The wildlife sanctuary is located quite far from Pretoria. The road is quite good until about 30km from the sanctuary. Only 30km but it takes nearly two hours because the road is bumpy, winding, and dusty. Knowing that the visitors have just gone through a difficult, bumpy journey, the sanctuary welcomes them with a warm towel and a Margarita.
The Big Five hunting trip began with the afternoon Safari game. The special vehicles with three rows of seats for the hunters departed at 2 p.m. Dewald - the guide and driver - was a tall man with curly hair close to his scalp. Before instructing everyone on how to get in the vehicle, Dewald repeatedly told everyone not to scream when they saw animals, and not to climb out of the vehicle. As if to reassure everyone, this local friend also said that the special vehicles did not have windows or partitions but were equipped with chips to prevent animals from getting too close to the vehicle... Everyone listened attentively, as if absorbing every word, but then those instructions flew away when the vehicle began to go up the first slope of the reserve. On one side was a cliff, on the other side were trees with branches that looked like they had withered and dried, the roadbed was made of large boulders as big as an adult's arm, the vehicle kept tilting to this side, to that side. The whole vehicle was tense from having to brace themselves to stay seated, avoiding being thrown out, when a loud scream came: "There it is". The entire car turned toward the arm pointing to the left, and a herd of wild buffalo with curved horns appeared. Hearing the scream, the buffalo stopped, then the whole herd roared. A few people in the car continued to scream with delight, and a few leaned out of the car to take closer photos. Dewald turned back and said, “Don’t scream, please.” One of the Big Five appeared.
The car turned to another direction. The new land looked arid because of the yellow-brown soil, dust flying everywhere, and the clumps of trees that were not green stood quite far apart. This time the scream was even louder, and it was a scream of fear: Rhinos! The three rhinos were like three armored vehicles slowly advancing straight into the front of the car. This time, Dewald was no longer calm and shouted: “Keep quiet”. But it was too late, as if not wanting anyone to invade their world, the three rhinos ran very fast, crashing head-on into the car. Dewald quickly turned the wheel to the right, making the car run in a zigzag pattern. The three rhinos missed the direction and became even angrier, running after the car. The image of the heavy one-horned rhinos was no longer there, only wild animals. The second animal in the Big Five group had appeared.
The car went around, through about three or four slopes with a slope of up to 60 degrees, before reaching an empty land with green bushes but the grass was still the color of burnt sand, in the distance was a mountain range with many layers of scales. The car stopped, Dewald went to the back of the car to get some cold drinks to offer everyone. After the tense but interesting moments, a can of beer or a cold glass of wine made people calm down. Dewald's face also relaxed. Dewald smiled at everyone but still did not forget to tell them not to scream when they saw animals and not to step out of the car to take pictures. The sunset went down very quickly, the red sun that had just appeared on the horizon disappeared not long after. The weather here was still the same, very cold in the morning and evening, hot in the afternoon and evening. Every day it got dark very quickly, many days by 5pm it was already dark and people's faces were unclear.
Instead of going straight to the resort, Dewald drove through some other areas of the reserve. Everyone guessed that Dewald was going to hunt lions - an animal that is said to be extremely lucky to see. The car suddenly stopped, in front of it was a herd of rhinos leisurely crossing the road. The headlights shone on them, the rhinos stopped, looking towards the car. Dewald slowed down, backed up, waited for the rhinos to pass completely before accelerating. After another hour, he only saw late-foraging animals such as giraffes, zebras, and muntjacs, and it was already dark, so Dewald decided to return to the resort, making an appointment for everyone to go on a Safari game the next morning.
The next morning, the car set off early because the sunrise here comes very quickly, just like the sunset is also very hasty. Before that, everyone was served hot tea and cookies. Dewald again told everyone to keep order, not to speak loudly and not to step out of the car to take pictures. On the way, Dewald occasionally looked down at the road to look for lion footprints. This time the car passed through areas that had asphalt roads but were separated by wire fences. Dewald explained that in the wildlife reserves here, there were areas with electric wire fences to prevent animals from going out onto the road. This meant that the car was driving in an area with wild animals, the other side of the fence was the safe area. Hearing that, the whole car fell silent. The car continued driving for a while, Dewald pointed to a nearby bush and said: "It must be over there" (the lion must be behind that bush). Everyone was even more nervous. But then the lion footprints disappeared. Dewald took out his walkie-talkie, spoke to someone in the local language, and then the car continued driving. In the rays of dawn, filtering through the greenless trees, a family of elephants appeared. They strolled by, the father and mother protecting their baby. The third of the Big Five had appeared.
Dewald continued to follow the lion's tracks. The lion was not yet in sight, but Dewald signaled for everyone to be quiet. From a distance, under a tree, a leopard lay sprawled, its tail occasionally whipping. The fourth of the Big Five had appeared.
Only the lions were left to “hunt” the Big Five. The car drove around more, going down narrow roads, branches pushing into the car. Passing by a lake, we saw a hippo drowning. Passing by an open area, we saw a herd of wild boars running back and forth, the hair on their backs standing on end. Passing by the slope from the previous afternoon, we saw a giraffe seemingly still standing in the same place, only its neck was bent up and down, picking leaves.
At around 10am, Dewald announced that the lion hunt had failed because the lions had retreated to areas that were inaccessible to vehicles. Everyone was a little shocked at their bad luck and did not see the most important animal in the Big Five.
***
The Big Five hunting trip in Louwskraal, South Africa, brought unprecedented experiences. A little bit of fear, a little bit of adventure, a little bit of pride, a little bit of refreshment when standing in the middle of the wild, seeing up close the animals that were only seen in movies or in zoos. It was also the curious and humorous emotions of those who had watched the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy" shown in the 90s of the last century. It was a comedy but brought viewers to life in the wild lands of South Africa. There were rare wild animals, nature untouched by human hands, and honest and brave local people. Like Dewald. Dewald was proud to be a son of South Africa. Proud because his name Dewald means brave, brave in the hearts of the people.
(Posted on the special edition of Labor Weekend Spring At Ty)
