Now is a good time to find bargains for game lodge getaways

The coronavirus worries me in many ways – but its impact on travel is likely to have the most significant impact on my own life in the next few weeks.

I have been invited, for the first time in all my years writing about travel, to take a trip on the Blue Train, from Cape Town to Pretoria at the end of this month. Shame, I hear you all saying – it’s tough.

Think about this: what if they cancel and that bucket list trip falls through? That will entail a wasted airfare to Cape Town, too.

On the other, more positive, hand, what if so many foreigners cancel their Blue Train bookings that my wife and I (I am taking her along, too) have the train more or less to ourselves? It could be a rerun of the Royal Visit to South Africa (circa 1947) all over again.

I think I am going to hold on to these positive thoughts – if for no other reason than that I read somewhere that an optimistic outlook on life helps boost the immune system. And I would like my immune system to be match-fit …

The Blue Train.

So, we are also going to spend the Easter weekend in a chalet in Dinokeng game reserve, just north of Pretoria (the closest Big Five park to Johannesburg), with just my cousin and her son for company.

We’ll be able to do a few leisurely game drives and we can group-isolate for a few days.

I will be carrying out an experiment to see if there is any value in the hypothesis that wood smoke (from a braai fire) coupled with decent doses of Merlot, will help ward off the virus.

I’ve never stayed in Dinokeng, although I’ve driven around and through it. Effectively then, it will be a brand new experience which, given the number of bush lodges and reserves we’ve stayed in over the years (sorry, not boasting – just fact), will be something for the scrapbook.

But if you have a really serious bucket list of local places you’d like to visit – but probably won’t, unless you win the Lotto – then now might be the right time to be shopping around for bargains.

Abelana Game Reserve.

Travel restrictions have, I understand, severely cut the number of foreigners visiting our high-end game lodges, the sort of places where the pound, dollar and euro are kings and where the rand sulks off after not making it past the gate guard.

I am sure that a little bit of Internet surfing could turn up some real bargains and, if you’re a haggler, you might just be able to beat them down even more.

In the accommodation business, it is about bums in beds and bringing in at least some money, particularly in a crisis situation such as this is.

Most of these place are drive-in destinations, too, so you won’t have to be cooped up in an aluminium tube with other virus-spewing humans.

Tiger Canyon.

And, you’ll be pretty isolated in the middle of the bush, with staff who are not only professional, they would undoubtedly have been briefed on virus-containment and avoidance procedures.

I chatted earlier this week to some colleagues at Safari News – part of www.safari.com – and they were telling me some of their clients are offering unheard-off discounts for some of those bucket list places.

One of those is Abelana Game Reserve. Another is Tiger Canyon in the Free State. One of our reporters went there last year and was blown away by the place, which was set up by legendary conservationist John Varty.

Might be worth a look. Get away from it all…

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