Izintaba Private Game Reserve: as off-grid as it gets

The sun has just ducked below the Waterberg horizon at the Izintaba Private Game Reserve and the sky is following its normal bushveld routine – orange, red, pink, purple, deep blue and finally black. 

In an arc of 180 degrees and out to about 20km, there is no other sign of human life… no blinking red lights on cellphone towers, no lights in houses… and to confirm this is not just Eskom doing its normal thing, there are not even any vehicle headlights to be seen. 

This is as off-grid as it gets.

The lodge at Izintaba Private Game Reserve has solar and gas power. Every now and then MTN’s anaemic signal blinks off from less than a bar to “no service”. Data? I don’t think so, chief… “No service” has to be my favourite location in the African bush, although these days the spread of the cell networks means those places are few and far between.

This is where we come to get away from it all. Yet, even though I want to drop completely off the radar, the CIA, or MI5, or Mossad, or Putin’s FSB, always manage to find me. 

This time it’s CIA special operative (assassin and many other things) Mitch Rapp, who wields a Sig Sauer 226 automatic pistol like a rapier, flies a Gulfstream G550 business jet like an air force hero. And, oh, stops the smuggling of “dirty bomb” nuclear devices by Middle Eastern terrorists. 

People like Mitch always find me, no matter how deep I am in an African wilderness – sometimes by chance and sometimes because I invite them in.

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You see, the best way to really chill and forget about load shedding, hijacking, Fikile Mbalula and assorted other government clowns, is to get stuck into a racy, action novel. 

Save the world from nuclear annihilation? No problem. Mitch can do. Save Eskom? All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put that dump of Humpty’s together again… 

Thanks to Duiker Lodge’s off-grid solution – which means plenty of light at night, perfect gas-powered stove and fridge and plenty of hot water (thanks to a passive solar geyser backed up by gas for the cloudy days) – I can concentrate on villains other than Eskom… 

We’ve been coming back to Izintaba, which is about 50km from the town of Vaalwater, for about 10 years now. 

It’s the place we go to cast off the city. It’s not a Big Five reserve, which means you can walk. And there are few things as good for the soul as walking in the bush. The trees are just coming into leaf across the Limpopo bushveld and the summer heat has already said hello… with temperatures in the low to mid-30s the three days we are there. 

Somehow, though, it doesn’t feel that hot and, anyway, you expect the bush to make you sweat. 

The early mornings and late afternoons are the times to savour the bushveld. We are both recovering from Covid, so nothing too strenuous is on the agenda… a simple meander of about 6km on roads and paths, spotting giraffe, impala, eland, kudu and warthog. Were we fitter and so inclined, there are mountain bike and hiking trail options. 

And there is a main pool where you can commune with curious local lizards or watch the birds dipping into and out of the water. The reserve has many kilometres of roads and we go for drives in the evening, including a rocky track which lives up to its 4×4 billing by stretching our Ford Ranger FX4 to the limit of its ground clearance. 

But, one of the best ways to maximise a getaway like this, is something I learned years ago: Do the things you can never do at home. 

With Covid, I was forced to snatch the odd nap while still working from home. Now, I’m not working, but Covid’s still exhausting… and even Mitch Rapp can’t battle the Sandman. 

So, how about a 10.30am snooze for an hour or so? It feels wrong, but so right at the same time. And then later, as the light show in the sky proceeds, it’s time to set up the “Bosveld TV”… the braai fire of real hardwood whose flickering flames are mesmerising. 

Even you, Mitch Rapp, would appreciate the opportunity to kick off your shoes, put your feet up and look for the meaning of life in those everchanging, glowing coals… 

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