‘TASTE THE WILD’

SAFARI CUISINE WITH CHARLEY SWYNNERTON

“I love scanning the wide-open spaces and seeing what nature has to unveil. The beauty of Africa is endless.”

For luxury safari chef and guide, Charley Swynnerton, a typical day at work could be leading a group during the wildebeest migration in the Serengeti or being flown to a secluded beach on the Tanzanian coast to create the perfect seafood fare. It may sound ridiculously glamorous, but as Stephanie Hunt discovers, this is no role for the faint-of-heart, especially during a global pandemic.

Photo credit: Jack Swynnerton

Food || Travel || Africa

Chatting via a patchy phone line between my crammed Sydney city loft and her breezy Zanzibar beach setting (“I’m just sitting here sipping a cold Serengeti beer,” she tells me), luxury safari chef and guide Charley Swynnerton recalls the time she chased two hyenas and a honey badger from her kitchen tent in the dead of the night.

“I was in Moremi National Park, Botswana, and to put the kitchen in perspective, it was a square roof tent and at night we would put up canvas walls to make sure everything was safe and secure. I poked my head around the corner and to my bewilderment the hyenas had somehow opened the cooler boxes where we kept all the meat, and the honey badger was tucking into a bottle of cooking oil!”

The loud clang of a pot and a pan by Charley did the trick to move the animals on - giving her a chance to salvage what food and supplies were left for their well-paying guests.

It’s this type of gutsy, can-do, creative spirit that defines Charley. Her many years of travelling and working in the luxury safari industry have landed her in some of the wildest and most spectacular locations on the continent.

THE BACKSTORY

As a fifth-generation Tanzanian, Charley descends from a long line of naturalists, guides, hunters and game wardens. Her great grandfather, Charles Francis Massy Swynnerton, was noted for his contributions to setting up Tanzania’s Game Department, along with tsetse fly research and has flora and fauna named after him. Charley’s parents met on holiday in Malawi; fast forward a few years and Charley was born in Botswana and the family moved to Tanzania when she was six.

For Charley, and her younger brother Jack, much of their childhood centred around the slow and dreamy beaches of East Africa, especially Zanzibar and the Tanzanian coast.

PANGANI CHILDHOOD

“Jack and I would wake before sunrise and race down to the beach to find the local fishermen heading out on their dhows. We’d jump aboard, spending the day snorkeling, spear fishing and eating fresh seafood on secluded sandbars in the middle of the Indian Ocean” Charley recalls. She remembers returning after dark with the full moon and phosphorescence aglow in the water. “We never asked Mum and Dad if we could go – we just did. I loved that they gave us the freedom to explore and enjoy experiences like that; in fact, it was encouraged.”

Charley attended high school in South Africa and had a stint at Macquarie University in Sydney, but she tells me it wasn’t for her.

“I was helping out at a friend’s camp in Botswana. I was at a loose end and I know it sounds like a cliche but the movie Eat, Pray, Love came out and I was like, ‘I need to travel, and I want to do food.’” The revelation pushed her to undertake an intensive cookery course at The Grange in the UK, then on to Cape Town for a few years of waitressing, before being led back to Botswana where she was camp manager at San Camp and also the legendary Jack’s Camp. (Jack Bousfield himself was Charley’s great uncle, and the man her brother Jack was named after.)

“I was working at a mobile safari company, Roger Dugmore Safaris, at the time and kept putting off leaving and going out on my own. The owner, Roger Dugmore, said, ‘Look Charley, if you don’t leave and start your own business I’m going to have to fire you.”’ And so, Safari Cuisine was born - her very own business, training chefs and creating menus for some of the best camps and lodges across Southern and Eastern Africa. “I’m very fortunate to do what I do. I’m so lucky to get paid to do what I love. Being in the bush - it’s my sanctuary. It’s where I get inspired for new ideas and recipes.”

SURVIVING AS A SAFARI CHEF

You have to be resourceful, unflappable and downright ballsy to have any chance of surviving as a chef in the bush. “I once had one of my guests demanding creme fraiche. In the middle of nowhere! I thought, ‘How the hell do I get creme fraiche?’ I ended up whipping up cream and adding some natural yoghurt and a little bit of lime juice. It tastes exactly the same. You find ways to make things fancier than they are,” Charley says.

Using fire as her main medium – incorporating smoking, barbecue, fire ovens and grill – Charley likes to strip food back to basics. As well as bringing the wonderfully African flavours to the table, she also hosts in the relaxed, outdoor-safari style.

“I love scanning the wide-open spaces and seeing what nature has to unveil. The beauty of Africa is endless. In the bush my favourite thing to cook is a beef stew. Slow-cooked on the fire for five hours. For the beach, my favourite is lemon, garlic butter prawns … I keep things simple in the elements.”

And in true African style, the experience is not without some epic tales.

“I’ve been charged by elephant and lion; had close encounters with hippo and crocodiles. I once stood face-to-face in the kitchen tent with a male leopard. I had my head torch on - so I aimed the torch into its eyes and slowly walked backwards and returned to my tent and back to sleep.”

COVID IN EAST AFRICA

Africa is a continent that stirs the soul and moves the traveller into a state of awe and deep awakening. My time travelling down the west coast from Morocco through Western Sahara, Senegal, Guinea, and Ghana was life changing. (We can forget the chapter where I had malaria and typhoid - that’s all part of the experience). Journeying through East Africa - especially Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sudan - was just as magical. Raw wilderness; rich culture and a stark contrast to the life most of us know and live.

However East Africa’s tourism industry has been unable to dodge the crippling freeze inflicted by COVID-19. Along with her own business, Charley helps run a lodge in the Serengeti. She says the place would normally be packed with travellers coming in from all over the world, however, sadly, the global pandemic has meant the lodge has ground to a halt for the past nine months. “A lot of businesses have closed down, people have lost jobs and expats have had to return home and leave the country. It’s been really hard. It will take some time for it to return to normal,” Charley says.

But Charley and her brother Jack are quick to point out it’s not all bad news and that East Africa remains open for business.

“I’m actually just back from guiding a 12-day safari through the Serengeti, Tarangire National Park and Zanzibar and every place we went to, from the car picking us up to the lodges we stayed in, and all the porters, was so COVID safe. People were wearing masks and sanitising. They really made our guests feel completely safe. It was really well done.”

“It’s still the perfect time to come to East Africa. It’s so quiet, there are no crowds. It’s like a private viewing,” adds Jack. And while there are reduced flights coming in and out of East Africa, there are bargains to be snapped up on the safari circuit.

“The Tanzanian Government through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, has implemented a number of procedures designed to protect both tourists and local staff,” explains safari guide Simon Peterson from Dorobo Safaris which is based in Arusha, Tanzania.

He says his guests receive the same guide and vehicle throughout the trip, minimising contact with different people. Temperature checks, observing social distancing and compulsory hand washing is taking place at accommodation facilities and National Park entry gates, while vehicles undergo a thorough cleaning before each safari with touch points sanitised throughout the day.

Kathleen Leonard from Cheli & Peacock Safaris East Africa agrees. “There are still social distancing measures in place, mask-wearing in public areas, and hand sanitisers provided. All travellers entering Tanzania undergo temperature screening upon arrival and must complete a Health Declaration form to be submitted upon entry.”

A CHANCE TO REGROUP AND REFOCUS

For Charley, the global pandemic has handed her a chance to regroup and refocus, while spending more time with her brother, travelling, creating new recipes, cooking and capturing their adventures. The siblings work well together and “know each other so well”. The two are often laughing. No offence is taken.

And the slowdown of tourism means the pair has time to prepare for the next big adventure - a wild road trip driving two vintage cars from Dar es Salaam Tanzania, up the coast to London. They’ll journey with their uncle, Rob Barbour, a well-known guide and director of Australia-based company Epic Private Journeys, where Charley also works as a private guide. “We’re calling it Classic Rides, Roads & Recipes. It’ll be 10,000 kilometres in a 1964 356SC slate grey Porsche coupe and a vintage Mercedes. We’ll film, cook, travel and enjoy the incredible landscapes and cultures along the way,” Charley says.

And what about the draw of city life or staying put in the one spot for an extended period of time? “I enjoy the city but need to know when my exit point is; my life is road trips, exploring and creating. I love the freedom of the outdoors and going back to the natural elements,” Charley says. “Plus, I have always found that people here in Africa are a lot more friendly and happy to help – they’re so kind. You go back to the UK and people look at you sideways when asking for directions or help.

“I’ve lived in Europe, I’ve lived in Australia, I’ve lived in South Africa. The city is good for a visit and a culture hit but then it’s time to get back to the bush.”

‘TASTE THE WILD’

CHARLEY’S MENUS AND COCKTAILS

BEEF SHIN STEW

“The story behind how I came up with this recipe may seem like an unusual one but it will give you an insight into what goes on while I’m on safari. I’d set up my kitchen tent in the legendary Moremi National Park, Botswana, and was joined by two hyenas and a honey badger in the middle of the night. My staff came to see what was going on - they couldn’t believe what they were witnessing: me running around in my pjs with a pot and pan in the middle of the night trying to defend my kitchen from the three musketeers! We salvaged what supplies we could and reinforced the kitchen. The next day I found some untouched ingredients; a packet of beef shin, an apple juice carton, a few odd vegetables and some condiments that had survived the ordeal. This recipe is a result of using literally all I had left. But you know what - it’s one of the best recipes, ever! If I hadn’t been bailed up by those three imposters, I would not have come up with this delicious stew.”

**Chef’s note: Best cooked over the fire but this recipe is converted for stove top.

Ingredients:

2kg beef shins – browned

2 tbsp olive oil

2 large onions – chopped

6 garlic cloves – chopped

4 thumb-sized knobs of fresh ginger – grated

3 leeks chopped

2 red peppers – chopped

1 punnet button mushrooms chopped in half

1 ½ cup light soy sauce

1 carton apple juice

1 tbsp apricot jam

Juice of 1 lime

Beef stock

Swig of red wine vinegar

Rice | Noodles

Fresh coriander

Spring onion

Sesame seeds

Method:

1. In a big pot on high heat add oil, onions, leeks, garlic and ginger and fry for a minute or so until softened.

2. Add the peppers and mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes.

3. Now add your browned beef shin meat – bones and all (you want that bone marrow in the stew, trust me!)

4. Add the soy sauce, apple juice, beef stock, apricot jam, lime juice and vinegar. Make sure that the meat is completely covered by the liquid – if it’s not, add some water.

5. Stir it all together and bring to the boil.

6. Once it starts to boil – turn down the heat so it becomes a gentle simmer. Put the lid on and cook for at least 3 hours or until the meat starts to fall off the bone. Check on the stew every now and then to make sure the stew is not sticking to the bottom. Keep adding a little water if need be.

7. Serve with rice or noodles and garnish with fresh coriander, spring onion and some sesame seeds – enjoy!

CHARLEY’S COASTAL COCKTAIL

Ah man! A truly fan-freaking-tastic cocktail that is just so simple to make! For those long, lazy days on the beach or with your friends on the weekends.

Dawa – meaning medicine in Swahili – uses fresh limes, honey and Vodka/Konyagi* topped with crushed ice. These bad boys are similar to a Caipirinha - but better!

Drinking a Dawa really takes me straight to Zanzibar and the Tanzanian coast where I grew up for part of my childhood. Some of my best memories have happened on the slow and dreamy beaches of East Africa.

* Note: Konyagi is a Tanzanian gin.

Ingredients:

Makes 2