The P Factor

If it's not obvious from my last post, P stands for Paula, birthday girl extra-ordinaire.

The long road before the pass

Never mind that none of us got to bed before 2.30am the night before, we were all up by 9.30am - under strict orders - and ready for Birthday Celebrations Phase Two.  This involved a 3 hour drive north from CT, to a beautiful and remote nature reserve near Clan William: Bushman's Kloof Wilderness Reserve.   As the wheat fields gave way to Citrusdal (more lemons than you can shake a G&T at) the Cederberg mountains loomed ahead, the pass road winding its way straight over.

Cederberg Nature Reserve

Up we climbed, and over the top to the most unexpected view... mile after mile moon-like rocky landscape, countless boulders and rock slabs dumped, upended between the dramatic rock faces, streaked with different colours.  And not a building in sight.  Just a long road sweeping to what was going to be somewhere close to heaven.

Our tiny weeny bedroom

We arrived at Bushman's Kloof in time for high tea. In the middle of a 7500 hectare reserve, we were greeted at the lodge by a team of smiley friendly staff who were to see to our every need over the next few days.  10 minutes to settle into our glorious room ('house' would be a more accurate description) we were hurried over to the Koro lodge for high tea - a delicious array of food which we soon learnt was something we'd need to get used to - and fast! Every few hours over the coming days we were to be presented with yet more mouthwatering drinks, nibbles and dishes, too yummy to refuse, despite the distinct danger of exploding a la  Mssr Creosote.  (BTW, if you're hungry, you'd probably better stop reading now.)

Our gang for the weekend consisted of 18 of the most fun loving, interesting and eclectic folks whose company I've had the pleasure of in a long time.  It included 3 female CEOs, a couple of naughty retired BA cabin crew, AXA Head of Marketing and Woolworths Head of Planning (2 more super successful women), Richard Branson's SA Estate's General Manager and Tess, our international DJ - among others.  Quite a group - but most of all, incredibly fun and loyal friends of Paula's.

Red hartebeast

High tea was promptly followed by an evening nature drive, spotting Cape Mountain zebra, bontebok, red hartebeest and baboons - a small selection of the wildlife on the reserve.  This area isn't home to the big 5, but sees smaller creatures such as the bat-eared fox, African wildcat, Cape fox, African lynx, Cape clawless otter, rock hyrax, klipspringer, aardwolf and aardvark. It also boasts 1,300 plant species per 10,000 km² (the Amazon rainforest has a concentration of only 400 species per 10,000 km²) and over 130 ancient rock art sites with more still being discovered.

Kadoro shepherd's hut

The drive ended up on the far side of the reserve and an ancient shepherd's hut, Kadoro. The hut hasn't been modernised and could barely be more rustic. 3 fire-pits and a full bar set up on the terrace had us kick off proceedings, before moving inside to a magical fairytale-like scene.  A huge table, lit with 100 candles on the table and suspended from the beams was laid with 18 place settings.  An enormous fire provided warmth and coziness and as we sat down, the food came.  And came.  And came.  Chef Christian explained dish after dish and we all groaned as we couldn't help but have 'just one' more taste in between the laughter and stories around the table.  Proceedings carried on into the night, extended back at the 'party lodge' into the wee hours.  Although a few of us couldn't wait to fall into our deliciously huge beds...

Yellow weaver bird

  

Rock art

Next morning only 3 of us made it up for the 8am morning nature drive - 2 of whom were yours truly. Stopping the vehicle to unpack a breakfast picnic on a suitable rock, an elephant nosed-shrew darted out in search of food.  Successful, he grabbed a piece of double chocolate muffin and ran back.  Too quick for a photo!  But the dancing around of weaver birds (whose nests hang from trees all over the Cape) and others, also in search of a crumb or two entertained us for ages.  We then followed our ranger on a botanical walk, learning about the local flora and fauna on the way to an astounding example of the bushman rock art in the area - likely to be painted by the San Tribe, up to 10,000 years ago.  Totally fascinating.

Let loose in the reserve!

The rest of the day was spent resting and walking in the reserve, trying to work up an appetite for high tea at 4pm.  Today, being Paula's actual birthday, high tea was a bit higher than usual.  (More) champagne flowed as we devoured another excess of cakes and other delicacies, presents were opened and 3 hours later we staggered, giggling and hugging each other to keep warm in the unusually cold temperatures, to the Makana lodge.  Another dazzling table awaited, and tonight Christian excelled himself.  Oysters, prawns, gnocci, sea bass, lamb, guava panacotta and more. The fires were lit, (and we were all given Zebra ponchos in case they weren't enough! (not real zebra, in case anyone from PETA sees this)), and spirits were still high.  A sumptuous way to end our stay at Bushman's Kloof.  For tomorrow, we head back to the real world...

Hazel, Elaine, Phil, Paula, Ian

Thank you Paula, Elaine, Margi, Larry, Ian, Phil, Lindsay, LeeAnne, Johnathon, James, Dee, Tess, Ceri, Louise, Ash and Hazel for a weekend shared that was up there, right at the top of the list.