Who would have thought a crocodile would have table manners? This one, if his hiding under the water and refusing to eat while we were there was anything to go by, seemed to.
The resident croc at Mongena game lodge in the Dinokeng Game Reserve is popular with guests. His daily chicken feed is quite a sight and while he isn’t shy to lunge for his meal in front of observers, he refuses to come out of the water and eat his dinner with humans watching.
Lurking below the water he kept a keen eye on us, making sure we had departed from the vicinity before downing the dead bird.
The croc is just one of many small things that make Mongena so attractive. A four-star lodge that can cater for 62 guests in the Dinokeng Game Reserve, it is situated north of Pretoria and only an hour’s drive from Johannesburg. It’s hard to believe the frenetic city is so close when I arrived at the gates of Dinokeng. Almost immediately the yellow bush, its vast space and natural peacefulness engulfed me.
It didn’t take me long to be charmed by the lodge, to feel the tranquility of the place seep into my skin and to wonder why so few people know about this jewel sitting on our doorstep.
Mongena is one of the privately-owned pieces of land in the Dinokeng Game Reserve, a public-private partnership, which hopes to eventually have 90 000ha of land devoted to a big five game reserve. When the project is complete it will be the only game reserve with a big five in Gauteng.
The best way to describe Mongena is that it’s a secret jewel few know about. This is probably because the Dinokeng project has been put on hold a few times because the community had concerns about having predators and elephants on their doorstep. They wanted a wall erected which would visibly make them feel safer. The community has now agreed the animals can come, while the wall is being built.
Meanwhile, lion and elephant are due to be introduced next month. It will be a historic moment, the first time free-roaming lion will be let loose in Gauteng in over 100 years.
But, for now, I was enjoying the comforts Mongena had to offer. A rarity for a lodge in Gauteng is the sunset cruise on offer. Mongena has its own 28ha private lake where you can watch the sun’s brilliant red hue, while sipping cocktails at the end of the day. The boat house is popular with couples getting married… a romantic touch is when the bride is brought in by boat.
The lodge has plenty of experience with weddings and they have a chapel – its rustic charm means it can be turned into a medieval banquet hall at a moment’s notice.
The luxurious cruise was not to be, however, as a storm hit as we were about to head out in the game vehicle. As the thunder clapped and the rain poured over the thatched roof we sat in a circle and talked the night away. A glass of red wine, a plate of home-made “dorito” chips and good company was the perfect end to a laid-back day.
There was no sign of rain the next morning, a few dark-lined clouds all that was left of the sudden storm. They kept the weather cool as we departed on a game drive that revealed myriad small treasures which I had never seen before.
The threads of golden-web spiders glistened in the early morning light and our ranger Gavin Sterley told us the smaller male spiders play a tune on the web for the females. If she doesn’t like his musical talent, she eats him. The males get it wrong pretty often because the females eat about six or seven of them a day.
Sterley showed us a bit of his Crocodile Dundee side when we spotted an African python slithering in the bush. He climbed down and caught the reptile, a baby he said, while holding the head of the impressively large snake.
The python wound himself round Sterley’s arm and our photographer Mujahid Sofodien helped him remove the powerful snake.
After that we went on a quick walk and spotted some white rhino a few metres away. The wind changed, they smelt us and ran off.
The morning ended with a large breakfast at the boat house, the lake shimmering before us as we made good work of bacon and eggs. The perfect end to a wonderful adventure. - Saturday Star