So I had a car, no plans, and time on my hands. Free accommodation at a luxurious resort found in a crater filled with animals the likes of which no other continent can boast. While on the journey from Johannesburg to Pilansberg you are unlikely to see many wild animals other than dogs and goats, once you enter the park and drive the mere few hundred metres towards Kwa Maritane, the lodge, you are likely to pass troops of baboons, buck and even more if you are lucky. It's at this point you realise you have truly left the concrete jungle as though it were another planet. There's no Boost Juice, no KFC, only critters and creatures that you may have believed only existed in a David Attenborough series. Yet here you are, pulling over as a troop of 17 baboons cross the road, the babies oblivious to your existence, the adults casting a protective eye around the land, and a few adventurous souls sniffing your tyres where a few dogs from local towns on the drive from Jo'Burg decided to take advantage of the moments when you slowed down and claim the four wheeled vehicle as their own.
It's a complete contradiction being in a place like Kwa Maritane, much like many of the reserves in Southern Africa. There's such remoteness, yet such luxury. Untouched bushland, yet silver service and crisp linen in salubrious cabins. Five star dining with mother nature's hungriest guests as your neighbours. While you enjoy the luxury of swimming pools, table tennis and bars, you are also dropped straight into the middle of the land that time, and thankfully development, forgot. Kwa Maritane offers the perfect base for a self driving tour, the perfect place to forget wherever it is you came from and the perfect place to fall in love with Mama Africa!
