Samara Karoo: follow cheetah and aardvark on foot

​By Roxanne Reid
Imagine tracking cheetahs and being able to sneak quietly closer on foot with your guide. Imagine being able to follow an aardvark in broad daylight, walking behind it as it forages for food. Being able to follow cheetah and aardvark on foot are just two of the thrills you can experience when you stay at Samara near Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape Karoo.

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​Our cheetah experience started at 06:45, in the biting cold of a late August cold front. Our guide Jan Dunn bounced into the open Land Rover, his energy and enthusiasm infectious despite the chill. He’d drive to a high point and then whip out his radio telemetry antenna to try to locate one of the collared cheetahs.

Success. He followed the signal for a while, fine-tuning the location. Then he stopped the vehicle and gestured for us to follow him on foot in single file. ​

​Imagine the adrenalin rush when we got closer and saw there were five of them. Mom and her four seven-and-a-half-month-old cheetah cubs were feeding on an eland calf she had brought down for breakfast.

Sightings like this are magic anywhere. But here at Samara Private Game Reserve, where you can approach on foot with your guide, the exhilaration climbs a few notches. 

​On foot, things become more real. Each crack of a twig or scrunch of a stone, each movement of a cheetah’s head is significant. The guides know what the cheetahs will allow and don’t abuse their trust by going too close for comfort. But we were near enough to notice the redness of the still-fresh carcass, the food-fat tummies of the cubs, close enough to hear one with a stumpy tail purring as mom licked his face.

I have no idea how long we stayed with them because time stood still. Perhaps it was 10 minutes, perhaps 30, it doesn’t matter. Being there at all was a buzz, watching wild animals in a wild environment eat, stretch and play as if we weren’t even there.

Hearts still thumping from our cheetah adventure, we stopped for Amarula coffee at a viewpoint while Jan pointed out that the vegetation around here is mostly sweet thorn acacia, with a sprinkling of taaibos, anchor bush and shepherd trees. There are also 30 plant species that are found nowhere else on earth.

​Owners Mark and Sarah Tompkins bought the first farm in 1997 and have been adding to it to create a 28 000ha self-sustaining ecosystem to be home to wildlife that used to occur here naturally long before it became farmland.

All around the reserve eland browse and graze, and an occasional steenbok tiptoes through the veld. We also saw red hartebeest, kudu, waterbuck, zebra, giraffe, kudu and a quick flash of some meerkats going about their morning business. There’s even talk of reintroducing elephant in future, but the ecological effect of that needs careful consideration. [Update: the elephants arrived at the beginning of November 2017.]

Jan Dunn was an energetic, enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide

Jan, always explaining the finer points of tracks and plants and scat

A view to impress
Later that afternoon, we ventured out in the intermittent drizzle to the top of Bouwershoek via a steep, rough track. We saw buffaloes, blesbok, lots of eland and a few Cape mountain zebras at the top. Black wildebeest galloped across the red grass against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains.

Despite the bitter wind, we drank in the vista towards the plains of Camdeboo and the Baviaanskloof as the sun peeked through the clouds. The view called for a gin and tonic, but it was too cold so I downed another Amarula coffee instead. Then we jounced back down the steep track, watching the falling sun set the clouds on fire.

Another on-foot experience
The temperature early next morning was icy, but through my wind-induced tears I saw a procession of plains zebra, red hartebeest, gemsbok, kudu. Then we stopped to watch a special animal with a calf through the binos – such beautiful creatures under such threat. (Note that I’m not using the definitive searchable word – this is what Samara asked me to do to try to keep them safe.) 

​A little while later we spotted a bull. Jan assessed the terrain and decided it would be safe to go closer on foot. The conditions were perfect, the wind in the right direction and a gully between us and the animal for safety. It’s amazing how much bigger it looks when you’re on foot. He came snuffling towards us, not aggressive, just curious. Then he turned and trotted away. I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

​That afternoon we went in search of aardvark, without luck. Jan had to rescue our spirits somehow, so he reached for his antenna and we perked up when he found a cheetah signal. Along the way to track it down we saw two bat-eared foxes, black korhaan, blue cranes and three kori bustards lumber into the air – the largest African bird that can fly.

​We found the cheetah mom and cubs on a rocky hillside. Again we approached carefully on foot, this time to watch them resting in the late afternoon sunlight.

Aardvark
I was still rabbiting on about aardvark. Here at Samara, this nocturnal creature is often seen during the day in winter and I was bent on seeing one. I’d only ever seen them at night under a spotlight before. Jan warned that they hadn’t been seen for two days because of the cold snap and rain, when neither termites nor aardvarks had been active.

But I wasn’t giving up.

​And find one we did, thanks to one of Samara’s trackers who radioed its position to us. The aardvark was some distance from the road, so we hiked closer then followed her as she foraged, digging for termites that live underground here rather than in termite mounds. We knew she was a female because the tail wasn’t as wide and solid as a male’s.

We spent about 30 minutes following her at a discreet distance in the soft afternoon sunlight, all eyes on the weird creature with its long donkey’s ears and pig-like snout (the Afrikaans word aardvark translates literally to ‘earth pig’). I watched how tenaciously she dug in the hard ground for food, sand flying as she attacked it with her sturdy toes.

The aardvark may be small and strange, but seeing it was one of the highlights of many wildlife experiences.

The lodge

The wraparound stoep creates extra space for relaxing, especially in summer

The pool is another welcome feature for summer days

Cheetahs and aardvarks may be the biggest draw cards at Samara Private Game Reserve, but Samara Karoo Lodge’​s converted old farmhouse with its wraparound stoep is an attraction too. Log fires burn in the nippy Karoo evenings, staff are friendly and the four-course dinners are excellent (think pork fillet with honey and mustard sauce, chicken with sherry sauce, poached pear with crème anglaise).

In winter, log fires keep the lounge, dining room and bar warm

Two of the ever-smiling, ever-helpful staff, Nomsa Sibanda (left) and Sonia Isaacs

​Our suite had its own wraparound porch with a view of a waterhole where waterbuck, warthog and giraffe came to drink. The wooden beams and reed ceiling were in keeping with old Karoo style, as was a freestanding ball-and-claw bath. Modern conveniences included indoor and outdoor showers, a gas fireplace and aircon – catering for the Karoo extremes of sub-zero winter nights and sweltering summer days.

Our Karoo Suite at Samara's Karoo Lodge

Our room had a view out over a waterhole and to the mountains beyond

Nothing better than getting back from a cold drive to find a hot bath run for you

Things to do at Samara

• Don’t miss a game drive for a chance to track cheetah and approach them on foot.
• If you visit in winter, it’s your best chance to get a really good sighting of an aardvark. Bite your tongue and endure the cold – it’s worth it. Watch out for winter price specials too.
• Visit in summer and you can see the Karoo night skies from Samara’s romantic star bed set up near the Milk River.

The summer star bed - photo by David Smith

• If you’re a keen mountain biker, you’ll love the routes here, both easy (for beginners and dabblers) and technical.
• Ask your guide to take you on a drive to a kloof where you can hike down to a cave to see some San rock art.
• If you’re a fossil nut, your guide can tell you about those at Samara from about 250 million years ago.

Note: I was a guest of Samara Karoo Lodge, but I was given free rein to write what I chose. I paid for all drinks and conservation fees.

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