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Cycling among
the Elephants
- James Clarke
Travel-
and conservation writer and humorist James Clarke describes
his recent cycle tour through Mashatu, in
the Tuli block.
Remember that Raleigh bicycle ad of the smiling, waving
African pedalling a bike with a lion trying in vain
to catch up with him? That was me a few weeks ago, pedalling
a bicycle in the wilds - in fact along the banks of
the great, grey, greasy Limpopo that divides South Africa
from Zimbabwe and Botswana. One had to skirt elephant
herds and look out for lion, but it was a great deal
safer than pedalling around Johannesburg dodging taxi
herds.
Alan Calenborne - a member of the annual Tour de Farce
when six of us cycle in Europe - was my companion.
We were cycling in the Tuli Block on the Botswana side.
Tuli - land of the giants, giant mashatu trees, giant
baobabs, giant elephants - even the ranger, Greg Bond,
stood more than 2 m above sea level in his stockinged
feet. Following a game track through the dry bush, I
remarked how different it was from cycling in Europe.
Alan agreed, observing that there were far more elephant
for a start. And there were no bridges over the rivers.
No water under them either. This was just as well because
I fell in each of them as I tried to cycle across their
deep gravel beds. In fact comparing cycling in the bushveld
with cycling in Europe is absurd, and I don't know why
you even mentioned it.
We rode through the Mashatu Game Reserve in the Northern
Tuli area. We crossed the dry bed of the Limpopo at
Pont Drift and, on the other side, were introduced to
our mountain bikes, as well as to five women cyclists
and one other male - eight being the maximum number
allowed on a "bike trail". Two armed and very
knowledgeable rangers cycle with you, and there's practically
no danger of having to do a Raleigh bicycle stunt. Greg
pointed out the importance of staying together. Somebody
whispered, "What if there's an emergency and we
have to climb a tree - and there isn't one?" Her
friend said: "Climb Greg."
We cycled 15 kilometres on the first afternoon. Karen,
a Linden physiotherapist, had her own R15 000 bike that
rides like jelly on springs. Peter and Liz Szabo of
Parkview had recently cycled 1 700 km from John O'Groats
in Scotland to Land's End in England and weren't even
panting.
Amazingly, punctures - which are frequent - can be
fixed in seconds. One pre-fills ones tube with a green,
slimy substance and, when you get a flat you pull out
the offending thorn, spin the wheel and the green stuff
oozes through the puncture hole, solidifies and, hey
Bisto, you can pump it up again.
We slept the first night under the stars, or more correctly
under a cathedral-sized mashatu tree. We took turns
keeping watch in case hyenas tried to shorten our sleeping
companions by nipping off their feet. I did the 11 pm
to midnight watch and cut quite a heroic figure (I thought)
patrolling the perimeter and occasionally shouting,
"What goes there?"
A back-up vehicle followed us when we were cycling,
mostly staying out of sight but in radio contact. It
had drinks and snacks on board and I suspect the driver
looked over the area before we pedalled off each morning.
Elephant tracks were everywhere, and we occasionally
saw lion spoor. On the second day we cycled more than
40 km and that night slept inside a boma while a herd
of elephants rearranged the scenery outside.
The camp food was superb (there was even wine), but
one gets so hungry that, I suspect, we would have gleefully
fallen upon boiled warthog warts.
Next day we cycled to the far north of Tuli reaching
Mashatu's luxurious tented camp in time for lunch. Here
we said goodbye to our bikes, always a sad occasion
for me. With our new friends we celebrated the end of
our three-day adventure with an elegant gin and tonic.
Not one of us was eaten despite seeing, later, from
the safety of a bush vehicle, a herd of leopards - four
of them together; a huge lioness and three cubs feeding
off a full-grown kudu bull, and a cheetah with cubs.
(If you want to cycle among the elephants, ring 031
716 3500 or email reservations@malamala.com)
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