Tired of Thailand? Bored by Bali? Adventurous globetrotter Ivan Pun, founder of Pun + Projects, gave us insider tips on his favourite holiday spot off the beaten track
Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa
In February last year I went to Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa for my friend Philipp Althof’s birthday. In terms of the scenery, Madikwe is like many other game reserves in South Africa, but I really felt like there were a lot more animals there than other reserves I’ve been to.
We saw all the big five: elephants, black rhinos, buffalo, lions and a leopard.
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I’d never been rhino tagging before, so that was one of the highlights of my trip. Poaching is a huge problem in Africa and tagging the animals is a way of monitoring them within the game reserves.
The tags also collect useful information on the animal for conservationists working on the reserve.
To go tagging, you get into a helicopter and from the air you shoot a tranquilliser dart into the animal. It kicks in after a few minutes and the animal falls asleep. While the animal is sleeping, you insert a microchip into its skin and wait for it to wake up and run off. It was incredible to see wild rhinos so close.
We stayed at Morukuru Family Relais & Châteaux. Our group booked out the three lodges: the Owner’s House, River House and Farm House. The lodges were beautiful and the service was wonderful. It was quite a chilled holiday, everything was perfect. Going on safari is always a special experience.
