By William Saunderson-Meyer and Karen MacGregor*

Nitani - The Pinchens create a Paradise

Nitani Private Game Reserve, in the wildlife haven of Northern Tuli, Botswana, is an unusual enterprise. Unlike most luxury lodges and reserves, it was not the instant creation of a large corporation. Anything but - Nitani was built painstakingly over the course of two decades, from the ground up, by dedicated husband-and-wife team Shane and Ade Pinchen.

The Pinchens have had a passion for wildlife since they were kids in South Africa. Both of them kept all manner of injured animals, which they nursed back to health and then released into the wild.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the young married couple deliberately arranged their lives so that they could spend at least three months of each year travelling in the Chobe and Moremi National Parks of Botswana, a wonderful corner of Africa. Not even the birth of their two daughters deterred these treks into the wild, during which Shane and Ade immersed themselves among the animals, birds, insects and reptiles. The kids were simply packed in the truck, and grew up in the bush.

During one of these trips, on their way back to Chobe, the Pinchens spent some time in the Tuli Game Reserve - and discovered an unspoilt wilderness. They knew immediately that this was where they wanted to settle. In 1985 they managed to procure a piece of land within Tuli which they called Nitani, made up of the first two letters of their daughters' names, Nicole and Tarryn. The land was completely undeveloped, without a single road or dwelling.

Shane and Ade built their first lodge on the banks of the Majali River and called it Papate (meaning Flat Rocks), so named after the volcanic dyke that millions of years back created a natural weir across the Majali River and which holds water throughout the year.

For the next 19 years Papate became the stopping place for guests. The Pinchens played the roles of hosts, chefs, guides and cleaners, since they catered for only four paying guests at a time. The combination of rugged wilderness, wildlife, and Shane and Ade - two utterly charming, interesting and knowledgeable conservationists - proved irresistible.

The word spread of Nitani's attractions, with more and more of their guests wanting to return with six or eight friends. Since they could not accommodate such numbers, Shane and Ade decided to build a new, luxury 10-bed lodge five kilometres up river from Papate, on a small island which they called Nitani Island Lodge.

Nothing is easy in Africa and the new lodge was only completed in 2004. Everything - from timber and plumbing to furniture and fittings - had to be trucked from South Africa, at great cost and over considerable distances and rocky roads, to construct the stilted camp. In the 2001 floods, all the timber for construction was swept away and had to be re-cut, dried and delivered back to the site, along with new timber to replace that which had been lost.
They opened in October 2004 and tested staff and the Lodge with non-paying guests for six months to ensure that everything was working perfectly. Ian Khama, the deputy-president of Botswana, officially opened Nitani Island Lodge to the public in April 2005.

It is an extraordinary place - pampered luxury in a tastefully decorated lodge on stilts in the unspoilt Botswana bush. Cordon bleu cooking amidst a cacophony of wildlife. A wellness centre and pub, a pool for each chalet, personal-but-private attendance by well-trained staff - and, most of all, the chance to get to know Shane and Ade.

Ade grows the organic lettuce, tomatoes and herbs for the Lodge from a caged and electrified vegetable patch. This is to prevent the elephant, antelope, baboons, monkeys, and porcupines, among others, treating it as convenience take-away.

Ade has spent many years of her life alone in the bush, first with the Natal Parks Board in South Africa and subsequently at Nitani. Her intimate knowledge and understanding of wild animals and birds is amazing to witness: she could fills books with her animal encounters.

Visitors are sometimes fortunate enough to see firsthand this Dr Doolittle-like empathy. You might see her talk to two or three of the resident elephant bulls: they walk right up to her and simply stand there, listening to her voice. Or when she calls a wild warthog while on a game drive and they come running up to the car to greet her. Shane describes the incredible feeling of evenings when they are alone at Papate and Martha, one of the resident hyena females, brings her two cubs into the dining room to suckle.

Because of its architecture, their home at Papate is entirely open and without windows and doors. Often animals move freely through the lounge and dining room area, and on occasion they have to deal with the mess made when hyenas kill an antelope in the lounge.

Ade has dedicated much of her life to the breeding and rehabilitation of wildlife. In a ground-breaking project established in conjunction with South African wildlife authorities, 20 years were spent on the capture, study and breeding of the endangered red duiker. From this successful programme, more than 260 progeny were released back into the wild. She has also reared and released porcupines, bushbuck, owls and monkeys, and is currently involved in a breeding and release project on the rarely seen serval cats.

Shane is involved in various conservation research projects, including ongoing work on Aardvark, Hyena and Aardwolf. He also has a passion for the archaeology of the region - which dates to the early Jurassic period and has fossils 237 million years old, as well as artefacts from the Stone Age, Crystalline Period and the Iron Age - and lectures on ornithology and astronomy. All of Nitani's guides receive in-depth training on trees, the medical uses of plants, birds, astronomy and animals.

At Nitani, Shane and Ade have managed to create, through their love of conservation and Botswana and through sheer hard work, an escape from the maddening crowds that combines rejuvenating relaxation with deep learning about wildlife. A truly remarkable experience.

* William Saunderson-Meyer is a syndicated South African columnist. Karen MacGregor writes for international publications.

Both are also directors (along with elephant expert Bruce Page and artist Evan Oberholster) of African Fundi Tours, a niched travel company that conducts luxury tours to southern Africa for the intellectually curious. 'Fundi' is the Swahili word for 'a person with local knowledge, an expert'. African Fundi Tours are tailor-made to meet the needs and interests of small groups of clients, who are accompanied by internationally recognised experts in a range of fields - southern African conservation and wildlife, history, politics, paleoanthropology, astronomy and other areas - who add to these upmarket holidays a wealth of knowledge regarding the many facets that make this region unique. For more information visit the African Fundi website at www.africanfundi.com or e-mail editors@iafrica.com