Our Story - Where it all began

Shaun Maitre begins the tale of the Untravelled Trail that he and Wilderness guide, Nunu Jobe, have walked together since their first meeting in the wilderness of the iMfolozi Game Reserve in October 2011. The unmistakeable sweet scent of tamboti wood smoke drifted around us as the firelight bounced off the iMfolozi river boulders at the edge of our primitive trail camp.
Our voices were low, conversing in Zulu and I watched his animated face, glowing orange in the half light, expressing deep conviction as he answered my, “so, do you have a dream?” question.

The young trails guide who I was meeting for the first time, was surprisingly clear in his convictions, a young man of careful thought and age-old wisdom. As he shared his tapestry of ideas, the recurring theme was that conservation had failed the communities and
time was running out to turn this around. His dream was to leave a legacy. One where steel fences would not be required to keep people out of the game reserves as the “human fence” created within the surrounding communities would be protection enough. I too had spent much time dreaming, from the hot sticky days at my Zululand school desks to my current comfortable office desk. Unlike his, my dreams of the bush and opportunities that might exist, were less clear and blocked by the obstacles of the socially dictated norms of responsibility and reality.

Excitement rose from deep within me and, as I listened to Nunu Jobe speak, untravelled paths of possibility snaked into my mind. Suddenly I understood the need and felt there was possibly a role for me too in this unfolding story. A frustration with my career borne
out of the memories of a free running farm boy later to live his dream for a short two years as a game ranger at Mala Mala, had me searching for new answers. The best advice came from a priest friend quoting Frederick Buechner “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet”. I knew I was being called!
That conversation, and the many that followed, evolved into a deep friendship. A cross cultural journey of examination and discovery with each given enough space to be who they really were. A journey that has arrived at this point on the path, where we are both fully immersed in our trails business, Untravelled Trails, and the ITHUBA Project, the mother of our business and community adventures.

Nunu takes up the story; “When I was a small boy, I used to herd my father’s cattle along with some of the other boys in KwaJobe where I grew up. One day our games went on for too long and when I looked up, the cattle had disappeared. I followed the tracks for a way then climbed a big tree to search ahead. What I saw was amazing. A beautiful sight of trees and rolling hills stretching out into the distance for as far as my eyes could see and there were my cattle, among which was a huge animal that I had never seen before. I looked curiously at the beast with the big square head and the long slightly curved horn pointed towards me and realised that this was umkhombe – the one who points - my very first white rhino sighting. Nunu had reached the boundary of the uMkhuze game reserve and his passion for rhinos birthed as the seed, that would grow into a life dedicated to conservation, found fertile ground.

The next time he went into the Reserve was as a poacher. Nunu continues his story:
The boys in our community were always trying to show how brave and strong they were and when I was challenged about being scared to enter uMkhuze illegally I felt I needed to prove something. I set snares for antelope along with the others. I was lucky and was always the most successful, but I soon realised that seeing a beautiful live Nyala bull was much better than one that was lying there dead. Joining an Environmental Club at school gave me a new focus on conservation. When I completed school I managed to get selected by Ezemvelo for their guide training programme. From there I worked first in security at Phinda Private Game Reserve and then became a tracker. I moved to take up a position as a learner Trails guide with Ezemvelo in the iMfolozi Wilderness. I loved the job and was really happy there. When I became a senior Trails guide, I focused more on the Primitive Trails which really spoke to me.
It was here that I met Shaun.

Over the next few years our friendship grew. He visited my home and became friendly with my father. I spent time with his family too, but it was out in the bush that our dream began to grow. We would let the bush “talk to us” whenever we needed to find the path again.
Eventually we had a plan which finally ended up in a meeting with Brett Gehren of Isibindi Africa Lodges. Brett liked the concept and the three of us created Isibindi Africa Trails which offered Bush Walks to guests at Rhino Ridge Safari Lodge. That was late in 2015.

Today we have come to the point where that baby has started to walk on its own from the good lessons it learned at Isibindi. The name has changed to Untravelled Trails reflecting the exciting journey that lies ahead as we find new and exciting adventures to share with our guests.