So many times I talk about the South Eastern corner of Zimbabwe and I get a blank face in response. In that corner lies some of the most secret kept wildlife conservancies, that contribute much to Southern Africa’s wildlife reserves. Malilangwe Trust, bordering the legendary Gonarezhou National Park is the leading Private Game Reserve where I have been fortunate enough to spend three weeks at a time, every June for the last couple of years. Having worked there in the nineties and then seeing it in the last two years, I can safely conclude that the diversity of it’s wildlife and flora is by far the best in any Private Game Reserve I have ever worked in. The luxurious six-villa lodge Pamushana is a paradise of unequalled style and beauty in its architectural design, position and location.
In the three weeks I was there this year, the guests did a multiple of activities and spent the entire three weeks on the one private game reserve. The property boasts a habitat that is incomparable in its diversity that it becomes a fascination to spend that long of a time in one place, and the guests were barely ready to go back home at the end of their three week visit. From The wildlife, to the people, the historical sites of the San bushman including ancient rock art, fishing and walking are only some of the exciting things one can do.
The endangered Painted Hunting Dogs, commonly known as wild dogs were dening not too far from the lodge and we had a number of sightings of them hunting, feeding each other and often resting near the road. The small to medium sized animals such as Impala and Bushbuck were plentiful for these efficient hunters. It is one of the few properties where you will see both black and white rhino with relative ease. We had a number of leopard sightings both during the day and night.
The best sighting of the majestic cat was watching a large male patiently stalking a herd of nyala. We were not around to see him through as the herd moved off out of our site. We had a number of lion sightings on the property mainly the well-known Banyin pride, which consists of a beautiful black mane lion and four lionesses.
One morning we had a pack of eight hyenas walk a few yards past our vehicle, on route to their day’s retirement site. Later that morning, we sat at a waterhole where we found seven white rhino resting in a mud pool. We watched them a while before they got up and slowly disappeared in the thick mopane woodland in search shade to escape the intense heat of the day. The intensity of wildlife almost seems unbelievable; it is a photographer’s dream come true.
In the three weeks I spent at Malilangwe, I had the most unique experience with a herd of elephants, something very unusual and daring that remains fresh in my mind. We were out on a game drive at sunset when we came across a breeding herd of about forty animals as far as I could see. We watched the herd meandering, feeding their way towards us. They were very unconcerned about us. I did notice that the herd was very vocal amongst themselves, that was the way we had found them in the first place; lots of trumpeting, growling and series of stomach rumblings. We started to drive off when we saw two cows and two young bulls in their teens standing in the middle of the road. I stopped and gave them time to cross the road, but at this stage they stood still with very little movement. After a minute or so, they continued to feed whilst walking on the road. All of a sudden the biggest cow started to walk towards us with her head held high, but showing a great sense of curiosity rather than aggression. She walked right up to the front of my vehicle and sniffed the bumper with the end of her trunk.
At this stage all I could see was a huge black shadow over us. In the mean time I looked back at my guests and only to see two heads out of four people. The other two had buried themselves under the seats of the vehicle, they were motionless, I could not even hear them breathe, they were terrified but seemed to relic on the experience, at the thought of what might happen next.
She turned and started to walk away satisfied with her curiosity, so I thought…
She had only walked fifteen yards away when she decided to come back for another look. By this time, we only had the moonlight to see, because I had turned our headlights off so as not to upset her or blind her. This time she stuck her head over the front of the vehicle and stared into the vehicle as though she expected us to whisper something in her ear… we did not make an attempt. She then proceeded to put her right front leg on the bull-bar, and started to rock our four by four vehicle. All the while I had been observing her, she did not for once trumpet, panic or display any sign of irritation. I guessed she was being more playful than anything else. It was only when she tried to walk along the side of our vehicle that I moved and made a noise to alarm her and chase her away. Not long after that she walked off confidently and disappeared into the darkness, she had finished her interaction with us or rather we ended it for her. She had given us an experience we could not stop re-telling when we got back to the lodge and the whole camp was entertained at dinner that night by endless recounts of just how close she really came, we never saw her again.
We had the big five and many other animals on this safari including the not so common nyala and lichtenstein hartebeest antelopes. The majestic black eagles could be seen everyday soaring above the hills of Malilangwe on the look out for their prey; the rock hyrax, which they predominantly prey on. A number of other raptors such as the marshall eagle, black breasted snake eagle, brown snake eagle, thrive in this habitat due to the abundance of birdlife and small rodents.
The only hard thing in the three weeks was preparing to leave at the end of the safari, after sharing an incredible time with people that are as passionate and respectful of this beautiful land, it’s wildlife and the people. The only thing that can be consoling at the end of a great safari like this one, is knowing that someday soon I will return to this paradise in the southern corner.
