The 注目する，もくろむ of the tiger: My date with Madonna and a ゴルフing icon (sort of) in South Africa

By Georgie Thompson
Updated: 17:01 BST, 26 February 2012

'Welcome to Laohu Valley Tiger Reserve in Bloemfontein,' I was told by my hosts when I arrived. 'Tiger 支持を得ようと努めるd and Madonna are looking 今後 to 会合 you.' My 新聞記者／雑誌記者 mind started to race...

Tiger 支持を得ようと努めるd and Madonna 推定する／予想するing me? Living together in harmony here in South Africa? This was a 抱擁する world 排除的!

Into Africa: Georgie 長，率いるd to South Africa for her big cat 遭遇（する）

Was I about to be let into a secret that the 残り／休憩（する） of the world was oblivious to? Surely not...

As it turned out, definitely not. This Tiger was 現実に a real tiger and, while Madonna looked every インチ a 星／主役にする, she too was a big cat.

My 失望 at discovering that I wasn't, after all, on to a sensational scoop was short-lived. 存在 out-星／主役にするd by a tiger should be on everyone's 'things-to-do-before-I-die' 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）. It was an otherworldly feeling as Tiger 支持を得ようと努めるd's 注目する，もくろむs went 権利 through me the first time we met, my mortality made abundantly （疑いを）晴らす by this 抱擁する, beautiful king の中で animals.

Many people will never get the chance to experience what I and my flatmate - Sky News presenter Sarah-Jane Mee - did that day, and not just because Laohu Valley Reserve is 私的な and not open to the public. Rarely does anybody anywhere get to see these magnificent creatures nowadays.

The big cats on the reserve are rare South 中国 tigers and, with より小数の than 100 left in the world and 非，不，無 in the wild, they are the most 危うくするd of all tigers. So when SJ and I were 申し込む／申し出d the chance to see them in as natural a habitat as you could hope to find them, we didn't think twice. What's more, we 調書をとる／予約するd an entire ten-day holiday around them.

星／主役にするs with （土地などの）細長い一片s: Georgie met Tiger 支持を得ようと努めるd and Madonna, two tigers at the Laohu Valley Tiger Reserve

Our South African adventure began in Cape Town, at the Cape Grace hotel in the 影をつくる／尾行する of （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する Mountain, the city's most iconic 目印. This is a hotel that prides itself on good service. We were barely out of the chauffeur-driven car it 供給するs as a 往復（する） to 地元の hotspots before Nigel, the hotel 経営者／支配人, pounced and 発表するd his 意向 to make our stay as pleasurable as possible. Nothing was too much trouble for Nigel and his staff, and we were very 井戸／弁護士席 looked after.

First 仕事 for us was to check out some of the sights. A trip to the 最高の，を越す of （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する Mountain 申し込む／申し出d みごたえのある panoramas and was 井戸／弁護士席 価値（がある） the 成果／努力. Better still was our visit to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was 拘留するd for 25 years. After visiting Alcatraz in San Francisco a few years 支援する, I naively thought I knew what to 推定する／予想する from the 悪名高い 沖合いの／海外の 刑務所，拘置所. .. but it was nothing like I'd imagined.

These days, former 囚人s and ex-guards live together on the island, 明らかに able to leave what happened in the past 支援する in the past.

Our 小旅行する guide, Dumisani Mwandla, was a former 囚人 who spent five-and-a-half years on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela and other high-profile political 囚人s. Dumisani put it poignantly when he 述べるd the 残虐な 治療 （打撃，刑罰などを）与えるd on him by a man he now lives と一緒に as an equal when he said: 'He was just doing his 職業 and I was just doing 地雷 in 存在 here.'

On a nervy フェリー（で運ぶ） crossing 支援する to the 本土／大陸, we 検討する，考慮するd over how remarkable it was that a man who had been 軍隊d to 存在する in such a way should want to return to live の中で those who had put him there 最初 against his will.

A trip to Robben Island is not only a lesson in history but a true story 最高潮の場面ing what the human spirit is 有能な of in the 直面する of extreme adversity.

最高の，を越す of the world: Georgie and Sarah-Jane take in the 見解（をとる） from （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する Mountain

There's still a lot of scaremongering about personal safety in South Africa, but SJ and I never once felt 危険な or 関心d about our surroundings, even as two 'girls' enjoying the sights and sounds of Cape Town's Waterfront or the many restaurants and 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s in its trendy 郊外, （軍の）野営地，陣営s Bay.

One of our favourite places to eat was The Codfather seafood and sushi restaurant, and we enjoyed 激しく揺する-星／主役にする mojitos at Cafe Caprice. Ask to be served by KP at the former and the Orlando Bloom lookalike at the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 at the latter. It makes the whole experience even more enjoyable!

After a sizeable serving of sightseeing, 罰金 ワイン and food, we were 都合よく revitalised and ready for the next course on our South African menu: Blo emfontein and the tigers.

設立するd in 2000 by Beijing-born Li Quan, Laohu Valley Reserve depends on public and 法人組織の／企業の 寄付s to 基金 what is 述べるd as the 'rewilding' of the South 中国 tiger. 結局 Li hopes to see the tigers she has bred in South Africa sent home and 解放（する）d into 目的-built reserves.

Li and her team spend every waking moment dedicating themselves to a 原因（となる） many see as 使節団 impossible. It was an 絶対の 注目する，もくろむ-opener in every sense to see them at work and to 会合，会う Tiger 支持を得ようと努めるd and his ギャング（団）, all unwittingly at the 最前部 of their 種類' very 生き残り.

The 'rewilding' means just that - these are ferocious wild beasts - and we were 感謝する for the electric 盗品故買者 that kept us a foot apart, and Tiger from making me breakfast and SJ lunch.

There is 絶対 nothing like a safari holiday to remind you of your place in the world. It tends to put life, 特に your own, into 視野.

地雷 was certainly brought into sharp 焦点（を合わせる） during our next stop, at the Shamwari reserve 近づく Port Elizabeth. On our first game 運動 we 遭遇（する）d a pride of lions feasting on their kills - a couple of baby warthogs - and SJ and I thought our days were numbered when Jules, our 特別奇襲隊員, left us on a ledge as he went in search of the best possible angles for us to see the 追跡（する）d and the hunters.

We also saw elephants, rhinos (黒人／ボイコット and white), buffalo, giraffe, hippos, cheetahs and ヒョウs.

Wild at heart: The girls travelled to the Shamwari Game Reserve

We saw lions stalk, sleep and eat and, just as with the Laohu Valley tigers, we were reminded of how small we are in the grand 計画／陰謀 of things - all the more so here because there was no 盗品故買者 to keep us from them, or them from us. This knowledge only made the experience of 存在 on their patch all the more special. The sense of danger is one of the 推論する／理由s a safari is such an adventure; the 予測できなく is one of the 重要な attractions.

You can make a safari holiday even more magical by enjoying it in extreme 高級な, and this is what Shamwari 申し込む／申し出s in 豊富.

There are several 宿泊するs you can choose - from those designed for families to those built with celebrities in mind. We stayed in Eagles Crag, a 一連の 控訴s each carefully positioned far enough from the next for 完全にする privacy. Famous 訪問者s have 含むd John Travolta and Brad Pitt.

The individual 急落（する），激減（する） pools were a very welcome 扱う／治療する after a long morning 跡をつけるing animals. On the other 手渡す, the rain spiders were 特に unwelcome. They are perfectly 害のない but seem 絶対 抱擁する, 特に when first spotted on Egyptian cotton sheets!

自然保護 is the watchword at Shamwari, with the education of 未来 世代s 根底となる to the philosophy of Johan Joubert and John O'Brien, who run the park.

The famous Born 解放する／自由な 創立／基礎 is based at Shamwari and two 聖域s on 場所／位置 house lions that have 以前 been mistreated, 栄養失調の and held 捕虜 in awful 環境s.

Here they see out their final years in far more salubrious surroundings. SJ and I were touched in particular by one lioness, Achee, who had been 救助（する）d by Born 解放する／自由な from a life in a French circus. Such was the poor 質 of her care as a cub that she was unable to walk 適切に and had no chance of 存在 解放（する）d 支援する into the wild.

Also on the reserve is an animal hospital where Johan carries out his 義務s as a real-life Doctor Dolittle. When we met him, he つまずくd into lunch wearing a cast on his 権利 脚. We asked what had happened and he told us he had been walking in the bush, alone and without a phone, when he tripped and fell awkwardly, breaking his 脚 in several places.

He was 救助（する）d hours later having 避けるd an 遭遇（する） with anything carnivorous by hugging the perimeter 盗品故買者. What a man.

Johan and John had countless stories of the remarkable adventures they'd had and how they had managed to come through 大部分は 無傷の.

Trunk call: Major 野性生物 sightings are a たびたび（訪れる） event at Shamwari

There's no 疑問 you have to have かなりの 基金s to experience the delights and dangers of Shamwari - which means 'My Friend' in Shona, a language of Zimbabwe.

But when Lucky, the reserve 経営者／支配人, 迎える／歓迎するs you with open 武器, a 冷淡な 直面する towel and a 冷静な／正味の drink, it will all seem 価値（がある） it and, like SJ and me, you'll be delighted you made the 成果／努力 to visit.

A two-episode 文書の called Return Of The South 中国 Tigers will be 空気／公表するd on BBC 無線で通信する 4 on February 28 and March 6 at 11am. To 可決する・採択する a Shamwari lion, visit www.bornfree.org.uk/shamwari.

Travel Facts

British 航空路s (www.britishairways.com) 申し込む／申し出s return flights from Heathrow to Cape Town from £867.

Southern Africa Travel (01483 425533, www.southernafrica travel.com) 申し込む／申し出s an eight-day holiday starting from £4,180 per person. This 含むs four nights' B&B at the Cape Grace hotel, Cape Town, and three nights' all-inclusive at Shamwari Eagles Crag 宿泊する, with return BA flights, 国内の flights and 移転s. 寄付s to Save 中国's Tigers can be made at www.savechinastigers.org.