Back to Gomo Gomo - two years later

Gomo Gomo Game Lodge is a private and intimate camp situated in the prestigious Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, giving you best traverse viewing. We can vouch for this because we are about to make our third visit to this little "lowveld paradise."  We began making plans for this trip last November. Here are the steps to take when planning a safari like this.

Step 1: Always check the South African School Calendar to make sure you are visiting while the local kids are in school.

Step 2: Consider the weather. In 2012 we went in late July and it was very cold.  Temperatures across South Africa that year were at record lows.  The evening game drives were frigid, requiring many layers of clothing. This time we decide to go in early June, so the weather should be really nice. 

Step 3: The season is important.  I enjoy going during the rainy season, from November through March.  The bush foliage is dense and the bird life is amazing. Hundreds of migratory bird species take up residence in southern Africa, and the big herds of buffalo and elephant move around in the lush environment. But Jan prefers the winter months, June through August, when the leaves have fallen and wildlife (at least the mammals) are easier to spot. Water sources shrink, forcing the animals to congregate around the areas water holes, and remaining river pools. 

So - we decided on June, when temperatures are still relatively mild and the bush has lost most of it foliage. The best of both worlds.

Step 4: Choose the location. We have been to the lowveld area around the Kruger National Park a number of times.  In fact, it is a place I visited twice as a teenager in 1959 and 1961. So we know we will get our moneys worth. We first visited the Klaserie Wildlife area, west of Kruger Park in 2001 and had a wonderful three days at Kings Camp.  Then we returned to stay at Gomo Gomo, in their old location, in 2006. It was a fabulous trip and we regretted spending only three days there. In 2012 we spent four nights at the new Gomo Gomo Camp with some of our kids and our eleven year-old granddaughter Avery.  We all had a blast for four full days and even saw a white lion cub -  a big highlight.

Step 5: Consider the cost!  Gomo Gomo will cost us under US$200 per night per person.  This includes all Game Drives, all meals and accommodations.  Nearby, upscale lodges might charge up to $880 to $1,000 pp per night.  Hey, they all have the same wildlife to view so why pay more? As we are returning guests, Gomo Gomo has offered a discount as well. 

This time we have booked a full five nights at the camp.  After we leave, we will rent a car and spend five nights in the Kruger National Park. For a self-drive safari KNP can't be beat. Accommodations will set us back about $100 per night for both of us and restaurant fare is good and inexpensive, by American standards.

Step 6: Once the game camp and KNP bookings were made, we booked our plane tickets. It is important to book and pay as far in advance as possible.  The return airfare from Denver to Johannesburg was just a bit over $2,000 each. Then there is a short flight from Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo Airport, by South African Airways Express commuter flight, to the Gateway airport near Hoedspruit.  Cost, about $160 each. We are picked up by Gomo Gomo staff at the airport for a 30 minute drive to the lodge.

With less than three weeks to go we keep saying "Three weeks from now we will be over the Atlantic.." or "In three weeks we will be arriving at Gomo Gomo!"  They say that we become more patient as we grow older, but that is not true in this case. We are like two kids waiting for Christmas Eve. 

We will be posting more news as our trip begins and hope to share photos along the way. Join us on Facebook.

Back to Gomo Gomo - Day Two

White Rhino

Wednesday morning we had time for a quick cup of coffee or tea and rusks before we left the lodge on our game drive.  We were fortunate that we had the Land Rover to ourselves until later in the week.  We saw three white rhino first thing.  White rhino have a square mouth and are grazers, black rhino have pointed lips and are browsers; their coloring is the same.  There were nine lions at the kill when we returned there.  The tree above was filled with vultures patiently waiting their turn.  We noticed the four month old cub and he (or she) was so cute!

A Red-billed hornbill.   Bird life here, even in winter was amazing

We drove on and a majestic male giraffe was nibbling new growth from a thorny tree.  His coloring was very dark.  We dropped Jeffrey off alone in the bush, armed only with a radio, to track leopard and picked him up later.  When the sun was high, we took a break and H.J. served coffee and tea and fresh baked muffins.  Back on the road Jan spotted a honey badger scampering through the bush; not sure if anyone got a picture.  H.J. and Jeffrey both left the vehicle to follow leopard spoor (tracks) — never mind the tourists sitting in the vehicle in the middle of the road…  H.J. took his .458 cal. game rifle from the case resting on the flat windshield, not for shooting, but he is not allowed to leave it in the vehicle.  He said the rifle could bring down an elephant.  They had no luck spotting the leopard.

Four month-old lion cub at the kill

We returned to camp and had breakfast.  Cold cereals, yogurt and fruit juice was followed by a cooked breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast.  With full tummies, we had a choice of the morning game walk, enjoyed by Kevin and Carol, relaxing by the water hole, checking email or a nap, which was chosen by a couple of us.  It was wonderful to wander around the lodge, sit by the pool, read a book, write post cards or just watch the wildlife come out of the bush to drink at the water hole.  The sound of the drum gathered everyone for lunch around 2:00 p.m.  Lamb curry was served.  It was warm in the daytime but very cold for the game drives.  We purchased Gomo Gomo warm scarves and hats and wished we had brought heavier coats, so we layered all we had.

A "business" of Dwarf Mongoose

Rulani (the "calm") female leopard

The afternoon game drive rewarded us with truly amazing sightings.  A herd of kudu was our first opportunity to take photos of these majestic antelope.  The stately bulls’ horns spiral and their sides have vertical white stripes.  A “business” of dwarf mongoose was fun to watch and Henry the hippo peaked out of the pond at us.  But “Rulani” the leopard was tracked and we had a wild off-road ride through the bush to see her.  (Rulani is a Shangaan word meaning calm) She was posing in the fading sun on an old termite mound.  So gorgeous!  She got up and we followed her as she slowly walked through the bush.  She stopped and posed again between the two land rovers, turning one way and then the other and opened her mouth in a big yawn.  She walked on and we followed her a while longer with cameras clicking away.  Then we saw hyena. 

Sunset - time for the traditional "Sundowners."

Of course we had Sundowners and then followed a lion walking down the road toward the dam to drink.  We drove to the other side of dam and waited for her to appear, which she did.  We returned to the kill and were surprised to hear the cub “meow” between the snarling adult lions tearing and chewing on the carcass.

Joe took time to download his photos to the laptop before dinner was served.  We again chose our seats in the boma and began with sweet potato soup.  The menu included steak, Avery was delighted, chicken pie, squash, salad and lemon meringue pie served in a hollowed out lemon.  Delicious!

By now we felt right at home at Gomo Gomo.   We enjoyed visiting with the staff, knew the schedule for breakfast at about 10:00 a.m. after the game drive, lunch at 2:00 p.m. and dinner around 8:00 p.m.  Game drives left camp at 6:15 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.  We gave them our laundry which was returned neatly folded the same day.  H.J., our Ranger, entertained us with his stories, happily answered hundreds of questions and put up with our banter and silly “tree” riddles.  (Eg: What do you call a small tree? – an Infantry) He served us drinks at every meal.  Each night when we returned to our bungalow there was a delightful hand written and illustrated traditional story about a wild dog, hippo, warthog or rhino and sweets on our turned down bed.

Rulani kept us mesmerized for about 45 minutes

Back to Gomo Gomo - Day One

This is the first in a series of stories and recollections from our 25 day tour of South Africa starting in July 2012.

Since our visit to Gomo Gomo in March 2006 the lodge has changed locations from the Timbavati to the adjacent Klaserie Private Game Reserve.  The newly constructed lodge overlooks a good-size dam and the brick and thatched chalets spread out on either side of the main lodge giving visitors nice views of the game that visits constantly.

The main lodge at Gomo Gomo

We flew from Dulles International Airport in Washington DC on a South Africa Airways (SAA) flight to Johannesburg that took 17 hours, including a one-hour stop to refuel in Dakar, Senegal. Total distance, as the crow flies, is 13,200 kilometers (or 8,184 miles) Dakar is almost exactly halfway. This is a long time to be sitting on a plane but we had many movies and other video programs to keep us entertained. Our group of six checked in to the Holiday Inn Garden Court Hotel adjacent to the O.R. Tambo International Airport (formerly Jan Smuts) after a 5:30 p.m. arrival for a good night’s sleep. After a hearty breakfast we returned to the airport to board an SAA Express plane for the 45 minute flight to Hoedspruit’s Eastgate Airport. Eastgate is the arrival point for most of the Game Lodges in the Timbavati, Klaserie, area, adjoining the Kruger National Park.

Arriving in the “lowveld” is always a special feeling. You are surrounded by the African “bush” and the temperature is warmer at about 1,000 feet above sea level. The seasonally dry acacia and grassy vegetation has a smell and feel that is unique. Stepping off of the plane you find yourself in a different world. We were picked up by Barney Smith of Fun Time Tours (www.funtimetours.co.za) and set out on the 45 minute drive to the lodge. Barney regularly provides this shuttle service for Gomo Gomo and other lodges in the area. Although the road was paved for most of the way the speed limit was 50km/hr (30mph) and it is easy to see why as we began to see wildlife immediately, with impala, giraffe, wildebeest, warthog etc. along the roadside. Turning on to a dirt road we reached the lodge after another ten minutes.  As we pulled up, the staff directed us through the main building onto the expansive deck overlooking the dam.  There to greet us was a small herd of elephant drinking. What a way to start our four day visit to Gomo Gomo!

Elephants welcome us to the lodge

Arriving at about noon, we were greeted by Linda and Ewan, and shown to our respective chalets.  A delicious lunch soon followed (the meals were consistently excellent!) and we had a few hours to explore our surroundings before setting out on an afternoon game-drive at 4:30 p.m. We met H.J. (short for Hendrik Johannes Esterhuizen) who was to be our ranger for the week and Jeffrey, the most excellent tracker, who we had met six years ago. Both of these gentlemen are highly trained wildlife professionals and we would learn a lot from them. They were also experts in finding game for us to observe and photograph. In fact, we came away with the certainty that they are passionate about wildlife and dedicated to providing the best possible “bush experience” for their guests.

The main bedroom in our chalet.

Our chalet was a brick and thatch structure overlooking the dam with really first class facilities.  Full length sliding glass doors opened onto a spacious verandah. There were two bedrooms, one with a queen size bed and the other with twin beds.

The open Land Rover seats up to ten passengers.

We assembled for the afternoon game drive at 4:15 p.m. The six of us, Jan, me, Carol, Kevin, Michelle and Avery (11), had a Land Rover to ourselves.  Ranger HJ drove, while tracker Jeffrey sat on the little seat over the front left headlight. We had been cautioned to dress warmly because; even though the days were warm the nights would be chilly, especially seating in the open vehicle with a breeze in our faces much of the time. Within about ten minutes we were parked beside the carcass of a full grown male giraffe that had been killed the day before. Nine lions were either feeding or resting next to the kill. We were to return to this site each day and watch the carcass shrink and other scavengers arrive to take their turns to feed. As the lions are accustomed to the vehicles, we were able to get very close without disturbing them.  As long as we remained seated, we would not be considered a threat or as a potential meal!

Lions feed on a giraffe kill

Jeffrey gets close to the wildlife

After spending half an hour watching the lion activities we drove on to search for other game and soon came across several elephant, the ever-present impala and the tiny steenbok antelope. As night fell we watched one of the lionesses from the kill come down to a water hole to drink. After refreshments we returned to the giraffe kill to watch the lions snarl and growl over their meal before eventually making our way back to the lodge at about 7:30 p.m.

A welcomed fire and dinner in the boma ends the day

Our first day in the bush would end with an enjoyable dinner served around a huge fire in the adjoining “boma,” an open air area enclosed by hand-cut wood poles lashed together to form a circular fence. We met and chatted with other guests about our day’s experiences.

Retiring for the night we thought it couldn’t get any better than this. Until day two.

Gomo Gomo and the white lions of Timbavati

The way to Gomo Gomo.

Gomo Gomo is one of seven privately operated game lodges in the Timbavati Nature Reserve, a 206 square mile unfenced area of the African bush adjacent to the Kruger National Park in South Africa. The Timbavati area and the surrounding region comprised of other private properties (Sabi Sands, Klaserie, Thornybush, etc.) were, until the 1950’s, privately owned and operated as cattle ranches or big game safari destinations.  A large group of conservation minded landowners came together to develop a plan for conservation and to protect the immense amount of wildlife species that thrived in this sometimes harsh environment. 

Since its formation in 1956, the Timbavati Association has increased its conservation minded landowners to 50 members. Over the years, this group has worked toward a common goal, to overcome degradation within this previously pristine area, redirect insensitive land use and reclaim it for the benefit of all.

In the 1990’s, in recognition of the importance of the area, the fences between Timbavati Reserve and the Kruger National Park were removed to encourage natural species migration. A vast stretch of wild land was opened up for the free movement of wildlife through what is now effectively, a single conservation area also known as the Greater Kruger Park.

This arrangement is beneficial for both wildlife and tourists. Wildlife has access to more resources in order to meet their permanent, seasonal, and episodic needs, and tourists are offered a wider range of eco-tourism facilities. Plans are in place to have the Timbavati Reserve declared as part of the Kruger National Park, which will secure its future as a valuable piece of South African heritage. These wildlife-rich lands are now an integral part of the Kruger Park system, and are managed in cooperation with the Kruger National Park itself.

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Lions at Gomo Gomo - March 2006

March 2006 - Buffalo are plentiful in the Timbavati.

We first visited the area in August 2001, staying for three nights at Kings Camp, one of the more upscale, and expensive, private Game Lodges in the Timbavati. It was during this visit that, while viewing a small lion pride feeding on a full grown giraffe they had killed, the ranger leading us on an afternoon bush drive pointed out a powerful two year old male lion and told us that he carried the recessive “white lion” gene that was unique in the area and also in Africa. From time to time white lion cubs would be born to the prides here, we were told. In March 2006 we were fortunate to have several good lion sightings but we did not hear of any recent occurrences of white lions.

Search for “White Lions” on the internet and one will find a great deal of information. White lions are not a separate subspecies and they have been said to be indigenous to the Timbavati region of South Africa for centuries, although the earliest recorded sighting in this region was 1938. Regarded as divine by some locals, white lions first came to public attention in the 1970s in Chris McBride's book The White Lions of Timbavati. (1977). McBride’s father had become a landowner in the Timbavati area in 1948 and Chris was raised there. As a student at the University of California, Humboldt, he returned to the area to research his Masters thesis on lions. (See a YouTube video interview with Chris McBride here - http://www.youtube.com/v/TQYZbUW5Jw8)

In early 2011 we began to plan a visit to South Africa which would include a four-night stay at Gomo Gomo in July 2012. Several months in advance of our trip we began to follow Gomo Gomo’s interesting Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gomo-Gomo-Game-Lodge/334330557799) where rangers frequently provided activity updates and photographs, described animal sightings and commented on local events.  

With just two weeks to go before we left the United States to visit South Africa several photos of a new white lion cub was posted to the Facebook page. As excited as we have been at the prospect of returning to the Timbavati Reserve, the arrival of a new white lion cub to coincide with our visit has offered us a unique opportunity to see a truly rare and special animal. Our eleven year-old granddaughter and her parents will be traveling with us and there is no doubt that they will long remember this, their first, trip to Africa and their remarkable good fortune to be able to see a rare white lion. 

July 2, 2012 - a new white cub is found.
Photo from Gomo Gomo Facebook Page

White lions are not albinos.  They have a genetic condition called leucism – a glitch in the genetic coding for color which causes either a reduction in or complete lack of pigmentation cells thanks to a recessive allele. Leucism does not produce the typical pink or reddish eyes associated with albinos. In fact, eye colour is hardly affected with leucism. And in the case of the white lions, their eyes are a startling blue. 

We’ll see. 

The words "Gomo Gomo" mean "little hills."

Sources: Gomo Gomo Facebook page.  White Lions in the Timbavati by Sharon van Wyk, Jan. 13, 2011 (Global White Lion Protection Trust) Kruger National Park (Sanparks) website.