Sarah Tompkins and her husband, Mark, bought a farm, then added one property after another to create the Samara Game Reserve near Graaff Reinet.
They have now opened the reserve to the public.
The dream of providing a safe place for indigenous wildlife, Tompkins says, started with an image of the "biggest migrations on earth", a phenomenon in earlier centuries which saw huge herds of springbok and wildebeest cross the "parched thirstlands" in search of water and better grazing.
"That magnificent sight, however, stopped abruptly with the onslaught of the 19th century settlers," she says.
"The traditional game paths followed for centuries by the Springbok made way for agricultural fences. Big game was massacred for sport. The game disappeared along with the extinction of the horse-like quagga."
It has taken 10 years for the Tompkinses to realise her vision, but today the soil-eroded farmlands have made way for savannah grasslands, escarpment thickets, Nama Karoo bush and plateau grasslands. The reserve now provides sustenance for large herds of introduced springbok, gemsbok, kudu, black wildebeest, zebra, eland, red hartebeest and blesbok. They roam the plains with white rhino, buffalo and giraffe.
Even more exciting are the number of cheetah in the area after an absence of nearly 125 years.
The Tompkins couple came to Camdeboo almost by chance 10 years ago. Although they had agreed to look at a farm in the area, they had decided in advance not to buy a place in the desolate countryside.
But, says Tompkins, when she saw the farm on the edge of the plains, she loved it instantly. It lay in a wide valley through which the Melk River meanders and where indigenous trees, such as the spekboom, the shepherd's bush, the kiepersol and the wild olive flourish.
Rivers tumble off the mountainsides after the rains, monkeys feast on roots and berries and baboons shelter on rocky outcrops.
Bat-eared foxes, aardvarks, meercats, mongoose and dassies have always been part of the environment.
In the winter months, the mountains are often snow-capped and the distant vistas extend nearly 300km.
Here, too, early man left their mark. Bushman art painted by some of the area's original inhabitants festoon rock faces in the mountains.
When Tompkins bought the first farm, just one thing was missing - the antelope and predators of yesteryear.
What had happened to those springbok herds that crossed the plains in their millions, the column so large that it was estimated to be more than 10km long and 4km wide?
Were there still cheetahs in the mountains? They, too, had disappared with the rest of the indigenous wildlife.
Tompkins knew enough land would have to be amassed to create a self-sustaining eco-system. She set about restoring the property and upgrading the environment, simultaneously embarking on a wildlife acquisition programme.
An old Karoo farmhouse was restored and enlarged for guests and a number of cottages were erected close by.
Today the reserve is 28 000ha in extent.
But it was the introduction of cheetah - a highly endangered creature - that has brought Tompkins the greatest satisfaction.
With just 2 000 cheetah left in South Africa and the species on the "highly vulnerable list", she was keen to reintroduce them. She found one through the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust.
Sibella, as the cheetah has been named, was born in the wild and hunted in Limpopo Province where she was savagely treated before being taken to De Wildt.
There she underwent surgery to repair her badly injured mouth and the tendons in her legs.
When she recovered she was relocated to Samara with two males in December 2003. There she was fitted with a radio collar so that her movements could be monitored.
In spite of the occasional limitations imposed by her injuries, Sibella produced five cubs within a year. In fact, to date she has produced 18 cubs, with the loss of just one.
"In areas where lions and hyenas roam, she would certainly have lost more cubs," Tompkins says. "Because they are highly endangered, we decided not to introduce predators. Instead, we have embarked on a programme whereby we exchange the cubs, once they are fully grown, for other species, such as the endangered mountain zebra."
Despite a lack of the "big five", game viewing at Samara is excellent. The reserve teems with wildlife. The reintroduced herds have multiplied to the extent that it is now necessary to do a population census to retain a natural balance.
And because there are no really dangerous animals in the reserve, guests can "walk with the animals".
One evening our ranger called us hurriedly back to the safari vehicle. He had spotted the hard-to-see aardvark on his return to the lodge in the early evening.
In a matter of minutes we were assembled and on our way to see this strange looking creature digging in the soil for his nightly feed of ants.
Yet, even as we turned away, we spotted a second aardvark. The creature so difficult to see elsewhere is abundant in the bush here. Apart from the wide range of antelope, all the smaller creatures kept popping up - bat eared foxes, mongoose, meercats and dassies.
The variety is large and, even though it was winter, the bird life was prolific.
Flocks of V-shaped blue cranes flew overhead at least twice. We saw kori bustards, black-bellied korhaans, pale chanting goshawks, black vultures, secretary birds and a host of smaller karoo birds, prolific among them being the orange-throated longclaw.
And while the animals remain the central focus, the botany is no less exciting.
Ranger Les Slabbert told us that the spekboom has been found to have an amazing capacity to absorb polluted gases in the air.
"One hectare of spekboom can absorb 10 tons of carbon dioxide," he said. "It's a plant that could be cultivated worldwide to reduce the damaging effects of carbon emission."
Samara, "land of serenity", has come into its own. Its ethos is characteristic of Karoo homeliness. The old homestead, complete with wide veranda, is sufficiently off the beaten track to provide city weary folk with the perfect retreat. Children are welcome and it's a safe place to roam.
Samara offers readers a September special: pay for two nights but stay for three at R2 760 a night per person sharing. This includes luxury en suite accommodation, all meals, two open Land Rover safaris, sundowners, local house wines and beverages, return transfers from Samara air strip and all tourism levies.
- For more information, call 049-891-0880 or email [email protected]