May 11

Into the Wild of Chitwa Chitwa – Day 1

May 11, 2012

“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” – Jon Krakauer, ‘Into the Wild’

Whose idea was it to take the Creative Team on safari together? I’m pretty sure our boss David Ryan was wondering this as we all bustled down a dirt road beating our chests like silverback gorillas, howling at the hidden moon.

Rhino Africa's Marketing Team
Rhino Africa’s Marketing Team

On arrival at Chitwa Chitwa Game Lodge, in the north of the Sabi Sand, we were ushered almost immediately into a game vehicle on arrival. What a welcome – the setting sun casting golden light over the bush and herds of impala stotting madly across the veld in greeting. Being rutting season, the impalas were particularly energetic, uttering loud grunts and hopping like pogo sticks in a competition for territory.

We were here to explore and to film said exploration… The wild must have taken over our spirits:

Impala

Evening game drive

Our first Big 5 sighting was a giant elephant bull shaking her flag-like ears at us while her little one huddled underneath. We drove into a small clearing in the thicket and came face to face with about ten elephants.

You have to force yourself to put down the camera and actually take it all in. Because there’s nothing more real and startling than staring a wild animal that big in the eye.

Dinner time

Elephant tracking

As the sun set further and our camera ISOs went up, we spotted a crash of rhinos in a dry river bed. Rangers like to take you up really close until the fear of death shocks even our noisy team into silence. As Tristan, our guide in green, did. Rhinos are spectacular creatures – with the largest backsides, despite living off grass, leaves, twigs and shrubs. Thanks to our excellent guide and tracker, we also spotted a flap necked chameleon – about the size of two fists – in a bush and let it amble across our heads before returning it to nature, as well as a tiny pearl spotted owl in a tree.

While our heads whipped around continuously, wanting to spot everything we could, Tristan dished out bite-size chunks of information about the wild. Like, did you know, in the beginning when man gave names to all the animals, the Venda named nyala after onions. Onions.

Rhinos in the wild

Film crew in the bush

Once night had fallen, we stopped at a spot by the dam with a view of the lodge in the distance. It’s one of the biggest lakes in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve. With the light of the moon illuminating it, you can see pods of hippos in the water, only a few metres from your feet.

A table had been set up with canapés and drinks and another vehicle was waiting, with Angela Ciuchini, Chitwa’s Marketing Manager, and Charl Brink, owner of Chitwa Chitwa. Charl is your typical camel man, rugged in his khakis with Grizzly Adams stubble.

Charl Brink, owner of Chitwa Chitwa

We put down our cameras and jumped out of the vehicle. It’s probably one of the most spectacular times on a safari, gathering under the stars in a circle, throwing around witty quips with friends, G&T in hand, and when conversation drops all you hear is the sound of the bush, leopards and lions roaring around you and crickets adding the soft background tracking. It seems a bad idea, really. If I was a lion, I’d be very excited stumbling upon a herd of tipsy human meat.

Drinks by the dam

Leopard Central

The leopard roar perked up and Tristan herded us back into the vehicle to find the source. There he was – a giant Tyson male leopard staring down a tree with a very dead impala between his teeth. We sat very still in the dead of night as the leopard weighed up how to get his dinner up the tall tree without dropping it. He made one nifty jump and was up in a branch in no time, digging in wholly unselfconsciously as we snapped and clicked away beneath him. The tracker shining the torchlight on the big cat’s face, we could see everything, canines, whiskers and all. It was by far a highlight.

Dinner time

As was the moment Salaeyxe, one of the male’s wives (leopards are about as monogamous as our President), came snooping below on the ground to grab a scrap he had dropped.

Shoot to female leopard darting up another tree, shoot to hyena below picking off the scraps, shoot to a very excited and nervous creative team in one measly open top vehicle surrounded by the circle of life.

Cheers!

Meal Time

We headed back to the lodge for snacks in the main lounge area. The interior design at Chitwa Chitwa is out of this world. Very textural and bold, a mix of masculine (like Charl) and feminine (like Maria, his very passionate Italian wife who is responsible for the incredible decor). The canapés the friendly waiters handed out to us looked just as good. We dined in the boma, sitting in an ox bow over candlelight under the stars, sharing stories about the bush and “this one time in Africa when…”.

Starting with celery and carrot soup, moving onto cheese souffle and lamb, finished with a pecan pie dessert, washed down with a delicious Backsberg Cabernet Sauvignon, we were as stuffed and ready for bed as a leopard after an impala kill.

Chitwa Chitwa Game Lodge

Zzzzzz

The videographers, Barend and Ryan, and I stayed in the Charlsy Suite, while David and Ross had their own Chitwa Suites. Being the girl, I got my own bed while the boys cuddled. We stayed up a while longer – for you’re only here once – doing timelapses on the deck of our rooms, drinking more G&Ts, listening to the nighttime bush noises, petrified about what would manifest in front of us at any moment, particularly the hippos, and looking forward to another day of game drives in the new morning.

What more can I say to make the others in the office green?

READ PART 2 HERE!

Charlsy Suite
My room for the night!

Sitting on the dock of the bay

How To Get There

Chitwa Chitwa is located in the north of the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, which forms part of the vast Greater Kruger National Park Area. The nearest airport is Hoedspruit, which receives daily flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town. From here you are transferred by light aircraft or road. The lodge is a five to six hour drive from Johannesburg and makes a suitable self drive destination.

Should you be interested in finding out more about Chitwa Chitwa and the Sabi Sand or in booking a trip here, please feel free to contact one of our well-travelled consultants today! It’s an experience you don’t want to miss.


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About the author 

Tamlin Wightman

Tamlin has been exploring, writing about and photographing Africa ever since her first job as a photojournalist for Getaway Magazine. She's lived on an island, eaten with lions, sailed catamarans in the Indian Ocean, tracked wild dogs with Kinglsey Holgate, and white water rafted down the Zambezi and has kept just about every airplane ticket that has crossed her hands.

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