Many game lodges specialise in carnivorous cuisine, particularly venison. But after tracking live animals through the bush, who wants to eat dead wildlife on a plate? Not I. Dining on springbok, kudu or gemsbok after shooting them through the lens seems rather incongruous to me.
Fortunately, Karoo cuisine and wildlife conservation wisely go hand in hand at Samara, one of the largest private reserves in South Africa. Spread across 28 000 hectares near Graaff-Reinet, Samara has turned back the clock and created a sanctuary for the wildlife hunted to extinction on the plains of Camdeboo. A Noah's ark of wild cats, mountain zebra, rhino, giraffe and many species of buck browse at peace.
Sibella, a female cheetah, is the star of Samara. After being rescued from hunters who savagely tortured her in captivity, Sibella and two male cheetahs were released at Samara by the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust. She has thrived, producing 18 cubs in the wild over the past six years. Tracking cheetah on foot at Samara (and Sanbona) was one of the highlights of my trip - along with close-up encounters with fox, caracal, genet and jackal on old farmland where they were once shot on sight.
A caracal is the newest arrival enjoying sanctuary at Samara, relocated from a sheep farm in Middelburg where a kind farmer trapped the "rooikat" unharmed. These exquisite wild cats with piercing eyes, tufted ears and red-brown hide are hunted mercilessly as "problem animals". (For a brilliant analysis of the Department of Environment and Tourism's controversial "draft norms and standards on hunting", see commentary by Chris Mercer of the Campaign against Canned Hunting at www.cannedlion.org) Caracals eat rodents, guinea fowl, dassies, hares and small buck... and Karoo lamb to the ire of farmers.
When we weren't looking for the big and little cats of the Karoo, Iris Adams treated us to wonderful vegetarian fare in her kitchen at The Manor at Samara, a new luxury lodge which is a haven of comfort.
A self-taught chef born and bred in the Eastern Cape, Iris creates the most delicious dishes out of wholesome Karoo ingredients. We licked our lips and fingers over big country quiches, sandwiches and soups (peach and tomato gazpacho or pea) served with freshly-baked oven bread and farm preserves.
After dawn patrol on a game-drive or game-walk with the ranger, we would return to the big brunch at The Manor near the water-hole visited by all the birds and the beasts every day. While swapping sightings with other guests - The Manor has four luxury suites for private parties of up to eight - we tucked into smoked salmon, goat's cheese from Nieu Bethesda, grilled vegetables, wholesome salads, homemade chutneys and relishes. I felt as stuffed as the aardvark burrowing under a termite mound.
High teas on the terrace in the grand colonial style are a sumptuous affair at Samara. A troop of naughty vervet monkeys scampered over the roof to watch the daily ritual. Iris's carrot cake, tarts, savouries, apple and blueberry pudding are worth the long drive through the Karoo. We headed off to the farm dam to watch a huge flock of blue cranes - and a rare sighting of five bat-eared foxes gambolling across the veld, scaring a few meerkat sentries on sundowner duty at Samara's very own Meerkat Manor.
We came back with Iris's wonderful Samara recipe for peach and tomato gazpacho:
Ingredients: 4 cups tomatoes, chopped, 2 cups peaches, chopped, 1/4 cup crushed ice, 2 tbsp chopped red onion, 2 tbsp olive oil1, 1/2 tbsp raspberry vinegar, 1 tbsp freshly chopped basil, salt and black pepper, juice of 1 lemon, 1/2 cup tomato juice.
Method: Blend all the ingredients together. Stir in the basil. Chill and serve with garlic croutons.
Our walkabout with wild cats ended at Tenikwa, a wildlife awareness centre at The Crags in Plettenberg Bay (see www.tenikwa.co.za).
Owner Mandy Freeman rehabilitates many endangered wild cats injured in traps and on roads. Visitors experience close encounters with the lesser cats - African wild cats, black-footed cats, the exotic serval and caracal - in natural habitats created in large enclosures.
Mandy concludes, "People tend to focus on the big cats like lion, leopard and cheetah. We teach visitors about lesser,highly endangered cats who also need our help."
The Karoo and Eastern Cape are on the frontlines of the conflict between farmers, hunters and conservationists. Dr Bool Smuts of the Landmark Foundation comments, "Over the past six years, at least 29 leopards have died, largely in gin traps, in the Baviaanskloof mega-reserve." (He estimates deaths may be 50% higher.) "Leopards are under severe threat in the region. The lethal methods used - gin traps, packs of dogs, poisons and helicopter hunting - are indiscriminate and ethically unacceptable".
