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 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.

Airport security 1972

Late breaking news! On 24th May, 1972 a South African Airways Boeing 727 passenger airliner departed from Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) en route to Johannesburg, South Africa. It was high jacked by two men who wanted the pilot to fly to an island in the Indian Ocean. The pilot persuaded the scoundrels that he did not have sufficient fuel and he would have to land at Chileka Airport in Blantyre, Malawi to take on more. 


I interrupt this gripping story to provide some background information for the handful of readers who may not have heard of Malawi or Blantyre or Chileka Airport. Malawi is one of the smallest of 53 countries of Africa. It is a beautiful, sub-tropical, impoverished, landlocked country generally considered to be in Central Africa. It is north of Mozambique, east of Zambia and south of Tanzania. The people, though poor, are friendly and hardworking and proud. It was text book 'third world' then as it is today. 


The runway at Blantyre's Chileka Airport, as I recall, was long, well constructed and capable of handling large aircraft. The airport building was a modified aircraft hangar. Planes would taxi to the vicinity of the hangar and a flimsy metal stair-on-wheels contraption would be pushed up to the front door. Passengers would step cautiously down the steps and walk about 50 yards across the hot concrete, or through the pouring rain, to a small door in the side of the building before standing in a single, long line, waiting to pass through immigration and customs. The terminal building (i.e. the old corrugated iron hangar) was not air conditioned, making it, in the hottest summer months, October through March, extremely hot. 


Why, you may ask, am I familiar with this story? At the time, I lived in Salisbury (now Harare) and was the sales manager for a significantly large - by African standards - packaging company. I was responsible for our customers in Malawi and about every 3 or 4 months I would fly to Blantyre on business, spending several days visiting customers, taking orders, and helping them with technical issues. Technical issues were important because many of our products were used for food or other (e.g. cosmetic) products that had specific shelf-life and quality standards depending on the integrity of our packaging. 


One important character in this unfolding 1972 drama was the personage of His Excellency, President for Life, Ngwazi Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda. His Excellency was a brilliant man, born in a remote village and educated in the US and in Britain. After an absence of 42 years, he had returned to Malawi in 1958 and led the ongoing political battle to gain independence from Britain, eventually becoming Prime Minister in 1963 and the first President of the one party Republic in 1966. He declared himself President for Life in 1971, one year before Malawi became the scene of this less than dramatic - by today's standards - aircraft event.
It should seem pretty obvious, given his personal history, that His Excellency, President for Life, Ngwazi Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda, was not a timid man. Fortunately for his fellow countrymen, he was a benevolent, pro-western, dictator who cared very much for his country, not to mention his own personal image and reputation. Who would have the nerve to high jack an airliner and land it in his country? 


Now back to the high jacking. The Boeing 727 landed at Chileka Airport. Within a short time, the airport was surrounded by a large contingent of the Malawi Army and Police Forces, under the personal direction of His Excellency, President for Life, Ngwazi Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda. It is possible that the bad guys on board were more concerned with the arrival of the Presidential motorcade than with the hundreds of heavily armed military men surrounding them. Negotiations began. 


Early the following morning, frustrated that demands of complete and unconditional surrender were not being met, a radio message was sent from His Excellency, President for Life, Ngwazi Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda via the control tower to the pilot of the 727, advising passengers and crew to lie down on the floor. Almost immediately the police and military forces opened fire and filled the plane with a few thousand bullet holes. The first lull in the firing resulted in the appearance of two very frightened highjackers at the door, hands raised in the air. No passengers or crew suffered more than superficial abrasions from flying glass and debris. His Excellency, President for Life, Ngwazi Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda was triumphant, reputation intact, and prestige soaring.  It was a classic "Go ahead, make my day" moment in Malawian history.


Fast forward two months. Along with a friend and associate, Grant Ballantyne, I flew to Blantyre for a regularly scheduled visit with customers. Grant was a technician specializing in servicing can seaming equipment and training customers in their use. A can "seamer" is a machine used for sealing the metal lid onto food cans. The body of a food can has a top flange. When the can is filled, with fruit, syrup, vegetables, soup etc., a lid is put onto the flange and a "seamer" is used to hermetically seal the product. Grant's other specialty was a very dry sense of humor, usually made more effective by his ability to keep a completely straight face while everyone else in the room roared with laughter at his deadpan remarks. 


When on business trips Grant Ballantyne always carried a special brief case. It was relatively heavy for its size and contained an inner foam lining, recessed to hold a number of highly specialized, precision measuring instruments and tools. Each of the polished and well cared for instruments has its own little recessed pocket in its own special place in Grant Ballantyne's special black leather brief case.


It should be noted that since the now famous military response to the high jacking event two months before, security had been tightened. A long, narrow, covered shelter had been constructed over the entry door to the hangar and extending, at 90 degrees, onto the runway. A long line of folding tables were set out under this shelter to receive arriving passengers. Behind the row of tables were some of the Malawi Police Forces'  most promising young officers, each in immaculately fitted and starched uniforms. This airport security business, not a normal police duty, was something they obviously took very seriously. 


Along with our fellow passengers, Grant and I descended the rickety metal stair. Baggage handlers were unloading our bags onto the concrete under the wing of the plane. This was a good idea, because it provided a little bit of shade. We managed to retrieve our luggage, without trampling anyone or being trampled, and walked to the security table under the new corrugated iron shelter. Grant was ahead of me as we approached a very young, bright eyed, smartly dressed Police Cadet. At least I have always assumed he was a cadet because he looked very young and inexperienced. He asked Grant to place his briefcase on the table and open it. Grant lifted the heavy case slowly and placed it gingerly on the table, unlatched the front and turned it toward the policeman. 


Upon raising the lid the young man's eyes opened wide in amazement at this array of precision, metallic, instruments. He had obviously never seen anything like this before. I watched his face as he very, very, carefully reached into the case and, with thumb and index finger of his right hand, removed a 4 inch long micrometer from its foam resting place. He raised it up, level with his eyes, and looked at it intently for a few moments, before saying to my friend, "Ah, what is this?”


In a most matter-of-fact tone of voice, without a moment of hesitation, Grant replied, "Oh, that's an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile."


Looking again at the shiny metal object, the policeman lowered it into its cavity in the black leather case, carefully closed the lid and said, "Ah, I see." Satisfied that there was no security risk, he waved my friend on. I managed to get through the strict security inspection without laughing out loud. Thirty eight years later I still laugh about it. 


Oh, for the good old days.