Low life’s Limpopo legend

‘You’ve got a lot to live up to,’ said the ranger. ‘The last Spectator journalist who stayed here was Jeremy Clarke. He made quite the impression.’ Like some sort of Zulu legend, our ‘Low life’ columnist’s time at Shambala game reserve is now talked about around the campfire — or braai as it is known in South Africa. ‘I heard he commandeered a safari vehicle and set off to find a drinking hole,’ said one of the camp staff. ‘He held a wet T-shirt competition,’ said another. ‘All the local women were very impressed.’ Apparently even Douw Steyn, who owns the reserve, still reminisces about Jeremy’s time there. You might not have heard of Steyn, but you will know his work. He’s the insurance tycoon behind Compare the Market/Meerkat, and yet his carefully curated game reserve in Limpopo doesn’t feature a single meerkat. A lost opportunity, I’d say. Still, the animals that call Shambala home all look glossy and content. There wasn’t a mangy wildebeest in sight. The elephants we rode have a team of men who care for them and teach them to play football. Two male lions lolloped around, yawning like old playboys. Shambala also sheltered Nelson Mandela. During his final years, Mandela would come to hang out on the beautiful reserve, picking up a KFC bucket from the nearby town of Vaalwater on his way in. Steyn also allowed his palatial pad in Johannesburg to be used as an open house during the ANC’s negotiations with P.W. Botha’s government, and Mandela polished off A Long Walk to Freedom there. This Jo’burg residence is now the Saxon hotel and it’s a lovely base from which to visit the city. The fortress-like structure sits amid tall trees and cool pools in the leafy suburb of Sandhurst. It’s a heavily fortified area of town, with every building wrapped in reams of electrified wiring.