Have you ever gotten out of your warm bed at 02:00 in the morning to go outside and spend an hour or more just watching the stars? The moon, spectacularly bright earlier in the evening, is gone. Darkness reigns supreme. The Southern Cross can be seen. Some of the "bird" stars can also be seen - The Crane, The Toucan etc. The Scorpion and The Wolf. Sagittarius the Archer. The Great Rift. Some visible planets - Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus. Sounds crazy? Don't bash it until you tried it!
Stargazing can be an amazing journey. Much like mountains, yet only more so, the night sky makes you extremely aware of exactly how insignificant we really are in the overall scheme of things.
There are lots of scientific explanations as to why stars "blink". I just believe it is God winking at us.

Mabula Lodge is situated just more than 30 kilometers on the other side of Warmbaths (Bela Bela) on the road to Thabazimbi. It offers 3 lodges with self catering accommodation for both paying visitors as well as timeshare options, all nestled in the African Bush on a twelve thousand hectare reserve. So from Pretoria and Johannesburg you get there before you realise it!
Positives - Mmm. Well, many of those! Our unit - in Sunset Hill Lodge - very neat chalet. Can't really fault anything there. Even with lots of units in the lodge each chalet is situated to offer as much solitude as you can get, very isolated - perfect! Some offer a more "in the bush" feeling, while the higher up units offer better views. And what views they are!! The overall experience was thus really good and highly recommended, all in all.
The usual activities are on offer:
Game drives, Game Walks, Horse Riding, private walking trails where you can walk without a ranger. The reserve is split into two parts - 10 000ha on which the lodges are situated, and 2000ha where they keep Mr Lion and his Clan. Our one ranger - Sam - was particularly impressive and friendly and really added to the game drive experience - 3 of the Big 5 in one trip - buffalo, elephant and rhino! Not bad. We even saw an Impala ram that had more wives than President Zuma! (Warning - the poor fella did look rather worn out...)
If you are of the particularly brave orientation (probaby with a long family history that includes knights, dragon slayers, war heroes and esteemed armchair warriors), you may get the urge to break the monotony by doing something a little more daring. Like maybe slipping into the lion camp to steal the nosehair of a sleeping King. Why? Well, I imagine to show others your courage, or mix it into your next Brandy & Coke? I wouldn't really know - being of the less brave sort with NO knights or dragon slayers in my family history! Know however, that none such brave soul has yet returned, and many a lion has been heard whispering (off the record of course) of the advantages of large quantities of Brandy & Coke as it really adds to their diet...
At our chalet we were visited by a bushpig as well as a porcupine - really very nice to see these animals so close up, but clearly they are used to being fed by visitors! PLEASE do not ever do this!
For me, just being IN the bush, irrespective of other activities on offer, is the greatest blessing of all. Being able to just sit and drink it in - the silence, the smells, sounds, sights - it just fills me with such a feeling of contentment and peace that I really find it hard to describe. It is the only place where I find that I can switch off my mind and simply ignore outside negativities - stress, people, everything and everybody that normally tend to cloud your day. Just exist in the moment.
In fact, I relaxed SO much that I reached into the cupboard for my deodorant the Sunday morning, and ended up spraying a liberal dose of shaving foam under my arm!
I think about this a lot - what is it about nature that so entralls me? The closest I have ever come to an answer is that nature - the bush, mountains, desert, jungles, the sea - is timeless. It has been there for millions of years. Humans? Well, what is a mere couple of thousand years compared to that? A very humbling thought indeed. So if you appreciate nature and respect it - nature in turn will keep you humble, and bless you with it's splendour.
Mabula offers lots of birds, but it was mostly the usual suspects that were seen - Groundscraper Thrush (gevlekte lyster), Black-eyed Bulbul (swartoog tiptol), Black-headed Oriole (swartkop wielewaal), couple of different Pipit (koester) types, Lilac Breasted Rollers (gewone troupant), hornbills etc. Good place for birdwatching.
A really great idea if you happen to stay at Sunset Lodge, is to get up before sunrise, climb to the top of the hill, get your breath back, find a nice rock, wipe off the serval poo, sit down - and wait for a truly spectacular sunrise! The first morning it is a hassle, thereafter you simply cannot wait to see how the sun shines it's searchlight over the bush! The view - almost 360 degrees - from the top is absolutely amazing. You can just about see next week approaching. For those of you less inclined to pay taxes - you might well be able to spot the taxman as well!
Negatives - I was rather disappointed by the shop at the main lodge - very rudimentary for such a nice lodge! 2 things that did bother was the fact that the dishes in our unit were very dirty when we got there - lacklustre washing job to say the least - and we actually rewashed everything ourselves. Traces of egg still to be found on plates and one pan, really dirty glasses etc. Also, the ablution block at the main lodge swimming pool was a bit if a disaster - toiletpaper on the floors, taps not working, no paper towels in the dispenser. Tardy!
When compared to the overall experience, these are not big things, and it does not prevent me from giving Mabula a definite thumbs up - but being such a fancy place, management really should keep a closer eye on things as these matters are all totaly preventable and really should not have happened.
My Main Dislike:
Going home!
Summary:
It is clear that, despite one or two small problems we encountered, all in all Mabula offers a lot and, if you are a poor stressed out city dweller desperately looking for time out, a place to relax and destress (to such an extent that you start mistaking aftershave for deodorant) then Mabula Lodge is just the place for you.
Accommodation is in 9 well equipped and very spacious rooms, one of which is a honeymoon suite! If you are on the lookout for a great venue for functions or wedding receptions, then the restaurant offers a buffet and a-la-carte menu option and can seat up to 120 guests indoors and ±100 guests on the wooden deck (from which you can also enjoy the spectacular view! )
4 x 4 tours and bushwalking are on offer for the more adventurous souls. The walk up the mountain is recommended to get a bird's eye view of awesome surrounding scenery. I managed to run all the way to the top, and then re-enacted the famous Rocky scene under the watching eye of a pair of breeding turtledoves. I admit to feeling a little bit cheated - it should have been at least eagles, but there you have it.
Have you ever ended up in the midst of a huge herd of buffalo, all around you, hundreds of them. All staring at you, those massive horns glinting in the late afternoon sun. There must have been 300 to 400 of them in this particular herd. I was still busy counting hoofs and dividing by four when it became time to hurry back to make gate closure time, so only a rough guestimate!
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