Judging by his demonstration to a group of city-slicker journos, Andreas Liebenberg, owner of Bateleur Wilderness Safaris, is the perfect person to form a Survivor alliance with. With him around, the tribe would always have fire and never go hungry, even if it meant dining on wild spinach for a week.

Under Andreas’s tutelage, even our clumsy group — with some help, mind you — managed to produce fire by rubbing two sticks together. This isn’t as simple as it looks, as you need to use woods of varying hardness. Ideally, Andreas told us, you should have a relatively hard stick at right angles to a soft piece of wood, and it helps to make an indentation. It’s all about the best way of producing friction.

Fire, like a human baby, needs to be looked after. We collected our sparks in tinder of elephant dung, which was then sheltered between pieces of wood.

Learning some traditional remedies

I’ve always been fascinated by traditional herbal medicines, as remedies passed down through generations and as a sign of our understanding and indebtedness to nature. As a guest of Bateleur in Timbavati, learning bushcraft helped make a holiday in the bush something a little more meaningful.

I may never have to use any of these remedies, but all the same, it’s interesting to know that burning elephant dung is a natural insect repellent, that the smoke from tambotie wood is poisonous and taints meat, but that the young wood will stun fish, and that leadwood leaves are good for a headache. If you cut yourself, the leaves of the jackalberry and sicklebush trees are good for wounds.

Andreas — who turned out to be a real bush baby — also produced several different kinds of tea. The leaves, roots and bark of the sicklebush tree (here’s where it helps to have one of those handy field guides with you) and the leaves of the russet bushwillow both infuse to form tasty 'bush tea'. On a walk that morning, we’d already learnt that another species of bushwillow provides a useful remedy for stomach pain.

Being able to find food is critical. We were shown the distinctive jagged leaves of the wild spinach plant, or “morogo”, which can be boiled with tomato and wild sage. The marula tree provides delicious fruit and the green monkey orange is both a supplier of food and of waterproof containers.

Finding water beneath the bushveld sands

And even though we’re in the bush, proper hygiene is very important. Twigs from the wonderfully-named 'magic worry tree' make good toothbrushes, with paste made from leadwood ash and water. For toilet paper, the African weeping wattle comes in handy.

Despite my new-found knowledge, I doubt I’d be much use on Survivor. I’d be the one who lies under the shade of a tree all day while the others do the work and gets voted off on the first round. So it's just as well we got the usual game lodge accessories too: like three square meals a day, accommodation in safari tents, and top-notch service from our guides.

And while Bateleur doesn't try to mimic the ostentatious luxury of its neighbours (not that I'm opposed to a bit of pampering) the personalised service is what really makes staying here worthwhile. Game drives and bush walks are part of the deal, along with activities like tracking, rifle craft, astronomy (clear skies permitting) and bush craft.

It's also worth noting that while the private game reserves surrounding Kruger are usually seen as far too expensive for ordinary South Africans, Bateleur Wilderness Safaris provides the cheapest option by far, at around R1500 per person per night.

For more info...
• To find out more, visit the Bateleur Wilderness Safaris website or call them on (011) 888 8161.