The Plaas (South Africa)

The Plaas “farm” is a place very special to Jacques and now to both of us. It is a game farm in the far north of South Africa, 44km to the Botswana border in the bush velt. It was a five hour drive with Pa and Jacques in the front of the bakkie and Ma and I shared a mattress layed out in the back of the canopy of the truck followed by a trailer full of supplies for the upcoming week. After navigating a few miles on the rough and sandy road (which ended up shattering the right hand side wheel bearing of the trailer), we finally arrived shortly before sunset and quickly unpacked the trailer to view the sunset from the farm house patio, bordering the game area. Waterbucks and Warthogs were along the fence for our first game viewing of the night. After unpacking and dinner, we were greeted by a giant centipede in our room - welcome to the bush. After escorting him outside for the night, we settled for a very peaceful night's sleep.





We woke on Thursday, August 28th to an extremely hot day. After breakfast, Jacques and I took the Land Rover game vehicle into the farm for a test spin and first game drive. We were lucky to see so many of the animals in the mid-heat of the day. The farm has Waterbucks, Impalas, Kudus, Elands (the largest buck in the world), Zebras, Gemsbuck, Red Hartebees, Wildebees, Blesbucks, Klipspringer, Duikers, and Steenbucks. There are only three Red Hartebees, three Gemsbuck and five Zebras and they are the hardest to spot. We found a Gemsbuck on our first go around and set out on foot through the bush to try and get a closer look, but without success. Back in the gates of the farm, we roamed the grounds among the grapefruit (my favorite) and lemon trees and set up our hammocks in the shade. Jacques took a dip in the “pool”, a small holding dam for the farm irrigation. This became a daily ritual for him and he attempted to replace baths with his daily dip (truly a bush man). Ma and Jacques spent the afternoon in the kitchen prepping for the coming meals while I enjoyed my book in the hammock. Around 5pm, Pa took us all out for a sunset game drive through the farm. To our surprise, our previous drive allowed us more sightings but the African sunset is always a breathtaking highlight of the day. At dusk, we pulled back into the farm and Jacques and I stayed in the back of the vehicle sitting very still and watched the Waterbuck approach the watering hole near the fence and the naughty Warthogs sneak into the haystacks for their evening snacks. Hungry again, it was time for our evening meal of scrumptious oxtail stew.

















On Friday, we expected most of the family to arrive so we were busy during the day with preparations. For the weekend get-together, we expected 19 people, some staying in the chalets surrounding the farm house, some in other bedrooms of the house and even camping on the grounds. Family slowly trickled in during the day – Jacques’ aunts, uncles, cousins, brother, sister, nieces and nephews. We caught up with family he hasn’t seen in years and met new family for me. Some spoke mostly Afrikaans, so it was hard to communicate at times and Jacques would translate for me but everyone was so nice and welcomed me into the family. Mandy, Jacques’ sister in from Gana, and her kids were the last to arrive and just in time for the evening game drive. The combi was packed so Jacques and I opted to stand on the back end of the vehicle, which in our opinion was the best and most fun spot. We drove through the bush, spotting game where we could but it was hard with everyone still busy catching up so we just enjoyed the sunset drive. Back at the farm, we had our first bush braai of traditional boerewors, followed an evening fire under the starlit African skies.









On Saturday morning, more family arrived and brought with them our meal for the evening, a sheep for a spit braai (a very big occasion)! Oom Dries rescued a tortoise from the main road and brought him to the safe haven of the farm. If the tortoise was left, he would have faced death by car or eaten by the locals. On our morning game drive, we took the tortoise to a watering hole for safe refuge. We had a fire burning all day in preparation for the sheep. After close to 5 hours on the spit and another sunset game drive, dinner was finally ready and what a feast it was! Sheep has never been my favorite and the family honored me with the first and best cut of meat, the fillet. Everything was so delicious, especially the lamb and we were "duk" again. Jacques and I were one of the lasts to go to bed that night, choosing to spend time drinking and chatting by the fire with those still awake. Jacques decided he needed another dip in the dam water then it was off to bed.















On Sunday morning, we had another full brunch meal with the entire family then people started to pack up for the weekend and say their good-byes. By the time our sunset game drive came around, only Mandy, Electra and Jack were still on the farm, staying another night. We had a quieter night spent together and then another truly relaxing night’s sleep. We woke Monday morning to a big breakfast followed by Mandy and the kids leaving, but we had plans to see them the following night on our way back to Johannesburg. The weather had cooled a bit and we spent the afternoon outside on the patio reveling in our final day on the farm. Pa was out placing feed down for the animals and came back with a location of the Zebras. So far, they had been eluding us on our drives. Jacques and I jumped into a smaller bakkie and rode off into the velt to find them. We spotted them in the open field but they spotted us immediately as well. We climbed out of the vehicle and tip toed as close as we could get to them before they were startled and galloped back into the thick bush. We drove around the farm one last time and spotted many of the other game. This would be our last game drive as an American hunter was coming to the farm in the evening with plans to shoot a Kudu buck so we were to stay out of the bush (he ended up getting greedy for his trophy wall and shot an Eland and injured a Waterbuck instead). Ma, Jacques and I settled for the sunset from the patio, which turned out to be lovely. We moved our chairs close to the fence and watched the bucks and Warthogs watch us watching them. Closer to dusk, we climbed into the back end of the game viewing vehicle and remained still for our up close view of the warthogs breaking into the fence and the other bucks arriving for their evening drink and feed.















Upon waking Tuesday morning, we packed a week’s worth of supplies back into the bakkie and trailer for the trip back to Jo’burg. We stopped at Mandy’s South African house for another visit and dinner before we all head back to our home countries. We spent Wednesday running erands and preparing for our last evening's gathering. Ted and Elmarie came over with their children as well as Jacques' cousin, Marius and his family for our final braai. It was a great send off to spend our final African night with close family and friends. We are so thankful to Ma and Pa for a special month spent with them exploring Africa!





We are leaving on a jet plane tonight back to the USA!