Sweeping views over the Olifants

Olifants Rest Camp, Kruger National Park

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Olifants Rest Camp undoubtedly offers the best views of any of the Kruger National Park‘s camps, situated as it is on a cliff high above the Olifants River in the central regions of the Park. Many guests spend all day on their accommodation unit’s veranda, using their binoculars to scan the river below and the plains beyond for wildlife, or simply soaking in one of the grandest vistas in wild Africa.

Olifants was opened in June 1960, though it was closed for a 16 month period in the early 1970’s after a fire destroyed the reception, restaurant and shop. The cliff-top viewpoint near the restaurant is one of the most popular spots in the entire Park, and during the day is always packed with spectators enjoying the wildlife show along the river banks below. The camp offers guests a choice of 112 accommodation units, ranging from 2 and 3 bed bungalows to two luxurious and very exclusive guest houses that accommodate up to 8 guests each. Some of the accommodation units have been built right on the edge of the cliff, offering guests the most exquisite views, but you have to book a year in advance if you want to secure one of those. The two-bedroomed cottage number 14 is a personal favourite of ours. Olifants also offers guests a Mugg & Bean restaurant (itself with stunning views), a shop, filling station, small meeting room, swimming pool, picnic area for day visitors and guided activities.

Olifants’ clifftop location
Olifants’ clifftop location
Olifants entrance
Olifants viewpoint
Olifants viewpoint
Olifants restaurant
Olifants restaurant
Olifants shop
Stunning views from some of Olifants’ units
Stunning views from some of Olifants’ units
Sweeping views over the Olifants
Olifants Rest Camp, unit 14, December 2015
There aren’t many places with a view like this!
2 Years old: August 2011. Joubert appreciating the view from unit 14 at Olifants
Female Red-winged Starling on her nest at our cottage
Wahlberg’s Eagle hunting from a perch near our cottage
Exclusive Lebombo Guest House
Olifants bungalows
Olifants bungalows
Elephants in the river below Olifants
Elephants in the river below Olifants
Hippo encountered on a night drive from Olifants
The Olifants makig its way through rugged rocks
Sunset over the Olifants
Night over the Olifants

Nearby, tiny Balule is a much more rustic camp offering accommodation in a small camping area and six very basic three-bed huts on the southern bank of the Olifants River. The huts were built in 1930 in the “Selby” style: a rondavel (round hut) without any windows, just a gap all around between the roof and wall for ventilation. The huts share a communal kitchen (with a paraffin freezer) and ablution block, and the same applies to the camping sites. Balule has no electricity and paraffin lamps are used to provide light at night. During the Apartheid years Balule was available only to non-white visitors.

Balule seen from across the Olifants
Balule hut
Balule camping area

Just outside Balule, a low level causeway crosses the Olifants River. The pontoon-crossing that operated over the river since 1929 was replaced by the causeway in 1937, but the old bridge was extensively damaged in the massive floods of January 2012 and had to be rebuilt. The high-span bridge across the same river, on the main tarred H1 route through the Park, lies about 5km due west from Balule and affords visitors the opportunity to stop and stretch their legs while enjoying the views up- and downstream. Both bridges are very popular with guests to Olifants, as they allow close-up views of so many of the river’s denizens.

The old Balule causeway
Balule causeway after the 2012 flood
The rebuilt causeway
Hippo posturing at the Balule causeway
Yellow-billed Stork
Grey Heron
Wood Sandpiper
Egyptian Geese at the Balule causeway
Showing just how the waterbuck got its name!
Sunrise over the Olifants from the Balule causeway
High level bridge over the Olifants
Yellow-billed Kite in low level flypast
View over the Olifants from the high bridge before the 2012 flood
View over the Olifants from the high bridge after the 2012 flood – note how the river bed was scoured clean to the bedrock
View over the Olifants from the high bridge after the 2012 flood – note how the river bed was scoured clean to the bedrock

South of Olifants, the roads initially follow the course of the river before leading down to the Satara-area. Nwamanzi offers more spectacular views over the Olifants, and the open plains south of the river host a huge number and variety of game and birds. Bangu waterhole and the Hlahleni stream crossing on the S90, as well as the Ngotso Weir on the S89, are especially rewarding spots to wait for the herds (and the predators that prey on them) to come and drink.

Just a sliver of light at the back of these kudus
Two very coy young hyenas
Temminck’s Courser
Martial Eagle surveying his landscape
Young kudu bull
Hippos from N’wamanzi Viewpoint
Pod of hippos in the bed of the Olifants
Three-banded Plover
Tattered old bull near Bangu
Lioness along the H1-4 just south of the Olifants River
Bangu waterhole
Giraffe walking away from Bangu in the Kruger Park
Herd of elephants on the dry plains south of Olifants
Ngotso weir
Another pod of hippos at the Ngotso weir
Waterhole at the Hlahleni crossing on the S90
Black-backed jackal

North of Olifants you enter the mopane-dominated northern plains of Kruger. There’s two general options of routes leading northwards from Olifants, both leading to Letaba Rest Camp. The quickest route follows the tarred H8 and H1-5 roads and is often very quiet game viewing-wise, especially once the road turns away from the river. The gravel S44, S93 and S46 roads follows the course of the Olifants and Letaba rivers through some very rocky terrain with several stream crossings and, apart from a lovely viewing point downstream from camp and the historic Von Wielligh’s Baobab, usually also offers lots more wildlife to see.

Hyenas always seem to be on the way to somewhere…
The hippo, the hyena and the waiting tourists
Bold crocodile near Olifants
Begging Serrated terrapins near Olifants
Begging Serrated Terrapin near Olifants
Klipspringer ewe
Two kudu bulls in the bed of the Letaba
Klipspringer in typical habitat
Irritated young buffalo
Pensive baboon
Giraffe in the mopane
Elephant moving through Mopane scrub
Another old timer at Olifants
Here elephants have right of way!
Von Wielligh’s baobab, between Olifants and Letaba in the Kruger Park, in the dry season
Von Wielligh’s baobab in summer
Sunrise from the viewpoint along the S44
Sweeping views over the Olifants
Sunrises and sunsets at Olifants can be spectacular in the extreme
Sunrises and sunsets at Olifants can be spectacular in the extreme
Sunrises and sunsets at Olifants can be spectacular in the extreme
Sunrises and sunsets at Olifants can be spectacular in the extreme

For scenic splendour alone, there’s no other camp in Kruger that can compete with Olifants. Combine that with the camp’s great facilities and excellent game viewing drives in the vicinity, and you’ll understand why it has become a firm favourite with many Kruger visitors.

 

44 thoughts on “Olifants Rest Camp, Kruger National Park”

      1. Toortsie

        Ek is mal, mal, mal oor hulle! Ek noem daardie bul die standerd vyf seun. Hy is altyd so agterlangs in die trop, dis nou na die matriarg en al die ander verby is, dan kom hierdie tiener wat gou vir die karre wil wys wie is die baas. 🙂 Sjoe, nee, dit raak tyd vir wildtuin! Ek soek daai olifante!

        Liked by 1 person

  4. boesmanpos

    The experiences your children enjoy in places like the Kruger shape their future in immeasurable ways. Conserving the park will become ever more difficult as resources dwindle and the pressure to develop financially rewarding hotels entice decision makers. For the sake of generations to come these strategies need to be so well monitored. We owe it to our children.

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    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      I’m quite positive that the new developments planned for Kruger will be completed and managed with the necessary diligence and care required, and will allow a whole new segment of South African society to experience and appreciate the wonders and virtues of the Park, to the benefit of many more generations of South Africans and the world at large!

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  7. aj vosse

    Ai, my hard trek ‘n punt! (Klein geheimpie… ek het laas mand aansoek gedoen vir ‘n “H&S” rol daar in die park… ek het niks tergvoering gekry nie so dis hoekom ek nou maar tevrede met jou fotos moet wees!)
    Bygesê… ek sal altyd jou fotos en vertellings geniet! 😉 Dankie!!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Perhaps you’ll venture to Olifants on your next trip to Kruger, Cal?

      I think it’s even more amazing that what constitutes a relative small portion of Kruger is still larger than probably 99% of the conserved areas left in the country!

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      2. de Wets Wild Post author

        Satara to Olifants and back should be a very rewarding early morning drive Cal, you can use either the tar H1-4 or gravel S90 one way, and then return along the other. I’m planning on doing just that again soon!

        Liked by 1 person

  15. iAMsafari.com

    You got my heart beating fast with this post as Olifants is by far our favourite Kruger restcamp! Been here numerous times as a student, came back for our honeymoon and showed our daughter a few years ago. Always been lucky to get accomodation with river views – that is the big bonus of this wonderful neck of the woods. We’ll be back for sure!

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      2. de Wets Wild Post author

        Get them hooked on the Kruger while they’re young! It worked for me, and certainly did for Joubert, and obviously the addiction isn’t only restricted to the de Wets!

        Liked by 1 person

    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      Thanks Janet! I wish I could have got a better image, from Olifants’ elevated location the night skies seemed even clearer and brighter than from lower lying camps in Kruger.

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