Mole on Safari!

One of the real bonuses of going to events like Meeting Africa is that you get to visit all sorts of exciting places and also get invited when destinations want to showcase their product.

Yesterday The Mole was fortunate enough to be invited to visit the Plumari Game Lodge, north-west of Johannesburg, as part of the cultural and heritage tour hosted by the Gauteng Tourism Authority, with the lodge located between the Magaliesberg and the Cradle of Mankind, in an area of Gauteng Province called West Rand.

The Magaliesberg is an ancient range of mountains over 2 Billion years old, 100 times older than Mount Everest, stretching in an east-west direction for 120 kms crossing between the provinces of North-West and Gauteng. 

Plumari Game Lodge is located at the foot of this spectacular mountain range, close to the North-West Province border and the location reminds you a little of scenery in the movie Jurassic Park, with rolling grassland, and trees leading up to the continuous high ridge of the Magaliesberg, with the only downer being that there are a few whacking great communication towers placed atop the cliff that stand out like the proverbial, but this in no way detracts from the beauty of the place.

The highest point of the Magaliesberg is 1852 meters above sea level and originally the top of the ridge was a shoreline when there was no life on the land and the air was unbreathable – pretty sobering stuff!

Here is where Stone Age man was the real deal and it is the region from where humankind started on the long road to changing the world’s climate, in competition with good old mother nature and not only that, up to last century, the place ran riot with all the classic African animals – Giraffes, Rhinos, Elephants, zebras and lions to name a few – that is until the pith helmet brigade turned up and turned it into a shooting gallery!

Game was also hunted to ensure the safety of cattle!

Fortunately, the situation has now changed, at least on the animal front, with game reserves and parks all over South Africa, with Pulmari a private game reserve, which has re-introduced a vast array of wildlife not seen in the area for over 100 years.

There are no big predators in the reserve, so all the animals are breeding prolifically and this is also good news if you happen to fall out of a Safari Drive vehicle – the predators I mean!

The Magaliesberg is a real weekend getaway area for both Johannesburg and Tshwan (Praetoria), with the foothills of the mountain range now hosting hotels and health spas, galleries, and a host of outdoor activities. 

The area below the communication towers also hosted the famous Boer War battle of Nooitgedacht, where the British were surprised by the Boers early on the morning of 13 December 1900 (Google away!), with the British defeated, but managing to recover enough to escape back to Praetoria.

Peter Cossey, who runs the Plumari Lodge realised that there were no game reserves in easy reach of Johannesburg, with Plumari was around half-way to Sun City and next door to the Cradle of Humankind, located in a place of great peace and calm below the Magaliesberg, it had to be a winner, and it is.

The homestead dates from the 1870’s, it has thatched cottages, chalet accommodation with fabulous views and the original farm barn, now a conference centre and home to a large collection of restored wagons and carts. 

We experienced a safari drive on the reserve after some light refreshments including a marvellous yummy called a Mini Malva Pudding – Mmmm and we managed to spot (at varying distances!) impala, nyala, kudu, blesbuck, gnu, red heart, guinea fowl and a number of warthogs.

Also unfortunately saw a dead Giraffe, it had been struck by lightening and as there is a lot of dolomite rock in the area it is extremely prone to lightening strikes.  Interestingly, nothing actually comes to pick at the carcass as it is full of sulphur and not on the top 5 most desirable items from the bush supermarket.  Lightening research is carried out locally, and there are groupings of lightening rods around many properties, including a small nest of ‘em at Plumari. 

Peter would like the All Blacks to drop by one day as he is of Kiwi descent, and would love to show them around.  Being of Aussie descent, I said I thought that would be a great idea – just before the World Cup, but he would need to introduce some predators in the reserve……!

Personally, the Mole thinks it is a great stop for having a good look around the Cradle of Mankind, and if you only have limited time in Johannesburg, Plumari makes a good day trip.

The group returned home weary and happy and experienced a great part of Gauteng.

Meetings Africa Report