Injured and weak, an impala was stumbling noisily through the vegetation. The people in another vehicle close by had spotted the dogs and by halting in order to watch had unwittingly scared a leopard from its kill. We watched the pack race along a ridgeline at the edge of the reserve in pursuit of the antelope when one suddenly swerved and headed straight towards us, the others following in its wake. It was our final drive at Madikwe that provided the most memorable encounter wild dogs hunting kudu. One was much greener than the other and the sight highlighted the careful balance that must be maintained in these complex eco systems. As we drove along the fence line, he pointed out the difference between the two sides.
With a growing population but a limited area (680 km2), the vegetation is being stripped from every corner and the impact on the landscape is profound. Lazzie revealed that the elephants are something of a menace in relatively flat Madikwe.
This we learned from our guide, Lazzie (Lazarus Boikie Nokane), who pointed out where his parents’ farm – the place of his birth – had once stood. Madikwe is a relatively new reserve, having been rewilded and transformed into a protected area for wildlife in 1991 after the soil proved too poor for farming. The sight of elephants frolicing in a waterhole just beyond the deck as we enjoyed a welcome drink – regrettably non-alcoholic for me – made the frantic planning, travel and morning sickness worth it. Our journey to the beautiful Jamala Madikwe lodge was relatively easy the most challenging part being the bout of morning sickness I experienced on the 11-hour flight from London. It's a surprisingly common search performed not just by pregnant people, but by those travelling with young children, those with health conditions and those who are simply bored of medical red tape. At short notice, we’d had to shelve our dream of visiting the Okavango Delta and look for an alternative that was malaria-free. Was the road too bumpy? Was that spider poisonous? Was the pool too cold? Did that drink have booze in it? On discovering that I was pregnant just a few weeks after our wedding, my behaviour had fundamentally changed.Įven our choice of destination had been affected. Throughout our honeymoon I had struggled to reconcile the independent, confident attitude to travel I had always had with a newly acquired anxiety.
“This is leopard territory.”īalancing the risk of becoming lunch for a big cat with the literal pressures of early pregnancy on the bladder, although far from glamorous, seemed to fittingly epitomise my feelings. “I had to send Ed (my new husband) out after you,” she said with a slow smile. Robin, our guide, confirmed my fears as she set out snacks beside a lazy river in Marataba. I strode back towards the safari vehicle, the dust lightly swirling around my walking boots, thinking that perhaps using the bush bathroom wasn’t the wisest decision.
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