The great escape – getting away from it all at Izintaba Lodge

At most luxury game lodges, they will guarantee you a full “Big Five” sighting within 48 hours at the most. That often means a Bosveld Grand Prix for you as you bounce along in the game drive vehicle with a guide keen to move on as quickly as possible to the next show animal. (Big Five = Big Tips)

They don’t do that at Izintaba. Firstly, they don’t have the Big Five. And, while they do offer game drives, the lack of dangerous animals means you can see just as much out walking.

We’ve done the lodges, we’ve seen the Big Five multiple times. And, we’ve realised over the years that the magic of the African bush doesn’t depend on those superstar creatures sometimes the bit players and extras can be just as entertaining.

So we move slowly, on a warming Wednesday bushveld morning, along a sandy track, transfixed by the labours of a dung beetle. We’ve seen others this morning, clearing away the kudu, eland and wildebeest droppings and propel-ling them off – in perfectly round balls – to their nests which are nearby holes in the ground.

This little creature, though, baffles us, because there is no obvious hole nearby. Where the hell are you going? Or are you just trying to be the African version of Greek mythological figure Sisyphus, condemned to push a rock uphill forever?

We watch, convinced that the insect’s unerring internal GPS will take him to the nest. But it doesn’t. His track wanders back and forth, as he loses and then regains control of his dung ball, over stones and through tufts of grass.

Then, in a finale worthy of the final scene of Thelma and Louise, he plunges, suddenly, backwards down a massive aardvark hole. He’s not going to get out of that.

This has been more entertaining than some of the DStv reruns back at home. Which reminds me, there is no TV – satellite or otherwise – in the thatch-roofed rondavels at Izintaba. Cellphone signal is patchy, as you’d expect from a place in the heart of the Waterberg wilderness in Limpopo – although there is one spot in the reserve where you can access a laid-on Wi-Fi point. But, we don’t go there for that sort of entertainment.

We go to walk the bush, among the animals and the rocks, to feel the cares of the city gradually falling away like a tattered dirty cloak. Early mornings are best at this time of the year – after 9am in summer, it starts getting warm. Later, we take a drive around the 12 000 hectare property.

There are some tracks and trails for 4×4 vehicles only and some we take – because we are in our Subaru Forester all-wheel-drive – but some we don’t, because they are meant for hardcore bush bashers, with low range and ultra high ground clearance.

We stop for tea or afternoon coffee at picnic sites. We enjoy the most precious gift of Izintaba – the silence, space and lack of other human beings. Atop the deck at “Sunset Rock” you have a 360-degree view of the Waterberg, and you see only, in the far distance, a cellphone mast. No other signs – roads, houses, powerlines – of the presence of humans at all.

There are not many places left in South Africa where you can say the same thing. Different times of the year offer different delights in the Waterberg. In summer, as now, it is a startling green and foliage is dense – plus the migrant birds take up residence. In winter, it is dry, brown … but the cold months are when a resident troop of bateared foxes make their appearance and you’re almost guaranteed to get a sighting of these cute creatures. Almost? Well, this is the real bush. Real animals. And no special performances for visitors. Or for tips. You never know what you’re going to get. Life is always more interesting without guarantees.

Izintaba is about three hours drive from Joburg, near Vaalwater in Limpopo. Mid-week rates are currently R300 a night per per-son, self-catering. Weekends and public holidays, the rate is R450 a night. www. izintabalodge.co.za