ROAR AFRICA Tails

Move over for the Zero Emissions Land Rover

2012-01-10T15:44:00.002-05:00

A brand new electric Land Rover arrived at Londolozi over Christmas. Courtesy of Barkers Performance Products and Land Rover, the electric vehicle was sent here to be put through a rigorous and rough field test owing to the success and pioneering development of Londolozi’s first three prototype electric Land Rovers. Having unveiled this new product at South Africa’s Tourism Indaba in May, Land Rover and Barkers Performance product have created a hugely impressive vehicle and when it arrived on our doorstep just before Christmas, we simply had to put it to the test!

The Electric Landrover runs off an Air cooled AC Induction Motor with 330Nm of Torque and 59kW of Motor Power. The batter is comprised of Air cooled Lithium Phosphate and has a voltage of 300V. Ranging from 80km per battery on the open road and +20km through a game reserve, the vehicle is able to offer a game drive of approximately 8 hours. The gear stick features Drive, Neutral and Reverse with 4WD and Low Range.

Although we are testing the vehicle over a number of weeks, we decided to examine the performance through a few different disciplines: Acceleration & Speed; Gradient; Silence and Sand.

Londolozi has been at the forefront of pioneering the first ever Zero Emissions Safari Vehicle. The vision for this vehicle is to run purely on batter power which in turn is charged by solar panels. The carbon output would thus be zero, except for that used during the manufacturing of the vehicle. Since 2009, when we unveiled our first prototype electric Landrover, the journey has been extremely fun yet also challenging. Our second prototype burnt down soon after completion, owing to an electric failure. Yet with the help of Anton Komar and Sid from Green Rover we managed to achieve a reasonable level of success with our prototype number 3.

Our intention at Londolozi is to continue to be a leader towards a truly Zero Emissions Safari Vehicle and change our entire fleet to electric vehicles as soon as the opportunity presents itself. This initiative, in particular, forms part of our broader goal to dramatically minimize our carbon footprint on the environment.

Wild Dog Encounter with National Geographic's Boyd Matson

2011-12-24T18:55:00.001-05:00

"National Geographic Weekend" radio show host, Boyd Matson, recently traveled to South Africa and Zimbabwe with ROAR AFRICA. He was exposed to many breathtaking experiences on his trip and has shared this very informative video of a pack of endangered Wild Dogs with us.

"There’s a reason they’re called wild dogs. Just watch them in action jumping, biting, play fighting with each other and the first thing you think is,”These guys are wild dogs.” Then when they go on the hunt their relentless full on pursuit of their prey further cements that reputation. But those same characteristics that some call wild, have made these dogs one of the most successful predators in Africa. When they go after an animal, it’s estimated they come home with a meal about 80% of the time.

I was in Sabi Sabi Game Reserve in South Africa where I spent a couple of days with a large pack of wild dogs and filmed the pups as they put on quite a show with their exuberant play. The adults would go off hunting every day and then return to regurgitate a hot meal for the kids. It’s not a recipe you’ll find in the Martha Stewart cookbook.

More recently i was in Zimbabwe at the Singita Pamushana Lodge in the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve where I filmed a much smaller pack of wild dogs. Kim Wolhuter, an old friend and filmmaker who’s made several films for National Geographic, has been living on the property for several years and following the wild dogs. We hooked up with Kim who drove us to where the dogs were eating an impala they had killed a few minutes earlier.

Kim, whose father and grandfather were both game rangers in South Africa, has spent most of his life in the bush, so it should have been no surprise to learn he often gets out of his vehicle and runs with the dogs, crashing through the trees and bushes with them when they go on the hunt. Still it’s pretty amazing when you think about it, and it does allow him to capture the kind of footage you won’t see elsewhere.

I interviewed Kim for my radio show National Geographic Weekend while we were together with the wild dogs. That interview is now up online at national geographic weekend, or as a free podcast on itunes. Wild dogs are now endangered and Kim’s films are helping draw attention to the crisis they face. In this video you can hear part of the interview and see the dogs Kim has been following as well as the ones I filmed playing and jumping around at Sabi Sabi in South Africa."

See more of Boyd Matson's African Adventures from his recent trip with ROAR AFRICA at http://boydmatson.com/

Pink is not a color, it's an attitude

2011-12-20T12:52:00.001-05:00

Now in its third month of trading, Pink coffee boutique is attracting attention both in its own neighborhood and from further afield. Set in a period house conversion in the Kenilworth village are and featuring signature decor created by the owner, Pink opened its doors with the promise of changing its customers' views of suburban coffee shops.

Pink is owned by ROAR AFRICA's shopping expert, Sandra Fairfax. Sandra has introduced a special mix of mismatched interior and exterior decor accents and quirky details. Good coffee and homemade treats have already established Pink as an exciting alternative daytime venue for breakfast, lunch and everything in between.

Pink has just launched a Christmas menu which is offered by reservation at lunchtime through December, as well as out of hours by arrangement. Already described by customers as "amazing" and "five star", the two or three-course menu features some old favorites treated with the Pink style of contemporary approach and a few festive hints.

In addition to the Christmas menu, Pink will also be offering a gift wrapping workshop in conjunction with its sister business, the Faxpack packaging shop. Faxpack stocks a huge variety of packaging and gift wrapping solutions and will be on hand with creative suggestions on how to set your gifts apart from the ordinary this Christmas.

If you are in the Kenilworth area this festive season, be sure to stop by and enjoy a taste of Pink.

The Culture Project - 2011 Producers' Weekend

2011-11-09T17:01:00.002-05:00

We're supporting The Culture Project with a trip to southern Africa. The Producers' Weekend will kick off this Friday with dinner at the spectacular homes of our hosts Sting and Trudie Styler, Gregory Colbert, Izhar Patkin, and Julian Schnabel. It promises to be a fun evening with impromptu entertainment- we're looking forward to it!

Since 1996, through brilliantly conceived, expertly staged dramas, which blend prize-winning theater with urgent moral dilemmas, Culture Project has told stories as timely as the morning's newspaper and sparked conversation and political action. For more see their website here.

We have put together a fabulous trip that includes Cape Town, the Winelands, two safaris (the Karoo and Madikwe) and Victoria Falls. Thank you to our partners The Cape Grace, River Manor Boutique Hotel, Samara Game Reserve, Tuningi Safari Lodge and The Victoria Falls Hotel.

Lion Cub Rescue: Mugie, Kenya

2011-11-07T15:08:00.005-05:00

Thankfully it seems to be all about rescues this past week: rhino, elephant and now a lion cub.
This just in from Mugie Conservacy in Kenya:

"This little 3 week old cub was first seen 3 days ago marooned on a small island in the river bed below the Mugie dam (been flooding for over a week now), but was described a being 3 months old or more, we waited to see if the floods would subside and if mum would appear. Today, I sent Papa 1 & Frank to wade into the river to get close enough to throw pieces of meat on to the Island and hopefully it could survive for while longer whilst we would be monitoring what might happen. But when they got close they could see how much younger it is and went on to the island and picked him up & brought him in. Ol Jogi have all necessary to rear such a little creature so they sent a plane over and he is now receiving rehrydrents over there."

There is of course debate about interference with wildlife - man should not meddle. However, many people are of the opinion that where man has created a survival problem interference is warranted (especially snares, fences etc..). Since Mugie is one of the core study areas of the ‘Laikipia Predator Project, a research study aimed at improving the conservation of large carnivores throughout Africa (desperately needed we might add), a lion rescue is perhaps appropriate and they are also uniquely qualified to act.
Hopefully this little one can be reintroduced to the wild in time.

Dramatic Elephant Rescue, Zambia

2011-11-06T11:12:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to The South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS), Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) and Norman Carr Safaris (NCS) who rescued a mother elephant and calf. We were hosted by NCS just last month when we took National Geographic's Boyd Matson to visit South Luangwa. We were touched by this rescue story so we put the photos and text into a slideshow to share.

Wildebeest: Black, Blue and Other Colors of Gnu?

2011-10-17T09:52:00.001-04:00

Wildebeest seem to be appearing in many colors lately. Two weeks ago we posted a guest's sighting of a rare 'white wildebeest' spotted in Kenya (more about that here). This week Geoff Calmeyer from Roar Africa shared his sandy-colored Wildebeest spotted in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Impossible? Not at all.

Wildebeest (from Afrikaans "wild cattle") or Gnu (from the Khoikhoi "Gnou"), come in two species: Black and Blue. They differ in a number of ways but primarily in horn curvature and, not surprisingly, color. Colors can vary quite significantly. Blue Wildebeest tend to be a dark grey color with stripes, but may have a shiny blue color. There are five Blue Wildebeest sub species. The Black Wildebeest has brown colored fur with a mane that ranges in color from cream to black, and a tail that is cream colored at the end. There are no sub species.

The white Wildebeest our guest spotted was in fact a genetic anomaly. It was actually a Blue Wildebeest. Geoff's sandy-colored Wildebeest is also a Blue Wildebeest. It's one of five subspecies of the Blue - the Cookson's Wildebeest. This sub-species is restricted to the Luangwa Valley in Zambia and as you can see it's coloring is very light.

Making things a little more complicated the Black and Blue Wildebeest (which diverged into these northern and southern species about 1 million years ago) have now, due to proximity in South Africa, interbred and with fertile offspring.

It's enough to confuse Gnu.

Top pic: White Wildebeest spotted in Masai Mara, Kenya

Bottom Pic: Cooksons Wildebeest spotted in Luangwa, Zambia

White Wildebeest spotted! (Masai Mara)

2011-10-03T13:10:00.000-04:00

One morning in early August, two honeymooners on safari were surprised to spot a young, white wildebeest in the Masai Mara, Kenya. No less surprised was their guide who had not seen one before.

"The herd was part of the migration passing near Naibor Camp. We were just about to drive off when I saw something white among them." said Melissa. "We could hardly believe our luck."

Melissa was honing her spotting skills on her second safari with us. Thanks for sharing your photos with Roar Afrcia!

So was this a white wildebeest or an albino wildebeest and what's the difference?
There are three braod categories of white animals:

White: genetically white due to a recessive gene. Usually a true white; dark stripes, rings or masks usually appear the same color (or diluted) as found in the normal phenotype. The eyes are the normal color.
Albino: The coat color will be a creamy white to pale yellow – the color isn't a true white. Dark markings will be expressed as gray or pale tan. Also genetic, pure albinism is due to a lack of melanin and identified by striking red eyes.
Leucistic: Leucism is a genetic mutation resulting in defective pigment producing cells. Partially leucistic breeds are common in dogs, cats and horses.

Melissa's wildebeest is definitely not pure white but it's eyes are not red either. Now let the zoologists debate....

You can see White Lions in South Africa. Read more here...

Rhino crisis returns to the country that saved them!

2011-08-24T16:02:00.002-04:00

The southern white rhino was considered extinct in the late 19th century. That was until a small population was found in 1895 in Umfolozi-Hluhluwe region in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. By 2008 they numbered over 19,000 and had become a conservation success story.

According to government figures, 265 rhinos have been poached so far this year in South Africa. This puts 2011 on course to surpass last year's record death toll of 333. In 2007, it was just 13.

It seems that the consequences of poaching are not shared evenly. A poacher, arguably "just trying to feed his family", may be shot dead by rangers. The couriers and kingpins might receive a jail term (earlier this month two Vietnamese men received 10 and 8 years). The consumer driving this demand seems to pay no consequences.

How can we change this? Un-ban trade in horns? Remove rhino horns? flood the market with fake horn? Put poison in the horns? What is the answer?

Rhinos threatened by bogus cancer cure:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/20/rhinos-threatened-extinction-cancer-cure

Africa Aces Travel+Leisure World's Best Awards 2011

2011-07-16T21:56:00.004-04:00

We're proud to see 6 of the overall top 10 Travel+Leisure hotels in the world are in Africa! All 6 are safari lodges - some of our favorites. In fact 15 of the top 100 hotels are in our destination areas of southern and East Africa. They are all in South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania or Kenya.

Congratulations to:

1. Singita Grumeti (Sasakwa, Sabora and Faru Faru)

2. Singita Sabi Sands (Boulders, Ebony and Castleton)

3. Royal Malewane

4. Ol Donyo Lodge

9. Kirawira Luxury Tented Camp

10. Serengeti Migration Camp

12. Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club

18. Ngorongoro Crater Lodge

20. Mombo and Little Mombo Camps

33. Le Quatier Francais

39. Singita Kruger National Park (Sweni and Lebombo)

45. Londolozi Game Reserve

67. Fairmont Mara Safari Club

74. Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp

79. Cape Grace

And cheers to all our most excellent partners under the T+L media radar.

ROAR AFRICA

Spike the Warthog - Napping by the fire

2011-07-13T13:12:00.003-04:00

Fact or fiction? The email was forwarded to me. Either way it's a great fireside tale.

I had an email from a friend in Zimbabwe yesterday and she sent me this picture and story that I thought was delightful. They had been away at a game park and on the first evening while sitting in front of the fire in the bar, in walked a fully grown wart hog. He walked over to the bar and without a word the bar man handed him a pillow. He took the pillow, put it next to the fire and promptly lay down with his head on the pillow and went to sleep where, apparently he spends the cold nights there. Then in the morning he’s off into the bush again! My friend, Cynie, says that if the barman isn’t there he’ll grab a pillow off one of the couches! Here he is :

The pillow certainly has a used, grubby warthog look about it. I suspect he's just a not-so-wild warthog that grew up around the lodge. Certainly a happy hog.

Black Rhino chuckle from Wilbur Smith

2011-07-05T18:12:00.003-04:00

This is a time for you abandon any zeal you may have for complete and utter truth and enjoy a good story (which may have a grain or ten of truth in it). I do hope so. After all, strange things do happen.....

Wilbur Smith and the Rhino.
A factual account by Wilbur Smith.

The plight of the Black Rhinoceros is, of course, due mostly to the value of its horn and the ferocious poaching that this engenders. However, a contributory factor to the declining rhino population is the animals disorganized mating habits. It seems that the female rhino only becomes receptive to the male's attentions every three years or so, while the male only becomes interested in her at the same intervals. A condition known quite appropriately as "Must".
The problem is one of synchronization, for their amorous inclinations do not always coincide.
In the early Sixties, I was invited, along with a host of journalists and other luminaries, to be present at an attempt by the Rhodesian Game and Tsetse Department to solve this problem of poor timing. The idea was to capture a male rhino and induce him to deliver up that which could be stored until that day in the distant future when his mate's fancy turned lightly to thoughts of love. We departed from the Zambezi Valley in an impressive convoy of trucks and Land Rovers, counting in our midst none other than the Director of the game department in person, together with his minions, a veterinary surgeon, an electrician and sundry other technicians, all deemed necessary to make the harvest.
The local game scouts had been sent out to scout the bush for the largest, most virile rhino they could find. They had done their job to perfection and led us to a beast at least the size of a small granite koppie with a horn on his nose considerably longer than my arm. The trick was to get this monster into a robust mobile pen, which had been constructed to accommodate him.
With the Director of the Game Department shouting frantic orders from the safety of the largest truck, the pursuit was on. The tumult and the shouting were apocalyptic. Clouds of dust flew in all directions, trees, and vegetation were destroyed, game scouts scattered like chaff, but finally the Rhino had about a litre of narcotics shot into his rump and his mood became dreamy and benign. With forty black game guards heaving and shoving, and the Director still shouting orders from the truck, the rhino was wedged into his cage, and stood there with a happy grin on his face.
At this stage, the Director deemed it safe to emerge from the cab of his truck and he came amongst us resplendent in starched and immaculately ironed bush jacket with a colourful silk scarf at this throat. With an imperial gesture, he ordered the portable electric generator to be brought forward and positioned behind the captured animal. This was a machine, which was capable of lighting up a small city, and it was equipped with two wheels that made it resemble a roman chariot.
The Director climbed up on the generator to better address us. We gathered around attentively while he explained what was to happen next.
It seemed that the only way to get what we had come for was to introduce an electrode into the rhino's rear end, and to deliver a mild electric shock, no more than a few volts, which would be enough to pull his trigger for him.
The Director gave another order and the veterinary surgeon greased something that looked like an acoustic torpedo and which was attached to the generator with sturdy insulated wires. He then went up behind the somnolent beast and thrust it up him to a full arms length, at which the Rhino opened his eyes very wide indeed.
The veterinary and his two black assistants now moved into position with a large bucket and assumed expectant expressions. We, the audience, crowded closer so as not to miss a single detail of the drama. The Director still mounted on the generator trailer, nodded to the electrician who threw the switch and chaos reigned. In the subsequent departmental enquiry the blame was placed squarely on the shoulders of the electrician. It seems that in the heat of the moment his wits had deserted him and instead of connecting up his apparatus to deliver a gentle 5 volts, he had crossed his wires and the Rhino received a full 500 volts up his rear end.
His reaction was spectacular. Four tons of rhinoceros shot six feet straight up in the air. The cage, made of great timber baulks, exploded into its separate pieces and the rhinoceros now very much awake, took off at a gallop.
We, the audience, were no less spritely. We took to the trees with alacrity.
This was the only occasion on which I have ever been passed by two journalists half way up a Mopane tree.
From the top branches we beheld an amazing sight, for the chariot was still connected to the Rhinoceros per rectum, and the director of the game department was still mounted upon it, very much like Ben Hur, the charioteer.
As they disappeared from view, the rhinoceros was snorting and blowing like a steam locomotive and the Director was clinging to the front rail of his chariot and howling like the north wind, which only encouraged the beast to greater speed.
The story has a happy ending for the following day after the director had returned hurriedly to his office in Salisbury , another male Rhinoceros was captured and caged and this time the electrician got his wiring right.
I can still see the Rhinoceros's expression of surprised gratification as the switch was thrown. You could almost hear him think to himself. "Oh Boy!
I didn't think this was going to happen to me for at least another three years".

Global Award for Tourism Tomorrow: Singita Pamushana

2011-05-22T14:59:00.007-04:00

I wrote about my visit to Zimababwe's Singita Pamushana back in November, so it is with great pride that I am able to share the news that Singita Pamushana has been awarded "Global Winner" at the World Travel & Tourism Council's Tourism for Tomorrow Awards.

One of Singita Game Reserve's nine low-impact/high-end game lodges in southern and East Africa, Singita Pamushana is often referred to as 'one of southern Africa's best kept secrets'. It was selected as winner in this prestigious global competition amongst two other outstanding finalists in the Conservation category: Frégate Island in the Seychelles; and The Jane Goodall Institute/Budongo Ecotourism Development Project in Uganda.

Singita Pamushana was established with the core purpose of making a meaningful contribution towards the cost of conserving the extraordinary 130,000 acres Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve in south-eastern Zimbabwe. This confident venture into a world-class tourism product for Zimbabwe impressed the panel of international judges as a model for private tourism practice that uniquely subsists solely to generate income via high value tourism. The goal is to make a major contribution to the national goal of rehabilitating the country's wildlife and tourism industries.

The natural habitat in the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve has now been rehabilitated to its original state, and today Singita Pamushana has the finest quality wildlife in Zimbabwe. These range from endangered Black Rhino to Roan Antelope and Lichtenstein's Hartebeest. Under Singita Pamushana's sensitive management, the wildlife populations have shown exhilarating growth after the carefully managed reintroduction.

Luke Bailes, CEO of Singita Game Reserves says:

"It is a great honor to be recognized by an organization such as the World Travel & Tourism Council for our approach to conservation, and for the conservation-related programs that are in place at Singita Pamushana. These create the context within which our guests can experience African wildlife at its very best. Singita Pamushana exemplifies our approach to sustainable tourism and is a paradigm of how we can contribute meaningfully to conserving vast ecological zones, in so doing preserving these areas and their wildlife for future generations."

Soaring with Vultures - spectacular video

2011-05-19T16:25:00.004-04:00

One day in 1998, in South Africa, I followed a yellow-billed kite into a thermal on my paraglider. We soared together close enough that I could see the individual feathers on its wingtips making adjustments. I still get goosebumps more than a decade later.

Watch this beautiful footage of Kerri Wolter doing it for the joy AND for a cause: the protection of the Cape Vulture. Less than 2,900 breeding pairs remain. Conservationist Kerri Wolter and paraglider pilot Walter Nesser fly with them. The footage is sublime.

Kerri founded the Vulture Conservation Program in Magaliesberg, South Africa. A beautiful place to fly! Support the program here.

This was also part of the filming of the documentary series Path into the Future.

Cape Town: The #1 Destination in the World!

2011-05-18T19:19:00.005-04:00

Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596) might be surprised about many things in 2011, but he would not be surprised to hear this: Cape Town was voted the number one destination in tripadvisor's Travellers' Choice Awards.

In 1579 Drake declared it ‘... the fairest cape and the most stately thing we saw in the whole circumference of the globe’. We agree. We're not surprised either.

Cape Town recipe:

One part Rio de Janiero
One part San Francisco
One part Monaco
A dash of Malaysia
The essence of Africa

Leave to mature on the tip of Africa.

Now imagine your Central Park is a 3,000 ft mountain and the Napa wine lands are in the suburbs - welcome to Cape Town! Now come and visit.

Cape Town on our website here.

See the Travelers' Choice 2011 results here.

Uthando - Grass roots projects in South Africa

2011-05-18T18:53:00.002-04:00

Have a look at this short video of Uthando's work in South Africa. James Fernie takes you on a short tour of their grass roots projects and gives thanks for the donations. Have a look at why we support Uthando and ask us to work a half day visit into your trip.

Why go and "see a township" on a tour when you can experience the township, engage with the people, and help at the same time?

MoMA: Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now

2011-03-19T11:42:00.005-04:00

New Yorkers take note - March 23–August 14, 2011!
In an upcoming MoMA exhibition called Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now, nearly 100 prints, posters, books, and wall stencils will be on view—many for the first time in the United States—providing striking examples of how printed art can be used as a tool for social, political, and personal expression.

Impressions from South Africa is organized around five themes: the use of linoleum cut, which exemplifies the accessibility and bold expressiveness of printmaking; the suitability of printmaking, particularly screenprint and offset lithography, for disseminating political statement; the use of intaglio, which has a strong history of graphically narrative work full of political allusion; the integration of photography and printmaking to expand on the notion of the documentary; and, finally, the variety of topics and formats present in post-apartheid printed works, many of which revitalize these other techniques and strategies.
Many of the works were acquired after the worldwide cultural boycott of South Africa dissolved in the 1990's, and the collection is a firs-of-its-kind look inside South Africa's turbulent era of social upheaval.
For more detail see the MoMA press release here.
Dates: March 23–August 14, 2011
The Museum of Modern Art: 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY | www.MoMA.org

Dune skiing with style: Namibia

2011-03-18T17:15:00.006-04:00

As students we used to ski down sand dunes on pieces of plywood. Pretty unsophisticated technique but the result was always a lot of fun (and occasionally some missing skin).
I'm sure there are still plenty of plywood dune boarders around, but today there are more sophisticated dune skiing and dune boarding options available. Have a look at the stylish video below (posted on youtube by CorCash):

If you'd like to give dune boarding or dune skiing a go it can be arranged in a number of excellent locations including Namibia (some of the largest dunes in the world), South Africa (right outside Cape Town) and Mozambique (Bazaruto).

(Readers on FaceBook etc... please go to original post for video)

Older elephants are wiser and....

2011-03-16T11:01:00.004-04:00

It may seem obvious, but now it is now documented that elephants pay particular attention to their elders especially when they hear the sound of an approaching lion.
Apparently elephant herds with older matriarchs react faster to the sound of predators than those with younger matriarchs. They also distinguish between male and female lions' roars. These findings of Karen McComb and Graeme Shannon from the University of Sussex, UK are reported in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.
This fact reinforces the importance of the family group. It's a complex social structure that can be severely damaged by outside interference like hunting. One has to assume that removing the matriarch would inhibit the learning process of the herd and endanger their safety. I find this particularly poignant as we are discussing both elephants and lions here. As film makers Dereck and Beverly Joubert ("The Last Lions") have pointed out, hunting the alpha male lion can case the death of over 20 lions. The social structure of the pride is destroyed and an incoming male will kill cubs of the previous male.
This story of the elephants is covered on BBC Earth News here along with a video of the elephants reacting to recorded lions. At ROAR AFRICA we have witnessed elephants bunching protectively around their youngsters in reaction to our own presence. Here is a video of exactly that occurring last year: Elephant Encounter, Linyati, Botswana

For more on the amazing documentary film "The Last Lions" and the trailer, click here.

Hippo Cannibalism? Okavango Delta, Botswana

2011-02-13T21:25:00.005-05:00

We watched this incredible scene outside Jao Camp for two hours. A hippo we were watching started gnawing on what we suddenly realized was a hippo corpse - his opponent defeated in the battle we had heard the night before.

For the previous post on this story and photos click here:

http://roarafrica.blogspot.com/2010/05/hippo-canabilism-okavango-delta.html

Facebook users: view original post for this video.

Elephant Encounter, Linyati, Botswana

2011-02-13T20:11:00.003-05:00

After some initial nervous ear-flapping and trumpeting these elephants gathered around for a closer look at us - a wonderful encounter.

Notice how they surrounded the calf protectively. We were en route to the beautiful Kings Pool camp in northern Botswana. Minutes after arrival on the airstrip we were in the thick of things Botswana style.

Facebook users - Please go to original post for the video.

ROAR AFRICA Brings you.....The Last Lions

2011-02-03T19:40:00.007-05:00

ROAR AFRICA invites you to be our special guest at the screening of The Last Lions documentary film.

Come and meet National Geographic Award winning film makers Dereck and Beverly Joubert at the screening of their dramatic storytelling and breathtaking footage of a gripping real-life saga.

Lions are vanishing from the wild. In the last 50 years, lion populations have plummeted from 450,000 to as few as 20,000.

Where: Angelika Film Center
18 West Houston Street (between Broadway & Crosby St)
New York, NY 10012
When: Friday February 18, 2011 from 7:20 PM EST
Please click on the link below to register or RSVP.
Click to Register Now.

View the trailer here:

(Available on the original blog post.)
Derek, Beverley & I look forward to seeing you at The Last Lions.
Should you have any questions about the event or how to register please feel free to contact Deborah at ROAR AFRICA. email
Sincerely,
Deborah

Why we need to save the big cats.

2011-01-10T20:10:00.004-05:00

Last December at TEDWomen I was fortunate enough to see this incredibly inspiring speech by Beverly + Dereck Joubert. Documentary filmmakers Beverly and Dereck Joubert have worked to conserve wildlife for more than 25 years. As National Geographic Explorers in Residence they live in the bush, filming and photographing lions and leopards in their natural habitat in Botswana. With stunning footage (some never before seen), they discuss their personal relationships with these majestic animals -- and their quest to save the big cats from human threats.

Watch the speech here:

Note: If you're reading this on Facebook visit the original blog to play the video.

February sees the release of their new movie "The Last Lions". ROAR AFRICA will host an evening at the cinema on the opening night in New York City. Beverly and Dereck will be present for the Q&A session. Check back for details.

For more on Legadema see our previous blog posts here.
Or slideshows of Botswana here.

Great Deal! 2 For 1 Sale: SAA flights to Africa

2011-01-07T10:13:00.004-05:00

There's another sale on with South African Airways and it's a wonderful time of year to escape winter up north and visit southern Africa!

Book before January 21st for a trip between January 20th and March 31st.

$1,479 plus taxes round trip FOR TWO!
(New York or Washington DC to Johannesburg or Cape Town.)

Other great deals to cities elsewhere in South Africa and to Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, and other countries.

Details on the special found here.
Contact us to arrange the trip: 1 877 ROAR AFR or info@roarafrica.com

Back to Zimbabwe - Singita Pamushana

2010-11-29T21:26:00.004-05:00

Returning to my home country of Zimbabwe this November after 11 years out of the country was a sheer delight. A quick and easy flight on Federal Air from Johannesburg to the Malalingwe Reserve, makes getting to Pamushana almost as easy as flying to the Sabi Sands/Kruger area. I had forgotten just how wonderfully warm and welcoming the Zimbabweans are, how educated and articulately they speak, their humor and knowledge - a delightful combination.

Singita Pamushana is one of Africa's best kept secrets. The Lodge is found within the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve in south-eastern Zimbabwe. 65,000 hectares with only one lodge on it! Nestled beneath the trees, the lodge incorporates the natural environment and aspects of the famous Zimbabwe ruins. The forest-like architecture and lush gardens have spectacular views of the lake below. Pamushana Lodge comprises six luxury suites some of which are two, three and a 5 bedroom villas. Each offering incredible views of the Malilangwe dam and each with a private pool.

Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve is teaming with wildlife including rare and endangered species such as the Roan and Sable antelope, and the Black Rhino. Famous for its cathedral Mopane forests and majestic 'upside-down' Baobab trees, Malilangwe is an area where you will also find over 100 rock painting sites that date back thousands of years. I was staggered at how good the game viewing was and how the excellent guides managed to bring the bush life. We traversed across the 65,000 hectares with out another vehicle in sight. We followed a lion hunt at night, a herd of 1,000 buffalo, the rare, dangerous and skittish Black Rhino, and had the best Cheetah sighting of my life,- Five cheetahs grooming one another.

In addition to the intense wildlife experience, somehow the landscape of Zimbabwe has a serene and special magic to it. It oozes "real Africa". The sunset silhouetting against the acacia trees, the bright dusty red soils, the vociferous calls of the fish eagle, wide open spaces and big big skies brought it all home to me. I could only wish that everyone would be so lucky as to experience this very special place.

Note: By visiting Malilangwe you are helping the people and animals in this corner of Zimbabwe recover from their plight. Singita and Malilangwe now employ a considerable workforce and feed 30,000 children daily.

The True Size of Africa

2010-10-21T08:53:00.003-04:00

How large is Africa? Larger than the U.S.A., Mexico, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the whole of Europe combined!

This study by Kai Krause helps us understand just how large Africa is. It's his contribution to combating alarming immapancy - insufficient geographical knowledge.

It just goes to show that there is plenty of exploring to do in Africa!

This study is in the public domain. For more click here.

Cheap flight to South Africa - from $970

2010-09-21T08:39:00.004-04:00

South African Airlines (SAA) is running a special you might like to take advantage of.
Travel September 13 through December 9th. Book by October 1st.

With summer winding down, it is the perfect time for you to take advantage of this terrific deal. It's also a wonderful time to visit southern Africa. It's Spring down south -A great time for safari, after the Cape winter, whale season, and all without the summer crowds.

Fly from New York (JFK) or Washington D.C. (IAD) to Cape Town or Johannesburg, South Africa. Plus great low fares also available from other US cities.

Low fares, excellent schedules and award-winning service, the time has never been better to turn that dream trip to Africa into a reality!

Travel September 13 through December 9th. BOOK BY OCTOBER 1st!

Click here for the special. We'll arrange the rest.

Zimbabwe and Ivory poaching

2010-08-24T11:33:00.002-04:00

Death is the price that the world's biggest land mammals are paying for their tusks, which have a lucrative international market. Is Zimbabwe's parks authority sufficiently equipped to effectively curb poaching activities, especially given the fact that poachers are coming into the country with far more sophisticated weapons than the rangers' archaic looking Russian-made AK47 rifles?

Gonarezhou National Park, which is situated in the south eastern part of the country, is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park which incorporates Gaza National Park of Mozambique and Kruger National Park of South Africa. Covering 5 053 square kilometers, this makes it a mammoth task for the few rangers deployed in the park to eradicate poaching activities, which are on the increase worldwide.

Due to the growth experienced in the ivory export business in the 1970s and 1980s, the total elephant population of Africa decreased by half. Up to one million elephants were killed for their tusks to the point where the endangered animal appeared to be on the verge of extinction. In fact there is evidence of elephant tusk size reduction. A rapid evolution due to the gene pool of the largest tuskers being hunted first.

Despite the resource constraints, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA), has made commendable strides in protecting the country's elephant herd and managed to reduce poaching activities by 32 percent last year. Authority would never eradicate poaching completely as it is part of wildlife management but it was critical that it is kept within acceptable levels. A representative said "We are dealing with a well resourced powerful syndicate operating in the region but we are, however, on top of the game as we have noted a decrease in poaching nationwide. We are working with security agents in the country, the Attorney General's Office, the police and the courts to address this issue, Poaching is not new in Africa but we have deployed trained men to the park. Our major challenge is that the rangers cannot cover the whole park"

In 1989 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora banned trade in ivory hoping to protect elephants from poachers. Some Western nations have also provided assistance to African countries in order to help crack down on poachers. Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia have in the past decades accumulated huge stockpiles of ivory through culling, which is meant to keep the elephant herd within manageable levels.

Although the country is bound by a moratorium on ivory trade for nine years it is continuously arguing that if allowed to sell its ivory stockpiles the issue of poaching could be managed better. Zimbabwe, which is sitting on a 34 tonne stockpile of ivory worth US$5.1billion, can only reapply for permission to trade in its ivory in 2017.

More reading:
- For more on the Ivory auction debate see our previous post here.
- More on South African National Parks Elephant Management policy here.
- For an amazing experience with Elephant conservation see this post here. You can get involved with Elephant conservation on your trip to southern Africa by actually collaring an elephant. more on that here.

.....Or just search our blog (top left corner) for "elephant"

Gorongosa fly camping with Ian Michler

2010-08-24T09:53:00.006-04:00

Just in from Gorongosa....

Ian Michler, renowned specialist guide and photojournalist will lead a 7 night trip in Gorongosa in October this year! Ian is going to be exploring Gorongosa National Park (from the Explore Gorongosa base) for the first time. He is so excited. And there are still some places available on the trip! The trip not to be missed. Ian is an awesome guide and we can't wait to see what he finds in Gorongosa.

He will be taking guests fly camping, to Mount Gorongosa birding and hiking and of course all around the park - even to some of the further reaches of the park.

Answers to a few questions that you might be thinking...

Who is Ian?
A stockbroker by profession, Ian left the world of finance in 1989 to go and live a dream in the Okavango Delta. He has 14 years of guiding experience in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe conducting big game, birding, adventure and photographic safaris. Ian is also an accomplished photographer (Agfa Wildlife category winner in 1998) and writer of two coffee table books to his credit. He is presently working on a third, which will be on Botswana. He writes and photographs for various wildlife and travel magazines, Africa Geographic and Africa Birds and Birding in particular.

What is fly camping?
Fly camping is real safari the way it used to be. You'll go out from the more permanent Explorers Camp to camp in the wilderness in a mobile smaller camp. It's real camping but you are well looked after all the way. It's not backpacking. The food is great, the drinks are cold and the adventure can't be beaten. In the amusing words of our friends at Gorongosa:
"Although the trend these days is for safari camps to provide seventeen imported Mongolian cotton facecloths per person, delicately soaked in endangered highland yak milk and served chilled with a skinny moccachino presented in Italian marble coffee cups with gold inlay... we at Explore Gorongosa like to think it is more the experience that counts and that, like the wrapper around a yummy Swiss chocolate, the camp is simply the outer layer which keeps the whole thing together."

When this year? 18-25 October 2010

Where will I be staying?
You will be hosted by the only private camp in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique - Explore Gorongosa. Rob & Jos Janisch will organise your stay including all the fly camping, mountain trips, swinging from hammocks. And anything else you may want to get up to!
More on Gorongosa on our website here and on the blog here.

How do I get more information? Email us- click here

Cape Dutch Architecture

2010-08-23T18:08:00.004-04:00

The early settlers, in response to street width taxation in Holland, built expansive wide fronted homes when settling in the Cape in the 1700’s. Houses in this style have a distinctive and recognisable design, with a prominent feature being the grand, ornately rounded gables, reminiscent of features in townhouses of Amsterdam built in the Dutch style. The houses are also usually H-shaped, with the front section of the house usually being flanked by two wings running perpendicular to it. Furthermore, walls are whitewashed, and the roofs are thatched.

Generally they are wide fronted homes with small window panes; it is interesting to note that all glass was imported by ship. Front verandas were laid out to use the tiles from passenger ships ballasts. To provide shade vines were sometimes planted to cover the trellis over the veranda.
Readily available local hard woods were used to make shutters. These shutters, apart from being a decorative feature of Cape Dutch houses, were closed at night to keep the family protected from both man and beast. Reeds (Restio sedges) were used as thatching. The Gables that were built at the end of the roof could be either straight, triangular or holbol. The front gable became the signature of each home.

Front doors were designed by the owner in collaboration with Malay artisans who were brought to the Cape by the Dutch East India Company. Homes were large with high ceilings. Floors and ceilings were made of local hard woods like yellow wood (Podocarpus spp). These homes usually comprised an entrance hall, lounge, dining room, kitchen and one main bedroom down stairs. Children’s rooms and attics were generally upstairs. As the family grew a ‘neck’ was build from the entrance hall and two more rooms built at the back of the house making the classical H shape with four gables.

Fortunately many homes remain. Famous historical Cape Dutch homes can be seen on the following wine estates:
Boschendal, Vergelegen, Morgenster, la Motte or Zorgvleit

Cape Dutch architecture is a beautiful and distinctive feature of the South African winelands. For more on visiting the winelands, click here. Or for further references contact Roar Africa.

The Amazing Kalahari Desert

2010-08-23T17:37:00.003-04:00

First time visitors to southern Africa seldom visit the Kalahari. They are typically more focused on Cape Town, the Winelands and a Safari in greater Kruger area. But the Kalahari is a spectacularly beautiful part of Africa with huge skies, few people and abundant wildlife.

The Kalahari is a semi-desert covering 900,000 Square kilometers (350,000 square miles) in the South West of Africa. It covers parts of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. The desert is characterized by recent windblown red (iron) sands over white calcite deposited salts of thousands of millions of years ago and as with all deserts there is no surface water.

Amazingly large predators, antelope, birds and insects exist – all waiting for the annual rain which creates windows of survival or death. During August/September winter slowly regresses from the bone dry land and temperatures start to rise. This is when the small carnivores start their breeding activity.

A magnificent Black-maned Kalahari Lion photographed on my last trip to the Kalahari

Business Traveler: The Lion Queen

2010-07-06T17:59:00.008-04:00

This month Deborah Calmeyer of ROAR AFRICA features on the cover of Business Traveler Magazine. The first in their "Woman in Business" series. Jeff Heilman reveals some of her challenges and triumphs from growing up with a lioness to launching and running the company in New York. You can read it here at Business Traveler online (page 38) OR below (click to enlarge).

Heart warming credit to South Africa, Shari Cohen, The Huffington Post

2010-07-01T18:08:00.006-04:00

I was very proud to read The Huffington Post article by Shari Cohen; "South Africa Rolls Out the Ubuntu in Abundance". It's wonderful to see the spirit of South Africa appreciated and having such a deep impact on a self-described cynic. It's also reassuring to know that we can teach the world something. Please read the full post on their website here. I have copied a few touching quotes below.

"To say that I have been blown away at the hospitality South Africa has shown the rest of the world would be an understatement."

"The questions and conversations are in earnest. They are honest. And they are had with enthusiasm and a thirst to know more. South Africans are drinking deeply from the cup of humanity that has been brought to their doorstep."

"I'm a little teary just writing this because I leave for home next weekend and I will be leaving a little piece of myself here in South Africa. I just hope I have learned enough to bring back a little piece of Ubuntu to my homeland."

"Thank you South Africa, for giving me this unexpected gift. I am humbled. "

*****

Singita Gourmet Safari at Sweni Lodge

2010-06-17T14:44:00.005-04:00

There many good reasons to tell you about Singita's Gourmet Safari. Here are just a few:

Singita is one of our favorite partners; owners of beautiful lodges - wonderful venues for just about anything!
Sweni Lodge (the precise venue) is an intimate lodge accommodating just 12 guests. It is in a concession within the world famous Kruger Park and is spectacular. More about Sweni on our website here .
Singita has an inspiring Cooking School community project. Read about it on our website here and on our blog, here. We love the work Singita does for the community and that the cooking school is where this gourmet safari takes place.
We are all about specialized trips and offer a Flavors of South Africa journey. It's a hands-on gourmet trip in Cape Town and the Winelands. We can easily include that or part of that with this Gourmet Safari at Singita (read more about it Flavours of South Africa here)

So here are some details on Singita's Gourmet Safari (online):

Exclusive to Singita Sweni Lodge, Chef Bruce’s delightful Gourmet Safaris are unique to the African continent, a culinary first. A five day and four night experience filled with intrigue, warmth and laughter at the edge of the boma fire.

Set Departure Dates:

06 - 10 June 2011
21 - 25 November 2011

(But talk to us about other options or putting a group together)

Singita Sweni Lodge

TravelScope interviews Geoff Calmeyer

2010-06-16T18:16:00.004-04:00

EMMY-nominated TravelScope: "When you think of Africa you hardly think of a beautiful beach, but in Mozambique, Africa that’s exactly what you should be thinking about. Joseph traveled to Mozambique for one of two shows on Africa that will be featured in Travelscope TV Season IV – which begins airing in June 2010. After the long flight from the U.S. aboard South African Airways, Joseph joined Geoff Calmeyer of Roar Africa on a sun-soaked, white-sand beach in Mozambique. "
Click here to listen to the interview.

Challenge For A Cause - Rhinos, Literacy and Londolozi

2010-06-15T13:11:00.011-04:00

To all of our avid Africa fans,

One of our partners, Londolozi - owned and run by the Varty family, is a unique and special place in the Sabi Sands, South Africa. Much of the preservation today in southern Africa and beyond is a result of Dave Varty's tremendous insight and efforts in conservation. Still there is great risk...

The population of the African elephant, has declined by more than 99% since the 1930s, when as many as 10 million of the great creatures roamed free there.
Only 10,000 Rhinos exist around the world, down 85 percent since just 1970.
The continent’s lion population has fallen off by half since the early 1950s when there were an estimated 40,000 “kings of the jungle”.

"Londolozi’ means Protector of all living things. True to our values, we present to you our conservation event for 2010. Five individuals from Londolozi have come together with a mission to raise R500 000 for an endangered species and for literacy. Ultimately, for us, Africa is about the fusion of people and animals and about reconnecting the human spirit back to the wilderness." Londolozi

...and so Shan, Bronwyn & Boyd (Varty), Rich Laburn and Brett Roux are embarking on a grueling challenge to raise funds and continue this relentless endeavor; a 7-day 330km bicycle ride through the northern Namibian desert. Donations will go to Save the Rhino and The Good Work Foundation.

Any donation would be greatly appreciated and anyone who can

donate $600 or more stands a chance to win a 2 night stay at Londolozi’s Private Granite Suites worth $40,000!

To Donate, click here and scroll down:

http://www.marthabeck.com/LEAP/

Please refence your donation with 'C4AC' and then 'your name'.

For more information:

Contact Boyd Varty:

Tel: +27 (0)13 735 5653

E-mail: boydatlondolozi@gmail.com

Links (click for more):

Londolozi
Londolozi Granite Suites
Save The Rhino

'Open letter to our Foreign Media friends' by Peter Davies

2010-06-15T12:30:00.009-04:00

We came across this amusing letter by Peter Davies, the award winning presenter of SuperSport. Granted, it's a little condescending towards media, especially British media, but it's good fun. Hilarious in fact. It shares common perceptions and misconceptions. The full letter (below) is definitely worth a read. Here are some snippets to whet the appetite. Enjoy....

As you emerge blinking from your luxury hotel room into our big blue winter skies, you will surely realise you are far more likely to be killed by kindness than by a stray bullet....
The fact that England, the nation which safely delivered Wembley Stadium two years past its due date, is prepared to offer us South Africans advice on stadium-readiness should not be surprising.
Trivia question: which country has hosted the most global sporting events over the past decade and a half? You don’t need me to answer that, do you?
Bottomline. Get out there and breathe in great lusty lungfuls of this amazing nation.... You will be welcomed like a lost family member and looked after as if you are royalty...
....this country will change your life...It’s Africa’s time. Vacate your hotel room. Join the party. Waka waka eh eh.....

*** Full Letter ***

Dear World Cup visitors,

Now that you are safely in our country you are no doubt happily realising you are not in a war zone. This may be in stark contrast to what you have been bracing yourself for should you have listened to Uli Hoeness or are an avid reader of English tabloids, which as we all know are only good for wrapping fish ‘n chips and advancing the careers of large-chested teens on page three.

As you emerge blinking from your luxury hotel room into our big blue winter skies, you will surely realise you are far more likely to be killed by kindness than by a stray bullet. Remember that most of the media reports you have read, which have informed your views on South Africa, will have been penned by your colleagues. And you know what journos are like, what with their earnest two thousand word opuses on the op-ed pages designed to fix this country’s ills in a heartbeat. Based on exhaustive research over a three-day visit.

Funnily enough, we are well aware of the challenges we face as a nation and you will find that 95% of the population is singing from the same song-sheet in order to ensure we can live up to our own exacting expectations.

We are also here to look after you and show you a good time. Prepare to have your preconceived notions well and truly shattered.

For instance, you will find precious few rhinos loitering on street corners, we don’t know a guy in Cairo named Dave just because we live in Johannesburg, and our stadiums are magnificent, world-class works of art.

Which is obviously news to the Sky TV sports anchor who this week remarked that Soccer City looked ‘ a bit of a mess’. She didn’t realize the gaps in the calabash exterior are to allow in natural light and for illumination at night, and not the result of vandalism or negligence.

The fact that England, the nation which safely delivered Wembley Stadium two years past its due date, is prepared to offer us South Africans advice on stadium-readiness should not be surprising. The steadiest stream of World Cup misinformation has emanated from our mates the Brits over the past couple of years.

If it’s not man-eating snakes lurking in Rooney’s closet at the team’s (allegedly half-built) Royal Bafokeng training base, then it’s machete-wielding gangs roaming the suburbs in search of tattooed, overweight Dagenham dole-queuers to ransack and leave gurgling on the pavement.

In fact what you are entering is the world’s most fascinating country, in my opinion. I’m pretty sure you will find that it functions far more smoothly, is heaps more friendly and offers plenty more diversions than you could possibly have imagined.

In addition to which, the population actually acts like human beings, and not like they are being controlled by sinister forces from above which turns them into bureaucratically-manipulated robots.

Plus we have world’s most beautiful women. The best weather. Eight channels of SuperSport. Food and wine from the gods themselves. Wildlife galore. (Love the Dutch team’s bus slogan: “Don’t fear the Big 5; fear the Orange 11”).

Having said all that, Jo’burg is undoubtedly one of the world’s most dangerous cities. Just ask those Taiwanese tourists who got out of their hire car to take close-up snaps of tawny beasts at the Lion Park a few years back. Actually, ask what’s left of them. And did you know the chances of being felled by cardiac arrest from devouring a mountain of meat at one of our world class restaurants has been statistically proven to be 33.3% higher in Jozi than in any other major urban centre not built upon a significant waterway? It’s true. I swear. I read it in a British tabloid.

Having recently spent two years comfortably cocooned in small town America, I’m only too aware of how little much of the outside world knows about this country. The American channel I used to work for has a massive battalion of employees descending on World Cup country. It has also apparently issued a recommendation to its staff to stay in their hotels when not working.

Given that said corporation is headquartered in a small town which many say is “best viewed through the rear-view mirror”, I find the recommendation, if it’s true, to be utterly astounding. In fact I don’t believe it is true. Contrary to the global stereotype, the best Americans are some of the sharpest people in the world. The fact they have bought most tickets in this World Cup proves the point.

Of course I have only lived in Johannesburg, city of terror and dread, virtually all my life, so don’t have the in-depth knowledge of say, an English broadsheet journalist who has been in the country for the weekend, but nevertheless I will share some of my observations gleaned over the years.

Any foreign tourist or media representative who is worried about his safety in South Africa should have a word with the Lions rugby fans from last year, or the Barmy Army cricket supporters (lilywhite hecklers by day, slurring, lager-fuelled lobsters by night). They managed just fine, just like the hundreds of thousands of fans who have streamed into the country over the past fifteen years for various World Cups, Super 14 matches, TriNations tests and other international events. Negligible crime incidents involving said fans over said period of time.

Trivia question: which country has hosted the most global sporting events over the past decade and a half? You don’t need me to answer that, do you?

In addition. Don’t fret when you see a gaggle of freelance salesmen converge on your car at the traffic lights (or robots as we like to call them) festooned with products. You are not about to be hijacked. Here in Mzansi (nickname for SA) we do a lot of our purchasing at robots. Here you can stock up on flags, coat hangers, batteries, roses for the wife you forgot to kiss goodbye this morning and a whole host of useful merchandise.

Similarly, that guy who runs up as you park the rental car outside the pub intends no malice. He’s your car guard. Give him a buck or two and your vehicle will be safe while you refuel for hours on our cheap, splendid beer. Unless someone breaks into it, of course.

We drive on the left in this country. Exercise caution when crossing the road at a jog-trot with 15 kilograms of camera gear on your back. Exercise common sense full stop. Nothing more. Nothing less. If you want to leave wads of cash in your hotel room like our Colombian friends, don’t be surprised if it grows wings.

Bottomline. Get out there and breathe in great lusty lungfuls of this amazing nation. Tuck into our world-class food and wines. Disprove the adage that white men can’t dance at our throbbing, vibrant night-clubs. Learn to say hello in all eleven official languages. Watch at least one game in a township. You will not be robbed and shot. You will be welcomed like a lost family member and looked after as if you are royalty. Ask those Bulls rugby fans who journeyed to Soweto recently.

With a dollop of the right attitude, this country will change your life.

It’s Africa’s time. Vacate your hotel room. Join the party.

Waka waka eh eh.

*****

Here's the original post on SuperSport.com

World Cup Fever - Send your photos!

2010-06-09T11:26:00.008-04:00

Excitement has reached fever pitch in South Africa. We're posting various pictures as we receive them into a Picasa Album. A slideshow will stream here. Click to go to the album itself.

Please email your photos to share to rob@roarafrica.com. Include your caption, name, date, time and location. They can be of the excitement on a beach in Mexico, a pub in England...anywhere as long as it's live World Cup FEVER!

Enjoy......

Complete World Cup Calendar Gadget

2010-06-03T10:25:00.005-04:00

Marca.com has published an amazing World Cup Schedule online. It's a dial which allows you to click and view the match schedule by Date, Stadium, Group/Stage and Team - All on one screen.

To try it click here.

Source: www.marca.com

Slideshow: South Africa and Botswana

2010-05-27T22:27:00.004-04:00

Slideshow from April trip: Karkloof Spa (South Africa), Natures Valley (South Africa), Okavango Delta (Mombo and Jao Camps) and Linyati (Kings Pool Camp).

For the full album click to visit Picasa web albums.

Congratulations to the Winner of Shutterstock’s 2010 Photo Safari Contest!

2010-05-27T16:29:00.002-04:00

Winner of Shutterstock’s 2010 Photo Safari Contest!

"Congratulations to John Batdorff of Chicago, Illinois, for winning Shutterstock’s 2010 Photo Safari Contest, sponsored by B&H Photo and Zozi! Batdorff wins a safari for two in South Africa, including three nights on safari at the Lions Sands River Lodge and three nights exploring Cape Town courtesy of Roar Africa, plus $2,000 which can be used towards airfare."

June and July Flight special to South Africa

2010-05-26T17:18:00.003-04:00

South African Airways is advertising a last minute limited availability fare to get you to the World Cup. Click the advertisement to enlarge or click here for more. At ROAR AFRICA we are still managing to find people last minute accommodation for the World Cup.
It's still possible! Call us on +1 877 ROAR AFR.

*** flysaa special ***

Last Minute SUMMER FARES

World Cup flights from only $725 (each way).

Book now as we are days away from the WORLD coming to South Africa. We have reserved special fares with limited availability just for this monumental event. Let Africa's Most Awarded Airline take you there.
Flights from: New York or D.C. with great fares available from other select cities in the U.S.
Flights to: Johannesburg and Cape Town South Africa
We've gathered our lowest fares on select flights making booking a trip to South Africa this summer easier than even. BOOK NOW!

*****

Magnificent black-maned Kalahari Lion

2010-05-16T17:05:00.006-04:00

Last week we spotted this magnificent black-maned lion at Tswalu Kalahari, South Africa.
Many people are not aware that lions vary considerably around Africa. Adult male lions weight generally ranges between 150–250 kg (330–550 lb). On average about 5% heavier in southern Africa than East Africa. The presence, absence, color, and size of the mane is associated with genetic precondition, sexual maturity, climate, and testosterone production; the rule of thumb is the darker and fuller the mane, the healthier the lion (other things being equal). The Kalahari lions are renowned for the large size and black manes. This one was in beautiful condition.

Travelscope nominated for an Emmy!

2010-05-16T15:30:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to TravelScope, the documentary travel series for television that has just been nominated for an Emmy. ROAR AFRICA hosted TravelScope last year for the filming of two episodes of the new season which begins next month: South Africa - On Safari and Mozambique.The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced the nominees for the 37th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards on May 12th. Travelscope is nominated for an Emmy® in the Outstanding Special Class Series category.

You can read more about the filming of these two episodes on our BLOG: Safari & Mozambique or on Travelscope's website (see below).
Travelscope press release.
Episodes ROAR AFRICA hosted: South Africa - On Safari & Mozambique

The Wild Dog and Jackal Family!

2010-05-15T19:03:00.005-04:00

Have a close look at the picture below (click to enlarge).Your eyes are not deceiving you - that's an African Wild Dog taking an afternoon nap very close to a Black-backed Jackal.

Botswana is full of surprises. Last month we came accorss this female African Wild Dog living with Jackals. Firstly Wild Dogs normally can't survive long alone. They need their pack to hunt and protect one another. Secondly, Jackals are normally competition for them. Competitors fight one another or at least drive one another away.

Apparently this female Wild Dog somehow got left behind by her pack on Chiefs Island, Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. That was more than a year ago. She is an incredible hunter and has managed to hunt by herself and stay safe from lions and hyenas for all that time. Our guide Dr Malinga told us she has formed this remarkable partnership with the Jackals. Their new Dog-Jackal pack is a neat symbiosis whereby the Jackals offer some protection in the form of additional eyes, ears and noses, and she provides additional food. The Jackals can't keep up on the hunt but yet she shares the kill. In fact, most remarkably of all, she was apparently regurgitating food for the Jackals pups. That absolutely amazed us!

Legadema, famous leopard-Eye of the Leopard

2010-05-15T18:05:00.009-04:00

Last month we met Legadema, the famous leopard on Chief's Island in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Legadema (lah-heh-deem-uh)—Setswana for "light from the sky"— is the star of the award winning documentary Eye of the Leopard by Beverly and Dereck Joubert. The Jouberts tracked and filmed her from eight days old for for three years.

There are some intense scenes in the film. For example when she narrowly escapes an attack by a pride of lions. Lions will kill rival predators when the opportunity presents itself. We actually watched a lioness hunting Legadema last month. We were watching the lions when both we and the primary hunter, a one-eyed lioness, heard Legadema's call. She was marking her territory nearby. We followed the lioness as she stalked Legadema for 10 minutes before giving up the chase. Click to enlarge the picture of the one-eyed lioness. You can see her large, swollen, purple eye. Apparently it has been like that for more than a year and she is still the most successful hunter in the pride.

Another remarkable scene from the Eye of the Leopard is when Legadema kills a baboon which, unbeknownst to her, has a tiny infant clinging to it's belly. I was telling this story on the Land Rover when our guide, Dr Malinga, said "Yes, that is the Leopard we just saw...Legadema. She's a movie star". I could hardly believe it.

In the baboon incident Legadema's maternal instincts seem to get confused as the infant reaches out to her for protection. She mothers the baby baboon for the night curled up on a tree branch. The infant dies during the night. You can watch that clip below...

It's not the first time I've heard of predators looking after their prey. A lioness adopted a baby Orynx in Kenya and looked after it for two weeks. You can read that story here or watch the video below:

Here's a link to the Eye of the Leopard

If you'd like to find out more, Legadema even has a Facebook page here.

The African Book of Happiness, JOSEPH PETER

2010-05-11T22:00:00.016-04:00

Last week ROAR AFRICA hosted a cocktail party at the home of Henry Buhl. This was a celebration of our 5th anniversary and the upcoming FIFA World Cup which is being hosted South Africa. In this vein we honored our friend and artist Joseph Peter. With his partners Coca-Cola and FIFA, Joey traveled 53 countries in 75 days with the FIFA trophy and produced an amazing work of art; The African Book of Happiness. What a wonderful project to share the inherent optimism of the African people instead of what we see on the news every day.

Many people wanted further information on Joey's book so he has kindly written up some more detailed information that I have attached. (Click each page below to enlarge).

It was a great honor to celebrate his incredible work and we look forward to the many new editions that will follow as Joey covers the globe.

www.theafricanbookofhappiness.com

All photographs copyright Joseph Peter.
www.josephpeter.com

They aren't Joking at Jao!

2010-05-09T21:14:00.006-04:00

One beautiful night in Botswana, between dinner at the boma and our tented suite, we were amused to find this elephant browsing next to the path. He couldn't have been more precise with his chosen spot. (Click to enlarge the photo.)

Hippo Canabilism? (Okavango Delta, Botswana)

2010-05-09T20:21:00.006-04:00

Last month at Jao Camp in the Okavango Delta there was a big ruckus in the middle of the night as two Hippo bulls dueled to the death. It's not uncommon for a territorial fight to end in the death of a hippo, but what is unusual was what we witnessed the following morning. (click image to enlarge)

We came across the victor practically in the camp before we saw the corpse of his vanquished rival on it's side in the shallow water. We watched as the hippo approached the corpse, circled it, and then tentatively chewed on it's front leg. Next, using the leg for leverage, it rolled the corpse over, and held it like that for a while. It didn't seem to be biting pieces off. In fact the behavior reminded me of elephants I have heard of trying to rouse their dead friends. See previous post here. I wondered if there was some kind of emotion there. I even wondered if there was regret. I seriously doubted it but I had never heard of or witnessed such behavior and neither had our guide. Before too long it lost interest and waded off.

I have spoken to a few people about what to make of this. Apparently it is not unheard of. Rob Moore of Lion Sands speculated that perhaps it was latent aggression from the night before. They are very aggressive animals and that dead hippo was still in the others territory. Hippos certainly are not normally carnivorous, but there are reports of hippos actually eating other animals or each other. These are probably cases of aberrant behavior. (for Carnivorous Hippo reports: click here.)

Whatever the cause it made for a fascinating safari experience. We spent two hours at the entrance to camp watching this scene and returned in the evening to see the eyes of the first few crocodiles who had found the corpse. The following day the corpse, already bloated and stinking, was towed a little further away from the camp. By now I am sure there is little left of it.

Note: a video of this scene will be added to this post in due course.

South Africa Airways and JetBlue: New Agreement

2010-05-07T14:11:00.002-04:00

Press Release from SAA: [Shortened by ROAR AFRICA]

JetBlue Airways and South African Airways Proudly Announce New Interline Agreement

-- Effective May 12, 2010, travelers can purchase flights between several JetBlue destinations and 40 SAA cities in Southern Africa via New York’s JFK Airport--

New York (May 7, 2010) – New York’s hometown airline JetBlue Airways (Nasdaq: JBLU) and South African Airways (SAA), Africa’s most awarded airline, announced today that they have established a comprehensive interline agreement, providing new and convenient connection options for both SAA and JetBlue customers wishing to travel between the U.S. and Southern Africa. Effective May 12, 2010, customers will be able to purchase a single itinerary for travel on flights of both carriers in one simple transaction, enjoying easy connecting service between select JetBlue cities and 40 cities in the South African Airways network via JFK. ....

New York’s JFK is a key gateway for SAA with their daily non-stop flights to South Africa and is also the base of operations for JetBlue Airways, where it is the largest domestic airline. By working together at JFK the carriers will offer more options for travel between the United Stated and Southern Africa and provide customers with a smooth travel experience.

This new partnership will offer increased convenience to customers on both sides of the Atlantic by allowing customers to travel on one single e-ticket and by offering through check-in. Customers will be able to check their bags to their final destination and receive boarding cards for both carriers’ flights upon check-in with either JetBlue in the U.S. or SAA in Southern Africa.

....

Marc Cavaliere, executive vice president, North America for South African Airways: “Additionally, there are great synergies in service between the two airlines as we both put a premium on customer service and satisfaction,” he added. “Perhaps best of all, this agreement comes just in time for the soccer championship in South Africa, and is a new and convenient way for JetBlue customers to experience the excitement of the tournament.”

......

South African Airways has a specially-created corporate division in place dedicated to ensuring that fans have the most comfortable and convenient service to and between the World Cup matches, including a round-the-clock domestic African flight schedule that will make it easy to fly to and from matches in the different cities. This schedule will complement SAA’s already extensive flight schedule throughout Southern Africa that connects with the airline’s daily flights from New York/JFK.

In addition, all South African Airways flights in Johannesburg depart from the new, state-of-the-art Terminal B, providing for smooth and timely flight connections through a beautiful and modern terminal packed with many shopping, dining and relaxation options. A new lounge will provide Premium Business Class passengers with a luxurious haven in which to catch up on work, grab a bite to eat, or freshen up with revitalizing rainfall showers. Upon arrival in New York customers will transfer to JetBlue’s new state-of-the-art Terminal 5 at JFK with its wide array of shopping and dining options as well as free Wi-Fi throughout the terminal and enjoy a seamless connection into the JetBlue network.

Domestic service in the U.S. will be operated by JetBlue’s fleet of Airbus A320 and EMBRAER E190 aircraft. Both aircraft feature comfy leather seats equipped with personal seatback TVs that offer JetBlue’s signature in-flight entertainment: 36 channels of free, live DIRECTV programming and more than 100 channels of free XM Satellite radio. On flights longer than two hours, a selection of first-run movies and bonus features from JetBlue Features is also available.

About South African Airways

South African Airways features daily nonstop service from the U.S. to South Africa with morning departures from New York JFK, and afternoon direct service from Washington Dulles (with a stop in Dakar, Senegal) that offer travel convenience and award-winning service with state-of-the-art Airbus A340 aircraft. Travelers in Premium Business Class enjoy 180° fully flat-bed seats, and in economy class enjoy the most legroom versus competitors......SAA’s unrivaled network, featuring seamless connections to nearly 20 destinations within South Africa, and more than 25 cities across the rest of the continent, makes the airline the savvy traveler’s “gateway to Africa.” .....For more information on South African Airways, please call (800) 722-9675 or visit www.flysaa.com, where travelers can sign up to be notified of great travel deals and vacation packages.

About JetBlue Airways

Voted "Most Eco-Friendly Airline" by Zagat's Airline Survey in 2008 and 2009, New York-based JetBlue Airways has created a new airline category based on value, service and style. In 2009, the carrier also ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Low-Cost Carriers in North America" by J.D. Power and Associates, a customer satisfaction recognition received for the fifth year in a row....For information or reservations call 1-800-JET-BLUE (1-800-538-2583), TTY/TDD 1-800-336-5530 or visit www.jetblue.com.

Newsflash: 2010 Okavango Floods, Botswana

2010-05-06T09:00:00.007-04:00

Twenty villages in Botswana have been evacuated after the Okavango River burst its banks. Officials in Botswana have called for a joint intervention to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases and more than 200 families have been moved to higher ground.

The Okavango Delta receives it's water from rains which falls months earlier mostly in the highlands of Angola. Part of the beauty of this ecosystem is that the waters finally arrive in the delta as the dry season begins, thereby supporting an amazing array of fauna and flora.

This year's flood waters have been particularly high. When we were in the Okavango Delta two weeks ago the water levels were already above the peak of 2009, and that's with a month or two to go before the expected peak. As you can see in the chart below, on April 20th the flow of water at the entrance to the Delta was almost at the rate of the very high 1984 levels. All that water is still pushing out into the Delta.

click to enlarge...
cubic meters per second on the Okavango River just as it enters Botswana. Source: eyesonafrica.com

Some safari camps in the Delta are going to face challenges with transportation of guests and supplies. In fact some may close this year. Many bush roads we traveled on already had water coming up to the the Land Rover doors. That's not unusual and it was all part of the fun but at a certain point it will become a logistical nightmare. All the more incentive to enjoy the wonderful water-based safaris by motor boat and makoro.

Swimming with Dolphins at Natures Valley

2010-04-29T17:08:00.005-04:00

In February I posted about whether or not Dolphins sometimes surf for the pure joy of it. I believe they do and I related an experience of surfing with dolphins at Natures Valley, South Africa years ago (see link below). After many years I was fortunate to experience this again just 10 days ago.

On April 18th I was standing on the rocky point of Blue Rocks looking back at the beach when I noticed about 25 dolphins between the point and the rocks closer to the shore. Unlike the day before, they were in no hurry. They seemed to be relaxing there surfing and jumping the occasional wave. Perhaps they were fishing but they seemed not to be too "busy".

Blue Rocks is not a place I normally swim at. It's not safe. However, after observing for some time I noticed that there were no major currents this day. The tide was also very low. In fact I began to suspect the dolphins were relaxing there because it was a calm spot to do so that day.
After walking around the rocks, wading to waist depth, and further current/wave observation, I swam tentatively out to join them. My heart was racing. When I was about 10m away one of the larger dolphins came to meet me. I had forgotten how huge they are up close. In fact I briefly wondered if I'd be seen as a threat this time. I couldn't blame them for that. Perhaps they'd had a bad experience with a fishing trawler. Perhaps they had young to protect. But he or she just circled me inquisitively, almost within reach, and then returned to the pod.

A moment later 3 of them did the same. It was as if they were coming to greet me so I swam a little closer. The pod was clearly not bothered by me. I spent about 10 ecstatic minutes swimming in the waves amongst them. They continued to surf around me as though they were including me (in my head I was included, but who knows..) but they never came close enough to touch. I could've stayed all day but I didn't want to be caught by a surprise current close to the rocks. I retreated to the beach with all my senses on overload. I couldn't have been happier.

I'm sure dolphins have the capacity to have fun. They certainly have the capacity to provide us inconsiderate humans with an excess of it. What an undeserved privilege I had that day.
For my previous dolphin post click here:
http://roarafrica.blogspot.com/2010/02/dolphins-surfing-for-fun-off-coast-of.html
Note: Natures Valley beach is generally not considered a safe swimming beach. Pay very careful attention to waves and currents before entering and do not swim alone.

shutterstock photo safari competition

2010-04-29T16:05:00.005-04:00

Living in the USA? Got a great travel photo? Submit it to the shutterstock photo safari competition and win a 6-night African Photo Safari Adventure put together by ROAR AFRICA.

Deadline: May 12th, 2010

1) Submit your best travel-related photo.

2) Tell your friends to vote for your entry.

3) Win if your photo is chosen from the finalists.

One winner will enjoy a safari for 2 in South Africa, including 3 nights on safari at the Lions Sands River Lodge and 3 nights exploring Cape Town courtesy of ROAR AFRICA.

Click here to enter: shutterstock

Or just browse and vote for some of the amazing photographs already entered.Prize Eligibility:

Only persons residing in United States who are at least 18 years of age can enter.

Contest Ends:

May 12, 2010 @ 11:59 pm (PDT)

Baby Rhino at Karkloof Spa

2010-04-29T15:28:00.008-04:00

Karkloof Spa in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) boasts a luxury boutique lodge with 16 individually decorated villas, an expansive world-class Spa and 3500 hectares of bountiful terrain AND...........a four week old baby rhino!

Let's face it - this little guy tops the list of current attractions. You really can't get much cuter that a baby rhino. OK, baby hippos and elephants compete strongly, but this guy is very cute.

He's actually already 6 weeks old. He was four weeks old when I took this photo on a visit to Karkloof. Apologies- it's a cell phone picture. Note that his mother's horn has broken off while fending off the father of this little rhino. Apparently an unsuccessful defence against his advances.

Karkloof Spa remains one of our favourite properties. It's a real gem in a beautiful setting just outside Pietermaritzburg and it has a long list of accolades to prove it.

Visit their website here.

p.s. The food is absolutely exceptional!

Hyenas laugh's and giggles decoded

2010-03-30T09:53:00.002-04:00

It's one of the most distinctive sounds on safari- Hyenas laughing and cackling in the night. It reminds me of sitting around a camp fire or waking up in the night in my tent. In fact as I type I am reminded of my brother waking my parents up in Botswana many years ago:

"Dad, there's a hyena in the tent".

"No Kenneth, it's Grandad snoring".

(and Grandad wasn't even in the same tent as us.)

It seems the giggling sounds of hyenas are being decoded and contain important information about the animal's status.

US-based research by Professor Frederic Theunissen from the University of California at Berkeley, US, and Professor Nicolas Mathevon from the Universite Jean Monnet in St Etienne, France, has been published in the journal BMC Ecology.

Pitch of the giggle reveals a hyena's age
Variations in the frequency of notes convey information about the animal's social rank.

This may allow them to establish feeding rights which is probably why you hear it alot while they are scapping over food.

There's more about this on the BBC website here.

Whatever it all means it's one of my favourite bush sounds. There are probably only three other sounds that make me feel more nostalgic: hippos grunting, the emerald spotted wood dove call, and the cry of a fish eagle.

Leopard's Leap - Amazing Leopard Kill, Botswana

2010-03-29T16:21:00.006-04:00

Amiee and Craig Pollack captured this amazing footage in Botswana. A leopard nonchalantly climbs a tree. It's hard to distinguish a plan emerging, but it clearly has something on it's mind. After surveying the branches above it from a fork, there's a moment's hesitation. It looks like it might jump but it changes it's mind opting for more height. Then it's all action....

It's a brazen approach. I find it incredible that it seems so unhurried. We realize after the fact that it had spotted it's prey in the other tree already and was using a very creative outflanking maneuvre. If it had attacked from below the animal would've just retreated to the treetops out of reach. Or run circles around the truck, hiding behind it. As for accurately crashing through another tree, making the kill, and landing safely on the ground.....priceless.

The prey:

I'm not sure what the unfortunate kill was. Possibly a Tree/Bush Squirrel; Paraxerus cepapi. It is known as the mopane squirrel becuase it is common in mopane woodlands. Interestingly they retreat up trees specifically for safety and position the trunk between themselves and the hunter. It seems they need a new tactic to avoid being a quick snack for leopards.

ROAR AFRICA / SAVE THE ELEPHANTS

2010-03-28T19:29:00.004-04:00

After numerous clients of ROAR AFRICA have shown great interest in elephants, having heard about their plight and or after inter-reacting with elephants, we have decided to spread the word on collaring elephants by Save the Elephant Organization.
Heated debates based on fact, assumptions and emotion take place around the world concerning elephants, their numbers and the sale of ivory. Facts based on sound scientific results become essential.
Save the Elephants (www.savetheelephants.org) operates in four countries in Africa. Greater Kruger National Park is the principle area in Southern Africa. Save the Elephants is based in the Timbervati area near the town of Hoedspruit.
One is able to follow what is being done by going onto the webpage. But better still is to become involved by sponsoring or joint sponsoring the collaring of an elephant with your name on it. Through Google Earth your can follow your elephant hour by hour while the device records humidity and temperature on the elephant’s neck.
Below are the collar sponsoring details and options.

Please note that in the table below you have ten types of sponsoring options to choose from.
Most satellite collars are deployed at our Northern or Eastern Study sites in the Kruger National Park as these elephants could potentially move into Zimbabwe or Mozambique where cell phone reception would be a problem.
Elephants collared in the Associated Private Nature Reserved (APNR), which represents our Western Study Site are fitted with GPS/GMS collars (cell phone collars)
If you sponsor collars you get to name the elephant
All sponsors of GPS/GMS collars as well as collar deployment costs receive a Google Earth link where they can follow their collared elephant as it moves across the landscape
Sponsors of deployment costs only, can attend a collaring operation free of charge but will have to cover their own travel and accommodation costs if need be.
Your contribution will be acknowledged on our website
Your name will be added to our Elephant Newsletter distribution list
Orders for collars need to be made at least one month in advance
We prefer collaring elephants during our cooler months as the heat risk for the elephants are diminished over this time
We prefer to collar more than one animal on one day so we often like to synchronise collaring operations
Please remember that you can only sponsor a refurbished collar if we plan on removing an existing collar from a particular animal
Please note that helicopter costs depend on the hours spent locating the animal and represent estimates only
All prices are subject to change

click table image to enlarge

For further details contact Geoff:
Email: geoff@roarafrica.com
Tel: +27 72 3479904 or +27 33 2510673
or on www.roarafrica.com

Africa's Lost Eden (Gorongosa, Mozambique)

2010-03-07T18:27:00.003-05:00

Gorongosa is back in the headlines. This time it's coming to you in HD with the release on March 24th of the National Geographic documentary "Africa's Lost Eden".

Gorongosa was known as “the place where Noah left his Ark:” 4,000 square kilometers of wilderness covering floodplains, mountains and forests in central
Mozambique. It was packed with wild animals but 15 years of civil war took a heavy toll. Now conservationists are restoring the magnificent park and this has been captured on film. The world premier of "Africa's Lost Eden" will be in Washington DC on March 24th followed by a discussion moderated by Chris Matthews.

Film Trailer:

Bob Poole who shot the film over the past two years explains that it was challenging filming in the thick bush of Gorongosa. However, they captured amazing footage using a Phantom HD camera that shoots up to 1500 frames a second. You'll see fantastic super slow motion of eagles plucking fish out of the water and fighting mid air battles, waterfalls, elephants, and crocodiles hatching.

For the aerial shots they used a helicopter fitted with a Cineflex camera - the granddaddy of aerial cinematography with its long lens and a gyroscope stabilizer.

Here's a link to a short film on the making of "Africa's Lost Eden".
The making of Africa's Lost Eden

If you're interested in visiting Gorongosa, have a look at the Explore Gorongosa Tented Camp on our website or give us a call.

You might also be interested in the other posts on this BLOG including the 60 minutes documentary: click here

It's great to see the beautiful country of Mozambique getting the publicity it deserves.

Dolphins surfing for fun off the coast of South Africa

2010-02-18T19:28:00.004-05:00

This morning a friend Murray alerted me to a wonderful sequence of dolphin photographs by Greg Huglin. Have a look at them on the Daily Telegraph here.

The caption on one of the photographs (reproduced below) states:
'He [Greg Huglin] said: "I believe they do it for fun but it may also have something to do with mating and chasing potential partners. It might also be something to do with hiding from predators - the wave sounds help mask their location'

This reminded me of an experience I had surfing with dolphins from which I have deduced categorically that Greg is correct - they often really do surf for the pure joy of it. OK, I don't have a PhD in animal behavior or any scientific evidence to back this up, but I do have some personal experience to share.

One day I was surfing with a friend at my favorite place, Natures Valley. We were floating beyond the breakers when a pod of dolphins cruising down the coast paused (that is as much as dolphins ever 'pause') to investigate us or, it seemed, to say hello. After a minute the pod moved off except for three who hung back swimming around us and playing in the waves. They'd surf a wave and then return to us as if to encourage us to do something. We did our pathetic best to comply.

We had the most incredible time surfing with them, sometimes riding next to them on the same waves -a mind-blowing experience. Then they'd race back out jumping through the waves and wait for us ungainly terrestrial creatures to labor through the surf before riding the next wave together.

For the next two days we were granted this rare privilege. At about the same time of day each day a pod would come past and three dolphins - we presume the same ones- would stay back to surf. After a few good waves they would dart off to rejoin their more graceful friends.

I'm sure dolphins sometimes surf to catch a fish or impress a mate, but I have no doubt that this was all about fun. It would be hard to have any more fun than surfing with dolphins. maybe that's why they always look like they are smiling.

Natures Valley is on the Garden Route in South Africa. The Garden Route is a beautiful section of the southeastern coastline which starts a few hours east of Cape Town.

Introducing The Zambezi Queen

2010-02-10T18:51:00.006-05:00

I grew up in Zimbabwe where we spent many wonderful weekends and vacations on a house boat on Lake Kariba, the largest man-made lake and reservoir in the world. We'd watch the wildlife, fish for the ferocious Tigerfish, and even water-ski despite the crocodiles. You'll never catch me water-skiing there again, but you will catch me further upriver aboard a much improved "houseboat", the Zambezi Queen.The Zambezi Queen sails the Chobe River, a tributary of the mighty Zambezi River that feeds Lake Kariba. It is a new 150-foot-long river boat described by its owner, Tony Stern, as a “five-star floating boutique hotel”. It truly is. It makes our old houseboat seem like a dugout.
The Zambezi Queen is eco-friendly, with solar-heated water, jet propulsion (instead of propellers) and limited air-conditioning. A breeze cools you as you cruise past some of the most spectacular scenery and wildlife in Africa. Welcome to the Chobe National Park in Botswana with it is teeming wildlife including approximately 120 000 elephants and over 400 species of birds.
All 14 suites with floor-to-ceiling windows have private balconies, modern colonial-style décor and plenty of mosquito netting. The ship also has a bar, reading room, plunge pool, and top-class service.The boat is also only 70km by road from one of the 7 great wonders of the world, the Victoria Falls, and just 3km from Kasane International Airport.
Activities include land-based game viewing, and tiger fishing. Water-skiing is not offered.
See you there!

Cute Hyena cub?

2010-02-02T11:56:00.006-05:00

I can remember coming across a baby spotted hyena (hyena cub) in Kruger Park when I was a kid and thinking with some surprise that the little guy looked quite cute. I was reminded of this today when I saw a few photographs on BBC's news site (click here). Let's face it - cute and hyena are two words not often used in the same sentence. But there the little fellow was. Just like in this picture below - cute in a slightly bear cub-way. Mom (or Dad?).... not so cute!

From BBC "Family matters to hyenas"
"Little fellow" might not be accurate. It is difficult to tell the difference between male and female hyenas. Their reproductive organs look similar externally and the majority of hyena species show little sexual dimorphism, with males being only slightly larger than the females. The Spotted Hyena is an exception to this, with females larger than males. Spotted hyenas are born dark and develop a new spotted coat. Younger hyenas have more spots.
As the BBC pictures reflect, these animals long maligned as nasty scavengers, turn out to be protective parents and accomplished hunters. Spotted Hyena societies are more complex than those of other carnivorous mammals and have been reported to be remarkably similar to those of cercopithecine primates (Old World monkeys incld. baboons) in respect to group size, structure, competition, and cooperation.
Hyenas are one of my favorites to see on safari and as importantly, to hear. There's something special about sitting around the fire at night and hearing them whooping and cackling.
Cute as I think the pups are, apparently looks can be deceiving. These pups are very aggressive and often kill their siblings.

Congratulations to the Summit on the Summit Team!

2010-01-19T17:59:00.005-05:00

The Summit on the Summit expedition is the brainchild of singer and producer Kenna. His father suffered from waterborne diseases as a child in Ethiopia. A group of celebrities signed on to climb the continent's highest peak — Mt. Kilimanjaro — to raise awareness about the need for clean water worldwide. The team all summitted the 19,340 foot mountain last week after six days of climbing.

ROAR AFRICA is proud of our clients on the trip who are now enjoying some well-deserved relaxation at a beautiful lodge in Tanzania. Prior to climbing, Jessica Biel said she was astonished to learn that more than a billion people across the globe have no access to clean water.

"This is a basic human necessity that needs to be addressed now," Biel said in a statement, adding that she's proud to climb Kilimanjaro with the celebrity team "to help any way I can in order to raise awareness toward the life-threatening clean water crisis happening not only in Africa but around the world."

Donate to the cause directly through the United Nations Foundation.
1 cent = 1 litre of clean, safe drinking water. 5,910,300 liters donated at the time of writing.

Ellies Kick Off for FIFA World Cup 2010

2010-01-11T14:16:00.007-05:00

Everyone in South Africa has caught World Cup fever. In the clip below you'll see some of the elephants (affectionately known as "Ellies") at Camp Jabulani getting their dribbling skills in order. One ellie uses it's trunk at one point. I wonder if that's disqualified as a "hand-ball" or if this is the goalie?

Elephants playing soccer/football
Footage Courtesy of Univision 34

Camp Jabulani, located in South Africa, are known for their luxury safaris on elephant back under the moonlight. The camp was named after an abandoned baby elephant, which was saved by Lente Roode. The camp's main purpose is to help feed and house these rescued elephants while providing guests a once in a lifetime safari experience. A majority of the income is spent on maintaining the elephants and to support the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center, which has became a leader in breeding and rescueing endangered animals.
Camp Jabulani features often on our blog. Click here for more.

InStyle Weddings: Unforgettable Honeymoons

2009-12-30T11:45:00.006-05:00

Click on the image below to read the article from the Winter 2010 special issue of InStyle Weddings.InStyle Weddings

TravelScope documentary, Part II

2009-12-10T22:22:00.009-05:00

Travel Scope Travels with ROAR AFRICA to Mozambique:

This is Part II of the trip we hosted the TravelScope documentary team on. (Read Part I here.)

We left Kruger National Park, in particular Camp Jabulani and Lion Sands Private Reserve and escorted Joseph and Julie Rosendo of Travel Scope to a very different eco system – namely the Bazaruto Archipelago off the east coast of Mozambique.

The archipelago is made up of five islands –

Magaruque Island which unfortunately was not visited.
Paradise Island (Santa Carolina) which is now a deserted military base. Not that long ago it was considered to be a gem of a holiday resort, now unfortunately the buildings are deserted. The snorkeling off the coral reefs is still outstanding.. (Read our more detailed post on Santa Carolina here.)

Bazaruto Island which is the largest boasts Indigo Bay, a resort of 100 beds. The highlight of our stay at Indigo Bay was being able to ride a horse up the 300 ft dunes – not for the faint hearted! This heart stopping feat was followed by swimming with the horses in the ocean. If this is not for you relaxing on extensive white beaches, fishing and snorkeling are also available. To finish a perfect day we recommend a sunset cruise in an original hand made Dhow.
Benguera Island is situated just south of Bazaruto and we were fortunate to stay at the ultra luxury Azura Lodge which is made up of 30 chalets – each leading directly onto the beach. As expected each chalet has all the quality amenities plus each boasts its own infinity pool. Between the pool and the waves is a relaxing palm frond thatched boma where it is heaven to relax on the reclining sofa.
Pansy Island is a tidal island so access is limited to low tide. Pansy Island offers the best snorkeling - guides lead swimmers on specific routes so that no damage is done to the coral reefs. We do not guarantee sightings but you have the chance of seeing turtles dolphins and dugongs. A Dugong is a large marine mammal which, together with the manatees, is one of four living species of the order Sirenia.

Bazaruto and Benguera Islands have populations of less than 2000 each. They have managed to retain their various indigenous languages, but the Portuguese way of life has been imprinted on them. They speak mostly Portuguese, cook and eat Portuguese style of food and follow Roman Catholicism. Schools and odd small ‘tuck shops’ exist on each island but lively hood is gained from employment at the tourist resorts or by fishing. The main shopping area is situated on the main land at the small town of Vilancoulos - about 45 min away by boat.

Apart form the day to day battle just to survive and feed their family the islanders have a word ‘kutakalia’ which means ‘lay back and relax’. This is there watch word for day to day living and this is how they exist successfully on these little isolated islands.

Anyone one wishing for a relaxing topical beach holiday far away from the madding crowds Mozambique is the definitely the place to go.

Invictus: The Movie and what it means to South Africans

2009-12-07T11:17:00.006-05:00

Clint Eastwood's latest movie, Invictus, about South Africa's World Cup rugby win in 1995 opens nationwide in the USA this Friday, December 11th. I have not seen a screening but I am already prepared to say that you must see it, especially if you have any plans to visit South Africa. It is about so much more than rugby-this was the tournament that changed our nation. Francois Pienaar, who is played by Matt Damon in the movie and who was the captain of the South African team said "Hollywood could not write a better story." So they just had to tell this one.

Every South African old enough to remember knows where they were on June 24th, 1995. I happened to be in Austin, Texas in body, but we were all in Ellis Park stadium in spirit, watching and feeling our nation defy the odds and come together miraculously as "One Team, One Country". In short, rugby was a sport that symbolized the old South Africa. It was played predominantly by whites, especially Afrikaners, who were extremely proud of their sport and after years of international isolation were desperate to prove themselves to the world.

Understandably, many black South African's wanted nothing to do with it. In fact many were hostile to the game, the players ("The Boks"), the emblem (the Springbok), and even to the green and gold uniform itself. Nelson Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman in the movie, was the visionary who realized that rugby could unite the nation. He and the captain Francois Pienaar then lead the team and the country to victory and to a united new South Africa. On that day Mandela, affectionately known as Madiba, was wearing that number six green and gold jersey of the captain, Francois Pienaar.

Now a new generation of South Africans can be reminded of the spirit their nation was built in. Despite not yet seeing the movie I am prepared to stick my neck out and say this should be required viewing for all South Africans. I got goose bumps reading excerpts from 'Playing the Enemy' last night. No, I am shrouding my emotions here like a good South African male - I have goosebumps right now, but last night my eyes were welling-up. Tough, grown men of all ages, colors and creeds were crying tears of joy, relief and hope in Ellis Park stadium on June 24th, 1995. That is still with us 14 years later and we will feel it again this Friday.

Watch the Invictus trailer here:

A few interesting tidbits about the movie and background:

The screenwriter is Anthony Peckham who grew up in Durban, South Africa.
Morgan Freeman who had wanted to do film about Mandela for a decade, found the right project when he heard about a book being written: 'Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation' by John Carlin an ex South African.
The name Invictus (Latin-invincible) is from a poem by William Ernest Henley that inspired Nelson Mandela during his years in prison. Read it below.
Matt Damon trained intensely to get in shape for the role but couldn't grow into a 6ft 3inches and 235 pound Pienaar. He first met Francois Pienaar for dinner at Francois' house. Amusingly, when Francois answered the door Matt said, "I'm much bigger in movies."
Matt Damon knew the basics of the game from friends of his who played at Harvard University.
In true Clint Eastwood style he kept the movie as close to the original facts and event as possible.
Action sequences include about 30minutes of game action and used mostly real rugby players from South Africa, New Zealand and Togo instead of actors.
Movie viewers will learn the basics of the game through scenes at rugby coaching clinics.
For most of his life Mandela rose at 4.30 am, made his bed and went for an hours' run. While in prison he simply jogged on the spot in his cell. Peckam says that on the day of the final he skipped his exercise routine and made more time to read the national papers.
On June 24th, 1995 the headline of the Argus newspaper read "Viva the Boks!". Viva was a war cry of black protest that was now being used to rally behind the Springbok rugby team. Before the game had even started the country was on a new road.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

TravelScope documentary with ROAR AFRICA

2009-12-06T18:10:00.009-05:00

In October ROAR AFRICA hosted the well known Travel Scope show hosts, Joseph and Julie Rosendo, on a trip to southern Africa to film a new TV documentary. Sustainable conservation was the theme of our visit starting at Camp Jabulani in the greater Kruger National Park and ending on the Indian ocean island of Bazaruto.

Joseph on safari

We rose early to catch the sunrise over Africa before a game drive. After breakfast we took a walk with and interacted with sixteen wild (but rescued and trained) elephants. Read more about Camp Jabulani in my September post. Filming and touching five ton bull elephants out in the bush is a privilege of a life time. The focus here and at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre was wildlife conservation, but the important complement to this was what followed our animal adventure each day: visits to local Shangaan villages and schools to understand more about the native culture and discover how they coexist with and benefit from tourism.

Filming the documentary at Camp Jabulani

It is a challenge to educate all humans as to the value of wild life. It is the wild life that brings tourists so as to create employment and wealth. The goals are to conserve the ecology for mutual long term benefit of man, animals, birds, plants – each caring for the other – that is sustainable conservation. To do this effectively the private lodges and reserves we partner with are involved in community projects, for example, building schools. Lion Sands who hosted us in 6 star luxury, has helped build the Henna Pre-school. more about this and other projects on our website in the ROAR AFRICA Cares section- click here. Standards of living of staff working in hospitality are improving along with the education and futures of their children.

Field audio engineer David Stevens finds a ready assistant in the village.

From Lion Sands Private Reserve in South Africa we headed northeast to the Bazaruto archipelago in Mozambique. Here we were hosted by Indigo Bay Island Resort and Sp a and Azura Resort. This is a true island paradise of sparkling turquoise waters and beautiful beaches. Most guests relax more than they ever thought possible here, but for us it was early starts and late finishes as we captured paradise on film. Horseriding, diving, sailing dhouws and sand-boarding down 300 foot high dunes amongst other activities . We'll have to go back for Kuta Katila which on Bazaruto means "roll your reed mat out on the sand, lay back and relax.”

More about the Mozambique portion of the trip in the next installment.

Stay tuned for the 2010 release of this series on television.

Joseph on a traditional dhouw in Mozambique.

More about the trip on the Travel Scope site here:

Explore Cape Town online in High Definition

2009-12-06T16:21:00.007-05:00

In September we linked to Virtual Africa's "highest definition picture of Cape Town ever" in our blog, here. Well, they've done it again. This time from a different angle - a rooftop in the city looking up towards Table Mountain. The best part about the new picture is the viewer. You will not believe it. Go to full screen view and then start zooming.

Below you'll see a screenshots. The picture is already zoomed into a section of the photo. I created the inset from a zoom into some people 3,000 feet up on the top of Table Mountain.

The image was created by stitching 1850,fully zoomed (x 20 optical zoom), 10 MegaPixel images together over a 3 hour period. It's 205,000 pixels wide which would be a printout of about 90 m x 15 m!

Here is a canon on the ramparts of the Cape Town Castle:

Zoom away at Virtual Africa here....

Anatolian Sheep Dog & Cheetah Conservation

2009-11-26T17:39:00.003-05:00

Cheetah and many other smaller predators are held responsible for farmers’ livestock deaths. Some are to blame but this has resulted in many cheetah being shot at or killed unnecessarily. There is a win-win solution in the form of the Anatolian Sheep Dog.
Anatolian Shepherd dogs are used by Dr Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund and others in the ongoing efforts to prevent cheetahs which have attacked livestock being killed by farmers. These dogs are bred and then given to the farmers to use in protecting and guarding their livestock from cheetah attacks.
The Anatolian sheep dog is spread worldwide, originating in Turkey, and protecting livestock from wolves and other predators for 6,000 years. They have been used in southern Africa for the past fifteen years. These large white dogs (80 Kgs/200 Lbs) live with flocks of sheep, goats or herds of cattle. Unfortunately they have a relatively short life span of less than ten years and are subject to hip dysplasia. They are bred at various breeding centers in South Africa and puppies are placed with farmers in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. One dog is placed per flock and spends its entire life with the sheep or goats believing that it is one of them but protecting them and driving off predators.
To date, over 275 Kangal Anatolian Shepherd have been born and placed on Namibian farmlands by the Cheetah Conservation Fund/CCF. The system is working well with farmers’ reporting large declines in livestock losses and no longer resorting to shooting or poisoning the wild life.
It's ironic that man's best friend is now inadvertently a big cat's best friend!

Just spotted: Warthog piglets relaxing with Mum

2009-11-23T08:40:00.005-05:00

I have just snapped this cute moment on my cellphone camera: two baby Warthogs relaxing with their mother as she takes a nap. That's a pretty relaxed Mum... but then so would you be here at the beautiful Karkloof Spa in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa - Tatler Magazine's "Most exciting discovery for 2009".

I wish I'd had high res camera to capture it. There are lots of Warthogs roaming the grounds of the Spa and not many predators for them to worry about.

Endangered Species in Southern Africa: Table Mountain Ghost Frog

2009-11-22T22:21:00.004-05:00

With the long overdue but significant attention to the rapid decline of the world's frogs, it's about time we mentioned the critically endangered Table Mountain ghost frog. Also known as Roses's Ghost Frog, Heleophryne rosei is ONLY found on Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. That's just one mountain in the middle of the city where it lives in about 7-8 km2, in streams and moist, forested gorges.

"This species is adapted to life in fast-flowing mountain streams. Their tadpoles possess sucker-like mouthparts, which they can use to climb up wet, vertical rock surfaces around their streams at night. Adults have been found to stray from streams and have frequently been seen in caves. Numerous threats to this species include the spread of non-native vegetation, frequent fires, heavy ecotourism, and the construction of water storage reservoirs. The virulent fungal disease chytridiomycosis has been found in this species recently and populations are declining fast."

...

"The Table Mountain ghost frog therefore has very few close relatives and is one of the only surviving members of the earliest lineage that gave rise to the modern frogs and toads. The closest ancestors of this species were the first modern frogs."

....

www.edgeofexistence.org

Isn't it sad and ironic that "heavy ecotourism" is listed as a threat. For more on endangered species go to EDGE - Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered. For more on endangered frogs in South Africa see Sally Wren's post on the work Werner Conrad is doing.

Collective nouns for safari

2009-11-22T10:27:00.002-05:00

It seems like "bunch" is becoming the collective noun for everything these days. Bunch of people, bunch of bananas, bunch of stuff. How sad when the English language is filled with so many interesting collective nouns. I think that some of the most descriptive and entertaining collective nouns are for animals which you'll meet on safari in southern Africa. Here are a whole bunch of them to whet your appetite:

Baboons – Troop or Congress
Bats – Cloud
Buffaloes – Obstinacy
Cheetahs – Coalition
Crocodiles – Bask
Elephants – Herd, Parade or Memory
Giraffes – Journey
Hippos – Raft or Pod
Hyenas – Clan or Cackle
Leopards – Leap
Lions – Pride
Lizards - Lounge
Monkeys – Shrewdness or troop
Mongoose - Business
Owls – Parliament
Porcupines – Prickle
Rhinos - Crash

Weasels - Sneak
Wildebeest - Implausibility
Zebras – Dazzle or Herd
For many of the animals there are numerous options. I particularly love a dazzle of Zebra, a crash of Rhino and an obstinacy of Buffalo. Choose your favorite or better yet, make one up for fun and post it as a comment below.

Great White Pelicans gobbling Gannets

2009-11-22T09:25:00.006-05:00

Listed in David Attenborough's world's most amazing animals is the Great White Pelican,Pelecanus onocrotalus, which biologist Marta de Ponte Machado has revealed has adapted it's behaviour to gobbling live Gannet chicks in South Africa.

Dwindling fish stocks off the coast of South Africa have forced pelican to look elsewhere for their food. Many have turned to eating offal found at farms in the Cape Town, while others have taken to eating other seabirds. The pelican's huge bill means it is able to swallow the chicks of gannets, tern, cormorants and even African penguins. The behavior has been filmed for the BBC Life series Life found here. (Those outside the U.K. can view a video clip on BBC here):

Quote:

"On the island of Malgas in South Africa, the pelicans attack any gannet chick that is left undefended by its parents and is small enough to swallow. As a result, entire gannet colonies are in danger of being destroyed. The predatory behaviour is captured for the BBC natural history series Life.

Cape gannets and pelicans are members of the same bird family. Cape gannets (Morus capensis) have a wingpsan of up to 1.8m when fully grown and can live for up to 25 years. The species breeds in just six places, of which one is Malgas island in South Africa. Due to people overfishing sardine and anchovies off the coast of Southern Africa, the population of gannets has dwindled.

...Once the pelicans cooperated to hunt freshwater fish, but a decline in fish stocks and habitat destruction is altering their food preferences. Each day, hoards of the pelicans fly across to Malgas and wander through the gannet colony."

Where to spot them

Birdwatching tours can be booked from Cape Town including trips to Dassen Island, where all the birds mentioned above can be seen.

Trans-frontier Parks / Peace Parks in Southern Africa

2009-11-11T23:29:00.009-05:00

Man and animals have always been competing for space and now more so than ever. Animals are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas with dire consequences if they should enter mans’ space. A less obvious result of this is that animals' natural migratory paths have been distrupted which has forced "unnatural" human intervention in managing animal populations and habitats.

An initiative that can help reverse this is the creation of transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) or "Peace Parks" - cross border jointly managed natural resources. The removal of boundaries opens larger tracts of commonly managed land allowing a more natural flow of animals in a larger area.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement of 1999 defines a TFCA as "the area or component of a large ecological region that straddles the boundaries of two or more countries, encompassing one or more protected areas as well as multiple resource use areas". The good news is that SADC political leaders have recognised the importance of TFCAs and have dedicated effort to make them a reality. Just two days ago, at a ministerial meeting that took place on the banks of the Zambezi River in Katima Mulilo, five SADC ministers with the portfolios of environment and tourism in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe expressed satisfaction with the progress made on the proposed trans-frontier tourism park.

There are 7 Southern Africa Peace Park initiatives at various stages of proposal or development but as many as 15 parks proposed by the Peace Park Foundation. Have a look at this map from the foundation for a bigger picture: (click to enlarge)

Here are some of the initiatives with the greatest traction:

|Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier National Park: A vast mountain desert that is the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld National Park, an area managed jointly by the local Nama people and the South African National Parks. straddles the borders of South Africa and Namibia. It consists of the 1 625 square kilometre Richtersveld National Park (a World Heritage Site) in South Africa and the 4 420 square kilometres /Ai–/Ais National Park in Namibia.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park: An amalgamation of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa (proclaimed in 1931)and the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park comprises an area of over 3,6 million hectares – one of very few conservation areas of this magnitude left in the world.

Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park: The most well known initiative links Kruger National Park in South Africa, the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Pan Sanctuary and Malipati Safari Area in Zimbabwe, as well as two areas between Kruger and Gonarezhou – the Sengwe communal land in Zimbabwe and the Makuleke region in South Africa. The park presently covers 35 000 square kilometres but will eventually expand to a staggering 100 000 square kilometres. Ultimately is may run to the coast- to bazaruto Archipelago in Mozambique.

Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area: The Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area straddles the borders of Swaziland, southern Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal and consists of five distinct transfrontier conservation areas (including the current Tembi Park) that are woven together by the Lubombo Mountains, a long and narrow mountain range threading across these three countries.

Maloti – Drakensburg: The Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Consefvation Area straddles the borders of South Africa and Lesotho and includes the Maloti and Drakensberg Mountain ranges.

Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area: The Limpopo-Shashe park straddles the international borders of Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe and is situated at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers.

Kavango – Zambezi: The Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area is situated in the Okavango and Zambezi River basins where the borders of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe converge. It spans an area of approximately 287 132 square kilometres and will include 36 national parks, game reserves, community conservancies and game management areas. KAZA was initiated on the 7th December 2006 by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the 5 countries.

Sustainable conservation is the core of the dream that man and animals can live together and that tourist dollars would assist in the upliftment of local rural communities. Unfortunately Zimbabwe’s politics and instability are a cause for concern and delay. Problems currently being addressed are border crossings, expensive visa and high vehicle taxes imposed on non Southern African residents. The dream, however, is underway with a far bigger dream to follow - imagine a trans-frontier park spanning right across Africa incorporating the above trans-frontier parks and untimately inking with the Etosha pan and the skeleton coast of Namibia - a wildlife dream that could one day materialize.

"In a world beset by conflicts and division, peace is one of the cornerstones of the future. Peace parks are a building block in this process, not only in our region, but potentially in the entire world.”Nelson Mandela

Resources:
Peace Parks Foundation:Peace Parks Foundation is a non-profit organisation that facilitates the establishment of transfrontier conservation areas (peace parks)* and develops human resources, thereby supporting sustainable economic development, the conservation of biodiversity and regional peace and stability.

Boundless Southern Africa : Launched at the 2008 Tourism Indaba in Durban, Boundless Southern Africa is the marketing brand chosen by nine Southern African countries to represent some of the best tourism products the region has to offer: the Transfrontier Conservation Areas

(TFCAs).

SANParks: Southern African national Parks

What is a King Cheetah?

2009-11-07T17:40:00.004-05:00

There are seven sub-species of Cheetah. Two are found in Asia (less than 200 animals) and the other five species are found in Africa - one group in Algeria, a second group spread between Nigeria to Somalia, a third group in the Ngorogoro Crater area, a fourth group on the plains of Kenya and Tanzania. These four groups total less than 3000 animals. The fifth African group belongs to Southern Africa where it is estimated that there are less than 500 animals.

The King Cheetah is the same species as the Southern African Acinonyx Jabatus Jubatus but has different colour markings. Instead of black sports on a yellow/gold coat the King Cheetah have short solid black stripes about the size of three or four spots blending together.

King Cheetah are as the result of a double recessive gene. Most Cheetah do not carry the Tabby gene as the King factor is called. Only when a male Tabby gene carrier and a female Tabby gene carrier breed may they produce one King Cheetah out of four cubs. Hence the King Cheetah is extremely rare and there maybe less than forty animals of which about 90% are in captive breeding centres, zoos or kept as pets. The last confirmed wild sighting was in Kruger National Park in 1993 where a very large male was seen.

The breeding centres of note in South Africa are, de Wildt Cheetah Park near Johannesburg. They have about a hundred Cheetahs of which seven are King Cheetahs. In1981 the first King Cheetah was born at de Wildt. The other centre is the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre which is situated near the Kruger National Park. They have thirty six Cheetah of which only three are King Cheetah.

Cheetah numbers continue to fall. Their genetic base is narrow hence survivability is low. They are continually threatened by lion and hyena that compete and steal the Cheetah’s kill. Farmers have shot Cheetah for centuries but hope is on the horizon in the form of the Anatolian sheep dog which are used to protect the farmers livestock. In addition through education, farmers are no longer culling every Cheetah in sight.

ROAR AFRICA hosts Travelscope documentary

2009-10-06T14:15:00.004-04:00

This month ROAR AFRICA is hosting Joseph Rosendo's award winning travel documentary series, Travelscope. Geoff will be taking the Travelscope team on a safari around South Africa and Mozambique visiting some of our partner lodges and some of the conservation and community projects they are involved in.

The trip starts in Johannesburg today at The Peech hotel. From Johannesburg the team will travel to the Kruger Park area where they will enjoy some of the best safari experiences in South Africa as well as visit the rescued elephants at Camp Jabulani and the Henna Pre-School, a project supported by Lion Sands. From there it's off to the spectacular Bazaruto islands in Mozambique to both Indigo Bay and Azura Lodge.

Updates will be posted on the BLOG and on our Twitter feed and we'll update you with the TV schedule for the documentary.

Drugs, diamonds, wine, prostitutes, frogs and books...

2009-10-06T12:43:00.008-04:00

Last Tuesday ROAR AFRICA hosted a book launch for Douglas Rogers' "The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe" at the New York home of Henry Buhl. The party was primarily about Doug's excellent dark, comic and true-life thriller (more here), but it did have other purposes. Zimbabwe is in an awful predicament but we know how much potential Zimbabwe has in all respects. We know how much tourism to this spectacular country could help it's people pull themselves out of their current plight. It is helping in a few places. With careful planning, we are already hosting people safely in some specific and beautiful parts of the country. You can see the difference these visits make to the local population: employment, feeding programs for thousands, and a sense of hope.

Many Thanks to Henry Buhl for the use of his beautiful loft in SoHo, Durbanville Hills for the fantastic South African Wine, and Amarula for the evening's delicious signature cocktail.

We encourage you to read Doug's witty, sad and exhilarating memoir as you plan your next trip: 'The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe' published by Crown / Random House.

We hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did. There seemed to be 150 people who were not in a hurry to leave, so we're assuming that they at least did.

Photographs from the event featured on a few social pages here:
Haute Living , Guest of a Guest , and Patrick McMullan

The biggest picture of Cape Town Ever!

2009-09-01T12:15:00.006-04:00

Virtual Africa has compiled the biggest (Hi-definition) picture of Cape Town. I had some fun exploring Cape Town with it - Here's a three stage zoom from Signal Hill to The Cape Grace's Bascule Bar on the V&A Waterfront:

Construction Workers on the roof of the new stadium for the World Cup:Cable car going up (or down) Table Mountain:

Zoom away at Virtual Africa.

Whale Watching in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

2009-08-30T14:51:00.003-04:00

People tend to think predominantly of the Cape Peninsula and Hermanus as the places to watch whales. There's good reason for that -they are incredible places to observe the Southern Right Whale between June and November. However there are other whale wathcing opportunities around South Africa and Mozambique.

The St Lucia tourism board are operating frequent excursions out to see to watch the Southern Right Whales traveling through St Lucia en route to the warmer Mozambiquan waters to give birth. The tours last two hours but will take three hours of your time because the trip out and back in are a half hour each.

So don't miss out on this lovely and rare opportunity to see these majestic creatures in their natural environment.

Venue: Meet in McKenzie Street, St Lucia
Date: Offer ends Monday, 30th of November, 2009 three trips a day, 06h00; 08h00 and 10h00
Cost: R770 per person

Elephant charging wild dogs - Amusing video.

2009-08-29T13:40:00.002-04:00

This short video my friend Murray forwarded me is pretty amusing. A female elephant, feeling frustrated by some wild dogs, decides to give them a runaround. Video uploaded by Craig Jackson on August 28. The action happens at the Northern Tuli Predator Project.

Find more videos like this on Northern Tuli Predator Project

Visiting Elephants: A priviledge at Camp Jabulani

2009-08-18T11:19:00.011-04:00

I had the most enriching experience last week at Camp Jabulani. 'Camp Jabulani' is the extraordinary tale of an orphaned baby elephant, and a herd of Zimbabwean elephants which once faced a grissly fate. Paul Coetze took us to visit the wild but trained 16 elephants under his charge.

This had to be another one of life’s privileges. Out in the open are elephants just eating minding their own business but with handlers around to ward off lions etc. A 28 year old bull Sebakwe (of Amarula Cream advertisement fame) allows us to slowly walk up to him and start to talk to and touch him. Touching his trunk, his tusks (he is left handed/tusked-uses his left tusk the most), then his ears front and back, feeling the blood vessels, then around his face and eye. His eye was over 7 feet off the ground. Elephants are big seen from a vehicle but from the ground they reach way up into the sky. In training these animals Paul Coetze works on the reward system. So when we had run out of adrenalin Sebakwe was given a handful of pellets, into his trunk which he then gently blew into his mouth. We were able to touch his tongue and check the wear on his second set of molars of which elephants get 6 sets in their 60 odd years of afterwhich they then wither away and die at about 65 or so.

Little Limpopo a 2 year old female came forward for a chance free handful of pellets. She was asked to lie down so as to earn her reward but was so hungry and excited that she slid along the ground half on her side and half on her stomach while reaching out with her trunk desperately for the pellets. Just as a teenager working a point would do.

Our next encounter was with Mambo, a 6 week old baby male -300 pounds in weight- he came to show us how he could carry a stick in his mouth. Then he showed how clever he was by lifting his front left foot, holding down the stick while trying to take off the bark to eat. Much laughter as he took us through his routine. Realised we were impressed by his skills he then, just like a young child started, showing off to the crowd. Walking backwards and deliberately bumping in to a handler repeatedly. Now that he had the crowds attention he started skipping about waving the stick and really just clowning around. He stayed near his mother when offered pellets, his nerve could not take him the distance to eat out of a strange bipedal hand.

All of us humans need to stop and realise how intelligent the elephants are and for us to show much more respect to all our wild life. They do not want confrontation, none of them, it is just us the greedy ape that wants it all, all of the time and some more.

*****

Camp Jabulani:

Elephant back safaris are but one of the offerings at Camp Jabulani. Home to the Big Five and a myriad of other animals and plants, the reserve offers unequalled opportunities to experience the tranquillity of the bush. The reserve incorporates the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre, which is widely known for its contribution to the conservation of wildlife. Conceptualised to support a herd of 13 orphaned and abandoned elephants, this is an operation which promises a unique and completely interactive elephant safari.

Avenue Magazine: South African Safari

2009-08-15T17:25:00.001-04:00

Manhattan’s oldest society magazine, and one of the first in the United States, features ROAR AFRICA on page 58 of the August 2009 edition. Click to enlarge the image below.

Mugabe and The White African: movie review

2009-08-08T14:22:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I watched the first screening of Mugabe and The White African here in New York with five good friends. The movie dives straight into a very personal account of the Campbell's and Freeth's courageous struggle for their farm. There is a strong message that the right thing to do is to stay and fight for what is yours. I wondered if some Zimbabweans who emigrated might feel implied disapproval of their decision to leave. However, everyone's circumstances and resources are different and the Campbells do not judge others, just themselves against their own strong ideals and their God's - they are religious people.

This is very much a close-up view. Some prior knowledge of the Zimbabwe situation and recent history would be helpful for the viewer but it is not essential. I found it gripping because it is so personal, harrowing, and the failure of law and order is so complete. Ultimately it goes far beyond the Campbell's and Freeth's because their tenacity and legal action at the SADC court sets an example for all of us and hopefully a legal precedent as well.

Mugabe and The White African is essential viewing to validate their struggle and help to bring change to Zimbabwe. We all needed a stiff drink after the show. Fortunately, unlike Mike Campbell in a scene in the movie, we did not have to head out into the night after our drink to protect our land.

See screening info in our previous post here.

Santa Carolina (Paradise Island), Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique

2009-07-31T22:03:00.022-04:00

In May Roar Africa took a trip to Paradise Island. The tiny island where Bob Dylan composed his song Mozambique is one of five islands making up the Bazaruto Archipelago which at the time of writing you won't even find on GOOGLE maps. No, you'll have to switch to satellite view to see them, but they were very much on the map years ago and they will be again soon. They are glorious.

For Deborah and I it was a first visit to Paradise Island and for the Graham and Tish it was the first time back in 29 years. And that visit 29 years ago was also a first visit - they were the first intrepid "tourists" to arrive in 1980 after the Independence war (and still during the civil war).

Graham Keth tells the story:

Exploring Paradise Island.

Santa Carolina (Paradise Island), 2 miles by 0.3 miles in size, is a true rock island with deep channels, three beautiful beaches, and coral reefs close to the shore. In the 1950's Joaquim Alves, a flamboyant Portuguese businessman, controlled the coast line from Beira to Vilankulos (roughly 160 miles) and married a Mozambique local called Donna Anna. He gave her the first hotel in Vilankulos which was named after her and then focused his efforts on the tiny Santa Carolina where he built a grand 250 room hotel that was very popular with honeymooners and others for 20 years. This man was a legend in the area.

Before the air strip was built on Santa Carolina one would fly to Vilankulos and transfer to Santa Carolina by ferry - a distance of about 50 miles which took up to 4.5 hours (light Aircraft +/- 15minutes). After the air strip was built in the mid 60’s pilots would clear into the country at Beira or Lourenco Marques (Maputo) before continuing to the Island.

The very first of many trips to the island was round about 1959. The hotel was in its heyday and filled with people. However Mozambique was in the middle of an independence war and Joaquim Alves abandoned the hotel in 1973 towards the end of that war. Santa Carolina became a “no go area" occupied by FRELIMO - The Liberation Front of Mozambique. After independence in 1975 the Civil war ensued (1975 to 1992) but under the new government the FRELIMO personnel were moved to the main land. So it was that in 1980, shortly after Zimbabwe also gained independence, a colleague (also a pilot) and myself decided on a trip to the Island.

We flew from Zimbabwe in two aircraft for safety and were the first two aircraft to land on the island after Mozambique’s independence . We were unaware of the condition of the airstrip and landed after several low level inspection approaches. The friendly Mozambiquan staff, all dressed in their threadbare old uniforms, welcomed us to the island and gave us the best rooms available. Most of the rooms had been vandalised by the troops that occupied the island.

Exploring the old hotel.

Fortunately we brought our own essentials of tinned food, tea, milk and sugar. At our first meal we were offered fish which included Crayfish cooked over an open fire. Tish and I ordered one each and we could not believe their size, they weighed 11.7 lbs each! We were also given “Chicken casserole” which clearly was not a fowl at all and could only have been seagull, by the taste and the size and colour of the bones.

This is fishing paradise and so I hired one of the remaining old fishing boats (no life jackets and no radio communications) - we left at sunrise. As we were departing, I was aware of the captain’s assistant bailing water out of the boat with a 5 liter can. Initially I was not concerned as I thought it was water that had seeped in after standing overnight. We fished for about 3 hours on the high sea beyond Bazaruta island. All this time the chap never stopped bailing out water, however the fishing was good and after landing several barracuda, king fish and several sharks we returned. Other problems included blocked fuel filter stoppage of the engine and a horrible vibration of the prop shaft presumably from worn bearings or bent prop shaft.

On arrival I was met by a rather concerned Tish; unbeknown to me the other aircraft had left as one of their children had taken ill. Tish was concerned because although also the holder of a pilot's license she had no experience on the twin engine aircraft.

Another good memory of that trip was standing waist deep in the sea with a screw driver and eating oysters straight from the rocks. At the end of the trip we paid our bill with clothes and tackies (sneakers) as they insisted that money of any denomination was of no use.

The present hotel is still derelict, as is the Donna Anna in Vilankulos. The Paradise Island concession was previously owned by Ecco Delta Ltd. Rani Resorts has recently entered an agreement to purchase the concession and hopes to start building soon.

*****

Although the hotel on Santa Carolina is in ruins it makes a wonderful day trip from one of the neighboring islands where there are beautiful lodges to choose from. Our day trip to the island was taken with Indigo Bay (Rani Resorts) with wom we had a wonderful stay on the neighboring Bazaruto Island (More on that in a seperate post). Take a day trip for a picnic, snorkeling, exploration, or just for some private beach time. It's also happens to be great kiteboarding spot but I took my own kite and borrowed a board from a very accomodating Indigo Bay staff member. Until recently the piano which Bob Dylan apparently used was still in the hotel ruins. It is now safely on the neighboring island but I hear it will be returned when Rani Resorts rebuilds on the Santa Carolina.

Wind + private beach = Kiteboarding Paradise

Lions battle Buffalo at Tintswalo Lodge

2009-07-31T10:19:00.006-04:00

Just two nights ago 9 lions attacked a large buffalo bull right at the lodge. This image was taken by Lee Dicks (lodge GM) from the lodge deck where I enjoyed a more peaceful cocktail just a week ago. The lions took on the largest male buffalo in the herd in an attempted kill. Their offensive lasted about an hour of wave after wave of attacks.

Battle from lodge deck, Lee Dicks, Tintswalo lodge

"Eventually the big boy managed to drag himself into the waterhole - the Lion’s obviously didn’t want an evening swim and accepted their defeat." Tintswalo

Here is a photograph of the more tranquil deck. It's a good reminder that you are not so much "on safari" as "in safari". Amazing wildlife experiences, both large and small, happen all around you.

The Tintswalo Deck looking tranquil

Tintswalo Safari Lodge is located within the Manyeleti Private Game reserve which borders Kruger National Park. With only two commercially operated lodges, a maximum of 8 safari vehicles traverse the reserve. Each vehicle therefore has the equivalent of 2937 hectares to itself. Tintswalo Safari suites and lodge are all situated along a beautiful seasonal river bed among an ancient sycamore tree grove.

Flights: Nelspruit (Kruger Park) to Livingstone (Victoria Falls)

2009-07-20T13:54:00.003-04:00

In just 29 days time, on August 17th, privately owned South African airline Airlink will start connecting two sought after destinations. You will be able to fly directly from Nelspruit (which is close to Kruger National Park, South Africa) to Livingstone (which is at Victoria Falls in Zambia).

Here's the schedule (Day, Flight#, Route, Departure, Arrival)
Mon, Wed, Fri SA8870 Nelspruit to Livingstone 11h35 13h50
Mon, Wed, Fri SA8871 Livingstone to Nelspruit 14h20 16h45

Mugabe & The White African - New York screening

2009-07-19T16:58:00.011-04:00

Mugabe and The White African; an intimate and moving feature-length documentary, charting one family's extraordinary courage in the face of a relentless campaign of state-sanctioned terror.
Directed by Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson

WINNER of the SilverDocs documentary film festival's Sterling 'World Feature' Grand Jury Prize
This is the astonishing story of Michael and Angela Campbell and their daughter and son-in-law Laura and Ben Freeth trying to hold onto their farms in Zimbabwe. In fact the Campbells and Freeths are family friends farming right next door to where my brother and my sister-in-law used to farm (and where she grew up) before their farm was taken from them a few years ago.

Here are the screening times in New York for the film in August at IFC Doucweeks.

MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN

Fri 8/7 4:30 PM 9:45 PM
Sat 8/8 12:00 PM 6:10 PM
Sun 8/9 1:40 PM 8:00 PM
Mon 8/10 12:00 PM 9:45 PM
Tue 8/11 12:00 PM 6:10 PM
Wed 8/12 1:40 PM 8:00 PM
Thu 8/13 7:40 PM 9:45 PM

ADDRESS: 323 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10014
Ph (212) 924-7771
DIRECTIONS: West 3rd & 6th Avenue
Online tickets

If you are interested and live in New York or nearby please try to attend and tell your friends. The more people who see it the better the ultimate distribution will be.

Also showing in LOS ANGELES at the Laemmle's Town Center in Encino Aug. 14th -20th

Website: Mugabe and The White African

Which binoculars for safari?

2009-07-16T18:48:00.006-04:00

That's tricky and very personal. Here's a short and simple take on binoculars:

Trade-offs are basically between: size, weight, magnification and light. So it depends what you want them for.

Specifications look like this: (leaving out the more technical specs)

7 x 30
8 x 42
10 x 40 ....

The first number is magnification.
If it's too high you'll probably have trouble with keeping the view steady. You will probably not be using a tripod - they will be hand-held in a land rover. Go for minimum 7 and max 10. For safari 8 x 42 is great. For something like boating (due to movement) you might stick with 7x magnification. Got a steady hand? Try 10x.

The second number is lens diameter.
This translates into the amount of light the lens farthest from you lets in and thus the clarity of image. For safari specifically you are best off with a larger number here because much of your game viewing is in low light conditions: early and late in the day. That means that for safari the small compact binocs are not ideal. However you don't go on safari every day so don't get too hung up on this. You might use a small pair more often because you will be more inclined to take them with you.

Lenses:
There are two systems for binocs:

Double lenses: first lens magnifies, second re-inverts the image.
Prism. lens magnifies, prisms re-inverts image. Prisms are generally better. The image quality should be preferable.

Brands of choice:
Top three: Leica, Zeiss and Swarovski. (and the prices unfortunately match!) Leica might be more robust. Nikon, Bushnell and Steiner are good as are some others though purists will tell you that there are no "good" binocs, there are only excellent ones and "bad" ones and the first three brands are certainly excellent.

Other things to consider:
Durability, waterproofing, fog-proofing, magnifying, nitrogen-filled, field of view..... don't get too hung up on this stuff unless your needs are very specific.

Conclusion:
Decide what you want them for and consider "lugability" - weight & size. I like small compact binocs and am fine with some loss of image clarity. In fact I carry a tiny 6x16 monocular. I think it cost me about $40. Great for hiking and climbing trips. Not great for safari but then I tend to have it with me 10x as often as others have their binocs so that makes up for it. :)

Consider those top three brands first
Magnification: 7 to 10
Lens diameter: as large as possible. 42 is great but you'll sacrifice that if you are going for compact ones.
Prism system. Again- a sacrifice if you go ultra-compact

And remember: you don't have to have your own binoculars. The lodges usually provide a pair to share. Roar Africa guides do as well.

Daring rodent steals lunch from a puzzled leopard

2009-07-15T15:54:00.006-04:00

Real life Dangermouse was a dirty rat!

This didn't happen in southern Africa but it does involve an African leopard and it is an amusing story. It was captured on film by photography student Casey Gutteridge shortly after feeding time at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire, England.

The Daily Mail recites the events as follows:

The little rat - thought to be only two to three months old - was spotted scampering into the leopard's enclosure shortly after feeding time at the Santago Rare Leopard Project, in Hertfordshire. So intent was the plucky rodent on its mission to snatch a tasty snack, that it seemed not to notice that its path was taking it within a whisker's breadth of 12-year-old Sheena.

Clutching a corner of raw meat with its tiny paws, the rat busily tucked in, until it sensed one of those whiskers moving in. Sheena, bemused by the interloper coming between her and the remains of dinner, padded over on paws big enough to wreak vengeance with a single swipe. But rather than giving the thief at very least the hearty set down it deserved, she gingerly lowered her nose for an exploratory sniff. Rattus paused, lifted its dainty pink claws in submission, then - obviously deciding on a nothing-ventured-nothing-gained approach - continued to tuck in. And after another tentative investigation, Sheena gave the leopard equivalent of a shrug and turned away.

Mr Gutteridge, 19, from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, thought the rodent was a mouse. Mr Gutteridge said: 'I have no idea where it came from - he just appeared in the enclosure after the keeper had dropped in the meat for the leopard. 'He didn't take any notice of the leopard, just went straight over to the meat and started feeding himself. 'But the leopard was pretty surprised - she bent down and sniffed at it and flinched a bit like she was scared. 'It was amazing, even the keeper who had thrown the meat into the enclosure was shocked - he said he'd never seen anything like it before.'

An expert at the Wildlife Trust said the creature was in fact a young and 'inexperienced rat', identifiable by its big paws and ears and more importantly its bald, scaly tail with a thick base.

Leopard project owner Jackie James added: 'My son threw meat in for the photographers and it just appeared. Sheena batted it away but it just came back. The determined little thing took no notice and just carried on.' Sheena was brought in to the Santago Rare Leopard Project from a UK zoo when she was just four months old. She is one of 14 big cats in the private collection started by Jackie's late husband Peter in 1989.

*****

The African leopard can be found in the continent's forests, grasslands, savannas, and rainforests. The leopard is the most elusive of all the big cats. They are solitary animals and are primarily nocturnal - preferring to hunt at night. The species is also a strong climber and is capable of killing prey larger than itself. The leopard's prey ranges from fish, reptiles and birds to smaller mammals such as hares and monkeys. A stealthy hunter, leopards are known to stalk close to their prey and run a relatively short distance on the hunt. They kill by grabbing their prey by the throat and biting down with their jaws, and store their larger kills in trees - out of the reach of prowling lions and hyenas.

Beyond the Winelands: Elgin, Elephants and Tomatoes

2009-07-14T16:52:00.006-04:00

The most visited part of the Cape Wine lands, other than the wine farms in Cape Town itself, is the triangle formed by the towns of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl. It's not surprising- Fine wines, spectacular scenery, and culinary delights abound and they are all steeped in history. Naturally the beauty and history doesn't end abruptly at the edge of this triangle. Some of my favorite areas are just beyond this artificial boundary.

Take Elgin/Grabouw. I first explored the area during kloofing* expeditions in my university days and then later when my brother lived and farmed there in the early 90's. The drive to Elgin is amazing from whichever direction you approach. You can drive over the spectacular pass from Franschhoek valley where legend has it that during 1836, the last elephants of the area, a mother and calf, were seen leaving the valley on what came to be the Franschhoek pass. Equally spectacular but busier is the approach over Sir Lowry's pass where False bay stretches out behind you. This is a fruit farming area of astounding beauty.

You'll find mostly Apples in Elgin but there's plenty of diversity. Food & Wine magazine has just featured a story 'Best Tomato Recipes from Andreas Viestad'. Andreas Viestad is a food writer and TV host from Norway who unexpectedly found himself becoming a tomato farmer in Elgin. After a visit to South Africa to research his second book he started a project called the Garden of Elgin in collaboration with Dr. Paul Clüver on his family’s vineyard.

“I want to be able to make the same tomato salad every day, and have it taste different...” says Andreas Viestad

You'll find the article here. He shares his cooking philosophy and his very best tomato recipes

You won't see any elephants in Elgin today however you can find some not too far from Elgin at Aquila Private Game Reserve and Sanbona Wildlife Reserve where you'll also find the rare white lions.

Other favorite areas to visit are the Hex River valley just beyond Paarl (and over another incredible pass), Ceres (home of the fantastic Ceres fruit juices) and Montagu.

Watch out if you visit. You might just find yourself farming in Elgin.

* Kloofing, also known as canyoning, is the art of following a mountain stream down its course by floating, jumping and swimming. Kloofing takes place in a river gorge deep in the mountains. Some of the most spectacular kloofs including Suicide gorge are in the Western cape mountains near Elgin.

Testimonial and pictures

2009-07-14T11:01:00.008-04:00

From: Stephanie
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 5:19 PM
To: 'Deborah Calmeyer'
Subject: AWESOME trip!

Deborah,

Thanks so much for setting up such a wonderful trip for Anthony and me. We enjoyed every minute. The trip to the township was amazing. Anthony commented on how upbeat the people were. It was a wonderful experience for us both. Your dad was such a knowledgeable guide, adding tremendous richness and depth to our visit.

The people at Londolozi were absolutely fabulous! Accommodations were beautiful and we ended up with one of their best guides (Alfred). Every time we named something we wanted to see, he’d find it. I’ve attached some of our safari pictures. It was pretty cool to be sitting just a few feet from lions, etc.—far better than we had even imagined!

This was a trip we will always remember. Thanks again!

Stephanie & Anthony

Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards, 2009

2009-07-13T11:18:00.003-04:00

In Travel + Leisure's 14th annual poll, they once again asked their readers to rate the best hotels, cruises, airlines, outfitters, cities, islands, and more.

Cape Town came in at number 2 in the Top 10 cities overall. We think there's a mistake but #2 in the world is still pretty good. Udaipur (India) was number one.

Some of Roar Africa's preferred accommodations featured very well in the Top 100 Hotels Overall. 11 of the top 100 in the world, including number 1, are in South Africa and 5 are in Botswana:

#1 Bushmans Kloof, South Africa
#3 Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve (Earth Lodge), South Africa
#6 Singita Lodge, Sabi Sand, South Africa
#10 Jack's Camp, Kalahari, Botswana
#13 Eagle Island Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana
#15 Twelve Apostles, Cape Town, South Africa
#24 Lion Sands Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sand, South Africa
#29 The Saxon, Johannesburg, South Africa
#29 Singita Reserve, Kruger Park, South Africa
#34 Londolozi Private reserve, Sabi Sand, South Africa
#44 Khwai River lodge, Okavango Delta, Botswana
#58 Cape Grace, Cape Town, South Africa
#60 Le Quartier Francais, Franschhoek Valley, South Africa
#69 Mombo and Little Mombo, Okavango Delta, Botswana
#75 Savuti Elephant Camp, Chobe National park, Botswana
#77 Mala Mala Game reserve, Sabi Sand, South Africa

For more on Travel + Leisure's website click here.

Bushman's Kloof, South Africa: #1

Douglas Rogers on Zimbabwe's Situation

2009-07-13T10:17:00.006-04:00

Douglas Rogers talking to David Asman on FOX Business about his book The Last Resort, the current situation in Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe's blood diamonds.

Watch the interview from 7/9/2009 below or here.
Read a previous post about Doug's book here.

How do cheetahs run so fast?

2009-07-13T09:43:00.003-04:00

There's an interesting article on the BBC news website 'Speedy cheetahs put through their paces' (10 July 2009). Scientists at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) are using a running track, cameras and some chicken on a string to examine cheetahs running and compare the results to other species.

Cheetahs can accelerate to a top speed of over 104 km/h (64 mph) or more within just a few paces. That's over 40 km/h faster than a greyhound. It's difficult to understand how they can accomplish this but research is pointing to a few differences between them and other species such as their asymmetric gait and flexible spines. Research is still in progress. For more click here.

Cheetah on running track (BBC News)

Most Outrageous Hotel Concierge Requests - Travel + Leisure

2009-07-09T15:03:00.005-04:00

There's a fun article in Travel + Leisure about some of the most outrageous concierge requests received. Many of the surprising requests were met. One request submitted by Roar Africa was a little tricky to fulfill:

Douglas Rogers writes:
Not every outrageous demand can be met. Deborah Calmeyer of the New York–based Roar Africa travel company recalls an American client at Lions Sands safari lodge in South Africa. “He wanted the staff to place an engagement ring on a string around the neck of a male lion and parade the animal into the lodge towards his future wife. They had to explain to him that perhaps this wasn’t a very good idea.”

It seems there are people who don't realize that their safari is not in Disney World.

Click here for the article online in Travel + Leisure.

Low fares New York or DC to South Africa from SAA.

2009-07-08T23:26:00.005-04:00

South African Airways (SAA) is currently advertising very inexpensive fares to South Africa between August 11th and September 11th 2009. $1,034 for a round trip from New York or Washington DC to Johannesburg is a price we haven't seen in years. They call it the Sizzling Summer Special and you can link to it here.

It's a great time of year for safari and you won't have to pay peak rates at the hotels. You do have to book by July 15th.

Postcard from Cape Town: Lunch with Pat Cavendish O'Neill

2009-07-08T17:46:00.007-04:00

Peggy Healy Parker writes about her lunch with Pat Cavendish O'Neill, author of A Lion in the Bedroom: The Fabulous High-life of the Heiress Who Couldn't Say No. Peggy was hosted by Roar Africa and accompanied by Geoff Calmeyer who, like Pat, had a lion as a pet many years ago.

The article is online at Vogue here and pasted below.

Postcard From Cape Town: A One-On-One With The One And Only Pat Cavendish O’Neill

July 8, 2009 12:20 pm

I had a feast in Africa. No ordinary feast, mind you—I was the luncheon guest of Pat Cavendish O’Neill, heiress and author of A Lion in the Bedroom, a charmingly written and juicy chronicle of the lavish life she led as daughter of one of Britain’s most famous beauties, Enid Lindeman. Pat’s half brother was equally famous—Roderick (Rory) Cameron authored a number of books and designed the iconic mansion of the Côte d’Azur, La Fiorentina (later owned by Harding and Mary Wells Lawrence). So artistic was Rory that the interior walls of La Fiorentina had to perfectly match the color of the back side of the olive leaf. Pat called him “the most wonderful brother”—she clearly adored him. Other guests included Geoff Calmeyer, co-owner of the prestigious bespoke tour company Roar Africa, as well as former neighbors of Pat and three young volunteers working at an AIDS orphanage. Some 15 dogs trotted up the long, tree-lined drive to greet us.

At 84, Pat is still young, still interested in everything, and still a beauty in her own right—no one has such wide-set pale blue eyes. “I’ve had a wonderful life,” she said, ushering us to the shaded pool-side terrace. Thirty years ago Pat and her mother moved from Kenya’s Happy Valley to Broadlands, a stud farm outside of Cape Town, for her mother’s health and at the behest of Beryl Markham, aviatrix, horse trainer, and a reputed lover of Denys Finch Hatton—yes, Karen Blixen’s Finch Hatton. Beryl told Pat: “Broadlands has a wonderful paddock and horses, white fencing, and trees everywhere.” Like Beryl, Pat and her mother raised champion thoroughbreds and eventually Pat fell in love with South Africa. And why not? Cape Town is one of the most beautiful and welcoming cities in the world. Though there is still disparity between blacks and whites, it’s changing and you can feel the thaw. Here, hospitality has been raised to a fine art at such fabulous venues as the Steenberg Hotel, the Constantia Guest House, and the Delaire Graff Estate, the new über-luxurious hotel, winery, and restaurant conceived by diamond king Laurence Graff and designed by the brilliant David Collins.

After a surfeit of lunch, we toured the grounds of Broadlands to see Pat’s menagerie (and I don’t mean the glass kind)—four baboons, assorted goats, donkeys, pigs, cattle, 14 cats, 60 vervet monkeys, and another 20-odd canines. Pat rescued every last animal except for one magnificent dog, Cash, so named because it’s the only creature she paid money for. The walls of the drawing room are hung to the rafters with oils and watercolors surrounding a portrait of Pat and Tana, her beloved pet lioness who, she said, “taught me the beauty of Africa.” There are photographs of Fred Astaire, Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and many other family friends. There are paintings of her mother and paintings by her mother, of whom she said, “Men just adored her. Once they fell, they fell for the rest of their lives. She was also a brilliant painter.”

Best of all, Pat told us she’s writing a sequel to A Lion in the Bedroom. (If you haven’t read part one of her autobiography, beg, borrow, or steal to get your hands on a copy of the hard-to-find book.) I can’t wait to find out what happened next in her exciting, extraordinary, and eccentric life.

—Peggy Healy Parker

Travel Diary: Londolozi Yoga Safari in South Africa

2009-07-07T11:05:00.007-04:00

Jill Demling, Entertainment Editor at Vogue writes about her Yoga Safari to Londolozi Reserve in South Africa with Roar Africa.

Read it below or the find the original online here:
Style.com, Beauty, Health, and Fitness Monday June 29, 2009

from Vogue: Style.com

Travel Diary: Londolozi Yoga Safari in South Africa

In my wildest dreams (and despite a genuine yearning) I never thought I would get to see South Africa, and I never thought I would get to see South Africa for the following reasons:

1. I am pretty unpredictable on airplanes, and the thought of a sixteen-hour journey across the ocean didn’t exactly seem like the best way to bookend any fantastic getaway.

2. I work a full-time job, and escaping my office for a two-week vacation usually proves to be impossible. OK, not usually. Always.

3. I can be a finicky traveler. I like to lie by the pool with a good book and a cocktail as much as the next weary worker, but I also have an active streak and shudder at the thought of spending even one hour in a hotel gym.

4. I assumed it would be wildly (and prohibitively) expensive.

So, I thought, I may never make it to South Africa. That was fine. I was perfectly content lolling along the beach in Amagansett, visiting family up in Boston, and taking an annual jaunt to somewhere cool (and closer) like Europe or Costa Rica. I was fine with it. Really. That is, until a friend introduced me to Deb Calmeyer, and I started thinking that maybe it was finally time to make one of my big-time travel fantasies come true.

Deb and her father, Geoff, both natives of South Africa, launched their travel company, Roar Africa, in 2005 with a very simple mission: a perfectly personalized South African vacation. How personalized? If you love bird-watching, they will hire a guide to point out the indigenous species. Certified oenophile? A wine expert will take you to all the local wineries—even the ones way off the beaten path. Is a vacation not a vacation unless you end up lugging shopping bags through customs? The Calmeyer’s will pair you up with a personal shopper who will stroll Cape Town and haggle on your behalf. So it stood to reason they could figure out what to do with an exercise enthusiast who longed to see the African bush and was short on time and money—and they did: the Londolozi Yoga Safari.

After landing in Johannesburg after a remarkably pleasant flight (if you make this trip, I suggest South African Airlines), I was greeted by Geoff who was clearly the age of my grandfather, but had the spunk and swagger of a teenager. After a few cups of strong African coffee at the airport hotel, our group (there were four of us) hopped on a very small (repeat, very small) airplane for a one-hour flight that landed us in the middle of nowhere. After deplaning, I climbed wearily in the safari truck for a five-minute drive to my destination: Tree Camp at Londolozi. All weariness immediately deserted me.

Situated in the heart of the Sabi Sands Game Reserve, Londolozi is named for a Zulu word meaning “protector of all living things,” which is also the mantra of this family-owned and-operated business. Unloading my bags off the truck, I quickly found a protector of my own in our dashing game ranger, Boyd Varty, who was part Hugh Jackman, part Harrison Ford, and exactly what you not-so-secretly hope the man who will gallantly lead you through the wilderness will look like. The city started seeming very far away.

Our four-day stay at Londolozi would be tailored around a new program called, simply, Yoga Safari. Led by Sally Flanagan, who is recognized in South Africa as a pioneer of Bikram Yoga, each day would consist of two yoga sessions and two up-close-and-personal game drives. When we weren’t doing our sun salutations or marveling at spotting the big five (lions, tigers, zebras) roaming around the bush, we were relaxing in our rooms: luxurious suites built high in the branches and giving an entirely new meaning to the idea of a tree house. My own room had a private pool and a deck from which I stood and watched baboons swing from the trees and elephants and giraffes roam the ground below. It was completely surreal, and the only thing that brought me back to Earth (figuratively) was the security guard who would accompany us around the camp. Turns out those friendly baboons had mastered the art of unlocking doors, and to remedy the problem all the doors had more locks than Fort Knox.

The first morning, we woke up at five for a yoga class on a deck nestled high in the trees—a vantage point that allowed for a stunning view of the sun rising over the land. I practice a lot of yoga in the city, and I must say that meditation takes on a whole new meaning when you can’t hear car alarms and the raging wheels of trucks. After class, we would have breakfast and then head out for a game drive. The second yoga session of the day would also take place in the tree house, but it was slightly more daunting: It was on a deck over a crocodile-filled water hole—one false move and you were lunch. The second game drive was in the evening as the sun was setting and the predators were readying to find dinner. Along the way we’d stop for snacks consisting of dried game meat. I went to South Africa a vegetarian and came back with bags of dried impala in my suitcase. Who would’ve thought?

Our nights at the camp were spent around a campfire drinking wine from South African vineyards, eating dinner prepared by a local chef, and telling stories over dessert plates of delicious local cheeses. On our last night we were serenaded by the Londolozi choir, who sang traditional hymns to us—and as I leaned back to take it all in, I couldn’t believe it was almost time to go home.

Details:
For a trip organized around your interests and budget, visit www.roarafrica.com or e-mail Deb Calmeyer at deb@roarafrica.com

Photo gallery courtesy of Jill Demling. Click to enlarge:

TRAVEL WEEKLY: Southern Africa is more than safaris

2009-07-06T16:10:00.010-04:00

Travel Weekly contributor Ben Roussel traveled to South Africa with Roar Africa. He sat down with Roar Africa co-owner and tour guide Geoff Calmeyer, who discussed misperceptions about tourism in southern Africa and how his company differs from other tour operators.

Here follows a copy of Ben Roussel's interview with Geoff as published in the latest issue of Travel Weekly here or below.

(Click to enlarge)

Botox Getaway, Fitness Rx magazine

2009-06-30T11:42:00.012-04:00

Roar Africa press reproduced from Fitness Rx magazine:

Beauty & Spa Rx Info-Bits
By Louise Powell

Botox Getaway

At Bay Skin Care Institute, you can get Botox, Mesotherapy (nonsurgical liposuction), massage, facial, manicure, pedicure and self-tan. In between spa treatments, wander through Cape Town, go taste some wines, or visit Cape of Good Hope. Roar Africa will put together a six-day fantasy escape for you at a luxury hotel. After the spa has smoothed you out- get ready to go on safari, at Lion Sands Private Game Reserve! The dollar exchange works in your favor, making this pampering getaway affordable. (www.roarafrica.com)