In March, Candice and I had the opportunity to visit South Africa. One of my patients who used to live in Anacortes is from Capetown, South Africa and invited us to come visit and treat him, his wife, and some other family members with NIS. We jumped at the chance as we had always dreamed of visiting South Africa. We left Seattle on March 7th to make the 22 hour trip to Capetown. We arrived in time to have a wonderful home made meal with our friends and their family. The next day I treated 6 family members with NIS and was in turn treated to another to another wonderful meal. I treated people with NIS and continued to tour Capetown throughout the week.

Peguins at Boulders Beach outside Capetown

Capetown is a beautiful city with a rich history. It’s hard to believe that apartheid only ended 30 years ago in 1994 shortly after Nelson Mandela was released from prison and was elected president of South Africa. Driving around Capetown it wqs obvious that there is still a lot of income inequality as we passed shantytowns interspersed with wealthier neighborhoods. Our friends told us there was quite a lot of crime, mainly theft. Almost all the houses we saw had walls, gates, and electric or concertina wire on top of the walls. However, we walked around quite a bit and never felt unsafe.

After a week in Capetown we flew 2 hours north to the Kruger airport and then drove another 2 hours to get the a game reserve called Londolozi, where we had booked a 4 day safari. Londolozi was established in 1924 when two brothers bought an abandoned cattle ranch adjacent to Kruger National Park. The Varty brothers began the daunting task of rehabilitating 20,000 acres of land after years of cattle grazing. They began by removing the invasive plants, and restoring native grasses. As the native vegetation returned so did the animals. Londolozi is now the largest private game preserve in South Africa and is still owned and run by the Varty family. They are ardent conservationists and have created an amazing park where guests can see African wildlife in the native habitat. We arrived in time to go out on an afternoon game drive and saw some amazing sights.

The next morning we left camp at 5:30 AM in the dark, and got to see an amazing sunrise. We were in an open Land Rover with our ranger and driver Alphie, and tracker Elvit. Both were native Shangaan, a branch of the Zulu tribe. It was amazing to watch them work together. Elvit sat in an open seat on the front bumper of the Rover and Aphie drove. Elvit used hand-signals to communicate with Alphie, he motioned him to stop and then got down from his perch when he saw a track on the road. He would say something like “ this is a leopard track, it’s an adult male and the track is a day old” Absolutely incredible! The first morning out with them, Elvit signaled Alphie to stop. He had seen some blood next to the road and got down to look. He told us that at first he though it was an animal kill, but on closer inspection it was the afterbirth from an elephant just being born. As if on cue, a large herd of elephants walked out of the bush with the baby elephant at his mother’s side. As we watched in wonder, Elvit saw a pride of lions that had been attracted by the scent of blood. The elepahnts moved off to the side, and the lions started to materialize from the bush and settled down to eat the afterbirth. the elephants were unfazed, and eventually the lions walked across the road right in front of us. What an amazing experience!

Candice with Elvit (in the middle) and Alphie on the left during our morning coffee break.

Londolozi is best known for it’s leopards. Leopards are quite solitary, unlike lions who live and hunt in prides. Leopards are often seen alone or in pairs, usually a mother and son, or mother and daughter. They are identified by the pattern of spots on their cheeks, so our guides were able to easily identify them, and tell us which part of the reserve their territory was in. Leopards are incredibly beautiful, as well as being very strong. The can climb a tree carrying a kill in their jaws that can weigh well over hundred pounds. They do this to keep it away from lions, hyenas and other predators. Lions and leopards don’t get along. We witnessed this when we saw the lions come after the elephant afterbirth. A leopard was coming from the other direction and took off in a blur when he spotted the lions.

Antelope that had been cached in a tree by a leopard.

There is such an amazing number and variety of wildlife at Londolozi. On every drive we saw heards of impala, zebras, kudu, waterbuck , wildebeest and water buffalo. These are all prey for leopards and lions. Then the scavengers like hyenas and vultures clean up the leftovers from the leopard and lion kills. It’s an amazing circle of life! Combined with the beautiful landscape it all made this the trip of a lifetime for us!

Impala, wildebeest, and zebra grazing together.

Vultures and hyenas waiting their turn at the lion kill.

South Africa is a beautiful and diverse place. It’s wonderful to know that places like this still exist where you can see nature and wildlife as they have been for thousands of years. What a privilege to experience such a magical place! The memories of this trip will always occupy a special place in our hearts.

Our Trip of a Lifetime

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