There are few things in the bush more frightening than the spectacle of an enraged elephant matriarch.  More than once an over-zealous game ranger has, in the interests of showing safari-goers a good time, landed my Land Rover slap-bang in the middle of a breeding herd when the ever-present matriarch decides enough is enough and shows us the way out. At speed! With flapping ears amid a cloud of red dust, motherly love has never looked so malevolent.
Elephant cows are perhaps the perfect matriarchs; immensely strong in both body and spirit, ever-present and soft of touch for loved ones, but willing to do almost anything to protect their family. A tower of stability in an otherwise chaotic world.
Not unlike one Hester Catherina Vermaak, another great matriarch of the Eastern Cape. Hester who? We'll get to her in a second.
If you want to see elephants, particularly without the risk of malaria, the Eastern Cape's Addo Elephant National Park is the place to be. Less than an hour from Port Elizabeth, the park has been a sanctuary for elephants (the local farmers were none too keen on them damaging their crops) since it was proclaimed in 1931. Back then a mere 11 pachyderms remained, but today the herds have returned once more and the families of Loxodonta Africana have prospered thanks to migration, a safe place to settle and the help of some motherly love. Again, not unlike old Hester Catherina Vermaak.
So who was Hester?
Born in the Free State in 1841, she arrived in the Eastern Cape in 1854 as the young bride (she was just 13) of Thomas Anthony Mueller Vermaak; a kind and prosperous farmer on land known as Gorah; the Khoi Khoi word for 'spring'.
Gorah was one of the wealthiest farms in the district, due to both hard work and the boom in ostrich feathers, and prospered through the years under the firm hand of Hester. Known far and wide for her lavish parties and warm hospitality, she has long been known as the legendary matriarch of the Gorah.
Unable to have children of her own, her motherly instincts prompted her to adopt a niece and even an orphan from Victorian London. The years passed, the family bloomed and when Hester passed away in 1915 her adoptive niece Blanche Crozier took over as the grand lady of Gorah.
Life was not always easy though, as influenza and drought swept the region killing both husbands and profitable farms and leaving widows homeless in their wake. As the tendrils of World War II stretched even to the rolling hills of Addo, Blanche was forced to leave the farm and the family's connection to Gorah was lost.
Gorah was sold and bought, and then sold again, as a succession of farmers and their stoic wives tried in vain to eke a living from the hills, but the land was having none of it, and eventually the Gorah was incorporated into the Addo Elephant National Park and the grand farmhouse of Hester Vermaak fell to ruin.
Until 1998 that is, when Ian Hunter's group of hotels were given a concession – the first private concession ever awarded in a South African National Park – to run a lodge in the park. Despite searching for a location to build a brand new lodge, Ian was always drawn back to the original farmhouse; a grand old lady fallen on hard times looking for a saviour. And so, the Gorah Elephant Camp was born.
Today it is one of South Africa's top safari lodges, tucked amidst 14 000 hectares of lush Eastern Cape bushveld in the shadow of the Zuurberg mountains. Gorah’s 11 luxurious tented suites recall the golden era of safari, albeit updated with a few 21st century conveniences!
Apart from the luxurious accommodation, fine dining and opportunity to spot an array of wildlife weird and wonderful, the highlight for guests at the five-star Gorah Elephant Camp is their time spent in the farmhouse that Hester called home. Originally built in 1856, the Gorah House is a National Monument and has since been fully restored to reflect the elegant period furnishings that guests at Hester Vermaak's hunting parties and grand soirees would have enjoyed.
Hester's gravestone lies not far from the house she called home for over 60 years, and on nights when her old stomping ground is bathed in the light of a full moon there are often elephants to been seen lingering nearby, grumbling gently to each other as if in greeting. Elephant graveyards are said to be the stuff of legend, but clustered together in the pale lunar light, it's almost as if today's matriarchs of Gorah are watching over the strong women of years gone by.
- For more information visit www.hunterhotels.com or call Hunter Hotels on 044 501 1111. Much of the historical information above is from Nicola Schwimm's fascinating 'Elephant Footprints - A Photographic Journal of the Gorah Elephant Camp'.
» This article originally appeared in Sawubona, the in-flight magazine of South African Airways.
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