Sitting in a two-man canoe on the Mzinene River inside Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa my guide Craig Hayman nonchalantly orders that “Every eight strokes I need you to just give the side of the canoe a little hit with the paddle – it just lets the hippos know we’re coming. We don’t want to startle them.”

Hayman is all about not startling the hippos and I must admit to being very much in his camp on this one.

I had read stories about dangerous hippos including a report in an old Science Digest online that “nearly all of the famous African explorers and hunters –Livingstone, Stanley, Burton, Selous, Speke, DuChaillu — had boating mishaps with hippos. All considered the hippo to be a wantonly malicious beast.”

The Phinda Private Game Reserve encompasses over 23,000ha of prime wilderness made up of seven distinct habitats. Inside the reserve, there are no fences so the wildlife has free reign over where it wanders.

A case in point was that morning. Baboons had scurried across the roof of my hut before dawn. Tired and half asleep I had stumbled out onto my lodge verandah to get a closer look only to see a number of eyes glancing up at me from the forest floor below.

The night before as I handed my washing in there was a disclaimer on the laundry form stating that occasionally hyenas and baboons make their way into the yard and take the clothing. The baboons now sitting on my roof were all naked so they were probably in the market for a new wardrobe.

The previous evening was my first and I was escorted to my luxurious lodge by a security guard, as there were a few lions about. I had come face to face with them as we drove through the reserve. A couple of them had walked out of the bush and were making their way down the road close to the Mountain Lodge I was staying in.

We stopped the car and watched as a couple of lions slowly walked across the road. A dirty golden colour in the 4WD’s headlights, they were a lot bigger than I had imagined as they stopped, stared and slowly walked closer. Sealed in my motorized steel container, I didn’t feel safe. I felt like a tin of unopened baked beans.  So as the lions turned and headed back into the undergrowth to look for a can opener and Themba, the driver, radioed ahead to report their position, I suggested we keep moving.

Staring back at them I realized lions sit right at the top of the food chain. We humans are not near the top. If we want to get promoted up the food chain, we have no choice but to go mano-a-mano with a lion. A no-holds barred, bare hand wrestle with the victor devouring the vanquished. It’s the only way to become the apex predator.

I was thinking about animals that could possibly eat me as Hayman and I stepped into our canoe and started our languid paddle. Gliding down the river a large water monitor eased itself into the Mzinene’s gentle flow and a couple of Nile crocodiles slid in quickly with a splash. Hayman pointed out the muddy runs of hippos on the riverbanks and said the hippos were probably underneath the canoe. Our occasional taps on the canoe made them aware we were coming and ensured they wouldn’t be too upset by our presence. I wasn’t so sure and fret about an angry hippo rising out of the water and chomping on the canoe with a Nile crocodile doing the mopping up work.

I’m assured this is not going to happen by Hayman. He was still in ranger training and had recently been left in the park for seven days on foot with nothing but a walkie-talkie as part of his final initiation. The experience had been a wonderful one and had helped him heighten his senses in the wilderness.

A trained architect originally from Durban, Hayman had well and truly caught the bush bug and hopes to one day have some of the deft tracking skills and knowledge of the local trackers at Phinda. A strong advocate of Phinda’s world-renowned conservation programs, he talked animatedly about the reserve’s leopard research project and its leading role in the Black Rhino Range Expansion Project. Both programs involve strong community liaison and education.

The conservation projects are just one facet of Phinda’s parent company, &Beyond’s, three-tiered ecotourism development model. The focus is on wildlife, land and local communities. Phinda itself means “The Return” in Zulu and is part of a grander plan to return vast tracts of land taken during the apartheid era to local communities. In turn, the local communities have agreed to gazette large land parcels as wildlife refuges in perpetuity.

A reserve such as Phinda provides an excellent ecotourism model and provides employment locally and assists in building vital social infrastructure in the area. Furthermore, the income derived from Phinda and the &Beyond Foundation now assists over 40,000 people in Maputaland – at the northern end of the state of KwaZulu-Natal.

Just ahead of us two African Fish Eagles were involved in a rather amorous union, high in a Fever Tree, while, on either side of us, the birdlife is astounding. Hayman had brought a bird book with him and binoculars so I could get a closer look at all the bird markings.

White breasted cormorants, yellow-billed stork, the African darter, with its head set back awkwardly on its neck as well as Grey and Goliath heron.  Hanging on vents of air above us are short-tailed bateleur canting slowly from side to side to stay balanced and almost still.

Reed beds with small water-lily covered inlets grow to our left and on the right, tall, sparsely foliaged, yellow-barked Fever Trees. Known as UmHlosinga – the tree that shines from afar – by the Zulu, its bark (when brewed into a potion) can bring good luck if your heart is true. Conversely, early European settlers who sometimes caught malaria near the trees referred to them as Fever Trees as they thought the trees made them sick. Surprisingly, it took awhile for Europeans to figure out the trees were often near water and, were a favourite haunt for a particular malaria-carrying mosquito.

Further along, a few metres to our left, a 2.5m Nile crocodile floats by as still as a log that has rolled into the river and been caught in the current. The only sound is our paddles hitting the water. Standing on a rock ahead an African darter watches attentively. The crocodile floats within centimeters of the bird.  They eye each other but the darter doesn’t flinch. We all watch in silence: the croc, the bird and two men in a canoe.

http://www.andbeyond.com/

http://www.phinda.com/

Durban's coastline from the air

I wondered whether an investment in a scanner or two might be a better long-term bet but South Africa’s employment situation is so dire the last thing it needs is technology that replaces humans.

The reason I was visiting Victoria Markets was I had a rather keen interest in acquiring some Tanzanite. Supposedly found only in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, it’s touted as being rarer than diamonds. With a lack of time ruling out going to Tanzania to find my own gem, I found myself listening to a gem wholesaler tell me why my wife would appreciate Tanzanite so much more than a diamond. My problem was going to be doing his job with my wife and trying to explain why she should want it more than a diamond.

In the days beforehand, everyone from taxi drivers along Durban’s Golden Mile of beachfront to the waiters at Butcher Boys restaurant – as I happily consumed a South African dry-aged fillet steak washed down with a 2007 Beyerskloot pinotage – had told me Tanzanite was the gem I needed to buy. Even the beachside Hotel Elangeni’s concierge had tipped me off on its rarity and beauty.

The previous evening, across from the hotel, as I sat at the Beach Café with my feet in the sand under a pale blue sky daydreaming and watching schoolkids play chicken with the waves and an unusually nimble roly-poly boy kick a football with his dad, the bartender mentioned … Tanzanite. Earlier in the day I had eaten the wondrous bunny chow – a mutton curry served inside half a loaf of hollowed out white bread at a kind of chain restaurant called Mrs Govinder’s – and the old Indian woman behind the counter agreed Tanzanite was the gem of the future.

The dealer brought out the big guns – his wife and another employee who proffered yellowing and dog-eared newspaper articles reiterating the whole Tanzanite story. They also mentioned the price and I realised I had slipped into the tyre-kicker category. More pertinently, the dealer could see it on my face. He lost interest. I was just another tourist with the artificial wealth that comes with a good exchange rate – good for food and local beer but useless when it came to buying something of real value.

Mark Eggleton

Hotel Elangeni

63 Snell Parade

Durban 4001

South Africa

Tel: +27 31 362 1300

Fax: +27 31 332 5527

Web: www.southernsun.com/hotels/elangeni/

Email: elangeni@southernsun.com

Azure Restaurant in Capetown’s glorious The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa is an ideal sanctuary on the particularly wet evening I dine there in late April.

It’s absolutely bucketing down outside and as the wind buffets the hotel as it whips in off the Atlantic Ocean, you can imagine it sinking further back into the comforting embrace of the Twelve Apostles Mountain Range behind.

This really feels like the edge of the world. In front lies thousands of kilometers of Atlantic Ocean and behind, mountains plunging straight into the sea. The hotel lies at their feet, similar to a glorious ocean liner tied-up with the ultimate tether – concrete foundations.

The restaurant’s earthy, elegant and warmly inviting décor matched with its attentive staff ensures this is exactly the place you want to be on a cold Cape Town evening.  The food while leaning towards becoming art on a plate is full of fresh flavours and comforting. Matched with wines suggested by sommelier, Luvo Ntezo, it is a meal made for a night close to the high seas with all the hatches battened down.

My dining companion, Peter Unsworth is tells me a few stories of his time in South Africa.

Originally from Manchester, Unsworth initially came to Africa to dance. A professional dancer, he arrived in South Africa’s Sun City in 1990 and fell in love with the country. Nowadays, after a number of career twists and turns he is the head of his own public relations firm looking after some of South Africa’s iconic luxury boltholes as well as a number of celebrities.

One of the luxury hotels in his portfolio is obviously The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa.

Renowned for its superb accommodation, signature menus, stand alone location and award winning spa, it was recently voted the No 1  City Hotel in Africa and the Middle East and the No 1 Hotel Spa in Africa and the Middle East in Travel + Leisure’s 2009 World’s Best Awards readers’ survey.

This 70-room, stylish and distinctive luxury hotel combines African chic with continental sophistication and service.

It sits within minutes of world-class beaches, tourist attractions and just 15 minutes from Capetown’s famous V&A Waterfront.

A major drawcard for visitors is The Sanctuary Spa – an African-inspired refuge, where world-class facilities combine with an atmosphere of tranquil splendour to create the ultimate haven. Its unprepossessing entrance hides a beguiling retreat with a cave-like interior, which draws visitors into the mountain behind.

That morning before the clouds and mist had engulfed the mountain range behind the hotel, I had walked around its fringes. Bushwalking paths led up toward the mountaintop and to little spa gazebos overlooking the ocean. It was mountain goat territory but breathtaking with the ice-blue colors of the ocean below.

I visited the spa and enjoyed a one-hour Swedish massage before retiring to my room to wallow on the lounge in its sunken lounge area.  Later on in the day I head down into the Leopard Room Bar and Lounge for a drink. The bar exudes warmth with its cosy, chic design and the service is immaculate. I have no agenda. This is pure luxury and I don’t want to ever leave.

James Sherbon

The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa, Victoria Road, Camps Bay

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Tel: +27 (0) 21 437 9000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +27 (0) 21 437 9000      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +27 (0) 21 437 9000      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +27 (0) 21 437 9000      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +27 (0) 21 437 9000      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

http://www.12apostleshotel.com/