It was dark and rain dripped icily down my neck from the thatch overhead while I tried to wrestle a key into what I was very soon forced to accept wasn't my room's lock. I retreated, hoping my fidgeting and cursing had not woken a Gautenger. Pilanesberg Game Reserve is just too close to Jozi for a lock fidgeter to expect to walk away uninjured.
It would have been a real tragedy not to have made it across the threshold of my cosy Ivory Tree Game Lodge suite. The tasteful room was all pre-warmed, sheets-turned-down, nougat-on-pillow goodness.
It had been my free-with-your-cellphone-contract GPS's fault really. It pointed me across the North West Province flatlands, pre-empting turns into every side road between OR Tambo Airport and the park's Bakgatla gate. The insufferable thing bleated "Turn around when possible" every time I made a decision. It was spared the fate of directing wildlife from a bush only because I was late.
The lodge arrival formalities were skipped in favour of a game drive already idling to depart.
The earth moved
Within the park gate, the previously monotonous landscape rose steeply around the open-top vehicle. Bush and grasslands replaced corrugated iron huts and wind-blown plastic bags.
Our guide, Neill Patterson, began with geology, describing how the Pilanesberg amphitheatre was formed by volcanic action some 1 300 million years ago. The land surface blistered and cracked from subterranean pressure, then collapsed into the cavity made by escaping lava.
View from a basket
At five the next freezing morning, searing bursts of two-metre gas flames close to my polyester beanie, the Airtrackers' hot-air balloon rose over the extinct volcano.
From the air, we could see plough scars of farmlands, dating from about 1969, which were cleared of people, structures and alien vegetation, and seeded with indigenous plants.
It took 10 years of preparation, during which the 55 000-hectare park was fenced, before Africa's biggest game translocation programme began. In Operation Genesis, close to 6 000 animals from 19 species were trucked in from around the country.
Keeping the balance
Massive challenges were overcome but four decades on there's still a lot to be learned when piecing together an ecosystem again.
The veld needs to be burned to ensure the fresh growth of palatable grasses to sustain herds of grazers in numbers that would not otherwise be possible on the sourveld.
Vulture restaurants have stabilised the once dangerously low numbers of these carrion feeders, but has made them lazy, so it's unusual to see them at kills.
Humans too have an impact on the park and need to be managed. It can be tricky at weekends and on public holidays when visitor numbers shoot up and the park becomes crowded.
Animal numbers are carefully monitored and excess game is sold or relocated to other parks. The profits contribute to the park's operations, the habitat stays intact and the surrounding community benefits.
As I was leaving the park, the GPS finally gave an instruction I would gladly have followed: "Turn around when possible."
Getaway Guide
From the N4, turn right on to the R556 and follow the Pilanesberg signs. Nearer the park, you'll see individual signs to Bakubung, Kwa Maritane, Manyane or Bakgatla Gates. Take care, the roads are not great, and watch out for pedestrians. It's best to go in at Bakubung Gate and drive through the park, avoiding the long, busy and ugly main road to Bakgatla.
Published by arrangement with Getaway magazine. For the full story, see the November issue.
