Chef Marshall Petla is an inspiring man. Despite starting out as a barman with no formal training, he’s managed to rise through the ranks to become a head chef. Today, he manages the kitchen of the five-star Gorah Elephant Camp, the only private establishment in Addo, and a Google search of his name turns up three pages of interviews with newspapers and bloggers around South Africa.

This is particularly impressive, when you realise that as a boy, growing up, in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, Marshall didn’t even consider a career in fine dining. “I always loved cooking, but not as a job. As boys growing up we want to do things men do – maybe I always thought cooking was a woman’s job…” he says, laughing at his childhood self. “I used to help my mother cook traditional food – but not gourmet cuisine.”

It was while working as a barman at a restaurant that he got his first chance. “I stepped in for somebody who was off sick once – the manager asked me to help in the kitchen,” Given the opportunity, he shone. “I think I did very well on that day, everyone was pleased, and I thought, this is the route, let me just take it.” That was back in 1998. Since then, having seized the opportunity, Marshall hasn’t looked back. “I don’t have any formal training, but after realising my passion for food, I took some short courses – food and beverage wine courses – to prepare myself for the future.”

Meanwhile, he gained experience in restaurants. After stints in Knysna and Plettenberg Bay, Marshall first came to Gorah in December 2000, where he worked as a Sous Chef for three years. “You learn as you go; if you’re passionate about it, everything comes into place,” he tells me. It was only after some more time in Plett, and at Tsala Treetop Lodge, that Marshall returned to Gorah as head chef.

Situated in the Southern end of Addo’s vast plains, Gorah is a luxury tented camp with colonial-style central building; a little reminiscent of a scene from Out of Africa. You might expect Meryl Streep to come wandering through the building at any moment, or Robert Redford. Something you might not, however, expect, is fine cuisine.

The kitchen has no electricity. Instead, the chefs make do with solar power and gas. But Marshall’s cooking is anything but rustic, camp food. His signature dish, he tells me, is duck breasts served in the oriental style; with sopa noodles, ginger, and oriental wok-fried vegetables.

“Guests are always asking us how we manage”, laughs Petla when I ask about the location of the five-star establishment. After hearing that his idol is Gordon Ramsay, I wonder whether things get a little crazy – creating fine dining without electricity. But it turns out Petla is nothing like Ramsay in the kitchen. “I don’t stress a lot, I am kind of collected,” he says. Working without electricity does change things a little. “It is sometimes very challenging,” he concedes, “it’s hard work.”

From the sounds of things though, the location makes up for it. The private tented camp is certainly in an idyllic spot. “We have a waterhole in front of the house, and there are always elephants drinking there, or buffalos. When there are lions drinking at the waterhole we just switch off the stove and go and watch,” Marshall tells me.

Despite the idyllic setting, he works hard, but things seem to be going well. “I think its paying dividends every day; all our guests are very happy. Gorah is doing very well”, says Marshall. Today, Marshall has two kids of his own. I ask whether he thinks they’ll follow in his footsteps. “They seem to like what I’m doing,” he laughs. “My son actually says he wants to be a chef when he grows up.”

By Katharine Jacobs