“There it is again,” whispered Sizwe as I peered into the bush, listening intently. “The Gorgeous Bush-Shrike: very difficult to see. You can spend the whole day looking for this bird – you will often hear it, but hardly ever see it.”
The call of the Gorgeous Bush-Shrike seemed to joyfully and elusively follow me round on my three-day trip to Thula Thula game reserve, a two-hour drive north of Durban, and home to about 350 species of birds. It is well worth taking a walk in the bush with one of the knowledgeable guides if you want to spot at least some of them.
I was lucky enough to see a Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Bateleurs, and, most impressive of all, Trumpeter Hornbills. Alas, not the Gorgeous Bush-Shrike – this time.
But it’s not the birds that Thula Thula is most famous for: it’s the elephants, and their friend, Lawrence Anthony – the “elephant whisperer” as he has become known.
Only a few months ago, the reserve was in the news again, as a rogue bull elephant, called Gobisa and brought in by Lawrence, broke out of its boma within hours and crashed through the electric fences of Thula Thula and neighbouring reserves, causing havoc, and more than a few sleepless nights for Lawrence and his staff.
The bull was recaptured, with the help of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, and has now settled peacefully into his new home. Finding the elephant cows has undoubtedly helped with integration!
It’s not the first time that Lawrence has saved elephants. The conservationist made headlines in 1999 when he agreed to take in a herd of nine maverick elephants, who were about to be shot if not adopted.
Lawrence agreed and so began the story of his famous bond with the herd’s matriarch, Nana. This is the stuff that film scripts are built on. The elephants broke out of the reserve, crashing through the KZN wildlife reserve of Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, a path that could have led to their demise.
Lawrence saved the elephants from the shotgun and persuaded the authorities to allow him to take the herd back to Thula Thula. There he spent every night for two weeks sleeping outside the boma, talking and singing to the herd, until he finally felt they were ready to be released.
The bond that he established with Nana and the herd in those two weeks would prove to be lasting, as she returned to his house one night with her new baby. Nana had been pregnant during this whole saga. Thus, a friendship was also born.
You may be lucky enough to see the elephants near the lodge, but it is probably safer, and, according to the staff, less damaging to the environment, that they are seen in their more natural habitat.
The reserve has recently doubled in size, providing greater and much-needed space in which the elephants can roam.
It’s an undulating landscape: acacias, thorn trees and scrub with the camps nestling in the valleys. Lawrence and his team have done much to eradicate alien vegetation, and they are about to embark on the new section of the reserve.
On our afternoon game drive, as the Land Rover lurched from side to side in the muddy grooves, the driver suddenly stopped and jumped out, having spotted tracks in the mud.
They were fresh. As he bent down to check how long ago the elephants had passed by, there was a loud crack in the bushes behind us. There were three elephants plus a baby feasting in the trees. They were very close but unfazed by our presence.
A hush descended as we watched, and then one of the elephants, a cow, approached the truck. Curiosity had got the better of her and she came closer, so close you could feel the breath from her trunk.
There is a definable moment when it dawns on you that this great animal could push 10 people and a machine over with one gentle nudge.
The Land Rover inched a little further down the track, the rangers well aware of the dangers.
The reserve, one of the oldest in KwaZulu-Natal, is also home to leopard, two orphaned rhinos, wildebeest, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, hyena, kudu and a host of smaller animals.
We spent time with Alison, an English veterinary nurse, who is taking care of the orphaned rhinos, feeding them and keeping a close eye on their movements.
She watches anxiously from the ridge as the baby rhinos venture further into the reserve each day.
The hum of a helicopter up above is also cause for concern: rhino poaching gangs often patrol from the air.
With the current dangers (71 animals have been killed this year alone in South Africa), Alison has every reason to worry.
The rhinos will eventually sleep in the reserve, but they will be monitored at all times.
However, it’s not only the bush and game that attract people to this reserve. There is a different side to Thula Thula, and that is the impressive personality of Lawrence’s wife, Françoise.
Françoise Malby-Anthony is bold, beautiful and full of life. A Parisian by birth, Françoise has made Thula Thula her home, after meeting Lawrence one cold winter’s night in a taxi in Paris. Who says romance is dead?
She was singularly unimpressed by his attire in the freezing Parisian temperatures, dressed in the bush uniform of someone used to 30ºC heat.
However, charm and adventure won her over and Françoise didn’t take much persuading to swop Paris for an old hunting reserve in the bush that they have now lovingly restored.
The days of animals running when they hear a car approach are long gone, and all the animals have to fear now are other predators or severe drought.
Françoise is clearly the energy behind Thula Thula, and adds a touch of French cuisine and flair to the lodge: four-course dinners around a large dining table are an evening feature, and Françoise carefully works out menus with her staff to provide a culinary experience of note.
You can even learn from the chef herself on a special bush and gourmet cooking class weekend.
We feasted on venison terrine and seafood bouillabaisse creole, sucking the meat from crab’s claws, and, if you have space for it, the desserts are legendary.
You will definitely need a bushwalk after all the eating.
I asked Françoise what it was like adjusting to life in Zululand. She said she loved Paris and its culture, but had easily settled into her new environment, and found the people here friendly and warm.
She signed up for Zulu classes when arriving in Durban more than 10 years ago, but once she got to Thula Thula, she soon found that no one could understand her rather old-fashioned Zulu grammar and conversation.
She started all over again, and it is easy to see how well she communicates with her staff, handling what is clearly a frenetic environment on occasions.
On one of the evenings, she had to negotiate feeding 40 people, as well as keeping the two baby rhinos out of the lodge. They had wandered over, curious to see what was happening, and at any moment could have crashed through the kitchens into the bar. Bouillabaisse all over their horns!
This is the bush experience with benefits, no roughing it out in the open with the snap of twigs on the ground to keep you awake at night. You can sleep in the comfort of a thatched chalet, with mosquito nets. There is also a luxurious tented camp, with en-suite bathrooms and secluded outside showers. The tented camp is very popular with South Africans, where evening meals are round the braai or campfire.
And if you want your bush experience with holistic benefits, Françoise now offers yoga bush retreat weekends, which are proving to be popular with groups from Joburg and Cape Town.
Françoise is passionate about the venture, and speaks about her “yoga ladies” with enthusiasm. In fact, I’m sure I spotted a wildebeest doing the lion pose!
If you want to practise your asanas in the peace and tranquillity of the bush, check out the website for details of available weekends.
The cost of a weekend is R3 300 for two nights all inclusive (bar expenses not included).
The weekend includes accommodation, four yoga classes, an aromatherapy massage, one game drive and a bush walk, plus a cooking class with Françoise.
As I sat outside my room on the final afternoon, watching a duiker graze nearby, and as the shadows of acacia trees lengthened, I thought about what it is people expect from a bush experience.
Often they are disappointed if they don’t see the big animals: they want to return home with photographs and stories of excitement. But perhaps, if we look a little deeper, the Gorgeous Bush-Shrike holds a lesson for us all.
It is often the sounds of the bush that are so revealing – sometimes you don’t get to see everything you want to, but you will almost certainly hear something to remember.
How to get there:
Thula Thula Game reserve is a two-hour drive from Durban, near Empangeni. Check out www.thula thula.com for rates and packages at the different camps in the reserve. You can also visit for the day – rates include lunch/dinner and a game drive. Contact Françoise Malby-Anthony for details of the yoga/cookery weekends. Tel: 035 792 8322, e-mail: [email protected] - Sunday Independent