Africa
is beguiling. As much notion as nation, it lingers in the
imagination long before one has occasion to experience it.
Sundry cultural artifacts — literature, cinema and the
toys of childhood — all fill the subconscious with magnificent
vistas, fanciful animals and sepia-tinged images of romantic
adventure.
The savvy
globetrotter has an eye on Botswana. With just a million and
a half inhabitants, its progressive government nurtures a
naturalist authenticity lost in many surrounding nations.
Twenty percent of the country is protected as parkland, and
restricting camps in numbers of employees as well as guests
has precluded a deluge of tourists.
The environmentalist stance hardly reflects an aversion to
luxury — to which a trio of elegant Orient-Express establishments
can attest. Nestled deep in the Okavango Delta, a vast core
of wetland in the Kalahari Desert, the region is a hub of
wildlife activity. Visitors can view Africa's Big Five
(elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and rhino) in a diverse
array of ecosystems.
Having flown in from New York, our journey opens with two
evenings at Johannesburg's Westcliff hotel. Tucked into
a hillside, the city's grandest property looks over
a city engulfed by a lavender blanket of blooming jacaranda
trees. I shrug off the 16-hour flight with a massage, followed
by a cocktail in the Polo Lounge. Brad Pitt and Richard Branson
are fellow guests.
Whisked off via private jet from the city's smaller
Lanseria airport, we alight from the leather and walnut plush
of our eight-seater into the elephant capital of the world.
Bone-dry and beach sandy, it's a short drive to Savute
Elephant Camp, on the banks of the desiccated Savute Channel,
in the heart of the Chobe National Park. Spanning 11,700 square
kilometers, it's Botswana's second largest conservation
area and home to more than 40,000 elephants.
Roughing it on the Delta? Hardly. Relieved of our luggage,
we're escorted to a large, well-appointed, drawing room/dining
room/bar. Topped with a thatch roof and hung with ostrich-egg
chandeliers — the Delta's décor lighting
of choice — the al fresco space overlooks a pool and,
just below that, a watering hole where elephants gather some
5 to 30 at a time.
Linked by stone pathways, 15 air-conditioned canvas tents
are raised on wooden platforms; some larger versions offer
outdoor rain showers. Each has a private viewing deck facing
the watering hole. Inside, four-poster beds sit on a polished
hardwood floor, draped in sheers with a bath en suite and
dressing room to the rear. A note summarizes laundry service.
Days begin at 5:30 am with fresh coffee brought to each tent.
The young African who delivers it tells me I mustn't
forget to latch my porch gate, as “monkeys are naughty.”
A buffet breakfast awaits in the restaurant, after which we
embark on a three-hour morning game drive in open-air four-by-fours.
I hop in with Onx Manga, a native Botswanan guide whose knowledge
(he was named guide of the year in 2001) is rivaled only by
his charm and humor.
Our first stop is a watering hole where 13-foot elephants
ramble by mere feet from our vehicle. Plowing on through the
sand dunes, we come across an entire hide, completely gutted.
Onx explains that since the channel ran dry in 1983 —
an unpredictable, recurring event due to plate shifts —
wildlife has moved on to greener pastures. As a result, Chobe's
lion population has become resourceful and, in a move that
until recently was unheard of, has taken to stalking elephants.
A few miles on and we're presented with such a scene:
Six feet from our vehicle a freshly slain elephant lies on
its side, a cat savaging its neck. A cub jostles gamely for
position, only to be roared off by a lioness. The pecking
order is firm: males, females, cubs – if there's
any left. Africa, it's fair to say, is not for the faint
of heart.
Later that evening we gather for dinner — menus include
local staples springbok and kudu, ostrich fillet and African
bream — and, afterward, sip cognac and wine by the fire.
As a guide details a star-dappled indigo sky misted only by
a glittering Milky Way, a leopard saunters over, lapping water
from a fountain a few feet away. “The worst thing you
can do is run,” says Onx, glancing over his shoulder.
Perched on a lush riverbed and flanked by fig trees, Khwai
River Lodge presents the opposite of Savute's arid sandveld.
Tents face a verdant floodplain replete with a resident pod
of hippos, and guests can also make use of the spa and gym.
Nearby Moremi Game Reserve, a 5,200-square-kilometer wildlife
sanctuary rich in foliage and game, is considered by many
to be Botswana's most dazzling.
A morning tour reveals herds of romping zebra, giraffes nibbling
at acacia leaves, smatterings of impala and kudu and lions
lounging two by two in the shade. Back at camp for a mid-afternoon
break, guests gravitate toward the pool or relax in overstuffed
armchairs under the breeze of ceiling fans in the main building.
A few women practice yoga poses in the shadow of a sweeping
jackal berry tree; another group departs for a walk to nearby
Bushman rock paintings, remnants of the Delta's earliest
human inhabitants.
Our afternoon jaunt offers up baboons and a herd of 500 magnificent
Cape buffalo and is capped with “sundowners” on
the banks of a hippo pond. A lantern-lit table set with linen,
stemware, aperitifs and platters of hors d'oeuvres glows
against the twilight. Everyone mingles around a large bonfire,
drinking champagne and sharing the day's adventures,
as a guide fashions the ladies in the group intricate necklaces
out of water lilies.
Our last three evenings are spent at Eagle Island Camp, a
birdwatcher's paradise where a glossy black Paradise
Flycatcher brandishing his foot-long electric-yellow tail
welcomes us. Poised on a bottle-green lagoon planed by emerald-and-crimson
lily pads spiked with china-white blossoms, it's among
the few places in Africa to view wildlife while gliding the
Byzantine, papyrus-crowded waterways on mokoro boats. Visitors
June through October can view the region from above with helicopter
tours that include visits to local villages and, with the
reintroduction of black-and-white rhinoceroses to the region,
the best chance for viewing the elusive beasts.
As to noteworthy sightings, guests on New Years Day 2003 witnessed
a hippo giving birth in the lagoon directly in front of the
bar — a storybook place that The New York Times has
deemed among the “Most Romantic Bars in the World.”
As dusk's dazzling orange-magenta sunset disappears
into the candlelight glow, one can certainly see why.
But
we're not done yet. The Orient Express African experience
finishes with three nights in soigné Cape Town in the
century-old Mount Nelson Hotel, which has received a million-dollar
revamp. Charming cottages off the property's auxiliary
pool have just debuted, and the city's only champagne
bar — the sleek Planet — is located off the main
foyer, overlooking landscaped gardens.
Bordered by the turquoise Indian and Atlantic oceans and framed
by soaring mountains, Cape Town's sophistication is
offset by a breathtaking geographical grandeur. Just as exhilarating,
the city purrs with the giddy excitement of two disparate
cultures having merged, the impact infusing fashion, nightlife
and cuisine with a heady Afro-Euro elegance. What's
more, the five-to-one exchange means shopping and dining like
a pasha — and never feeling the pinch.
Zebra ottomans? Ostrich-egg tea lights? Duck-feather lampshades?
Décor shops are everywhere. Peruse the African Trading
Post, a multifloor shop at the V&A Waterfront brimming
with art, bijoux and interior items. Chic objets d'art
can also be found at the upscale home-design emporium Jarvis
House as well as Makalani. Pick up a copy of Visi, South Africa's
leading décor magazine for a thorough overview. Bookshops,
cafés and boutiques abound on bohemian Long Street,
where vintage is scored at Glam. Nina Roche is the place for
haute shoes. Amber carries accessories, and it's Charles
Greig for diamonds. Local labels? Maya Prass and Amanda Laird-Cherry.
A visit to sashop.co.za offers boutiques cross-referenced
by district and category.
Restaurants are plentiful and cuisine is exciting. Traditional
fare can be had at Africa Café, and foodies frequent
One.waterfront and Aubergine for fine dining. The seafood
boîte, Blowfish, serves everything from shellfish to
butterfish sold by weight, along with sweeping ocean views.
Celebs and the fashion set hit Tank for sushi, and the ruby-red
M-Bar at the stylish Metropole hotel is sexy-fun.
A more bucolic time can be had in the Cape's stunning
winelands. One can while away an afternoon at the picturesque
Buitenverwachting in Constantia and sample award-winning vintages
over a leisurely meal in this vineyard's wonderful restaurant.
A three-course lunch, sans wine, runs R65 — or $11.50.
Nearby, La Colombe serves classic Provençal cuisine
in the elegant 16-room Constantia Uitsig hotel, and the region's
most celebrated sauvignons can be had at the Mulderbosch vineyard
in Stellenbosch where tastings are by appointment only.
From wild life to nightlife, in dynamic South Africa, there's
literally too much to do.
Viia
Beaumanis is a Toronto-based journalist and the features editor
of Canada's Fashion Magazine. Her work has
appeared in Forbes FYI, The Globe & Mail,
The National Post and Flare.
