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Where Veldskoene Dare to Tread


Having recently been warmly welcomed into the office at Hartley’s safaris, my memories of bushveld adventures have been seeping to the surface of my mind, reminding me of what a privilege we have, as Safari operators, to enable our fellow humans to experience the magic of Africa, it’s culture, traditions, its people and of course it’s vast array of animal species, guaranteed to delight even the most sceptical traveller.

Several years back, the ground was trembling from the thundering fall of our uniform issued veldskoene (thin leather shoes made from vegetable-tanned leather or rawhide used specifically to walk in the bush) as my roommate and I, all of 20 years old, bolted from a mildly annoyed male lion that we had bribed out of his shady position under a bush (for research purposes of course) by hanging a large soggy piece of biltong off the rear view mirror of our landrover. A rather twisted Hijack if you will.

Apparently an animal’s eyes have the power to speak great words. We missed that conversation entirely.

The vet’s panicked shouts for us to stand still fell on deaf ears as somehow we were miraculously transported to the top of the granite koppie (small, normally rocky hill), both of us still intact – physically anyway. The mental blank we experienced between the bottom of the hill and the top of the koppie remains a mystery which to this day cannot be decoded –even by hypnosis.

Surely, this had to be the epitome of danger in the African bush. Not so. Student rangers lived in constant hope of receiving the small monetary tips from hosting the daily game drives that would enable us to survive until the end of the month-albeit on pap and beer. An unlucky colleague broached the idea that if he could mimic Crocodile Dundee and perhaps enhance his own show-andtell by picking up a variety of snakes, he would almost certainly give himself a much needed pay rise.

Entertainment pays. Unfortunately it also costs and in this case, cost him 2 fingers.

It is always nerve wracking leading a walk in the bush with 8 or so bush lovers of varying degrees of mobility and even greater variances in their capacity to listen to their guide.

The first 30 mins of said Walk in the Bush comprises of strict instructions by the guide and his back up guide. This has since been escalated to one hour of strict instruction briefing in an attempt to try and reduce the great divide of those who listen and those who do not.

This hour is spent talking about WHAT.TO.DO should we find ourselves in any sort of compromising “situation”.

The most important of these instructions being “do what the guide says”.

To date, this is the instruction that is still forgotten the most.

Having been warmed up from the outside inwards by the African sun climbing higher into the sky, all the equipment starts to come out and people relax. Cameras appear out of backpacks, sticks of biltong are handed out, water bottles are swung around by their straps, binoculars, bush tools and even the odd comb out of the sock are pulled out.

To take out all this heavy duty gear takes about 5 minutes. To try and stuff it back into your backpack while an elephant is charging at 50km an hour is quite another story. Every guide’s nightmare.

Recently, a rather clever woman, newly married and on her honeymoon, found herself in exactly this predicament when her tour group was charged suddenly by a bad tempered black rhino. She ditched her bag and hastily clambered up a nearby tree. Until her devoted husband arrived at the bottom of the same tree a few seconds later and pulled her out by one leg, proceeding to scramble right over her head and onto her perch of safety.

She survived. It is uncertain whether the marriage did.

Wanting to make the most of their twilight years, an elderly couple joined a group of friends for a trip to the African bush –in true African style –at a remote bush camp in Northern Kruger -where people are few and working toilets are even fewer. As evening approached, and the comrades began preparations for dinner, the 70- something gentleman invited his wife of many years to join him in enjoying a genuine bush shower –normally a plastic container of some sort hanging from a tree branch and surrounded by a flimsy cover consisting of anything from branches to stolen bedsheets.

With the crackling of the roaring campfire and the non- stop babble of the excited guests, no-one saw the great wall of dust gradually approaching in the distance. Now fully lathered up in soap bubbles, our unsuspecting friend happened to catch a glimpse over the shower curtain of the oncoming spectacle of a thundering buffalo herd and snatching his dear wife’s hand, they literally flew out of their home- made shower, soap in hand, right past their group of 10 bewildered and amused spectators –who now, having seen the stampede, tried to scramble up from their chairs spilling wine and falling over each other in their rush to escape.

To this day, I believe the dear couple have not lived this incident down.

They are happily married!

To many, the pristine beauty of the African wilderness cannot be surpassed. We believe that our exciting Safari experiences enrich the lives of many and spoil them with memories to last a lifetime.

We hope that you will continue to enjoy experiences of your own, which will be passed down to future generations in stories and memories –a precious gift indeed.

Greetings,

Claire

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SATSA No. 207
 

Hartley’s Safaris is registered with Southern Africa Tourism Association Registration number 207.

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Hartley’s Safaris
South Africa (Pty) Ltd
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Copyright © 2016 Hartley's Safaris SA

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Copyright © 2016 Hartley's Safaris UK

SATSA No. 207

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