Page 16 - Dainfern Precinct Living 9 2020

NATURE
and there was an eerie silence. The camp
hadn’t been swept for weeks. The lawns
were uncut. The restaurant and shop were
abandoned. The cottages were empty,
sealed and grubby and the accumulated
detritus from autumn and winter swirled about
the camp’s pathways in miniature whirlwinds.

The only sign of life was a young woman in
charge of the filling station. She was valiantly
wielding a broom making sure that at least her
little patch was kept clear - remarkably clear
considering the amount of leaves eddying
about in the breeze wherever one looked.
From what we saw, there had been very little
maintenance within Kruger Park and hundreds
of cottages from Pretoriuskop to Pafuri have
suffered damage from wildlife. At Skukuza
Impala – it was still closed for overnight stays – we
wandered about the camp and found tourist
was as we passed through the country’s pride of about 14 lions – including youngsters accommodation occupied by staff whose
most polluted region. We still habitually call – fast asleep on the Orpen-Satara road. They washing was hanging out to dry. The radios
it Witbank. The name Witbank (its name showed no inclination to move even when were blaring and there were other signs the
means ‘white ridge’) was long ago changed Sowry stopped only metres away. occupants had abandoned the staff village.
to something less complimentary: eMalahleni,
which means ‘place of coal’. We were amazed by the number of lions The restaurant was open for outside meals but
we saw. On the main road from Skukuza to very few people were about and the tables,
But the price we are paying for cleaner skies Lower Sabie we saw at least a dozen in one set far apart, were mostly empty. The nearby
has been traumatic, especially for our most pride. Half an hour later we saw a pride of Skukuza Golf Club was closed but clean.
widespread and labour-intensive industry four. When we reached Sunset Dam at Lower
- tourism. Only game rangers and anti- Sabie, a number of impala raced towards us We were looking forward to visiting Lake Panic’s
poaching personnel were allowed to move and we thought they were going to leap over bird hide and anticipated having it to ourselves,
around inside Kruger Park after the start of the car but they managed to dodge it – they’d but we found it padlocked. I think that was our
the lockdown. been ambushed by yet another pride. biggest disappointment, for Lake Panic rates
as one of Africa’s greatest bird hides.
We were there to see whether COVID-19 Some friends, staying at Ngwenya Lodge in
regulations and the absence of visitors October and entering the park via Crocodile Although the southern area of Kruger was
were having any effect on the park’s most Bridge, also remarked on the unusual open to a limited number of local visitors and
important inhabitants – its wild animals. number of lions. They were often the only to those, like us, who had obtained permits
We entered through the Phabeni Gate near vehicle watching them. to enter from other provinces, all the picnic
Hazyview and immediately noticed the sites, including Afsaal and Nkuhlu, were not
accumulation of droppings on the roads. Apart from the lions, we saw the usual variety just closed but barricaded.
Under normal circumstances, even the of animals and we fancied that, instead of
conspicuous scattered droppings after a herd being skittish as we’d expected, the animals The good news was that rhino poaching had
of hundreds of buffalo has crossed, would seemed oblivious of our presence. This is fallen substantially. In the first six months of
soon be flattened and carried away on the despite the fact that many of them might not 2020, ‘only’ 166 white rhino had been killed
tyres of tourists’ vehicles - effectively the have experienced a car stop near them for by poachers who, normally, are financed and
droppings would disappear within hours. months. armed by criminal syndicates in the Far East.
The figure was half of what was expected.
On the S3 - the sand road that runs along the The long and short of it is that, as far as we The park’s authorities put it down to the
Sabie River from near the Phabeni Gate to could see, the tourist-free winter months had ‘COVID-19 restrictions on movement and
the Kruger Gate and Skukuza - we saw not no really significant effects on the behaviour stronger anti-poaching measures’.
one vehicle in the three hours we dawdled of the park’s wildlife.
along it. On this road, we soon came across In the unspecified Intensive Protection Zone,
a ‘tower of giraffe’ - a number of them were The park’s infrastructure, however, was for the first time in the last 10 years, no rhino
standing close together blocking the road. something else. I will never forget the creepy was killed. That was at least one positive
They showed little interest in moving. This atmosphere at Pretoriuskop. It was derelict outcome from the effects of the pandemic.
was fine by us. We just sat and enjoyed the
sight.

[A ‘tower’ of giraffe? I am using the collective
noun for a standing group of giraffe, the Deserted camp
noun coming from Alan Levine’s 2007 book,
Serendipity of Collective Nouns.]

We were amazed how near we could get and
felt we could have moved nearer but we did
not want to disturb them.

Many post-lockdown visitors have remarked
on how reluctant animals were to move aside
when vehicles approached.

In September, game ranger, Richard
Sowry, took an astonishing early-morning
photograph with his cell phone showing a
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DPL