Hazyview – Plumbago

When we left Inyati Game Reserve we spent 2 nights at Plumbago before flying back to Cape Town for the last leg of our 2023 South African journey.

Plumbago is a small guest house (only 3 rooms) located on a banana and avocado farm, only 20 minutes from Kruger National Park (we could see Kruger in the distance). Plumbago’s property is large and has a really nice pool and many areas to relax. We ran out of time so we didn’t get a chance to enjoy the pool – but we will next time.

From our initial contact with ilara (the owner), through several changes in dates and finally to our stay, ilara was so kind, considerate and welcoming. Breakfast is served on the deck and dinner is also available on request. Dinners were 4 courses – ilara’s presentation is lovely and the food is very good. It was so nice to enjoy a candlelit dinner at the BnB, relax and chat with the other guests and then walk down the path to our room.

We had not planned any activities while at Plumbago, but ilara suggested that we visit Elephant Whispers. We read that it was a haven for 5 rescued elephants to live out the rest of their lives. We liked that there are only a few 1 hour showings each day and then the elephants roam freely on the large property on which Whispers is located. The following quote from Whispers’ website aptly describes what we experienced “…enlightening interactive elephant experience; meet our five magnificent African elephants and learn about their extraordinary behaviour and physiology, observing first-hand how the elephants have developed trust in the kindness and care they receive from the team.”

We learned so much about elephants. We were amazed at how they responded to “command words” (of course they knew treats would be given after each command). Tembo, the oldest elephant (38 years old), understood 130 command words. We definitely have to work with Q (our shared dog) when we get home as she only knows 2-3 commands but certainly responds to the word “TREATS”.

We found Tembo’s story interesting “When Tembo was two years old, he was orphaned when his herd was culled. Together with another orphaned elephant he was raised by humans. Tembo’s home until he was approximately 18 years of age was on land which bordered crop farms which Tembo regularly raided, causing thousands of Rand’s damage. Authorities, faced with a deluge of complaints, had to seriously consider Tembo’s future. Fortunately Tembo was rescued and after meeting his new family, he enthusiastically took on a leadership role, quickly becoming established as the loyal protector of the herd”.

We were able to feel the different parts of Tembo’s body. Way more hair than we thought. The inside of the mouth was really interesting as of course we don’t see the tongue and teeth when the trunk is down.

Robbie (ilara’s husband) not only took us to Elephant Whispers, but he stayed as it had been 9 years since he had been to Whispers. Robbie is a contractor who works in the bush and he had taken his staff there to learn about the elephants. Robbie explained that both his staff and the ladies at the guesthouse (who they also took to Whispers) think of the bush as a place to get wood for their fires and really don’t think of the animals. Both his staff and the BnB ladies were in awe of these mighty animals. After Whispers Robbie joined us for lunch and also took us to see their property (it has stunning views and we look forward to seeing the home they are building once it is done). We had many interesting conversations with Robbie and thoroughly enjoyed our time with him.

When we arrived back at Plumbago, I had a 1 1/2 massage with Deon (Ilara arranged to have Deon come to our room) – a nice way to end the day. Although Deon offered, Larry still does not like massages – he enjoyed reading his book in the garden area.

We plan to come back to Plumbago as it is a perfect spot to begin and end a visit to Kruger National Park – you can self-drive but we would arrange to go with a guide for a day or two.

Thank you ilara and Robbie for taking such good care of us. Also, please thank your staff who always had a smile and did such a lovely job of decorating the table and our room with fresh flowers and greenery. We look forward to our next visit to Plumbago.

Our last blog for this trip will be on the wine areas of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.