A Letter by Adine Roode

A herd of buffalo meets Nandi and me at the waterhole, a herd almost as big as the waterhole itself, stretching across the earth in droves. How many, I don’t know, but I know that their families can reach from 20 up to 1000 in size. Large families like this are not that common in the animal kingdom, but you’ll see it among the elephants too, like a school of fish darting through the water in a synchronized dance. Elephants are family animals and it’s partly what endears me to them.

As Nandi waits in the car, I exit and take slow steps closer to the buffalo. The elephants arrive and Pisa and Mambo beeline for the animals. The naïve bravery of youth in full display. I watch Setombe and Klaserie head down to the water’s edge with Sebakwe close by, Jabulani, a bull as old as my son, is there too. At the back are Tokwe and Fishan, taking it slow, letting their family make their way to the dam first. And in between I spot my Meisiekind, Khanyisa. As much as the herd adopted her, and now raise her, I still feel bonded to her. She is part of my family too. My little one. The buffalo move off, giving in to the earth’s largest land mammals, our herd of 16 elephants, a herd unlike any other, with mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters.

Nandi sits quietly in my car up on the dirt path. She knows the routine by now. Her mother likes to talk to elephants, walk with elephants. And so she has to share her. Nandi grew up alongside Khanyisa. As a German Shepherd, though, she isn’t quite accepted by the bigger herd, who are weary of energetic barking wolf-like hounds. I watch the carers following the elephants and taking a break under the trees. And all I see is the incredible union of one big family and the multiple ways we are all connected, animal and human.

This wilderness is my home and I’ve walked its paths since I was a child. My children who are now adults were raised by the elephants and buffalos, with quiet waterhole outings and walks with the carers teaching them about life. You feel it more in the wild, the sense of connection. The earth has time for you, and you make time for it. The wind talks in rhymes and the trees pass on their lessons, like elders in the herd. The tracks on the ground guide you and the great matriarchs offer their comfort.

Even after my father passed away, I could feel him in this land. My mother and brother share this bushveld home, but our family is far bigger, far more varied. The giraffes and their nurseries of offspring rely on us, as the elephants, both wild and rescued, do. Their lives are our lives.

While the elephants swim and drink at the waterhole, I return to Nandi, and we continue our journey to check on our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers of the bush. Just as they check in on us, like a mother phoning her son on the other side of the country to ask him how he is, the impalas dart their eyes our way, “How are you?” Their ears face us to listen to the reply…

Look after family, however big or small, far or near, and it will look after you.

A Look at Kapama’s Story

My father’s vision for Kapama was to create a safe and protected home where wildlife could thrive in abundance. But he was also a family man, and this spirit connects everything in our home here.

When I was growing up, my family and I spent many weekends and holidays in the Kapama Private Game Reserve that they built together.

My grandfather, on my mother’s side, Willie Schürmann, acquired a 2,000-hectare farm in the Hoedspruit district in 1950. After my mother married my father, Johann Roode, in 1970, they dedicated their time and hearts to the farm, even though they primarily resided in Pretoria.

In 1985, they acquired additional land alongside the farm and expanded. Much of this land was used for cattle farming with a herd of Bonsmara cattle, but predators posed a threat, so they redirected their focus to wildlife. They expanded further and took a visionary step into acquiring game to live on the land. The 12,500-hectare Kapama Game Reserve was born, Kapama being the name of the local chief, Kapama Khosa.

Today, Kapama Private Game Reserve is one of Africa’s premier ecotourism destinations. It reaches out across 17,000 hectares.

This was my second home when I was young, and it still is today. I made friends with zebras, elephants, buffalo, eagles, vultures… plains game, big game, and a multitude of bird species.

While my father passed away in 2002, my mother, brother, and I kept Kapama in our hearts and dedicated ourselves to upholding my father’s vision for it as a wildlife haven.

We have homes in this reserve. I brought up my children, Lente and Xander, here and watched lovingly as their childhoods raced along the same dirt paths that my younger feet roamed. Later this year, I will watch my daughter walk along a path to a new future with her husband-to-be as we celebrate a wedding in the wild with our family.

2002 was a big year for us, as it was not only the year my father passed away but also the year that the elephant herd arrived from Zimbabwe. My mother took on the responsibility of caring for and protecting the herd that she rescued when violent land reforms threatened their lives. Already orphans due to culling, the elephants found a new life in the Kapama reserve. They built a family here and began to have offspring of their own.

Our family and hearts grew, and our attachment and connection to the land deepened.

Twenty years after the lodge was built in 2004 to help financially support the care of the elephants, you can imagine the journeys we’ve walked in this wilderness with the zebra, buffalo, eagles, and vultures that I call my friends, with the elephants who have helped raise new orphans, and with the family of carers, rangers, lodge staff, and guests that we spend time with each day.

When I think about family, as we celebrate 20 years of Jabulani this year, I think of all the countless ways the reserve has helped to raise me as an always-learning student of the nature of life. I am still young, surrounded by the wisdom of the wilderness. I am still on my own journey, growing alongside the marula trees and the youngest elephants in the herd. And when you enter through the Kapama gates, your learning journey starts, too. You will see all the magical ways the land, animals and other residents take you in, and show you what it feels like to be part of a big family. A wilderness family that supports and nourishes you.