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Lions are no ordinary animals, but what do you do when faced
with a pride, stay put and enjoy the show, or flee for safety?

The former was the option on this visit to the Kwandwe Private
Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, 160 kilometres from
Port Elizabeth, 175 kilometres from East London, and 40 kilometres outside the
university town of Grahamstown. Save for the misguided fellow, who in 1991
jumped into the lion cage at the University of Ibadan Zoo, it never crossed my
mind that a sane person could be involved in an adrenaline-spiking encounter
with the king of the jungle. But when you have trusted guides like Ryan and
Endi like we did on this tour, you will have enough fun with excitement and
danger in equal measure.

Kwandwe, derived from Kwa-Indwe, which is IsiXhosa for ‘Place of
the Blue Crane’ and also the national bird of South Africa, sits like a pearl
in a shell surrounded by a valley with the Great Fish River Valley running and
twisting through it. The journey from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth was smooth
and as the South Africa Express plane landed, nothing prepared our group for
the thrilling journey ahead to Kwandwe. Having navigated and explored Jozi, as
Johannesburg folks call their city, one could be forgiven for thinking that
nothing more will shock and surprise on the trip.

Exhilarating ride

However, the bus ride demolished such thoughts. Seeing the Port
Elizabeth stadium from the road did little to assuage for missing the World Cup
but the architectural beauty still held some surprise for a first time visitor.
Naturally too, the right hand steering and left driving could leave a Nigerian
disoriented initially, but the expansive road network soon put one at ease. The
ride through the time-worn hills and rugged plains of Kwandwe’s southern
section might not be a good one for anybody with vertigo, but those who are
brave enough will find it exhilarating. Perhaps the closest to it back home is
the Akure-Idanre road with its twists and turns.

A team of excited tour guides and staff of the reserve laid out
the welcome mats with wet towels, iced tea, lemonade, and enough hugs. The
enormous landscape will delight a guest just as sitting on a hilltop to watch
the sun set in the west will also re-awaken the soul. The reserve has an
airstrip for easy access and so anybody who cannot withstand the heart-searing
road journey is saved the blushes from such experience. The land was one of the
most hotly contested frontiers during the Settler-Xhosa wars of the 19th
century. It eventually became prime land for ostrich and goat farming, but
Ryan, our guide, added that it was also home to large numbers of animals. “The
Eastern Cape had the greatest animal population in all of South Africa,” added
Ryan. Settler activity nearly obliterated wildlife when hunters and farmers
killed large quantity of animals and nearly 200 years later, wildlife is
flourishing again.

The dominant vegetation in Kwandwe is sub-tropical thicket, a
highly nutritious tangle of bush-clump that maintains high-carrying capacities
of elephant, kudu and black rhino. Its central basin is made up of karroid
shrubland and grassland where oryx, springbuck, zebra, black wildebeest and
white rhino are often seen. The peaceful acacia-thorn glades along the river
banks sustain the giraffe and bushbuck, while the hippopotamus laze in the
deep, slow-moving pools of the Greta Fish River.

On safari

And so after the effusive welcome, we set out on safari proper.
One way, Kwandwe is integrating the local population is by employing some of
them as guides, with Endi being one of such people. He pointed to the mountains
afar saying, “That’s where I was born, I grew up there as a baby,” as the
journey commenced. “Please stay in the vehicle, don’t stand up or attempt to
get out as this disturbs the animals a lot,” Ryan said as he mounted the wheels
of the rugged Land Rover complete with all communication gadgets to facilitate
contact with other vehicles. He added that this could also invite needless
attacks.

Shortly after we (a team of five tourists and two guides) set
out, Ryan got word that we should make a detour so that we could see a cheetah
in the vicinity. The two guides disembarked at a point to observe the animals’
footprints which they actually confirmed were those of a cheetah.
Unfortunately, we did not see the big cat, making do with zebras, ostrich,
rhinos and springboks. After meandering round the reserve with lessons in
wildlife ecology and conservation methods, Ryan suddenly spotted a pride of
lions through his binoculars.

And shortly, we were face to face with the jungle kings. A male
and two cubs, they seemed so harmless that one could be forgiven for thinking
they are household pets but with the guides warnings ringing loudly in our
minds, nobody was foolish enough to try any mischievous thing. The three lions
sat down peacefully, not moving an inch for the nearly 10 minutes we spent
viewing them. After an initial shock, cameras started clicking furiously,
recording the moment for posterity. We headed back to the lodge for an open air
dinner with the animals as uninvited guests too.

Kwandwe lodges are breathtaking. The Ecca Lodge’s funky
farmhouse feel makes it a thoroughly modern retreat. The six private suites
recline on a rolling slope that overlooks a valley lush with dense vegetation.
The spacious rooms feature wood-paneling, mesh-covered stone gabion walls, and
traditional farm-style corrugated iron roofs.

The next day, however, the guides’ warning prevented some in our group from
coming out early for another trip so as not to fall prey to lions.