Baobab Ridge recently hosted renowned travel writer and publisher Tessa Buhrmann and her husband Daryl on a four-day fact-finding mission that will see the lodge and its incredible team featured in upcoming editions of the wonderful and much-lauded Responsible Traveller digital magazine.

"I was immediately blown away by the wonderful, warm welcome and the wide smiles of the Baobab Ridge team," says Tessa, reminiscing about the experience. "We felt like although we had arrived as strangers, we immediately were made to feel like friends and left just a few days later as family," she adds. "It's a remarkable thing and something that sets Baobab Ridge apart from many other safari lodges."

Tessa is focussing on two themes for her writing for the next couple of editions of Responsible Traveller - conservation and communities, and people and places. "These themes fit Baobab Ridge perfectly because of the lodge's clear commitment to both people and planet and especially the amazing rapport it has with its team of people, the majority of whom come from local communities on the edge of the Klaserie," explains Tessa.

Guided by JV for the duration of their stay, Tessa and Daryl were taken "off the beaten track" during game drives, spending time appreciating the birdlife of the reserve as well as its more prominent wildlife species.

"On our first game drive we didn't actually get more than a few hundred metres from the lodge," remembers Tessa. "We picked up a coalition of two cheetah brothers literally a stone's throw from our room, along with an accompanying juvenile hyena and black-backed jackal who were shadowing the cheetah's every move."

"We spent an hour or so with the cheetah, just watching them as the sun slowly started to sink and a storm rolled in, observing how whenever they moved, the hyena and the jackal immediately got up and followed them, keeping a safe distance," says Tessa.

Guide JV explains this behaviour... "It's not uncommon to find cheetah like this, or indeed any other big cat, being followed by hyena or jackal, who shadow them to watch if they are going to hunt and possibly cash-in on a kill," he says. "So it was a rare privilege just to switch off the vehicle and sit with the cheetah, watching them and their ever-watchful 'shadows' and seeing some interaction between them and the hyena, which at one stage got a little too close for comfort and was seen off by the cheetah."

Moving off for sundowners, JV picked up a breeding herd of elephants, allowing Tessa and Daryl the chance to spend some time with these wonderful creatures as they browsed, with one young bull investigating the vehicle at very close quarters... "It's always amazing to watch elephants," says Tessa. "And to sit still and observe them as they came to check out the vehicle was very thrilling."

Keen birders, Tessa and Daryl were also indulged by JV with a wonderful bird-watching drive along a dry river bed. "We just spent a couple of hours moving slowly along the sandy bed, seeing so many different species along the way, from woodland and brown-hooded kingfishers to Stierling's wren warbler, Jameson's firefinch, black-headed oriole and two impressive giant (Verreaux's) eagle owl," explains Tessa.

"That was an absolute highlight, along with our last game drive where we tracked a female leopard named "Cleo" for two and a half hours before we finally found her, which was more than worth the effort JV put in," she adds.

During her stay Tessa spent time interviewing various members of the Baoab Ridge team. So look out for her stories in the magazine and follow her on Facebook if you like...