A Lesson on Life in the Bush

August 20, 2005

By Aretha Phiri

Aretha Phiri, an avid traveller and passionate lover of the outdoors, recounts the lessons learned in her 10 days spent "in the bush".

In July this year I went to the bush. For ten days I accompanied Elizabeth Willott, Fulbright Senior Specialist in Environmental Sciences from the University of Arizona on a trip to South Africa's largest game park and nature reserve, the Kruger National Park (KNP). She was looking for a companion, and the Rhodes International Office invited me, on condition that I do this story.

Dr Willott, an entomologist (mosquitoes), teaches Biology and Environmental Ethics at Arizona and co-edited Environmental Ethics: What really matters, what really works (Oxford, 2002), an anthology featuring African conservation components. This was not her first visit to Africa. She had travelled Southern Africa twice before: Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa - studying the countries' ecologies to inform her lectures. She wants her students to rethink their view of ecology, conservation and the role of human beings.

I got my friend and fellow journalism student, Bronwyn Jacobs, to join me. (As designated driver.) We met Elizabeth in Johannesburg and the adventure began. Our first stop was in Pretoria for an informal meeting with South African National Parks (SANParks) director and co-ordinator, Hector Magome and Dr Peter Novellie respectively, who welcomed Elizabeth's expert advice. They occupied us with lively and controversial discussions about environmental management and conservation policies and ethics, the problems faced by SANParks, and the sometimes "problematic" role that impassioned animal rights activists play. Since I have played this role in the past, it was a lesson to me that animals can be a very destructive element in the environment, if not managed successfully.

Then we set off on the adventure part, to Plains Camp, a private reserve in the heart of the Kruger National Park. Nothing had prepared us for what we encountered. We (the guests included tourists from Germany and Mauritius) braced ourselves for the hardships of the bush. We found a 5 - star luxury camp, beautiful creamy-white tents, with a carefully co-ordinated mix of modern and original furnishings. The feel was "fresh" colonial.

Every day our game ranger and guide ensured that we spend our days actively trekking in the wild. We saw (from a safe distance) four of the Big Five. Only the leopard escaped our attention. We saw exotic species of fauna and flora. We received a wonderful scientific education. These fascinating days ended with sundowners. And later, the feel of the fresh, crisp night breezes on our faces during night drives.

Our last night at the camp featured a much-anticipated sleep-out, in a makeshift tree house. We were exposed (mercilessly!) to the wild. Breathing in the fresh air, watching the sun set, and eventually sleeping like babies beneath the star-speckled sky, each of us felt a little more unified with nature and its breathtaking wonders.

We then moved on to the main town, Skukuza, where the Visiting Scientists' Quarters was to be our home for the next five days. Certainly not as luxurious as Plains Camp (I missed being waited on!), Skukuza has a "home away from home" ambience and we soon settled in comfortably after an invitation by SANParks Programme Manager of the Scientific Services Section, Dr Harry Biggs, to the inevitable sundowners.

Life at Skukuza can only be described as "interesting". Numerous signposts warn one to be indoors by 6 pm and to keep residential gates shut at all times. Unsettling accounts of sporadic attacks by animals on the locals - sometimes in broad daylight - put pressure on the lovely thought that humans and animals can live together harmoniously. We were constantly reminded of our mortal insignificance by the powerful trumpeting of nearby elephants, the growls of unrecognisable animals, as well as the disturbing (to me) sight of warthogs sunbathing - unperturbed - in the communal park.

We spent most of our days working with the Scientific Services staff. We attended meetings and presentations. Discussions about wildlife management, with Head of Department, Dr Danie Pienaar, were engaging and thought-provoking. The Elephant Museum, in nearby Letaba, furnished some very interesting facts. I was amazed to discover that an elephant's tusk could weigh over 50 kg - the weight of an "average-sized woman"!

Better informed (and perhaps wiser), we made the long journey to Pretoria, and to Grahamstown, by road. At Rhodes, Elizabeth, as Fulbright Fellow, was to give a series of interdisciplinary lectures during the third term on environmental management, ethics and ecology to students in Environmental Science.

An avid traveller and passionate lover of the outdoors, I gained from this trip an invaluable education that no prescribed text book could have possibly provided - an education on the beauty of life.