Letaba, February 2014

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Following our explorations of the paradise that is Pafuri, in the far north of the Kruger National Park, we headed towards the central regions of the Park, for a two-night stay at Letaba Rest Camp.

It’s a long drive down from Pafuri to Letaba and, at game viewing speeds with regular stops for photographs and leg stretches at the camps and picnic spots along the way, it took us the entire day to cover the distance of 250km, reaching Letaba just before the gates closed. Covering such a distance in a national park like Kruger, you’re bound to come across some great sightings and some thrilling experiences, but we didn’t count on getting growled at when we stopped at Mooiplaas picnic site for a bit of a break. We were back in the car in a flash, and still have no idea what it was that was so irritated by our presence…

A dazzle of zebra on the plains south of Pafuri
A dazzle of zebra on the plains south of Pafuri
Eland seen near the aptly named Elandskuil windpump
Elephants crossing near Punda Maria
Elephants crossing near Punda Maria
Sharpe’s Grysbok
Frozen chameleon
Blue wildebeest at Babalala
Ostrich male among mopane trees
Crocodile and hippo sharing the Shingwedzi
Buffalo with leafy adornments at Shingwedzi
Free-tailed Bats roosting beneath the thatch at Mooiplaas’ ablutions
Doubt it was this squirrel that growled so ferociously at us at Mooiplaas!
Waterbuck on the banks of the Letaba
Waterbuck on the banks of the Letaba
Trio of Pied Kingfisher sharing an elephant bone

When you’re hoping for great wildlife sightings in any wild place, you have to be out-and-about at the times that the animals are most active, being the early morning and late afternoon, to maximise your chances.

Letaba sunrise

We set out early from Letaba the next morning, heading towards Olifants Rest Camp along the gravel roads that follow the courses of the Letaba and Olifants Rivers. We were soon rewarded with a great sighting of a spotted hyena, followed shortly afterwards by the highlight of our trip: an encounter with wild dogs! The dogs came running along the road in the opposite direction we were travelling in, and passed us in a flash. We had to make a u-turn and followed them a couple of hundred metres, before they decided to take a bit of a break right in the middle of the road. These animals are so rare and sightings so infrequent that we spent quite a bit of time with them before moving on.

Spotted hyena
Spotted hyena
Wild Dog pack on the move
Wild dogs
Wild Dogs taking a break
Wild dogs

Fish eagle

Shortly before reaching Olifants we crossed a small stream and noticed lots of terrapins and a lone juvenile crocodile sharing a pool next to the road. It soon became apparent that these animals have become accustomed to being fed by passing tourists as they started moving towards our vehicle the moment we came to a halt. This aberrant behaviour is exactly the reason why the park authorities are so strict about visitors not being allowed to feed the animals, but some choose to ignore it nonetheless. We didn’t stay long, fearing that the terrapins would end up beneath our vehicle preventing us from driving away.

Begging Serrated terrapins near Olifants
Bold, begging crocodile near Olifants
Bold crocodile near Olifants
Begging Serrated Terrapin near Olifants
Bold, begging crocodile and terrapins near Olifants
Bold, begging crocodile and terrapins near Olifants
Sweeping views over the Olifants
Sweeping views over the Olifants
Sweeping views over the Olifants

We spent the hot hours of the day walking around the Letaba campgrounds, enjoying the peace and quite and the company of Letaba’s resident bushbuck and birds.

Bushbuck ewe in Letaba
Bushbuck ram in Letaba
The Letaba River

Our afternoon excursion focused on the riverine drives to the north of the camp. Again we were not disappointed, seeing two waterbuck bulls sparring, herds of other game, including elephants, hippos, impalas, nyalas, bushbuck, giraffes, buffalo and baboons, various bird species, even some fish at a river crossing, and of course beautiful scenery.

Waterbuck bulls sparring
Waterbuck bulls sparring
Beautiful scenery
Impala being targeted by a biting fly
Waterbuck
Hamerkop
Beautiful scenery
Juvenile Mozambique Tilapia in a small stream
Beautiful scenery
Baboon beauty treatment
Little elephant
Chubby hippo calf and mom

A fascinating but gruesome sighting of a ground hornbill using its massive bill to kill and devour a tortoise in its carapace was a reminder that this is still wild Africa after all…

Ground hornbill and tortoise feast
Ground hornbill and tortoise feast
Ground hornbill and tortoise feast
Ground hornbill and tortoise feast
Ground hornbill and Leopard Tortoise feast

Letaba Sunset

Lacewing

With the sunrise the next morning it was time to pack up and head to our next destination, the Forever Swadini Resort in the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve. It wouldn’t be our last taste of the Kruger National Park however, and as we were heading towards the Orpen Gate we could console ourselves in the knowledge that we were planning one last day visit for later in the week.

More beautiful scenery
Baboon mothers make excellent vantage points!
Lazy hyena cub
Swainson’s Spurfowl bidding us goodbye near Orpen
Zebra with a hard-to-reach itch

We’ve previously dedicated a special post to Letaba – have a look here if you’d like to read more about this peaceful rest camp

27 thoughts on “Letaba, February 2014”

  1. Pingback: Reflection | de Wets Wild

  2. Pingback: Just another day in the Kruger… | de Wets Wild

  3. mflahertyphoto

    Awesome! Wild dogs were the only animal I wanted to see but didn’t on my trip over there. And it was Kruger where I came closest, missing them on a night drive by 5 minutes! Next time I’d like to check out the north part of the park; Oliphants is as far north as I got. It’s a big park! Love the shot of the chameleon in the road!

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    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Thank you Michael!

      Getting your shots of the wild dogs is just the excuse you need to keep visiting Kruger park over and over and over ;-). Yes, it’s a very big Park – the size of some countries – and you won’t be disappointed with the northern side of the Park. The vegetation is quite different, it’s the place to go looking for the rarer antelope species and the big tuskers, and there’s far fewer vehicles on the roads meaning less or no congestion at prize sightings.

      Still on the subject of wild dogs, our Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park offers (in our opinion) your best bet at finding them in the wild, so if you miss them in Kruger you can always head that way.

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    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Thanks AJ!

      Yes, very green and by now, following two weeks of very wet weather, several flood warnings from the weather service and still more to come for the remainder of this week at least, probably even more green and lush.

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  9. mjculverphotography

    These are just fantastic Dries. Super post. We’ve been out on the motorcycles all week. Slowly but surely I’m taming the beast (or could I just be learning just how powerful she is?). We’ve been out every day and have slowly expanded from just stop and go driving in the neighborhood to venturing out further afield. This weekend Bike Week started here so we go out early in the morning before the traffic gets too busy. I’m not ready for the masses of motorcycles and cars yet but slowly getting there. So sorry to have been out of touch. I’m going to send some photos to your e-mail tomorrow. I’m hoping that one of them will be of me with a big smile on my face, bugs in my teeth (kidding) riding along the road that leads through our beloved woods. Stay tuned friends and have a fantastic week ahead 😉

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