The life of Irish adventurer Sir Percy Fitzpatrick is perhaps less a rich tapestry and more a well-worn carpet covered in dog hairs. Like Jock, his fearless bull terrier, he left his widowed mother as a young pup and rose from runt to robust paladin.
His manly physique made him popular with the ladies but he was a man's man too; one who could tell a cracking yarn around campfires under star-studded Lowveld skies, the narrative enhanced by a shared bottle of whisky. He could carry a tune and played a mean concertina.
The epitaph on his Eastern Cape grave reads: "A man men could but love - Pioneer and Patriot".
Sir Percy introduced trout into the Transvaal, dabbled in politics and helped start the Johannesburg Zoo. Jailed for sedition in 1896, he spent much of his time writing, when he wasn't receiving visitors. Mark Twain popped in, as did the touring British cricket side. Jail wasn't quite as strict in those days.
Prisoners were allowed an hour's bicycle ride through the city of Pretoria in the afternoons with a police officer and two mounted constables in tow.
Fitzpatrick later headed the Chamber of Mines, got knighted, elected to Parliament, founded a newspaper and served as president of the Transvaal Cricket Union, but today he's best known for Jock of the Bushveld, a literary tribute to his canine companion. First published in 1907 it underwent countless reprints and translations, even hitting the big screen as a successful movie and sequel by producer-director Duncan MacNeillie, who turned it into an animated series earlier this year.
Fitzpatrick's good friend Rudyard Kipling persuaded him to write about the four years he spent with Jock as a transport rider on a supply route along the Old Delagoa Road through the interior to Mozambique. "If you can battle crocs, baboons and villainous Afrikaners; and live to tell the tales of the veld. Then write it down and make a buck, Sir Percy. There's gold in them thar yarns; I'll bet my belt," he might have said.
Today Jock of the Bushveld waymarks display the original supply route. There's one on the Malelane-Skukuza road, a second near Fihlamanzi, and a third at a parking spot overlooking the Crocodile drift on the Malelane-Crocodile Bridge road where Jock, Fitzpatrick and Jim Makokel, his Man Friday with a penchant for the demon drink, fought an old crocodile. No, not General Louis Botha; the politics only came later. In 1910, to be precise, when Fitzpatrick's defeat of South Africa's first prime minister by 96 votes forced Botha to seek a safe seat elsewhere.
Sadly, Jock was long dead by then - "Spoiler alert!" - shot in Mozambique protecting a hen house. I still can't read the book without shedding a tear or two.
A bronze statue of the loyal Jock challenging a sable antelope can be found at Jock's Safari Lodge between the Kruger Park's Skukuza and Malelane gates.
Fitzpatrick's descendants, the Niven family, built the lodge close to where Sir Percy and Jock had most of their adventures. The 6 000ha private concession area is in the exact shape of Jock's profile and the property's southern boundary is the original wagon route traversed by Sir Percy's and his cohorts.
I first visited Jock's in 2002 when MacNeillie had the place - no prizes for guessing where his passions lie - but today the Safari Lodge is part of the Mantis Group, which owns some of the world's most luxurious resorts.
Perched amid the tangle of bush at the confluence of the Mitomemi and Biyamiti rivers, Jock's Lodge is faithful to the Fitzpatrick ethos, albeit with all the air-conditioned expediencies of 21st century convenience including stress massages and pedicures by the delightful spa therapist, Doreen Lourens.
With sloping thatched roofs, pull-down reed blinds, and tree branches doubling as balustrades, the 12 cottages blend in beautifully with the bush terrain. Each has its own sala overlooking the river, meaning you don't have to leave the comfort of your couch to enjoy the stunning savannah, although Venda chef Lucas Nelluomee's dinners served under a bejewelled night sky in the boma are certainly worth getting up for.
It's a kind of colonial charades by candlelight, a soft pampered fantasy world, far from the 19th century continuum when Sir Percy and his cohorts lived rough, daily encountering wild animals and poisonous snakes.
Men were real men in those days, I reflected, soaping a meditative armpit in the ball and claw bath. Not like so many of today's moisturising milksops with self-esteem issues and low libidos. Give me a man who knows his way around the wilderness any day.
Jocks' general manager Louis Strauss - we met him a year ago when he was managing the luxurious Komati Tented Lodge in the Nkomazi Reserve near Barberton - describes Jock's as "the Pilgrim's Rest of Kruger Park".
All suites are named after relevant places of interest, such as Pettigrews Road and the trading posts of Delagoa Bay and Komatipoort.
Our own suite was called Lydenberg, a town established in 1850 by the Voortrekkers, which also formed part of Fitzpatrick's supply route.
Indeed, this south-west part of the Kruger Park is so pristine and rich in history that it attracts travellers from around the world.
"It's only when you see it from the air that you realise how precious our park is," enthuses Strauss, who had taken a game-spotting helicopter trip the previous day.
"Only about 10 percent is accessible to the public. The rest is untrammelled wilderness, pure virgin bushveld, with no signs of human activity.
"We're especially fortunate at Jock's to have exclusive viewing of an African wild dog pack with pups who visit the same den every year on our concession."
Sadly, the wild dogs remained elusive during our two-day stay but on game drives with our ranger Lazarus Mkhonto, we saw spectacular birds - European and Lilac-breasted rollers, carmine bee eaters, spotted eagle owls, Wahlberg and brown snake eagles - squirrels, a dwarf mongoose, giraffe, zebra, kudu as well as close encounters with the Big Five, including black rhino, now more correctly referred to as hook-lipped rhino.
On evening game drives, Mkhonto would stop the vehicle so we could listen to the symphony of the bush and inhale lungfuls of fresh night air redolent with elephant and buffalo dung that smells rather pleasantly of thatching grass and tobacco.
Our last game drive ended rather spectacularly when we spotted a male leopard cub catching the last rays of the sun on a rock beneath a tree where his mother slept on a branch guarding an impala carcass.
I felt blessed to be part of this shrinking world, close to nature and infinity, but perhaps Sir Percy himself said it best when he wrote: "The wilderness not only speaks for itself but for millions of others all over the world. Such is the friendship between man and his dog.
"A friendly touch, a placid glance, a simple kiss and the silence of unspoken words told by their souls. If the world could but remember to find the unspoken wilderness in each other, Jock would rest in everyone's souls." (December 24, 1883).
Jock's: If you go...
- More information: Contact central reservations on 041 407 1000 or e-mail them at reservations@mantiscollection.com
You can also call Jock's on 013 735 5200 or visit www.jocksafarilodge.com
- Getting there: A five-hour drive from Joburg (two hours from Kruger International Airport), child-friendly Jock's Safari Lodge is in the southern part of the Kruger Park and easily accessible by car. Jock's is just over one hour from either Skukuza or Malelane airports.
- Accommodation: Main Jock has 12 luxury air-conditioned suites, each with a private Sala and plunge pool overlooking a river. There is also a communal pool. Little Jock offers three private rooms, each with its own pool, chef, waitress and ranger.
- Facilities: A "relaxation retreat" offers a hydrotherapy bath, sauna, steam and spa treatments. There are also gym facilities to work off those delicious meals
- Activities: Game drives, guided walks, bird watching, rock art viewing and stargazing
- Frogging Safaris. With 34 species of amphibians in Kruger, Jock's Safari Lodge ranks as one of the best places for frogging safaris.
Froggers are issued head-lights, nets and gumboots and set out after dark. Frogs are caught and identified, then released back into their habitat. Guests get to marvel at the kaleidoscope of colours and the choir of sounds emitted from these tiny creatures, some no bigger than your thumb. Some recent "catches" include banded rubber frogs, bubbling kassinas, sand frogs and painted reed frogs.Frogging safari-goers will discover that frogs have very good eyesight because their eyes bulge out the sides of their heads in order to see in nearly all directions.
- Special offers:
From April 15 to mid-October, Jock's Safari Lodge is running a special of R1 500 per person per night (if you book and stay during week dates) or R1 750 per person per night (on weekend dates).
This includes accommodation, game drives, all meals and selected beverages.
Children under 12 pay R250. This is subject to accommodation availability and only applicable to SA residents. Terms and conditions apply.
