uploads/Thula Thula Getaway Mag

This weekend
Getting Out
ABOVE: Parisian chic meets African elegance in the rooms at the Safari Lodge. They were designed by Françoise Malby
who is Thula Thula, says her husband Lawrence Anthony. LEFT: Well, it’s not as though giraffes have handkerchiefs.
Just south of the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game
Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal is a private park
where you can eat yourself into a coma. It’s
named Thula Thula – meaning ‘very quiet’ in
Zulu. The local baboon troop obviously
hadn’t read the signpost. By Don Pinnock.
Pigging
out in the
place of
elephants
“Hoo! Waa. Bahoo. Yeeow, Siree, Ba!” The
baboons were having a serious domestic tiff
which halted the dawn cacophony of birdsong
in its tracks.
“Wahoo, bah!” The male was extremely angry.
“Hoo?” A peacemaker tried to calm him, but
he thumped her and she screamed in fear
and indignation.
In the silence that followed, a green-headed
oriole tried to get a word in: “Hloo, hloo,” while
a fiery-necked nightjar called “Good Lord, deliver
us.” “Sweet sweet, bobobobo,” chimed a southern boubou. “Dududududu,” answered a
Burchell’s coucal.
I was standing naked in an outside shower
under deliciously hot, falling water, wondering if
the scrapping baboons would burst through the
bushes in front of me. Would my soap and razor
be adequate defence? The bird cantata seemed
to temporarily calm the angry primates, so I
grabbed my towel and dived into the tent. The
word ‘tent’ is misleading here. Mine had a
four-poster bed, Victorian bath and an electric
blanket – at Thula Thula in central KwaZuluNatal, they do things like that.
While I dressed, the battle raged on and receded
only an hour later as I strolled to the boma for
breakfast. By then the hoos and bahs sounded
quite exhausted.
Two days earlier, I’d arrived at the reserve to
interview Lawrence Anthony, the man who almost
single-handedly saved the Baghdad Zoo in 2003
after the American invasion of Iraq. Nine years
ago, he and his wife, Françoise Malby, bought a
run-down hunting property in KZN and Françoise
grabbed pen and paper to design the lodge.
Lawrence and Françoise met in a Paris taxi. He
got in one door and she got in the other and they
discovered they were both going in the same
direction. And they still are. She’s blonde, sassy,
dresses in leopard skin and leather bush chic.
She glides like a gazelle and looks every bit the
model she once was. After 20 years in South
Africa, she still talks with a delightfully pronounced French accent. Lawrence spent his
childhood in Zambia and Malawi before coming
south and is warm, engaging and funny. He
gives Françoise credit for Thula Thula’s style and
ambience: “She is Thula Thula. She makes it
work. Her energy and passion for style – as only
the French know how – is the heartbeat here.”
Under Françoise’s guidance, the chefs of Thula
Thula ensure the lodge is remembered as much
for its food as for its peace and tranquillity. Here
France meets Africa. Think of butternut and chilli
sorbet, or venison terrine, or a seafood bouillabaisse Creole, or perhaps a pastry filled with
dark chocolate. Or maybe oxtail bourguignon
with garlic-crushed potato, three cheese and
pesto feuilleté on tomato compote and fillet of
impala served on sweet potato cake with a red
wine and bacon sauce. Oh, and mango on
The elephants on the reserve are mostly peaceful,
but one fellow in musth did turn over a Land Rover.
They’re trying to figure out if it was paid by Toyota.
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Lawrence Anthony is an elephant whisperer. He called this bull over for a chat and they
stood there, facing each other for a few heart‑stopping minutes, only metres apart.
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A high point at Thula Thula is the food – it’s simply not what you’d expect at a bush lodge. All the chefs are from the local village and
have been trained to haute cuisine standards by the ebulliant Françoise, who also trawls vineyards for the country’s best wines.
pumpkin cake with chocolate and chilli sauce.
The wines come from special Cape vineyards,
personally selected by Françoise. You get
the picture.
Beyond the elegant Elephant Safari Lodge and
four-star Tented Camp is Lawrence’s passion: protecting Thula Thula’s unspoilt beauty and history.
It’s just 45 minutes from Hluhluwe-Mfolozi Game
Reserve and can trace its origin to the private hunting grounds of King Shaka, founder of the Zulu
empire. The first historic meeting between Shaka
and his father, Senzangakhona, which set the
stage for the creation of the Zulu nation, took place
beside the Nseleni River at Thula Thula.
I roamed the area in an open game-drive vehicle
with Bongani Tembe, the ranger who introduced
me to the local elephant herd, rhinos, leopards,
giraffes, hyenas, crocodiles, zebras, wildebeests,
kudus, nyalas and some of the 350 bird species
sighted there.
Afterwards, I was installed at the Tented Camp,
swapping one sort of luxury for another – elegance
under canvas plus putu and boerewors under the
stars. On a dawn walk, Bongani showed me how
trees communicate with each other, turning leaves
bitter when animals begin to chew their foliage.
Lawrence and Françoise work closely with local
communities. All of Thula Thula’s staff are from the
local village and have been trained. “If we don’t get
buy-in and support from the local people, we cannot survive,” said Lawrence. “It’s as simple as that.”
As I was leaving, Lawrence was heading to
Southern Sudan in an attempt to save the northern white rhino population.
“Aren’t you worried about him heading into war
zones like Iraq and Sudan?” I asked Françoise.
She gave him the sort of smile that explained
why he never let her out of his sight after that
Paris taxi ride. “Lawrrencé,” she replied with
her deep-throated French accent, “he isa like
a cat. He always land on his feet. I havea
no worries.”
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Mozambique
How to get there From Johannesburg (six to
seven hours) take the N17 towards Mpumalanga, drive past Ermelo and Piet Retief on the
N2, then turn onto the R33 through Paulpietersburg. At Vryheid, take the R34 to Melmoth.
Continue to Nkwalini, turn left towards
Empangeni on the R34, drive for 36 km and
turn left towards Heatonville. Follow the road
for about 10 km, crossing three railway tracks.
After the third crossing, turn left at the T-junction onto a dirt road, follow it uphill for about
8 km and turn right for 2 km to get to Thula
Thula’s gate. It is signposted from the
Heatonville turnoff.
From Durban (two hours) take the N2 north,
then the R34 to Empangeni. Drive through
town towards Nkwalini and Melmoth, taking
a right turn towards Heatonville, then follow
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the directions as above.
There is also a 700-metre airstrip for light
planes in the reserve. The co-ordinates are
S28º 34’ 45, E31º 45’ 30.
Transfers are available from Richards Bay to
Thula Thula (40 minutes) and Durban (two
hours). Contact African Sun Adventures on
035-753-5011 or e-mail bushbaby@icyt.net.
V
Swaziland
KwaZulu-Natal
G++
eytown
Who to contact To book, tel 035-792-8322,
e-mail thula@netactive.co.za or web
www.thulathula.com.
C
'
Greater St Lucia
Wetland Park
Nongoma
What it costs The Safari Lodge costs
between R1 300 a person a night sharing a de
luxe suite out of season to R2 200 in the Suite
Royale in season. This includes full board,
guided walks and game drives.
Sodwana Bay
National Park
south africa
G+&-
Hluhluwe
Ulundi
St Lucia
Hluhluwe-Mfolozi Park
Thula Thula
Melmoth
G()
Empangeni
Indian Ocean
G++
Eshowe
Richards Bay
C
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