Janet Smith
A trample of running girls, sandals unbuttoned and skirts pleated around them, grin and point at the silver and blue machine. They’re caught in its shimmering breeze as they stop at the fence, put their hands to their brows and start chattering like birds. The firemen laugh lazily together at the corner of the airfield, scorching under the heat of the windy autumn afternoon. In the cool of the customs-office verandah, a teenage girl and her young sister play cards and giggle softly.
You have to be careful not to become intoxicated by the photogenic appeal of it all. A flying safari can be a deeply romantic experience, bringing on unexpected feelings of superiority. For a while you’re stretched out in a Douglas DC3 Dakota where the ground is but an umbrella drop away into green bush, farms and glimmering hills. Then you come gently down to earth and get whisked away and plied with liquor by a languidly handsome game ranger.
This is the opening scene of South African Airways’ (SAA) Historic Flights, in which vintage aircraft are chartered for unforgettable holidays in Africa. In dreaming up the package SAA has initiated a luxurious tour for those who feast on the wildest part of the world. It has also offered experienced pilots the chance to fly elegant, articulate works of aviation art – not for money, but for the sheer love of flying.
There are different itineraries for the five vintage aircraft deployed for the programme, but one of the most rejuvenating experiences has to be the journey to Kapama Lodge in Hoedspruit, followed by a night in Chilo Gorge in eastern Zimbabwe. (The final night at Sun City seems utterly irrelevant, but is probably a necessary evil for travel agents abroad).
Kapama and Chilo offer distinctive, luxury accommodation that is also comfortable enough to entice guests into spending a few relaxed hours indoors. Don’t try doing this safari alone, because the beds in Kapama and Chilo are just too divine for one person.
Kapama especially offers good food with an astonishingly wide selection on the buffet. Between courses, Kapama safari groups seem almost startled by the interior design.
Kapama is gradually acquiring a reputation for being a destination for privileged treatment and as a conservation area where sightings of at least four of the Big Five are common. Adding to its allure is the work done by Hoedspruit billionaire’s wife Lente Roede – the woman behind the breeding and conservation centre where cheetah and their rarer siblings, king cheetah, lounge behind the fences, curious to see who will admire their beauty next. A pack of wild dogs, dressed to party in black and cinnamon and yellow, wallow in each other’s company under the trees, obviously waiting for their casting agent to arrive with a contract from Disney.
At Kapama Lodge, you can dare to dress up for dinner. Relish sumptuous meals in the sweetest candlelight served over skin-soft cushions and dining room paraphernalia so desirable you could take each piece home and be happy forever.
The rooms are so charming and spacious that the temptation to stay behind and savour it all is quite heady. On clear nights everyone gathers in the boma around the fire and makes drowsy conversation about the day’s events.
Kapama has excellent rangers. Certainly they fit the requirement of good looks, an intelligent sense of humour and sufficient irony to cope with tourists from all over the world. But here, they also appear to care about preserving wild spaces and the creatures that roam there.
Zimbabwe’s Chilo Gorge is equally surprising, equally intimate. Romantic, white mischief-style rooms are set inside the bush, offering blissful river views and a blissful sound of silence. Chilo Gorge hopes to bring more tourists to eastern Zimbabwe, which is not the most popular destination, and there is every reason why visitors should want to switch off their city sensibility and engage with the tranquil beauty of an unspoilt place.
Trips down the river on a launch can be arranged, along with cocktails on one of the sandbanks. As evening glitters on the water it’s quite easy to forget time and place – and listen to the night, for a change. Crocodiles, birds of prey, nocturnal animals and the faraway conversation of game in the reserve occupy the attention completely. Man, this is living!