Just how do aardvarks do it? For ten minutes I've been hacking away at the sun-baked ground with minimal effect, yet just to my left I can see a gaping hole dug by this champion excavator that's large enough to swallow a wheelie-bin. And all the elusive mammal has for tools are its claws. The spade in my hands is an embarrassment.
“Hold on,” says my guide Christiaan Swanepoel. He walks over from his own digging and, with several lusty blows from a crowbar, smashes a starter hole into the surface. “There. That should help.” My embarrassment only deepens.
It's a crisp, sunny winter afternoon in South Africa's eastern Karoo. Behind us, a loose posse of giraffes is working the treeline, their pale ears catching the low light. At my feet, meanwhile, a gnarly, knee-high shrub wrapped in protective plastic awaits its new home. This unassuminglooking plant is spekboom, a native succulent with small, fleshy leaves that is integral to the Karoo's culture and ecology. We're helping return it to where it belongs.
Today is the last of my six days at Samara. This private nature reserve lies some three hours’ drive north of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth). Its
