We pull up to Springbok Lodge, one of nine
luxury lodges in Nambiti, around 3 p.m. on
the Sunday after Durban July. As lodge staff
shuttles luggage to our respective tents,
we are separated into three groups, and
assigned a guide and a large open-air Land-
cruiser. Our group of six is led by William,
an impish, gap-toothed local who could be
confused for a cousin of Randy Quaid, but
for a wry intelligence that includes an en-
cyclopedic knowledge of the reserve's flora
and fauna.
We're at Springbok less than 15 minutes
before we are on our first safari, and over
the next few days, we adopt a schedule
of 3-hour safari tours in the morning, and
then again in the afternoon. After depart-
ing the lodge, we soon drive up on some
giraffes grazing among the treetops just
off the road. The landscape at this time of
the year—it's winter in the Southern Hemi-
sphere—is a dense brown thicket of wild
grasses, with ubiquitous acacia trees add-
ing to the impenetrability.
Day One
21
