It’s surprising what you can encounter when you go for a walk in a game reserve.  Game drives are all very well – animals are often habituated to a vehicle and will go about their business unconcernedly while the viewer can get up close and personal.  But to really know what it is like to be in the African bush, go by boot.

Some of my most memorable game experiences have been on walking safaris.  There was the time when I was strolling up a gently sloping river-bank in the Tuli Reserve when the ground both in front of me and behind me erupted into two young warthogs.  I had unwittingly walked too close to their burrow and they had decided that discretion was the better part of valour.  My companions on the walk told me later, between helpless giggles,  that I had run vigorously on the spot for several seconds before I had gained enough traction to head off in a direction away from the exploding warthogs. In Pongola Game Reserve the walking safari was in white rhino country.  We were followed by a back-up vehicle.  The walkers went down one side of a ravine while the back-up vehicle drove around to the other side.  What we didn’t know was that a mother and baby white rhino were at the bottom of the ravine. White rhinos, being a bit short-sighted and a bit shy, tend to run away from rumbling vehicles and inadvertently towards the small group of big-eyed pedestrians who are trying desperately to become arboreal.  The thing about rhino tracking is that just when you need a good tree to shin up, there isn’t one.  Just mingy little saplings that allow you to run up the trunk like a monkey and then slowly bend over under your weight so that your rear end is only a few inches from the ground with your legs bicycling the air madly.  The rhino sniffs you with interest and then, not being a cruel beast, moves off to graze somewhere else. Another occupational hazard of walking safaris, is when the ranger is giving a lecture on bushcraft to a semi-circle of interested listeners, while trying very hard to keep his eyes away from the large snake slowly climbing the trunk of the tree immediately behind the most nervous and skittish guest. The best walking safaris have been along the banks of dry river-beds.  There is something almost indescribable about walking along the thick sand of a wide river, enclosed by high banks, soft sand underfoot, the smell of water coming from underground, with fringes of trees along the bank and the possibility of anything around the next corner, especially if there are pools of water in the riverbed for animals to come along and enjoy. Walks get you away from the diesel-perfumed vehicle into the silence of the bush, either in the fresh cool air of early morning with the slanting sun highlighting trees and bushes, or in the heat of the day when the air sings with insect song, you can smell the earth and water, you can see the tracks in the sand of the animals that came this way before you. So this is the perfect place to introduce Africa on Foot, a safari camp in the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve adjoining the Kruger National Park that specialises in walking safaris.  When Africa on Foot promises that it will take you back to nature, that is exactly what it does. There is nothing fancy about this place… “no wine cellars or heated towel rails,” as owner Courteney Blunden will tell you.  The land used to be family farm since 1948, and the camp can best be described as ‘low impact’. There are rondavels and a tree house, oil lamps, donkey boilers for hot water, campfires and absolute silence.  Water is recycled, and the atmosphere is just like a family camping holiday.  Game walks go out every morning with qualified, skilled and experienced rangers (after boere-koffie and rusks).  Courteney says that the Big Five are often seen on these walks, although all that is usually seen of the leopard is a spotted tail disappearing into the bush.  The most interesting times, he says, are when the groups encounter elephant, which - just like the stories - have insatiable curiosity.  Walking safaris take several hours, depending on the guests’ stamina, and combine education with immersion in the wild.  Days are for lazing (perhaps around the small pool) and afternoon and night drives build up an appetite for traditional South African dinners.  Africa On Foot has almost entirely American, European and Australian guests, who always comment on how comfortable and relaxed the camp is, despite the lack of gold taps and air-conditioning.  This is a concept that can only grow. “We have just opened our second camp,” says marketing manager Brett Thompson, “and we want to take this concept right through Africa.  We have something unique – tourism camps that are no strain on the environment, yet offer everything a guest would want.  Including the silence and peace of the African bush.” To find out more, go to www.africaonfoot.com