having ‘conversations’ and interactions and meals with generous and warm locals, meeting people from all over the world living life via adventures of their own, and the joy in some small way of spreading the gospel of golf and sport in general.”

Many sports involve balls, and of the 400 the pair had had dropped strategically across Mongolia, they lost 135. Not bad for a long hole with its fair share of obstacles.

Ron said the hurdles he encountered on his two-year cycle through Africa helped to prepare him for the unexpected presented by central Asia, but that he was grateful for the company on this trek.

“Parts of Africa, especially the Sahara desert, had a similar impact on me, but Mongolia felt as remote as anything I’ve experienced in life.”

Adam and Ron would admit that overcoming the hurdles presented by this adventure was the first prize, but they will feel good about the $20 000 (R291 000) raised for Laureus Sport for Good and the SA Golf Development Board*.

And for the brief companionship they shared with UB, their temporary Mongolian dog. *which will hopefully put clubs and tuition in the hands of deserving youngsters.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

CALVARY Latin word meaning “place of the skulls�

This is my craft ~ It represents honoring the animal after its dead, seeing the beauty in its remains and maintaining respect for the life that has been... and giving it "new life". Its also a reminder that we only live once.

My skulls will be appreciated by the interior decorator, hunter, collector and animal lover alike.

All my skulls are unique, because it is hand carved with the utmost love and care - not one design will be the same.

The complete finished product can be purchased or send me one of your skulls to be carved. It will get packaged and couriered to you anywhere in South Africa.

Please send an email if interested or contact me on my cellphone.

I trust that as an owner of one of my skulls, you will appreciate this ancient art of bone carving, as much as I did making it.

Artist: -Yolandi Diesel-

Email: calvaryskulls@gmail.com Cell: 072 665 7041 Facebook: Calvary Skulls Instagram: Calvary Skulls

permitting WEATHER

THE MOST REMOTE ISLAND IN THE WORLD PHOTOGRAPHS BY GRAHAM HOWE, BEN DILLEY, TREVOR GLASS

GRAH AM H OWE

Graham Howe visits Tristan da Cunha for The Intrepid Explorer. Every documentary gives this island a new sobriquet - “an ocean away from anywhere”, “the forgotten island”, “a step out of time” and “further than the furthest thing”

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

W

e were heading to the most remote inhabited island in the world.

Four days’ sail from the nearest mainland, Tristan da Cunha is one of the last outposts of the British Empire. Stranded alone in the midst of the South Atlantic, the Tristan archipelago lies midway between Africa and America, 2 800 kilometres from the Cape of Good Hope and 3 950 kilometres from the nearest landfall in Argentina.

For many passengers aboard Le Lyrial, our Ponant expedition ship, Tristan da Cunha was the Holy Grail on their world traveller’s bucket-list. None of the crew, passengers or expedition leaders had ever visited Tristan before. Captain Remi Genevaz, our experienced Antarctic navigator, knew he was in big trouble if the notorious big swells of the roaring forties prevented us from landing. A few passengers had tried to land before, been defeated by bad weather and come all this way to try again.

Expectations grew steadily on our three week expedition cruise around the peri-Antarctic islands of the Southern Ocean. After four days at sea from South Georgia, Tristan materialised like an apparition in the great infinity of the Atlantic. We were all out on deck the day we arrived, anchoring off Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, the isolated settlement which lives in the shadow of the mighty volcano.

Every documentary gives this island a new sobriquet - “an ocean away from anywhere”, “the forgotten island”, “a step out of time” and “further than the furthest thing” (Zinnie Harris’ award-winning 2002 play about Tristan).

But the swell at high tide was way too big. We watched the drenched crew do a test run and ride the gauntlet through the rocky entrance of the harbour. The captain informed us that the island authorities had refused permission for us to disembark by zodiac until the sea subsided. A wet chief islander and customs officers came on board to stamp an albatross and a volcano in our passports. The post office staff came aboard to sell stamps, postcards and

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

37

GR A HA M H OW E

handcrafts to the waiting passengers.

We were the first ship to call at Tristan da Cunha in 2017 in late March. I chatted to Ian Lavarello, the chief islander, who gave me his business card, adding, “It’s a real collector’s item!” So are the first-day covers which depict the fascinating maritime history of Tristan over two centuries - the tall ships, shipwrecks, royal mail ships - and even the “potato stamps” from the days when the islanders used their precious potatoes as currency, and three spuds were worth two cigarettes or thruppence.

Discovered by Portuguese sailors in 1506, Tristan is named after Admiral Tristao d’Acunha - and was first settled by Britain in 1816 as a strategic garrison in the South Atlantic. While we waited for the swell to subside, Le Lyrial circumnavigated the steep circular volcanic island of 96 square

38

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

kilometres to see curious local landmarks like Deadman’s Bay, “Pigbite”, “The place where the goat fell off the cliff” and “The minister lost his things”! Shrouded in cloud, the volcano’s cone, St Mary’s Peak, towers 2 060 metres above a brooding island with sheer black cliffs that fall into the sea.

Covered in ferns, lichen, moss and tussock grass, the slopes are green and lush.

The entire island population (290) was evacuated overnight in October 1961 after the volcano erupted, creating a new smaller cone next to the only settlement on Tristan. Two years later, once the volcano had subsided, almost every islander voted to return to their paradise instead of staying on “as free as a bird in a cage” in England. They yearned for the freedom of the island they had lost. Today there are still around 290 inhabitants -

mostly descendants of the eight original families who first settled in this lonely outpost in the 1800s, as well as expatriate medics, consultants and scientists.

I was the only passenger who had visited Tristan before. I first explored the island in 2000 on the royal mail ship, accompanying the governor of St Helena on his annual tour of duty to see how the Queen’s loyal subjects were doing. Tristan is a British overseas territory - comprising the far-flung Atlantic islands of Ascension, St Helena, Gough and the Tristan archipelago. (On our Ponant expedition cruise in March 2017 we also visited two other former crown colonies - South Georgia and the Falklands.)

I spotted a plume of smoke and assumed either the islanders were welcoming us with smoke signals - or their legendary volcano had come back to life.

But it was simply Friday, garbage collection day - and the Tristanians were burning organic rubbish in the lava field. By midday the swell had subsided and we went

PREVIOUS SPREAD: (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT): The Tristan Group: Islands off islands: Stoltenhoff and Middle Islands; Cradle of marine birdlife: Nightingale Island, south-west of Tristan da Cunha.

THIS PAGE: (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT): Edinburgh of the Seven Seas: Living in the shadow of the 1961 volcano; Welcome ashore! Tristan da Cunha is a long way from anywhere; Whale Weathervane on St Joseph’s Catholic Church.

OPPOSITE PAGE: (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT): Permission to land: Coming ashore by zodiac boat from Ponant expedition ship, Le Lyrial.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

ashore by zodiac tender, waiting for the right wave to surf through the narrow entrance to a harbour smaller than Kalk Bay. At least I didn’t have to do an Indian rope ladder trick three decks down the side of the royal mail ship in a big swell like the last time I visited.

“Welcome to the remotest island” says the proud sign at the gateway to Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, the main settlement on the only flat, inhabitable plain. One of the few rusting road signs points to destinations like London, Cape Town and St Helena, thousands of kilometres away - while another shows “the route west”, the road to the potato patches and runaway beach a few kilometres away by bus or car. The only speed sign says 40 kph/25mph on the only road which often has a speed-trap.

Most of the walls around the whitewashed bungalows - once thatched with the flax grown on the island - are made from the black volcanic rock of the lava flow. The old longboats used on fishing trips lay drying alongside the lobster-pots and fishing nets. Harold Green, one of the devout islanders evacuated as a child after the eruption in 1961, told us, “God’s arm reached out and protected the settlement from the volcano”.

After spending days at sea getting there, we enjoyed a walkabout on terra firma chatting to the earthy islanders and patting the many sheep dogs which lay warming in the sun on top of the walls. We met the chief island accountant who was manning the albatross bar in Prince Phillip Hall the day we visited, as well as the women selling

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

curios, stamps and t-shirts. A few passengers shot pool and tried a round of golf on the most remote course in the world on a cow pasture with cowpat hazards!

The islanders were as friendly, hospitable and earthy as ever - and still speak in their plumy, rounded ye olde Georgian seafarer’s way rather like the Saints of St Helena. Most keep a big shed at the bottom of their lush gardens where they keep their staple potatoes harvested in the patches nearby - marked on my

island’s coat of arms features four albatrosses, two lobsters and a tall sailing ship. Their motto is “Faith is our strength” - and the Anglican and Catholic churches co-exist side by side. I spotted an unusual southern right whale wind-vane on St Joseph’s Catholic Church.

At the post office, I asked whether my hosts on my first visit, Ricky and Amanda Swain - descendants of one of the original Tristan families - were still around. I was directed to bungalow #20 (no street

Unmarried women on Tristan used to pray for shipwrecked sailors to wash up here French map as “carres de pommes de terres” (meaning “apples of the earth”). The patches also double as a weekend getaway when you’ve had enough of the bright lights of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas! I spotted a rockhopper penguin waiting at the island’s only bus-stop.

At the end of the potato harvest in May, the islanders still celebrate Ratting Day when they compete to catch the most rats.

One of the world’s most unusual public holidays. Tristanians are very self-sufficient and share in the profits of the main crayfish industry - the men doing the fishing and the women running the factory. The

name). We were soon catching up on the island grapevine with Ricky, who offered me a box of legendary Jasus tristani crayfish (Tristan rock lobster) to take back home to Cape Town. He brought us up to speed on all the changes catapulting the island into the twenty-first century. Tristan now has free satellite phones, television, the Internet and a postal code, 150 vehicles (on ten kilometres of road) and a new hospital. Tristan is connected to the outside world.

The quaint museum on Tristan has genealogy charts showing the lineage of the eight families of Tristan, particularly the Glass,

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

39

GR A HA M H OW E

LEFT: One day you’ll have eyebrows like mine: Northern rockhopper penguins in the Tristan archipelago INSET: A Molly by any other name: One of 5000 pairs of the rare yellow-nosed albatross which breeds on Nightingale Island RIGHT: Birdwatcher’s delight: the Tristan bunting, one of the rare endemic species on the South Atlantic island.

Green, Hagan, Rogers, Swain, Squibb, Repetto and Lavarello families (the latter descendants of shipwrecked sailors who mixed Italian blood into the Tristan gene pool). We came across the surnames of many of the first settlers buried in the old cemetery.

Unmarried women on Tristan used to pray for shipwrecked sailors to wash up here - and widows and orphans were once sent over from Britain via St Helena - who got the pick of the mail ship brides!

Inspector Conrad “Connie” Glass, the chief constable of Tristan, sailed with us back to Cape Town on a rare break from the island. He is a direct seventh generation descendant of Corporal William Glass of Scotland, who founded Edinburgh in 1816 when he started a garrison on the island to guard the South Atlantic from any surprise French attack to free Napoleon Bonaparte exiled on St Helena. He told me, “The Internet has opened up the world for Tristan. But religion is still the backbone of the island. Tristan is like one big family. We share a sense of belonging and kinship.”

Connie Glass is known as the rockhopper copper after the title of his 2005 memoirs.

The Tristan archipelago is famous for its penguins - and as “the world’s loneliest police beat”. (Tristan inspires superlatives.) At a book signing on board Le Lyrial, Connie quipped, “I’ve been trying to copy (the wild yellow tassels) of the rockhopper hairstyle. That’s why they call me the rockhopper copper!”

The 56-year-old was one year old when Tristan was evacuated. Awarded the MBE in 2011, he wears many caps as ex-chief

40

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

islander, mediator, conservationist, top cop and author.

Adverse weather conditions prevented us from landing at any of the other four uninhabited islands in the Tristan archipelago. We circumnavigated Inaccessible Island - forty kilometres south-west of Tristan - a foreboding island of 18 square kilometres ringed by steep cliffs that live up to its name. A UNESCO world heritage site, it is the only nesting site in the world of the spectacled petrel and Inaccessible Island rail, the smallest flightless bird in the world (at 15 cm). The birdwatchers were all out on deck, trying to catch a glimpse of these rare birds.

A thirty kilometre knot wind prevented us from landing on Nightingale Island (260 hectares) - home to a rare colony of northern rockhopper penguins, yellow-nosed albatross and sub-Antarctic fur seals. The islanders do a lot of conservation work here - and maintain a few cabins. The last fatting day - another unusual Tristan public holiday - was on Nightingale Island in 2001. The islanders used to come over in traditional canvas and wood longboats to collect guano, penguin eggs and “mutton birds” (shearwaters) for rendering down to fat.

Those days are gone for good.

The Tristanians stopped harvesting penguin eggs after a shipwreck in 2011

caused an oil spill off Nightingale, threatening the rockhoppers - which led to a massive South African-led clean-up. The islands are a key breeding site for sooty and yellownosed albatrosses (aka “mollys” by islanders), great shearwaters, terns and broad-billed prions. The naturalists on board Le Lyrial were delighted to spot the rare endemic species of the Tristan archipelago - the Tristan thrush, Tristan bunting, Tristan skua and Gough moorhen - and five species of petrel (Atlantic, soft-plumaged, greatwinged, grey and spectacled). Tristan is a cradle of life for migratory birds.

We had a four day passage to Cape Town on a sea as smooth as glass. After a while, the wandering albatrosses and petrels stopped following in the ship’s wake as if they knew we were safely headed home. For three weeks, we had listened only to the waves, the cries of penguins and petrels, the bark of seals, and the songs of all the sea-birds of the South Atlantic. Our Ponant expedition voyage to remote islands off the map was extraordinary. We had sailed all the way from the tip of South America to the tip of Africa, rounding Cape Point in the manner of the maritime explorers of old. * Graham Howe was a guest of Ponant, a luxury cruise expedition company - for north and south polar itineraries see www.ponant.com. The next annual voyage from Ushuaia to Cape Town via the Falklands, South Georgia and Tristan da Cunha is from 3-24 March 2018. For bookings, contact Development Promotions in Jhb - www.devprom.co.za, tel: 011 463 1170.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

Danimex SA Holding (Pty.) Ltd. Unit 20, 7 on Mastiff Road, Linbro Business Park, ZA-Johannesburg 2090, South Africa

• (O) +27 – (0)10 596 7135 • Mail: sales@sadanimex.co.za • www.danimex.com

SIMON C A P S T I CK - D A LE

From

ONE Blouberg to the

NEXT 42

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

S IM O N C AP S T IC K-DA LE

Time off work for Willie Richards is spent conquering South Africa’s lesser-traversed terrain by bicycle, canoe and on foot. His latest endurance dare took him 1700km from Namibia to Cape Town in aid of animal welfare, and it doesn’t seem he’s about to hang up his boots any time soon.

By Simon Capstick-Dale

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

43

SIMON C A P S T I CK - D A LE

S

ince the adventure bug bit on his maiden 500kmPlus challenge in 2015, the 41-year-old Capetonian has been testing his mettle cross-country and fundraising for local charities. Willie started small – his words, not mine – when he ran, cycled and paddled a distance of 581km from Mossel Bay to Franschhoek. Funds raised on his first 500kmPlus adventure went to Tin Can Town and assisted impoverished communities in Blikkiesdorp. Next up was the 511km journey along rugged West Coast, which was in aid of pet rescue organisation Fallen Angels. After that came his 646km pedal-powered expedition along the dusty R355 from Kleinsee to Ceres.

But for endurance athletes like Willie, it’s never quite enough, is it?

Eager to up the ante on his most recent 500kmPlus challenge, Willie mapped-out a 1700km inland route between Blouberg in Namibia and its namesake in Cape Town – his family home. The distance he planned to cover was too great to run, but “not challenging enough” (again, his words) to cycle the entire route.

And so the idea was born to complete an ultra-duathlon a day – for 22 consecutive days. With the bar now substantially raised, Willie began his usual pre-expedition routine. As Willie works on a field support vessel off the Angolan coast, most of his preparation usually happens within the confines of the ship. This time, however, he was fortunate enough to return home for two months of distance training – a luxury he hasn’t always had.

Willie chose non-profit welfare organisation African Tails as the beneficiary of his #whereswillie duathlon challenge and helped raise money for their mass sterilisation project in Mamre, an economically disadvantaged town in the Western Cape.

“We centralised funding through GivenGain, which helped to drive the project with African Tails and Rescue Rehab SA. The admin side of things being taken care of allowed me to focus clearly on my goal to run and cycle 1700km in three weeks,” says Willie.

Along with his two-man support team of Alfred Benz and Deon Maartens, Willie departed the rest camp at Buitepos on the Namibia-Botswana border on 13 October 2017. The endurance athlete aimed to cover 100km each day between their sunrise departure and mid-to-late afternoon arrival at each stayover. Willie typically began each stage with about 20km of running before a 70km cycle and another 10km on foot to the finish.

Where there was no pre-arranged accommodation, the team relied upon the goodwill of other people – often farmers – who permitted them to camp on their properties. In some towns, the affiliated charity organisations were able to arrange discounted or free accommodation for the team.

“Once we arrived at a stop, we would look around for somewhere to stay. If there was nothing available, we would find a farmhouse, knock on the door and ask if we could pitch our tents for the night. We were strangers, but every person we met was so accommodating and trusting of us.”

44

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

PREVIOUS SPREAD: (Left top to bottom): Willie’s upright running posture reflects his energy level at the start of the day’s 100km duathlon Pedalling out of the saddle for periods helped Willie to relieve his aching buttocks (Right top to bottom): Willie dons gloves and buff on a cold morning start along the R355 Long shadows alongside Willie on another lonely stretch of dirt road THIS PAGE, TOP: Willie takes a break for a photo opportunity 2km from the Buitepos border post THIS PAGE, ABOVE: Tough cycling leg with plenty flies (not pictured) near the corridor in Namibia THIS PAGE, BOTTOM: Camping at Chief Sofia Jacobs Primary School – an expedition highlight OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP: Willie blitzes down one of the few hard gravel roads on his 19-day journey OPPOSITE PAGE, BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT: Sunrise near Citrusdal on a chilly morning Willie cycles alongside a wind farm close to Darling, one day before arriving in Cape Town

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

S IM O N C AP S T IC K-DA LE

Multi-stage endurance expeditions of this magnitude demand of athletes immense physical and mental tenacity, no matter how great their preparation. The ultra-distances Willie covered repetitively were taxing on his body, mind and gear. He also endured temperatures in the mid-30s which occasionally reached 40 degrees Celsius and threatened dehydration.

“Conditions were extreme. Heat, wind, dust, rain – there was always something working against me. My backside was aching and blistered just three days after leaving Namibia. Lubricant helped for a while, but when that ran out I had to use cooking oil.

It was rough.”

By his own choice, 92% of the ground Willie covered between Namibia and South Africa was dirt road. Varied terrain – sand and

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

corrugated road – also made the going particularly tough while riding his specially-designed 11-speed hard tail mountain bike. But even having the right gear couldn’t always save Willie from shouldering his bike over tricky sections of the route. Thankfully, he suffered no serious spills, despite soft sand often causing him to lose control of the bike temporarily. A broken chain set him back on one occasion and a reoccurring flat meant he eventually had to replace the front wheel all together.

In these scenarios, Willie’s support team were on standby for assistance and to get him back on the bike without losing too much time. Tailing the man in a 4x4 from Namibia to Cape Town, it was not their first rodeo and these men offered encouraging words – or a laugh – when the athlete needed it most.

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

45

SIMON C A P S T I CK - D A LE

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: an Janisch (bike builder and friend), Rob Labuschagne (friend), Deon Maartens (support team and friend), Tyron Maartens (Deon’s son) and Willie Richards. Alfred Benz (support team and friend) not pictured Children from Mamre Primary School are pleased to welcome Willie into town Willie’s son Liam Richards accompanies his father for the last stretch of his 1845km journey

on for about 20km.”

The most debilitating section of the 19-day expedition came in the final week once they had crossed into South Africa and Willie was faced with three brutal mountain passes. Four consecutive days of severe headwinds sapped his energy, adding to the compounded fatigue that had already taken its toll on the man’s body.

Despite the elements working against him, Willie arrived in Cape Town on 31 October, 19 days after leaving Namibia – and three days ahead of schedule.

Running onto the beach in Big Bay and met with warm embraces from his family members, Willie had covered a total distance of 1 845km, having run 571km and cycled 1 274km.

Although he cannot say for certain just yet, Willie be the first to complete 19 consecutive Olympic-length duathlons.

Answering the inevitable question about where his next 500kmPlus expedition will take him, Willie doesn’t know where he might end up, but is certain he will get there solo and unassisted.

“I love my support crew and I could never have achieved any of this without them. But the next step is to remove the safety net and have nobody around to help me.”

Multi-stage endurance expeditions of this magnitude demand of athletes immense physical and mental tenacity, no matter how great their preparation.

“Alfred and Deon are long-time friends of mine and we have a few trips behind us already, so it gets easier every time.”

Willie has some particularly fond memories reflecting on his most recent 500kmPlus expedition. He recalls arriving at a boarding school in the Motsomi area, where the caregiver offered up their grounds for the night and the children made the team feel very welcome.

“The school kids were completely enamoured by us; playing, laughing and posing for photographs.”

In Koës – a village in south-eastern Namibia – the team was met with the magnificent sight of over thirty towering sand dunes rolling far into the distance.

“On the bike, it was a steep ride up each dune, but I was then rewarded with a fast downhill before another climb, which went

46

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

You can visit www.givengain.com/cc/whereswillie until 31 December 2017 and make a donation to African Tails in support of their mass sterilisation campaign in Mamre.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/africantails Twitter: @africantails Instagram: @africantails / @500kmplus

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

POWER FOR LIFE. CHARGING MOBILE CONNECTIVITY WITH BREAKTHROUGH SOLAR TECHNOLOGY

Fast-Charging

Portable

Durable

Waterproof

Made in the U.S.A

S U N S T R E A M E N E R G Y. C O M FIND OUR PRODUCTS AT

48

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

AN GEL A W IL L IAM S ON

from

para to dakar Joey Evans: A Journey Of Courage And Determination. By Angela Williamson

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

49

AN G EL A W I LL I A M S O N

A

s I introduce myself to Joey Evans, I am immediately met with a vibrant smile and a heartfelt demeanour that instantly inspires me.

Knowing what I know about what Joey has endured over the past decade, which has been wrought with nothing but a very painful and difficult recovery, with Joey consistently defying all odds stacked up against him; It is almost unfathomable to believe that this incredibly enthusiastic, strong, positive and determined man, is a man that was told in 2007 that he would never be able to walk again.

It is Saturday, 13th October 2007 at the Heidelberg Hare Scramble. Joey is lining up at the start of the race with his fellow riders, “I got on my bike, put my goggles on, checked my petrol tap was open and did a kicks down on the starter of my KTM 300cc two stroke and it pinged away. I blipped the throttle a couple of times, squeezed the front brakes bouncing down on the front suspension, adjusting my helmet, and I was ready for action! Within minutes, I would drop the clutch, roaring off to a perfect start, and racing towards the end of my life as I had known it.”

Joey would not remember anything that happened next, however, the horrific accident was witnessed by his distraught

50

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

wife, Meredith who says, “Joey was one of the first few riders going into the initial corner about 100 metres after the start, when another rider crashed into his swing arm attached to his rear wheel and he was catapulted off his bike. He landed with the initial impact on the top of his head and then still at pace was flung like a rag doll through the rocky veld. Then in the reduced visibility of the thick dust, he was

PREVIOUS SPREAD: High altitude dune fields in Bolivia, Dakar Day 7 (photo cred: Gustavo Epifanio / fotop.com.br) THIS PAGE: (LEFT TO RIGHT): On parallel bars: Learning to walk in the parallel bars, with back slabs on my legs In wheelchair: In the hospital wheelchair At starting line: Just a couple of minutes before all hell broke loose at the Merzouga Rally final day mass start Close-up: Big smiles after completing the scrutineering at Dakar 2017 (photo cred: Jose Mariodias / fotop.com.br) OPPOSITE PAGE: Wide open racing down a sandy dry riverbed in Argentina Dakar Day 10 (Photo cred: Victor Eleuterio / fotop.com.br)

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

AN GEL A W IL L IAM S ON

Joey the determination to fight with all he had.

RIDE OR DIE In 2008 Joey felt he had hit rock bottom in his recovery process. With injury complications, illness and his muscles wasting away, things become extremely difficult to cope with. “The support from Meredith, our beautiful girls, Kayla, Jenna, Tyra and Shawna, our family and friends never wavered and I persisted with my determination to make a full recovery.”

Although facing his toughest challenges, Joey began to get more and more movement in his legs. Every day from that day onwards was a constant struggle, however, with intense physiotherapy and Joey’s dream to ride again, a year later, in 2010 he would be walking unaided and riding on his own again.

Joey went on to enter small scale races where for most he was time-barred for only ever completing one lap but for Joey, as he recalls after his first race, “My eyes

ridden over by some of the other riders. I started running as fast as I could over the uneven field, panic-stricken, thinking NO, NO, NO, this cannot be happening!”

Joey would have an agonising three hour wait before reaching the hospital.

When finally, on route and drifting in and out of consciousness, he would spit out pieces of broken teeth and mouthfuls of blood having ripped his tongue apart, he would have twelve teeth shattered in total.

His head had begun to swell which was a sure indication of a brain injury, and with his helmet off on impact, during the accident, this was a major concern.

However, nothing had prepared Joey or his family for the news that he would never be able to walk again.

Joey recalls, “In my mind, the worst case scenario was six weeks without riding, because that’s how long it took for a bone to heal. I really had no idea (what the terms quadriplegic or paraplegic meant) and it was probably just as well. I often

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

filled with tears, I was covered in dirt… my body ached, my hands were blistered and my wrists throbbed. But that day, after only finishing one lap, I had won the race.”

And so Joey continued to compete, and eventually in 2012 he entered the Botswana Desert Race, and this would be his first two-day event since the accident.

Joey’s Dakar dream was becoming more of a reality when he managed to complete the Amageza (meaning “crazy people”) rally, which was a Dakar-Style Race previously (although no longer) held in South Africa, where many riders would use this race as prep for the Dakar. After a gruelling three-day race, and what initially started off with 47 riders, only 16 managed to complete the race, and Joey finished 5th overall.

Joey realised then that despite his own physical limitations, Dakar was no longer a distant dream. “All I needed was to believe it was possible; I would fight to make it real.” Meredith was constantly at Joey’s side prompting him to remain 100% “in the game” and focused, and through persistent

work, courage and determination, things began to gain momentum.

The Dakar is a beast in itself for various reasons; first and foremost, you need to be 100% physically and mentally fit to endure the hostile desert terrain for anywhere between 14-22 hours of riding a day every day - for two whole weeks; often riding at altitudes of 5,000 metres. And all this whilst only getting a few hours’ sleep a night.

Secondly, financially, the entry fees are bonkers. R240,000 entry fee (and that is before flights, accommodation, your team truck, the mechanic and the mechanic’s entry fee). All in all, once all calculations are done, R1.1 million is needed to enter, and that excludes the R500,000 rally bike!

In late 2016, Joey, his family and friends rallied together to begin raising money in order to make Joey’s Dakar Rally dream come true! Through Joey’s ongoing campaigning, fundraising, the generosity of friends, supporters and the public, Joey and team managed to raise an incredible R1,100,000!

think, looking back now, that if I had known the challenges the future held and what this type of injury meant, it would have been too heavy a burden to bear.”

accept it though; there was no way I wouldn’t walk again. I didn’t get angry or upset; I just simply didn’t believe it.”

Through intense emotional turmoil, mental setbacks and physical challenges, Joey kept on with determination and grit.

Full recovery would take 10 years, with 51 nights in hospital, 350 physio sessions, endless hours in the gym and 30,000 kilometres of track training.

Throughout the long excruciating nights in hospital, with hundreds of hours of rehab and recovery time, Joey never stopped dreaming about one day racing the Dakar Rally. The rally sees a route carve out from Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal on the West Coast of Africa. A race that is 1,000 kilometres long crossing over the Sahara Desert and through some of the harshest terrains in Africa.

Although Joey knew the stark reality he faced, his dream of racing again would never be too far from his thoughts, and in many a dark moment, this dream gave

BEGINNING AT THE END After being transferred to the Spinal Unit at Muelmed Hospital in Pretoria, Joey learned the full extent of his injuries. He had severe head trauma as well as swelling, and he had 12 twelve broken teeth. Joey had also broken the T8 and T9 thoracic vertebrae in his back. Which had separated from his ribs, crushing his spinal cord, leaving him completely paralysed from the chest down. Surgeons suggested they fuse his T8 and T9 to stabilise his back and to relieve the pressure from his spinal cord, but again, reiterated that if they managed to stabilise his thoracic vertebrae, Joey would still have less than 10% chance of ever walking again. “The surgeon was more ‘straight-out’ than previous doctors, which I really appreciated. I couldn’t

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

51

AN G EL A W I LL I A M S O N

LEFT: The Dakar finishers podium, a dream come true (Photo cred: Marcelo Machado / fotop.com.br) RIGHT: At the Dakar finish with one hard earned medal, Buenos Aires, Argentina (Photo cred: Andre Chaco / fotop.com.br)

CONQUERING MERZOUGA

LIVING THE (DAKAR) DREAM

A race leading up to the Dakar, that will forever stick firmly in Joey’s mind was the May ‘16 Merzouga Rally in Morocco, North Africa. This is a six-day event, racing more than 1,000km of beautiful but gruelling tracks, whilst crossing through the Sahara Desert. Merzouga is known to be one of the most difficult races, with many riders unable to complete the rally every year.

11 stages, 12 days, 150 bikers. Each stage would push riders beyond their own limits, through blood, guts, determination, sweat and tears!

By stage five, 30 riders were out, and although Joey had sustained a torn ligament in his knee, was already finished emotionally and physically, he kept pushing through. Joey recalls: “Memories

Within minutes, I would drop the clutch, roaring off to a perfect start, racing towards the end of my life as I had known it.”

In order for Joey to get an entry into the Dakar, he would need to ride the entire Merzouga route, without any penalties, finishing in pro-class. But there were still concerns, and valid ones at that, “The limitations still played heavily on my mind, and I became concerned. What if I fell in the desert and I couldn’t push the bike off me? Not being able to sweat below my chest meant my body’s cooling system only half worked… I knew this could be fatal. But it was too late to worry about that now, I was officially ‘all in.” Joey finished 39th out of 58 riders, and this meant he had a ticket to Dakar!

52

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

came flooding back of the injuries I had sustained. I knew the risks before I came in and, as harsh as the reality was, I needed to suck it up, so I put it all in the back of my mind and focused on getting to the finish.”

Stage after stage, day after day, the punishing race was wearing all the riders down and by end of stage ten, another 13 riders were out.

THE SOUL RIDER The final two stages saw Joey’s clutch giving up the ghost and Joey being forced to push his bike approximately 20 kilometres to the bivouac, a near fall down a 1,800 vertical

drop and a car crushing his bike, missing Joey by inches, only to drive off leaving Joey’s dreams crushed right alongside his own bike. “I had been fighting to keep it together for days, the pain and the fatigue had been eating at me and now it just spilled over. The tears streaming down my raw dusty cheeks just as I had cried nearly ten years earlier, alone and paralysed in the hospital bed that night. Everything I had worked towards and poured my life into for the past year, was gone.”

Somehow miraculously, Joey came across an abandoned KTM Rally replica in perfect condition, and realising the rider had been airlifted to hospital already, he stripping the bike down to use the desperately needed parts. Joey was back on the road - with a battered body and bike.

“I would like to say that I thought about many things that night, but my mind was consumed with trying to stay alive, navigate the track and reach the bivouac. I fought physical obstacles the track laid out ahead of me. I fought the pain as my failing body hurt and cramped with each metre. I fought the urge to push the button on my bike that would bring a swift rescue. I fought the race that is designed to expose every flaw and every weakness and leave you short of the finish”. Concluding Joey muses, “That day, I dragged a broken body along with a broken bike across the finish line.”

Read Joey’s incredibly inspirational story in his published book “From Para to Dakar” which is out now - The book is available country-wide at Exclusive books and other top book stores. It’s also available via the website joeyevans.co.za.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

Valley Lodge & Spa in Magaliesburg, South Africa is a multi award-winning four-star country hotel surrounded by a nature reserve, interlaced by a pristine river and streams, which provide a home to indigenous vegetation and prolific bird life.

Scenically situated on the banks of the Magalies River and just an hour from the cities of Gauteng, Pretoria and Johannesburg, Valley Lodge offers superior accommodation with 76 well appointed suites in a majestic, indigenous garden setting. It is an ideal country escape from the city life to reconnect with nature or enjoy a romantic weekend. Its location near the city makes our lodge the perfect choice for conferences, special events, and business meetings with 6 Full multi-media conference rooms.

The established retreat’s elegant, well-appointed rooms are complemented by delicious cuisine and warm hospitality.

An added advantage for visitors is our hotel’s proximity to major attractions in the historic region of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and the world-renowned Sterkfontein Caves.

The hotel received four Platinum (Accommodation, Dinning, Conferencing & Spa) and one Gold Award (Spa Best Experience), as well as a Floating Trophy for Best Accommodation in the 8th West Rand Tourism Awards.

The West Rand placed Valley Lodge on their ‘Wall of Fame’ for the four Platinum awards.

27 14 577 1301 | res@valleylodge.co.za | www.valleylodge.co.za

SA R AH KIN G D O M

A remote

AFRICAN Sarah Kingdom visits North Luangwa, a place for total isolation, an intimate and deeply personal experience in one of the last great wildlife areas on the continent.

54

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

S ARAH KIN GD OM

W SAFARI www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

ith our guide Brent and the scout Lazarus in the lead, with Special, our tea-bearer giving us an extra pair eyes bringing up the rear; we set off on our first walking safari through Zambia’s North Luangwa National Park.

Africa’s Great Rift Valley extends down into north-eastern Zambia, and it is here that the Luangwa River has, over millennia, carved out a uniquely beautiful landscape.

This is an area of pristine wilderness, home to Zambia’s only black rhinos, its impressive elephant stronghold and home to one of the largest lion densities in the region. We have come to Mwaleshi Camp (one of the most remote bush camps in Africa) to explore this amazing destination on foot.

North Luangwa is a vast tract of land, covering 4,636 square kilometers and offering one of the last true truly wild experiences in Zambia. Part of the beauty of North Luangwa is experiencing Africa as it truly should be, untouched, where you are simply an observer. A walking safari in North Luangwa is the ultimate way of experiencing such a truly remote place; it is definitely not the place for a ‘ticking-theBig-Five-box’ type of trip. North Luangwa is a place for total isolation, an intimate and deeply personal experience in one of the last great wildlife areas on the continent.

There are few roads and seemingly even fewer people, and it is very unlikely that you will see anyone other than your guide, camp staff and fellow camp guests for the duration of your safari.

Although it had originally been declared as a Game Reserve in 1938, North Park (as it is commonly known) was not open to anyone other than the Game Department for more than thirty years, until in 1972 it became a National Park. In the early 80’s one company was granted a concession to run walking safaris in North Luangwa, and for a number of years they remained the only safari operators in the park.

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

55

SA R AH KIN G D O M

As the elephant bull got halfway across the river the wind changed direction and he suddenly smelt us. He stopped immediately with his ears waving wildly and his trunk up following our scent.

In 1989 scientists Mark and Delia Owens (famous for their International best-selling autobiography ‘Cry of the Kalahari’), set up a research station in the park, and it was through their work studying wildlife, and their presence also serving as a way of curbing poaching in the park, that authorities allowed a handful of other operators to bring limited numbers of people into the park, for walking safaris. The Owen’s North Luangwa stories can be read in ‘Survivors Song’ and in ‘The Eye of the Elephant’.

To this day, the North Park is very tightly controlled, it has some of the most zealous game rangers in the country, and is not open to the general public. There are no permanent lodges and the only way to visit the park is through one of the few safari operators licensed to conduct walking safaris.

In single file we set off with final instructions ringing in our ears: “No loud noises, no bright clothing, keep behind the guide, pay attention, DO NOT wander off.” I have been going on safari in Africa for 20+ years and I have never had an experience to match the days we spent in North Luangwa. We walked for miles, through long grass, across rivers, ducking under branches and occasionally stopping to untangle ourselves from the thorn bushes aptly referred to as ‘wait-a-bit’ bushes.

The ‘bush’ is very different when experienced on foot, you suddenly become very aware of every noise or rustle in the undergrowth; twigs cracking underfoot, bird calls, the alarm noises of the puku and impala as they catch sight of you, and the occasional distant roar of a lion or the not so distant trumpet of an elephant, keeps you very aware of your surroundings, and your mortality!

Our first afternoon walk lasted about three hours and gave us a taste of the routine to expect over the next few days. We saw so much that you would normally be missed from the inside of a safari vehicle on a traditional ‘game drive’. The Luangwa Valley is a great place for bird watchers, with approximately 400 of Zambia’s 750 recorded bird species found here. We witnessed the ‘rolling’ flight displays of the lilac breasted rollers, the insect catching antics of the bee eaters, the ungainly flight pattern of hundreds of hornbills (who seem so poorly designed when it comes to

56

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

aerodynamics). There are about twelve different weaver bird species in North Luangwa, including (to some bird watchers delight), the East African chestnut-mantled sparrow weaver. We managed to get an up-close look at the various style of nest design of many of these weavers.

We came across a mother squirrel panicking in the bushes, rushing back and forth, emitting a high pitched alarm call as she sensed danger to her young. Interestingly we learnt, that a mother squirrel will chew discarded snake skins and spit them at her babies, so as to help disguise their ‘squirrely scent’ from snake predators. We also learned that by flicking her tail rapidly, she confuses a snake’s infrared-detection-sensing abilities making a snake believe that the squirrel’s tail is another snake.

We watched the sunset in awe, admiring the vivid colours of oranges, pinks and scarlet glistening off the water, whilst we walked along the riverbank. My appetite has a tendency to make its presence loudly clear, and my stomach certainly knew it was time to head back to camp long before the rest of my body was ready to quit. This was not helped by the persistent smell of the native ‘potato bush’ (phyllanthus reticulatis), the smell of which reminded me tantalizingly of fish and chips and made my tummy rumble even louder. I have no doubt my rumbles startled elephants near and far, with their ability to detect low-frequency rumblings from many kilometers away!

Back in the camp that night we had one of those magnificent ‘Out of Africa’ experiences; shower-water heated by a fire, drinks in

PREVIOUS SPREAD: On foot and negotiating who has right of way, with a bunch of buffalo.

THIS PAGE LEFT TO RIGHT: Under the watchful eye of a majestic giraffe.

Keeping a respectful distance from some elephants OPPOSITE: A rare sight of hippos braving the banks in daylight

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

S ARAH KIN GD OM

chairs overlooking the now darkened river, dinner by lantern light, whilst the life of the bush carried on around us. When we got back to our room, the beds had been turned down and mosquito nets firmly secured over them.

As I drifted off to sleep I was acutely aware of the sounds of elephants tearing down branches and munching on vegetation close by. Suddenly, I was rudely awakened, by my husband, who remembering I had brought an orange with me into the room!

Half-jokingly, he was trying to convince me to get out of my comfortable bed, find the orange and to chuck it outside, in case the elephants got the scent of it and came in to find it! Needless to say, I did not get out of my bed and he clearly wasn’t sufficiently concerned to get out of his either. The next morning we woke to find both the orange and our room unscathed. It was only when he saw fruit salad at breakfast that he grudgingly admitted that perhaps the kitchen, with its clearly plentiful supply of fruit, might have been a more obvious target for an elephant looking for a healthy midnight snack.

A typical day’s walking safari in North Luangwa starts at about 5am (even earlier in the hotter months). We were woken up to a jug of warm water being passed through the ‘window’ in our bathroom and after some haphazard ablutions, we met for coffee and breakfast around the campfire on the riverbank. At 05.30am and we set off (with our team: Brent, Lazarus and Special) for what would be about a five hour walk. Taking off our shoes we crossed the shallow, but surprisingly chilly, Mwaleshi River, while our eyes adjusted to the growing daylight. We walked through sand, over river pebbles, past woodland and grassland, watching our natural world wake up around us. A few nocturnal creatures rustled in the undergrowth as they set off to sleep for the day, whilst the birds and other day-time creatures started to wake up.

We had been walking for a while, without seeing very much,

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

when suddenly my husband saw a hyena on the opposite bank. She was clearly either heavily pregnant or had grossly overeaten the night before, because her stomach was pendulous and she lay lazily on the cool, damp river sand. She seemed unconcerned by our presence, presumably because we had the river between us, and we spent quite a while watching her while she watched us back. It was a great sighting, spoilt only by the line “I spotted a spotted hyena,” which my husband apparently found very amusing and kept repeating to me at regular intervals as we continued our walk.

As we left the hyena we ‘spotted’ a couple of Cookson’s wildebeest (one of the valley’s endemic subspecies) and then a lone bull elephant walking along the top of the opposite bank. We followed him, on our side of the river, until he reached the spot where we had been planning to cross. At this point he found a tree laden with his perfect breakfast fruits and paused for a leisurely meal.

We were not about to disturb him, and as where we wanted to cross the river was directly under the tree he had chosen, we waited our turn. It wasn’t too long before he finished and came down to the river’s edge to cross to our side of the water. As we were on foot we decided ‘safety first’ and backed up a fair distance and waited. As the elephant bull got halfway across the river the wind changed direction and he suddenly smelt us. He stopped immediately with his ears waving wildly and his trunk up following our scent. We backed up a little further, then a little further, and a little further still! Ultimately deciding we didn’t seem too much of a threat, the elephant continued to cross the river, eventually vanishing into the thick vegetation.

In the 1970’s the elephant population in the North Luangwa was about 120,000, but a large scale culling initiative, followed by huge levels of poaching in the 70’s and 80’s decimated the herds to less than 5,000. The estimated population now is about 25,000, though sightings are still relatively scarce and the elephants are

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

57

SA R AH KIN G D O M Passing by some waterbuck

still pretty shy and skittish. Year by year the population is growing and the herds are calming down.

Poaching also led to the total decimation of rhino in the park, however some exciting developments have happened on that front too. North Luangwa, after running a black rhino reintroduction program that began in 2003, is now home to Zambia’s only black rhino population. Five black rhino were initially introduced into a large fenced off ‘intensive protection zone’ in the heart of the park and ten more were added a few years later. The North Luangwa Conservation program, a partnership with the Frankfurt Zoological Society and Zambia Department of National Parks & Wildlife has been a huge success and the numbers have now increased and the sanctuary area has been extended significantly to accommodate the animals.

Founded in 1986 the North Luangwa Conservation Program has focused on protecting the 22,000 square km park. In a recent effort to fight the rising levels of poaching in the area, a canine antipoaching unit has been established. Trained ‘sniffer dogs’ are stationed at park gates, border areas and at strategic roadblocks outside the park, successfully curbing the trafficking of illegal products like ivory and bush meat. The unit has also been pretty successful at the detection of firearms and illegally harvested timber.

Returning to camp for lunch and a siesta at the hottest part of the day, we then embarked on another three hour walk in the afternoon. This time, heading upstream. We ventured into parts of the park we hadn’t been to before and as we walked, we could see the route taken by elephants who had been passing this way for many years. As the elephants had passed, they had eaten the slightly ‘gingery chocolatey’ tasting fruit of the ilala palm and ‘deposited’ the seeds, leaving behind a trail of palm-tree ‘offerings’ of various sizes, much like a modern day bush-version, of Hansel and Gretel’s trail of breadcrumbs. As the sun started to set we ended our afternoon’s walk high up on an embankment, where we were lucky enough to watch two elephants having a dust bath immediately below us, both completely oblivious to our presence; a delightful way to end the day.

Dinner that night was in timeless safari style; wine and a three course candle-lit meal on the banks of the river. We could hear different prides of lions roaring on all sides of us and the

58

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

occasional startled trumpet of a young elephant across the water. We saw the moon and stars above us and heard mysterious splashing sounds in the river as animals waded across, under the cover of darkness. We could have stayed up all night, although a 5am wake up that morning, 8 hours of walking and the knowledge that we were rising again at 5am the following day, sent us to bed very early. Too tired to worry about oranges and elephants, we were lulled to sleep by the sounds of the lions and distant hyenas.

Not very long after my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.

The 5am wake up seemed much easier the next morning, and after another campfire breakfast, we set off for our final walk in the park. This time we drove to the Luangwa River and walked through the riverine forest, down to the riverbanks. As we walked Brent paused asking: “Can you smell that popcorn kind of smell?” And indeed there was a remarkably strong scent of popcorn. “That’s the scent markings of a genet cat” he informed us.

Numerous years of safaris I have never before known that. Leaving the popcorn-smell behind, we walked down to the Luangwa River, which forms the border of the national park.

Huge pods of hippos wallowed in the water beneath us and a few brave fishermen sat on the opposite bank, outside the confines of the park, mending their nets and cleaning their catch. I could have spent hours watching the hippos and their antics of teeth baring, territorial displays, jostling for position in the shallow water, grunting, groaning, roaring and their wheezing. Ox-peckers trying to land on the hippos’ backs were constantly and comically repelled by splashes as the hippos flapped their ears and tails, spraying their backs with water. Not long after landing and starting to ‘peck’, they would be dislodged - taking briefly to the air they would settle on another plump grey back momentarily - before the splashing was repeated and they were on the move again.

Because of its remoteness, most people coming to North Luangwa fly into the park. We however had driven and had a long journey home. Reluctantly, we had to leave the hippos and head off on the bumpy 12km road up the escarpment to the park gate, followed by the 400km journey home.

Halfway to the gate, we rounded the corner to find a site that North Luangwa is famous for, a huge herd of buffalos gracing us with their presence, numbering in their hundreds; the perfect sighting to end off our very special safari experience.

It is worth noting that North Luangwa is only open in the dry season, from June to October and that the camps are rebuilt every year so as to have minimal impact of the ecosystem.

Access to the park in the wet season is virtually impossible.

We stayed at Mwaleshi Camp in North Luangwa which is owned and operated by Remote Africa Safaris.

Bookings on reservations@remoteafrica.com Website details http://www.remoteafrica.com/mwaleshi-camp/

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

GIL L IAN M c L A RE N

Loaded with advice, cautions and a lock and chain, Gillian McLaren takes the night train from Old Delhi to Ramnagar

trial by

tracks W

ith prone bodies strewn around the entrance, fastmoving porters with suitcases and boxes on their heads, as well as loud traffic noise as vehicles of all kinds pull up to the Old Delhi Railway Station to disgorge crowds of passengers and their families, I feel as if I am a gladiator running the gauntlet.

While my driver is negotiating the cratered, abandoned lot next to the station - where vehicles are four deep and have to

60

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

leave their keys to allow for moving each parked vehicle when necessary, in order to squeeze in even more – I am offered the purchase of bottled water, fresh food or the services of porters, as well as having a few cheerful men request selfies with me.

Every few minutes an electronic gong heralds a crisp intercom announcement of a train that has been delayed. “Train number 1730 has been delayed for nine hours. We regret the inconvenience

THIS PAGE: A family wait outside Old Delhi Railway Station, as their train has been delayed.

OPPOSITE PAGE TOP TO BOTTOM: The train to Ramnagar - near Jim Corbett National Park -has been delayed, so passengers wait on Platform 10.

Entrance area of Old Delhi Railway Station as viewed from the stairs up to the platforms.

Riotous colour as platform 10 becomes more crowded, with passengers sitting on their shawls, on the floor.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

GIL L IAN M cL AR EN

caused,” strikes fear into my soul, as I wonder if I will be sleeping rough, like the scores of bodies I observe around me.

In a flurry of concern for me, my driver returns. At the same time the representative of my travel company – Beyond the Taj – waves the two tickets that are necessary to allow them to accompany me, the passenger, to platform 10.

“Your train has been delayed by 20 minutes,” I am informed. Through security checks, the three of us walk fast behind

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

the porter, who has my case on his head, not faltering up steep stairs, along the bridge and down heavily thronged stairs to platform 10.

I blithely suggest to my companions that I am fine and that there is no need for them to wait with me for my train. I am told politely but sternly that they have to see me right onto the train, also that I need a chain and lock for my suitcase, to safeguard my possessions while I am sleeping. This is duly procured.

I suggest a photograph of my driver and I, while holding up my newly acquired Indian train-travel paraphernalia. A man standing behind us successfully photo bombs with a naughty smile.

An hour later I am informed that my train has been delayed another hour.

Leaving my guardians with my case and water bottle, I stroll around platform 10, to capture some of the cameos using my cell phone. I was warned to lock my professional camera in my suitcase.

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

61

GIL L IAN M c L A RE N

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: A woman takes water from a tap at Ramnagar Railway Station; Hot, fresh samoosas for sale on the train, as vendors board the carriage; An old man climbs the stairs from the platform to the bridge across the tracks; A Sardar from Punjab asleeep on the solitary bench on Platform 10, Old Delhi Railway Station; Chain and lock wallah, to ensure that you may sleep soundly knowing that your bag will reach your destination safely OPPOSITE PAGE, LEFT TO RIGHT: “Pani bottle” this vendor calls out; Chai wallahs with their hot sweet masala tea in steel urns, served in small paper cups, for five rupees; Railway conductor asking to see our tickets

Hordes of people in riotous colours, pack the platform, or squat flat-footed on the ground. A stray dog scavenges for food.

Entire families walk across the tracks to reach another platform. Three young men are smoking something dubious between two sets of tracks and they are laughing uproariously. A mother – clad in a red saree with rings on her toes and golden earrings – holds her toddler over the tracks so he may relieve himself. A fruit cart trundles past selling fresh fruit to the stoic throng.

After a further delay of 50 minutes, when my interest in the scene is beginning to wane and my two trusty companions are yawning, the train blazes into the station with arc lights cutting through the gloom. A wave of humanity surges to the carriages, boarding surprisingly fast.

My compartment is class 2AC, a sleeper

62

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

car with air-conditioning. The carriage is divided into three sections, with a corridor down the middle and thick red curtains shielding a group of bunks on either side of the passage, but no doors. My kind companions bid me a fond farewell, after helping me to chain my luggage to the bottom bunk.

To my dismay, my bed is a top bunk, which is supported from the ceiling by two flimsy looking straps. The metal stairs look as if they have been designed for tiny Indian women, not buxom, tall South African women like myself. I try not to panic, but wonder how I will get down from the bunk should I even manage to hoist myself up.

An obliging Indian man offers to swop with me, so I gratefully accept his offer. I brave the full corridor to find the attendant, to ask for sheets and a pillow,

which are nowhere to be seen. He bustles in with a brown paper packet that he tears open to reveal freshly laundered sheets.

By now it is way past midnight, although you would not guess it from the party that is in progress next to my section of the carriage, where a dozen female students are chatting and laughing. I smile inwardly, put in my earplugs, pull on my mask, put my passport bag down my front and sigh. Perchance to sleep…

Perchance not to sleep, as the conductor rips open the dividing curtains, enters with great energy and officiousness, snaps on the light and demands our tickets. I feel like a diurnal animal caught in the spotlight of a tourist night drive and battle to remember my name, let alone where I put my ticket.

It turns out that all four of us in this

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

GIL L IAN M cL AR EN

division of the carriage are in the wrong bunks. There is a great negotiation, at full volume and each of us presents our version of how we are in those particular bunks. Arbitration decrees that the two men must move, but a young Indian lady and I are deemed to have convincing reasons for bed swopping. By then, I am fully adrenalised and know that the moment of reckoning has come: I must use the toilet.

As well as the traditional Indian squat variety, there is a seated-type, which I find surprisingly bearable. There are even rolls of toilet paper and a basin with a liquid anti-septic soap dispenser. When my hands are covered with substantial squirts of said soap, I discover that there is no water.

Resiliently I open the door to ask for help, when I see that there is another small washbasin in the junction between two

JIM’S JUNGLE RETREAT Positioned close to Corbett National Park, this charming luxury retreat is a perfect base for a safari to discover Indian wildlife and try to spot a tiger. The Shivlak Hills and Himalayan foothills create a backdrop for the exceptionally beautiful terrain of the area. On an evening walk along the riverbed adjacent to the property, I saw jackals, several deer and antelope species and tiger tracks from the morning. Each of the cottages has a comfortable, refined space, based on the architecture of the

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

carriages. I have to clamber over bodies to reach the basin and can’t figure out how the tap works. An old man – unable to sleep, I presume – who is reading a book, smiles at me and gets up to magically get water flowing.

I have no recall of sleeping, but wake up to discover that I am the only person in our section and that the train is still. Leaping out of bed, I tear open the curtains to search for the station name and see that it is indeed Ramnagar, my stop. With pounding pulse I unchain my case and run to the door, hurtle down the steep steps onto the platform, and stop to orientate myself.

Ramnagar is a small, charming station, where a few stalls sell sizzling, deep-fried street food or packed goods, like Lays crisps and the much-loved biscuits that Indian folk enjoy with their morning masala chai. I smile. The night has passed!

local Gujjar community. Food is outstanding and the ambiance relaxed and welcoming. www.jimsjungleretreat.com

BEYOND THE TAJ To have the perfect trip to India curated for you personally, contact this professional and reliable company, who will find the best accommodation options, trustworthy drivers and educated English-speaking guides. They specialise in finding unique experiences, which are

A new day has dawned. I am thrilled to be in India and excited to begin the search for a tiger in Corbett National Park, based in Jim’s Jungle Retreat.

I freely admit that I contact Beyond the Taj, requesting a change of plan for my return journey to Delhi, after my safaris in Corbett Tiger Reserve and restful stay at Jim’s Jungle Retreat. Graciously they book the air conditioned Chair Car that proves to be entertaining and memorable. Like the sleeper train, people show their tickets, then negotiate seat changes to be with friends, to sit near a window, or to find a spot near the only table in the middle of the carriage.

Day travel allows me to see the villages with neatly ploughed fields, stray cows, wandering water buffalos and freshly painted houses – a tradition during Diwali.

I have survived unscathed, earning my stripes as an intrepid traveller.

often off the clichéd tourist track. www.beyondthetaj.com beyondthetaj@gmail.com

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES The fastest flight to India from Oliver Tambo International Airport, Ethiopian Airlines is also comfortable, has an impeccable safety record and gracious cabin crew. With brief stopovers in Addis Ababa daily, you reach Delhi or Mumbai in India with minimum delay. www.ethiopianairlines.com

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

63

T R AVEL G E A R

JOY

tO THE

WORLD

64

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

T RAVEL GEA R

Yes, yes, we know. You can’t believe it’s that time of year again, you don’t have a clue what to get anyone, and you don’t want to see your bonus (for those lucky ones) vanish into thin air before the year is out. We hear you! So, we have scoured every nook and cranny of Cape Union Mart to find the very best gifts and gadgets for everyone. So no need to thank us for sorting out this year’s Christmas list in full.

Don’t believe us?

Read on…….

Compiled by Sonwabo Macingwana

K-Way ambassador, AJ CALITZ, doing what he does best

T R AVEL G E A R K-WAY MEN’S TERRA S/S CREW

R150

K-WAY FLASH VISOR Keep cool and protect yourself from the sun’s harmful rays with the K-Way Flash Visor. This adjustable visor sports a quick drying sweat band to keep you dry and comfortable on all your outdoor adventures.

The K-Way Men’s Terra Crew is a basic performance enhancing t-shirt designed for those that lead an active lifestyle.

Designed with moisture wicking Nano-Crystal fabric that reacts to your body’s temperature to keep you cool and dry when in contact with moisture, the Terra Crew features Anti-Microbial properties that assist with odour control, while reflective trims provide increased visibility at night.

R399

K-WAY MEN’S KNOX ‘14 ACTIVE SHORTS

R140

Light-weight and comfortable, the K-Way Knox ‘14 Active running shorts has an inner liner with an integrated elastic waistband and drawstring to prevent chafing. The Knox also boasts a non-wicking fabric that wicks away moisture as is also highly breathable.

K-WAY ARM COOLER Keep your arms protected from the sun’s harmful UV Rays as well as consistently cool with K-Way’s Arm Cooler. Lightweight and featuring UPF 50 plus sun protection properties, K-Way’s Arm Cooler is perfect for cycling, golf, fishing, driving as well as hiking activities.

K-WAY EVO 12 GEAR BAG (MEDIUM) The medium K-Way Evo 12 gear bag is a necessary addition to any trip abroad. With its small packed size you can store it in your backpack, readily available for souvenir shopping. With a volume of 60 Litres, K-way’s Evo gearbag is certainly a must have.

R499

K-WAY 24OZ INSULATED WATER BOTTLE The K-Way 24oz insulated water bottle has a double wall, enveloped in a foil-type material that insulates its contents keeping your water ice-cold.

R599

66

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

R199

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

T RAVEL GEA R K-WAY TEMPO 7L PACK Designed for cycling, hiking and trail running, the K-Way Tempo 7L Pack is a lightweight, compact pack (able to hold a bladder) complete with a mesh ventilated back system,sternum strap to keep the backpack stable and secure as well as a quick-flick to easily adjust shoulder straps with just one flick.

R650 TOMTOM RUNNER 3 CARDIO

GARMIN FENIX 5X SAPPHIRE

R12 499

Beat yesterday all day, every day with the all-new Fenix 5, Garmins’ premium multisport GPS watch with wrist-based heart rate, advanced training features and interchangeable bands that let you go from workplace to workout without breaking stride.

Whatever sport you want to track, Fenix 5 has it covered, thanks to built-in activity profiles and advanced performance metrics which let you better control the efficiency of your training plus smart notifications.

The Tom Tom Runner 3 Cardio is the ultimate fitness watch designed to track and monitor your performance while you enjoy smart features such as a built-in heart rate monitor, route exploration, multisport modes as well as GPS tracking, all available on your wrist.

R2 999

GOPRO HERO6 BLACK Capture high definition, quality video and images with the all-new HERO6. Now with GP1 chip functionality waterproof up to 10 meters, HERO6 Black delivers twice the performance of HERO5 and offers GoPro’s best image quality yet.

GARMIN FORERUNNER 35 The Garmin Forerunner 35 allows you to monitor your heart rate at your wrist, track your performance with the built in GPS functionality as well as allow you to share your progress with friends and family via Garmin Connect.

R8 499

R2 999

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

*All prices in this feature were correct at the time of going to print.

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

67

A pair of African lions where moving along the top of a low hillside in the Mara area, Kenya, right before sunrise one morning. They both stopped to stare (and pose) when they noticed an antelope in the distance.

LIFE

THROUGH THE

In this edition of The Intrepid Explorer, we showcase the masterful works of wildlife photographer, Grant Atkinson.

LENS

L IFE T H RO UGH T H E L ENS

G

Grant Atkinson is a guide, wildlife photographer and writer. He lives with his wife Helena in Cape Town, South Africa. He is an enthusiastic lover of nature and has travelled widely in Africa and abroad for wildlife.

Grant spent twelve years living and working as a full-time field guide in northern Botswana for Wilderness Safaris. As a result of that experience, Botswana will always be a special favourite for him, both in its wildlife and people.

As a naturalist and a photographer, he considers himself privileged to be able to spend time in some of the most fascinating and exciting wildlife locations in the course of his job.

Grant, together with his wife Helena – who is also a skilled photographer in her own right – lead groups of travellers to Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Botswana, as well as other destinations outside of Africa.

Grant enjoys all forms of nature photography, from birds and mammals to landscapes and macro.

He firmly believes that knowing your subject’s behaviour helps get good results when it comes to wildlife photography and that it also makes it more interesting.

With his imagery, he often attempts to portray some of the power and poise that he sees in his subjects, particularly when he is able to capture them in action.

Grant shoots a variety of wildlife related subject matter, with big cats and wild dogs being amongst his favourites. His images have been on the cover of both Africa Geographic and the US National Geographic Kids magazine. He is a regular contributor of text and images to African Birdlife.

More of his work can be found at www.grantatkinson.com or you can follow him on Facebook and check out his YouTube channel.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

69

L IFE T HR O U G H T H E LE N S

Photographing from a low angle really helps to convey just how massive African elephants are, in particular the bulls. This northern Botswana image was taken from a hide as an elephant walked by, after taking a drink at a waterhole.

Leopards are incredibly agile, and strong as well as being stealthy. Here a male leopard grapples with a male reedbuck in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Shortly after this frame was taken the reedbuck was dispatched.

A female leopard keeps her profile low but watches with intense concentration, from her vantage point on top of a huge rock. This image from the Sabi Sands reserve, in South Africa, where leopards are ideally adapted to the varied terrain and habitats.

African wild dogs are some of the most energetic of carnivores, and they are very fast runners. This Okavango Delta dog was from a big pack, and ran by me whilst engaged in some ‘serious’ play with other members of the pack.

Elephants like taking to the water, not only to drink but also to cool themselves. This young bull was enjoying splashing around in the Chobe River in northern Botswana.

L IFE T HR O U G H T H E LE N S

Red lechwe antelope. Red lechwe live in wetlands and are specially adapted to moving easily through the water. This male lechwe was running through shallow water at high speed when I took the photograph from Botswana’s Okavango Delta, a refuge for the species.

72

The Intrepid Explorer issue 14

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

In places where they are not disturbed, lions really like spending time in open spaces, where they can see for miles. A cloudy sky and green grass plains made for a nice setting for this Okavango Delta lion pride as they rested together one morning.

African wild dogs are highly active, and very fast runners. Whilst they like shallow water, they don’t like entering water if there is a possibility that it may harbour crocodiles. This wild dog was on a hunt, and chose to leap across this narrow channel rather than enter the water.

O UT AN D A B O U T

on the

wild side

Here’s the inside scoop on the outside world! We look at some of the astounding feats accomplished by intrepid explorers young and old; the latest developments and products; as well as events and causes in which you, The Intrepid Explorer reader, can become involved. So get out there and make the most of the outdoors!

Compiled by Robbie Stammers

3 ICONIC HOTELS With the summer season, comes a plethora of outdoor activities to enjoy throughout the Cape and the three iconic properties within The Collection by Liz McGrath are perfectly located to suit the most discerning adventure seeker.

Start your journey at The Cellars-Hohenort Hotel, in Cape Town, set amidst nine acres of manicured, award-winning gardens. It’s the perfect place to prepare for legendary sporting events such as the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon or the Cape Town Cycle Tour. Even from the hotel, guests can take leisurely hikes on the slopes of Table Mountain or cycle to explore the Constantia Valley.

Set off on a road trip adventure and head towards the Garden Route and visit The Marine in Hermanus, one of South Africa’s most spectacular seaside hotels. Located on Hermanus’ famous cliff path, overlooking the breath-taking Walker Bay, the hotel is the ultimate location for whale watching during whale season.

Hermanus is synonymous with land-based whale watching, kayaking or boat tours that take you up close to the southern right whales. Alternatively, get a bird’s-eye view of the gentle

74

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

AWAIT YOU

giants with a scenic flight over Walker Bay. Biking and hiking are very popular to explore this unique coastline.

The beaches are white-sand playgrounds for avid swimmers, surfers and sunbathers - a must-visit is Grotto Beach, which has Blue Flag status. There are also horse-riding trails on certain beaches, as well as within the area’s vineyards and orchards. Guests can visit Fernkloof Nature Reserve – the only such reserve with coastal and mountain fynbos – it has the most species in close proximity. Several scenic golf courses can be enjoyed in the area.

Continue your journey to The Plettenberg Hotel in the famous Plettenberg Bay, which boasts golden beaches, a rugged peninsula and dense green forests. Guests can expect superb outdoor activities for all ages with surfing, kayaking and skimboarding to name just a few. Keurboomstrand is a stretch of pristine coastline and very popular with avid surfers. Those simply wanting to relax on the shore can enjoy land-based whale watching (in season), or spy dolphins playing in the surf.

For more info go to www.collectionmcgrath.com

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

O UT AN D ABOU T

GO GREEN IN MAGALIESBERG

Valley Lodge & Spa is an enchanting conferencing venue set in a nature reserve with a river (Magalies) running through it and indigenous vegetation all around. It will be celebrating its 45th anniversary under one family ownership this year.

When the Magaliesberg was still largely untamed territory, a visionary businessman, Italo Mazzoni, and a few associates, pooled their resources, and acquired a portion of the farm Steenekoppie in 1971. On the farm was the Happy Valley Hotel and it was run mainly as a Sunday picnic retreat. Its owners paid little attention to its upkeep and it was in disrepair when Mazzoni and his colleagues began the process of re-building and upgrading the hotel which was renamed Valley Lodge.

In 1987, Mazzoni and his family assumed full ownership of the property and he set about transforming this little slice of heaven into an almost mystic wonderland in which the lodge, with its thatched rooms and stone features, blends seamlessly with the environment. This retreat means different things to different people. Corporates often gather their forces during the week for business conferences and team building exercises and there are no fewer than five conference rooms (with all the necessary technical facilities) to accommodate them, making it a top conferencing venue in the area.

Two impressive Boma’s, one with an amazing view of the

surrounding area, are also well utilised.

The Zeederberg Restaurant is the main source of food with delicious buffets on offer to tempt the most jaded palate. But the three attractions which give this establishment its edge are its nature reserve with four game trails and footpaths, small game park, which boasts zebra, impala, African wild cats and some of the smaller species like hedgehog, rock hyraxes and tortoises, and spa built in 2010 when Portugal were based at the resort during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Enjoy a sun-downer near the pool, and observe the engaging bird life all around. For true birders this is a veritable paradise boasting some 100 feathered species. A popular rendezvous is the atmospheric Maloney’s Bar, where on Saturday night a pianist entertains, and one can watch sport on TV. An important aspect of this establishment is that it is deeply concerned about protecting the environment and it went ‘green’ seven years ago.

Many businesses in South Africa are still weighing up the pros and cons of “going green,” but Valley Lodge & Spa had no hesitation in taking up the challenge to go green – and is today reaping the benefits. It is the first lodge in South Africa to adopt a 100% green cleaning policy.

For more info go to www.valleylodge.co.za

AVIS HAS THE PERFECT CAR FOR YOUR HOLIDAY As we come closer to the end of 2017, holiday makers have already booked their festive holiday destinations and are now in the final stages of planning their holiday road trips. Your vehicle choice can make or break your vacation – select from Avis’ wide range of vehicles on offer.

There are several factors to consider when choosing your holiday vehicle and often a tight budget is one of them. But that does not mean that you should compromise on comfort and style.

Avis recently introduced the VW Polo TSI in a group of its own, Group B+. The VW Polo TSI is one of the most popular cars to rent from

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

Avis due to its safety features. Other vehicles to consider are the Ford Fiesta in Group B as well as the Hyundai i10 from Group A, both offering comfort and a fuel-efficient engine.

If you want a little bit of leg room, Group C offers vehicles like the spacious Toyota Corolla Quest, which is a solid sedan.

Particularly on a long road trip, some drivers prefer the elevated seating of a full-size SUV. A larger vehicle usually means more interior space for all the passengers. If you are planning on driving through rough terrain, you should look for a specialty SUV like Toyota Fortuner 4x2 from Group I. This vehicle gives you the freedom to navigate the roads with

ease. For large groups, the VW T6 Kombi TDI from Group N is an excellent vehicle to accommodate your passengers.

Rainer Gottschick, Chief Executive of Avis Rent-a-Car southern Africa, says, “Avis believes that getting to your holiday destination should be just as exciting as the vacation itself.

Our customers are at the heart of what we do and we deliver cars that are safe, comfortable and offer the best value for money.”

For more info go to www.avis.co.za

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

75

O UT AN D A B O U T

MAKE A GOOD CALL The MOTOTRBO DP 4000 series - Digital Two-Way Portable Radio, manufactured under stringently quality controlled conditions, has proven to be a world-class versatile and powerful two-way radio system that boasts unrivalled data capabilities, the latest in digital technology, enhanced features, and is user-friendly with excellent voice and data integration. It delivers business critical advantages like Bluetooth and intelligent audio.

The DP 4000 series is a reliable two-way workplace radio system that’s been tried and tested.

MUSIC UNDER THE MOUNTAIN Saturday 23 December

Mango Groove

Sunday 31 December

Goldfish / Hot Water

Monday 1 January Sunday 7 January Sunday 14 January Sunday 21 January Sunday 28 January Sunday 4 February Sunday 11 February

Freshlyground Prime Circle The Parlotones Fokofpolisiekar The Soil Beatenberg The Cape Town Philharmonic Cape Town Folk ‘n Acoustic Music Festival Lira Goodluck / The Kiffness The Christians (UK) Jeremy Loops Petite Noir (BEL) / Slow Jack Dan Patlansky / Albert Frost Kahn Morbee & Karen Zoid

Sunday 18 February Sunday 25 February Sunday 4 March Sunday 11 March Sunday 18 March Wednesday 21 March Sunday 25 March Sunday 1 April

76

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

R180 / R135 R385 (regret no free entry for kids under 6) R180 / R135 R180 / R135 R180 / R135 R180 / R135 R180 / R135 R180 / R135 R180 / R135 R180 / R135 R180 / R135 R180 / R135 R180 / R135 R180 / R135 R180 / R135

It is that time of year again, when fans of the Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts start digging out their picnic baskets and planning their weekends for the next six months.

The line-up for the most iconic events of the Cape Town summer scene was announced and the season looks set to surpass all others.

There are three high profile international acts joining the local stars, and a nice mix of old favourites and new faces.

All tickets are available on www.webtickets.co.za

R180 / R135 R180 / R135

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

www.wildfrontiers.com

AFRICA’S

GIANT LEAP OF FAITH TAKING YOU TO THE HEART OF THE ACTION

CONTACT US

reservations@wildfrontiers.com

TANZANIA KENYA UGANDA RWANDA ETHIOPIA ZIMBABWE BOTSWANA ZAMBIA

THE BEST HOLIDAYS BEGIN WITH THE BEST ROADS. Turn your road trip into an adventure with Avis. Book an Avis rental today and discover our exceptional rates, great service and the best holiday roads South Africa has to offer.

Hermanus

Gamkaskloof

Pafuri

Namaqualand

Marvel in the majesty of the Southern Right Whales during winter and spring.

Explore the breath-taking scenery through the undulating valley.

Elephants and Buffalo galore – watch out for that lion!

Relish the kaleidoscope of colours as the Namaqualand daisies show their faces.

Visit www.avisbestroads.co.za.

O UT AN D ABOU T

THE WORLD’S BEST AERIAL RACE HEADS TO AFRICA The skies above southern Africa are set to host one of the most spectacular aerial races on the planet next summer as the world’s only long-distance paramotor race, the Icarus Trophy, visits the continent for the first time.

For those not in the know, paramotoring is effectively flying with a motor tied to your back and a paragliding wing above your head and is growing rapidly as a sport.

After three hotly contested editions in the US, the last won by paramotoring legend Tucker Gott, July 2018 sees the Icarus Trophy migrate across the Atlantic to take to the skies above southern Africa.

Like its predecessors, the race will be roughly 1610 kilometres long, depending on the route contestants choose, but the 2018 edition, which begins just north of Johannesburg before heading over Botswana and Zimbabwe and finishing near Victoria Falls in Zambia, will have the added complication of pilots having to cross international borders.

As compensation, the route will take in some of southern Africa’s most iconic landscapes, including the Kalahari Desert, numerous mountain ranges, the Okavango Delta and salt pans, and give contestants views of these environments and their wildlife like no other. You don’t have to have flown a paramotor

before to get involved in the Icarus Trophy, at least in the Adventure Division, and the organisers’ website icarustrophy. com details everything you need to know to get yourself off the ground and experienced enough to take part. All you really need to get going is a head for heights, a spirit for real adventure and a fairly massive set of cahoonas.

It starts on the 22nd of July and finishes on the 3rd of August.

EDITOR’S PICK OF NEW BOOKS TO BUY Invertebrates of Southern Africa and their Tracks & Signs covers a never-beforeexplored aspect of Southern African nature and is an essential new addition to the library of every nature lover.

It was researched and written over the last four-and-a-half years to open a door to a little known micro-world that exists all around us. Invertebrates – which include commonly seen creatures such as butterflies, spiders, beetles, worms and scorpions – are everywhere.

While working on this book, Lee Gutteridge spent many hours in the field with expert entomologists and arachnologists, many of whom commented that; even though they had spent a lifetime in the field, this experience, of invertebrate tracking, had changed the way that they see the invertebrate world. (Jacana Media)

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

GARDEN BIRDS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA This accessible and inspirational guide will help you to create a bird-friendly garden wherever you are in southern Africa. It discusses garden habitats and how to create them, ideas for providing water, food and nest sites for birds, and it profiles a range of trees, shrubs and grasses to plant to attract birds.

The book also features 101 garden birds likely to be found in gardens across the region. Bright, full-colour photography brings the subject to life.

Duncan Butchart is a keen observer of the natural world and has worked as an illustrator, writer and ecotourism consultant. He has authored numerous books, including Wildlife of South Africa and Wildlife of the Okavango, and was illustrator and co-author of The Vultures of Africa.

(Penguin Random House)

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

79

STOR E L IS TI N G WESTERN CAPE STORES Bayside Mall, Blouberg (021) 556-3861 bayside@capeunionmart.co.za Blue Route Mall, Tokai (021) 712-5979 blueroute@capeunionmart.co.za Canal Walk, Century City (021) 555-2846 canalwalk@capeunionmart.co.za Canal Walk Adventure Centre (021) 555-4692 cwac@capeunionmart.co.za CapeGate Shopping Centre, Brackenfell (021) 982-2000 capegate@capeunionmart.co.za Cavendish Square, Claremont (021) 674-2148 cavendish@capeunionmart.co.za Constantia Village (021) 794-0632 constantia@capeunionmart.co.za Gardens Centre (021) 461-9678 gardens@capeunionmart.co.za Mill Square, Stellenbosch (021) 886-4645 stellenbosch@capeunionmart.co.za Mountain Mill Mall, Worcester (023) 347-1484 worcester@capeunionmart.co.za Paarl Mall (021) 863-4138 paarl@capeunionmart.co.za

Vincent Park, East London (043) 726-2900 vincentpark@capeunionmart.co.za KWAZULU-NATAL STORES Ballito Junction (032) 586-1626 ballitojunction@capeunionmart.co.za Ballito Lifestyle Centre (032) 586-1464 ballitolifestylecentre@capeunionmart.co.za Boardwalk Inkwazi Centre, Richard’s Bay (035) 789-0321 boardwalk@capeunionmart.co.za Galleria Mall, Durban (031) 904-2318 galleria@capeunionmart.co.za Gateway World, Durban (031) 566-5111 gateway@capeunionmart.co.za La Lucia Mall (031) 562-0523 lalucia@capeunionmart.co.za Midlands Mall, Pietermaritzburg (033) 342-0152 midlands@capeunionmart.co.za The Pavilion, Westville (031) 265-1666 pavilion@capeunionmart.co.za Watercrest Mall, Durban (031) 763-1489 watercrest@capeunionmart.co.za

Somerset Mall (021) 852-7120 somersetwest@capeunionmart.co.za

NORTHERN CAPE STORES Diamond Pavilion Shopping Mall, Kimberley (053) 832-3846 diamondpavilion@capeunionmart.co.za

Tygervalley Shopping Centre (021) 914-1441 tygervalley@capeunionmart.co.za

Kalahari Mall, Upington (054) 331-3631 kalaharimall@capeunionmart.co.za

V&A Waterfront Quay Four (021) 425-4559 quayfour@capeunionmart.co.za

Kathu Village Mall (053) 723-2736 kathu@capeunionmart.co.za

V&A Waterfront Travel & Safari (021) 419-0019 waterfront@capeunionmart.co.za

Kuruman Mall (053) 712-0175 kuruman@capeunionmart.co.za

West Coast Mall, Vredenburg (022) 713-4113 weskus@capeunionmart.co.za

Matlosana Mall, Klerksdorp (018) 462-0711 matlosanamall@capeunionmart.co.za

Mall of Africa, Midrand (010) 592-2210 mallofafrica@capeunionmart.co.za

MooiRivier Mall, Potchefstroom (018) 293-1788 mooirivier@capeunionmart.co.za

Mall of the South, Aspen Hills (011) 682-2361 mallofthesouth@capeunionmart.co.za

Waterfall Mall, Rustenburg (014) 537-3651 waterfall@capeunionmart.co.za

Menlyn on Maine (012) 348-4421 menlynonmaine@capeunionmart.co.za

Menlyn Park LIMPOPO STORES (012) 368-1015 Lephalale Mall menlyn@capeunionmart.co.za (014) 763-1278 Nicolway Bryanston lephalale@capeunionmart.co.za (011) 706-7573 Mall of the North, Polokwane nicolway@capeunionmart.co.za (015) 265-1067 mallofthenorth@capeunionmart.co.za Tzaneen Lifestyle Centre (015) 307-1002 tzaneen@capeunionmart.co.za

Northgate Shopping Centre (011) 794-1022 northgate@capeunionmart.co.za

OR Tambo International Airport (011) 390-3245 GAUTENG STORES ortambo@capeunionmart.co.za Atterbury Value Mart, Pretoria River Square Centre, Vereeniging (012) 991-3171 (016) 454-0103 atterbury@capeunionmart.co.za riversquare@capeunionmart.co.za Bedford Centre, Johannesburg Rosebank Mall (011) 615-3097 (011) 442-1959 bedford@capeunionmart.co.za rosebank@capeunionmart.co.za Brooklyn Mall, Pretoria Sandton City (012) 460-5511 (011) 884-9771 brooklyn@capeunionmart.co.za sandton@capeunionmart.co.za Mall@Carnival, Brakpan Springs Mall (011) 915-0470 springs@capeunionmart.co.za carnivalmall@capeunionmart.co.za The Glen Shopping Centre, Oakdene Centurion Lifestyle Centre (011) 436-1300 (012) 653-1114 centurionlifestylecentre@capeunionmart.co.za theglen@capeunionmart.co.za Centurion Mall (012) 663-4111 centurion@capeunionmart.co.za Clearwater Mall, Roodepoort (011) 675-0036 clearwater@capeunionmart.co.za Cradlestone, Krugersdorp (011) 662-1530 cradlestone@capeunionmart.co.za

The Grove Mall, Pretoria (012) 807-0642 thegrove@capeunionmart.co.za Vaal Mall, Vanderbijlpark (016) 981-5186 vaalmall@capeunionmart.co.za

Wonderpark Shopping Centre, Pretoria (012) 549-4203 wonderpark@capeunionmart.co.za

FREE STATE STORES

Cresta Shopping Centre (011) 478-1913 cresta@capeunionmart.co.za

Woodlands Boulevard, Pretoria (012) 997-6960 woodlands@capeunionmart.co.za

Goldfields, Welkom (057) 352-3005 goldfields@capeunionmart.co.za

Eastgate Adventure Centre (011) 622-8788 egac@capeunionmart.co.za

Loch Logan Waterfront, Bloemfontein (051) 430-0230 lochlogan@capeunionmart.co.za

Knysna Mall (044) 382-4653 knysna@capeunionmart.co.za

East Rand Mall, Boksburg (011) 826-2408 eastrandmall@capeunionmart.co.za

BOTSWANA STORES Gallo, Pick n Pay Centre, Francistown (+267) 024-10-398 francistown@capeunionmart.co.za

Mimosa Mall, Bloemfontein (051) 444-6060 mimosa@capeunionmart.co.za

Langeberg Mall, Mossel Bay (044) 695-2486 mosselbay@capeunionmart.co.za

Fourways Crossing (011) 465-0559 fourwayscrossing@capeunionmart.co.za

Dihlabeng Mall, Bethlehem (058) 303-1372 dihlabeng@capeunionmart.co.za

Fourways Mall (011) 465-9824 fourways@capeunionmart.co.za

GARDEN ROUTE Garden Route Mall, George (044) 887-0048 gardenroute@capeunionmart.co.za

The Market Square, Plettenberg Bay (044) 533-4030 marketsquare@capeunionmart.co.za

Greenstone Shopping Centre, Edenvale MPUMALANGA STORES (011) 609-0002 Hazyview Junction greenstone@capeunionmart.co.za (013) 737-3137 hazyview@capeunionmart.co.za Heidelberg Mall EASTERN CAPE STORES (016) 341-2031 Baywest Mall, Port Elizabeth Highveld Mall, Emalahleni heidelberg@capeunionmart.co.za (041) 371-1416 (013) 692-4018 baywest@capeunionmart.co.za highveld@capeunionmart.co.za Hyde Park Corner (011) 325-5038 Fountains Mall, Jeffreys Bay i’langa Mall, Nelspruit hydepark@capeunionmart.co.za (042) 293-0005 (013) 742-2281 fountainsmall@capeunionmart.co.za ilanga@capeunionmart.co.za Irene Village Mall (012) 662-1133 Greenacres Shopping Centre, PE Middelburg Mall irene@capeunionmart.co.za (041) 363-1504 (013) 244-1040 greenacres@capeunionmart.co.za middelburg@capeunionmart.co.za Killarney Mall (011) 646-7745 Hemmingways Shopping Centre, Riverside Mall, Nelspruit killarney@capeunionmart.co.za East London (013) 757-0338 (043) 726-0908 nelspruit@capeunionmart.co.za Kolonnade Shopping Centre, Pretoria hemmingways@capeunionmart.co.za (012) 548-9811 Secunda Mall kolonnade@capeunionmart.co.za Pepper Grove (Grahamstown) (017) 634-7921 (046) 622-3238 secunda@capeunionmart.co.za Kyalami Corner peppergrovemall@capeunionmart.co.za 083 859 6278 NORTH WEST STORES kyalami@capeunionmart.co.za Walmer Park Shopping Centre, PE Brits Mall (041) 368-7442 Mall@Reds, Centurion (012) 250-1909 walmer@capeunionmart.co.za (012) 656-0182 brits@capeunionmart.co.za redsmall@capeunionmart.co.za

80

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

Gamecity Lifestyle Centre, Gaborone (+267) 039-10-948 gamecity@capeunionmart.co.za Riverwalk Mall, Gaborone (+267) 037-00-040/1/2 riverwalk@capeunionmart.co.za

NAMIBIA STORES Maerua Mall, Windhoek (+264) 061-220-424 windhoek@capeunionmart.co.za Platz am Meer, Swakopmund (+264) 064-464-007 platzammeer@capeunionmart.co.za The Grove Mall of Namibia (+264) 061-253-161 thegrove@capeunionmart.co.za

OUTLET STORES Access Park, Cape Town (021) 674-6398 accesspark@capeunionmart.co.za Forest Hill City, Centurion (012) 668-1030 foresthill@capeunionmart.co.za Woodmead Value Mart, Johannesburg (011) 656-0750 woodmead@capeunionmart.co.za

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

HOWE TO TRAV E L

the falcon has landed Exploring the art of falconry, Graham Howe, visits the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital to learn more about these ferocious little birds of prey and what it takes to protect them.

I

’m holding the falcon at arm’s length, trying not to appear nervous. Her long talons are wrapped tightly around my wrist. I’m wearing the traditional falconer’s cuff, a medieval leather glove and sleeve.

She’s simply gorgeous. My mottled white falcon, alert beady eyes staring intensely back at me. We’re sharing a moment, man and bird of prey. I’m only too aware of the lightning speed with which the fastest bird in the world can strike. I avert my eyes.

But she’s not interested in me. It’s feeding time at the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, the largest facility of its kind in the world. Every instinct kicks in. This small raptor feeds delicately, pecking at the fresh quail, consuming her tiny prey down to the bones in a few minutes. Watching a falcon feed is not for the faint-hearted.

At the hospital on the desert outskirts of Abu Dhabi, I spot locals arriving in the parking-lot with their falcon perched like a small pooch next to the driver on the console of the SUV. The Emiratis are bringing in their beloved birds for a check-up, from a pedicure to the repair of broken feathers and orthopaedic surgery in the ICU. In the waiting room, rows of hooded falcons perch on narrow benches, three to a pew. Vets in blue collect them one by one from the anxious owners, who wait patiently in their traditional long white robes and white veils. We watch one of the assistants trim the falcon’s talons while it is under anaesthetic, its head in an oxygen mask.

On one of the daily tours of the falcon hospital, Hassan our guide, talks about the ancient history of falconry in Arabia. The Bedouins share a passion for falconry which dates back to when they were desert nomads, using falcons to hunt quarry like hares and bustards during the winter, supplementing their meagre diet.

A falcon in the Middle East even has its own identity document, a passport which

82

The Intrepid Explorer issue 18

enables it to travel with its owner throughout the region - even on airplanes. Holding up a copy of the document, Hassan quips, “Even a falcon needs a visa to travel!”

Falconry goes back millennia. Early records suggest the art of hunting with birds of prey originated in Mesopotamia in 2000 BC. The falcon was a symbolic bird for the ancient Mongolian tribes whose descendants still hunt with raptors in Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan today. Over the centuries, falconry has been the sport of kings and status symbol for the Romans, the Huns, kings, sheikhs and nobility.

Wilfred Thesiger, the last of the great explorers of the twentieth century, undertook his two epic crossings of the empty quarter of Arabia, travelling 16 000 kilometres on foot and camel like a Bedouin nomad from 1946-49. He wrote, “As I lay awake under the blazing stars and listened to the restless moaning of the camels, I was glad that we were hawking (the old name for hunting with falcons) in the traditional way”.

Falconry plays an important role in Arab heritage and culture. Today, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) spends an estimated $27 million (R392m) per annum on the protection and conservation of wild falcons - and on the breeding of captive-bred falcons to increase the stock of endangered species. UNESCO has inscribed falconry as a world heritage in 11 countries, from the UAE to Mongolia. Falconry is strictly regulated and the capture of wild falcons is prohibited in many countries.

On the tour, Hassan shows us examples of the three main species of falcon used by falconers in the Middle East - the native saker falcon, the peregrine falcon and the

Arctic gyrfalcon. Over the last fifty years, hybrid falcons have been selectively bred, combining the speed and aerial skill of the peregrine, the size of the gyr (to take larger prey like gazelles) and the looks of the saker. Most captive-bred falcons are female.

Hassan says there are three seasons for falconry - the mating, hunting and moulting season. The hospital wards are fullest during the moulting season when up to 400 falcons are resident here - they are most vulnerable to fungal disease, sickness and sun exposure when they lose their feathers which regulate temperature.

Wild falcons are protected - only captivebred falcons are treated in the hospital.

The peregrine falcon has been clocked at 322 km/h - faster than Formula Rossa, the fastest roller coaster in the world at 240 km/h at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi. The Falcon Hospital is one of the top five tourist attractions in the city. Falconry as a blood sport is not without controversy - and is opposed by animal welfare activists. But the hospital has won responsible tourism awards at the World Travel Awards as well as a trip advisor certificate of excellence. * Graham Howe was a guest of www.visitabudhabi.ae and Development Promotions in Johannesburg - call 011 463 1170 or visit www.dev.prom.co.za

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

T HE L AST WO RD My African Dream. We talk to Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp, TV & radio presenter, MC, actress and momtrepreneur › What are the top destinations you would still love to travel to?

I still want to do a “music concert experience” holiday, where my amazing hubby and I only attend music festivals.

Also, we are going to New York for my 40th and my mother-in-law and I are travelling to Philadelphia next year. I would love to go to Amsterdam! Our family is also visiting Madeira next year. I just can’t wait!

› Which favourite places have you already ticked off your list?

So many! I loved the vibrancy of Malaysia and the food in Penang. The carelessness of Thailand and cocktails in Phi Phi. London, London, London! We travel there every year.

Zambia and its people! Nairobi and the coast with Italian influence. Shopping in Italy!!!! Spain and Gaudy, Serbia and Kaimak Mauritius! Too many times.

Braai or sushi?

Braai! We grew up on braai! Especially New Year’s Eve as a child. I love sushi... but a lekker lamb chop with my stepson’s secret sauce is delish!

› What is the weirdest food/drink that you have ever tried?

I don’t taste weird things and only recently tried bacon. But I have made a few linguistic mistakes on my travels. In Serbia, I asked for “Vodu” thinking that it’s water, instead I got a drink that they call “liquid cocaine”! Being a traveller, I tried it of course!

› If you were stuck on a deserted island, would you know how to catch dinner and make a fire?

I’d eat it raw, and chances are, my man won’t let me go by myself in the first place.

I never get lost. He even programmes my GPS before I go to gigs. Lame, but true.

› Are you an adrenaline junkie? What activities would appeal to you and what would not?

Before having my children I had no fear!

Now I’m even too careful to get on a bike! I’ve done Bloukrans and bungeed 250 meters. Paragliding in Malaysia and not knowing how to land as my instructor didn’t know English! l want to try shark cage diving. Soon. Very soon. › Consider your own upbringing, were/ are you a bush baby or a city slicker?

I think growing up I thought I was a bush baby – until I met my husband. Anyone that can make dinner from something that used to be alive an hour ago should receive a medal. My husband is that kind of guy. I’m a city slicker, but pretend to be all about the bush to not be an outcast. We love camping, but I stay in the chalet while the rest are in the tent.

84

The Intrepid Explorer issue 20

› What is the most memorable wildlife experience you have had/seen?

I have seen some amazing things. My 2 most memorable experiences: I was 37 weeks pregnant and did a game drive at Aquila. It was the first time I was hoping not to see a lion. I kept thinking, “I can’t run and I’m responsible for two now”. But it was beautiful and my hubby and our bundle hugged under the sunset. The other was being a kid and I don’t like hunting as a “sport”, but I did my junior hunting license and got to shoot targets. I was young, around 16 or so, but will never forget the feeling.

› What is your tried and trusted signature dish you serve your friends?

You should come for dinner. My butter turkey. You would wish it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas every day. I don’t cook sides, guests must bring that themselves. I do have loads of wine though. Given the choice and if it were up to you, what do you think the consequences should be for people running the rhino horn trade? I first want to cry my eyes out and pay respect to these animals. Then we would profile each person and let the public decide. We are giving them power by letting them own this “trade”. Catch them, cage them and let’s create a profile and show our communities and children what happens to bad people. › Beer or wine?

That’s not a fair. I love both. I love craft beers and I love wine so much I made my own in 2012 and won Michelangelo gold for it. Sorry, you can’t buy some –

Elanawine is sold out. Wait until 2019 for my next baby. › Camping or luxury lodge?

Luxury!! Plugs, bubbles and a soft bed. And Wi-Fi! Pow! › With all your work commitments, your marriage, and young family, where do you guys find the time to travel and where do you like to go?

Other than the fact that we work in media and run two of our biggest events four times a year, we work hard at making time for all our children. We have four children in total, and Ian and I have two together.

Just like any tight-knit family, we travel, eat together and spend time at picnics. We love road-tripping and never go further than three hours out. Also, we are always at wine farms and having picnics and then of course - London. It’s an easy trip for us because we have family there. › As someone many people look up to, who was your role model and who do you hold in high esteem?

Wow! I appreciate that many people find me inspirational. What a blessing. I look up to people older than me – they know more about life! Also, I have a few mentors in my life. Both my sets of parents who I love very much, and Doreen, Morris who I have loved since a little girl, and my mentor Michelle Koerevaar. › You have been involved in radio, TV and popular on social media, what is next on the cards for Elana?

Thanks for asking! We just launched a very exciting concert series called Piekniek & Musiek (piekniekenmusiek.com). As well as an initiative for moms-to-be, single dads and parents called #Babybrunch (babybrunch.co.za). I’m also launching a support group for parents and single parents, as well as an awards and rewards network.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

Namibia Reservations Botswana Reservations

Beautiful Landscapes

Fascinating Animals

Interesting Cultures Accomodation Selfdrive Tours Guided Tours Camping Safaris

Namibia Botswana South Africa Zambia Zimbabwe

Incentives Vehicle Rentals Adventure Activities Scenic Flights

Namibia Reservations P.O. Box 2172 Otjiwarongo - Namibia Tel: +264-67-304716 Fax: +264-67-304728 Mail: info@namibiareservations.com Web : www.namibiareservations.com

www.botswana-reservations.com

www.namibiareservations.com