On the 15th of October 2022 a group of 6 international tourists arrived at Camp Silwane. On a hot and blazing savannah day in Matabeleland North, I drove 31 kilometres to go pick them up at Gwayi turnoff. After introductions, greetings and all modalities arranged we clambered in the Hilux heading up to camp.
In the back of my mind, I knew the beaten off road track would give my esteemed guests a lovely welcome to Africa adventure. We arrived in the Silwane Conservation Area about an hour later, enjoying the drive on the way. The trees, shrubs, a herd of kudu in the burnt out veld, the singing birds and elephant dung all over the place… Africa has been served folks! In no time the enthusiastic tourists were unloading their bags and setting up tents for the night. This group of tourists were from Switzerland, Germany and Britain and they were staying at the Camp to further their studies in Field Guide Association of South Africa (FGSA) course.
We had excellent drives in Hwange National Park regularly seeing huge elephant groups. On a particularly memorable day we spotted a leopard chilling in an Acacia aeroloba. We watched the leopard for half an hour until everyone was satisfied and the leopard got bored of all the attention and walked away. On day four of our Park game drives, we had an encounter with a large pride of lions just twenty minutes into our drive. The real treat came when we saw the same pride on our way back to camp in the evening… all cameras were clicking wildly and capturing beautiful savannah moments that do not come every day.
The group were a pleasure to have in camp with night drives being another highlight as we took turns to spotlight. A wild cat here, a pearl spotted owlet there, many herds of elephants and a lots of spring hares. Evening after evening, we looked and searched for another highlight, a hyena maybe, a caracal or even a civet. Luck was on the side of the spring hares. We saw over 200 spring hares I tell you. Well, I lost count. Then boom one evening one of our guests decided to let it out, “we are now going to call this camp, Spring Hare camp”. I am not sure which of the guests came up with this witty comment, but all I know as I joined in the laughter, deep down it was not a funny joke to me to change the name of a Camp named after the magnificent lion to Spring Hare.
Our reputation was saved, as fate would have it. On the last evening at Acacia Grove before the group checked out, whilst milling around camp for the evening meal, the group heard the thundering sound of hooves approaching. A split second later, right in front of them and through the campsite, a herd of buffaloes stampeded towards them and passed what seemed to be inches past them as they went continued running. It was a “phew” moment! Before the group could even catch their breath, two lion males followed on a chase of the buffaloes. Apparently, the lions were on a hunt. Now that’s the topping of a cherry of any safari. Wherever my guests are, I am sure we agree that, this is not Camp Spring Hare…this is Camp Silwane!