We’re sharing the beautiful sunrise we enjoyed this morning at Lake Panic near Skukuza, to celebrate de Wets Wild’s 300th post!
Lake Panic Sunrise
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Back in Kruger, and what a welcome!
We’ve arrived back at the Kruger National Park, and ended our day with a magnificent lion sighting near Skukuza; males, females and cubs crossing the road all around our vehicle.
Here’s a little teaser 😉
Zigzag
Thanks to their teeth and scales, crocodiles are adorned with zigzag patterns from nose to tail 😉
“Zigzag” is this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge theme
Kruger National Park: 26 April to 1 May 2012
We’re busy packing for our next trip to the Kruger National Park. We’ll be staying at Skukuza and Satara, the same two camps we visited in April 2012, and that featured in our very first post on de Wets Wild!
World Ranger Day
Today is World Ranger Day, set aside to celebrate the work rangers do to protect our natural heritage, and to spare a special thought for those that have been injured or killed while carrying out their often dangerous duties. Here at de Wets Wild, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to South Africa’s ranger corps, who look after the special places we so love to visit.
Baobab
Adansonia digitata
African legend has it that God got upset with the baobab and kicked it out of heaven. It smashed into the earth upside down, with its roots sticking into the air.
Due to its size, an adult baobab cannot be mistaken for any other tree. They reach heights of over 20m, with trunks sometimes more than 10m in diameter. Trees this size are estimated to be between 2000 and 4000 years old and have served as landmarks in the vast African wilderness for centuries.
Baobab, Mapungubwe (near Leokwe)
Baobab, Kruger (Pafuri)
The baobab in Mopani Rest Camp, Kruger National Park
Baobab landmark near Mopani, Kruger Park
Von Wielligh’s baobab, between Olifants and Letaba in the Kruger Park, in the dry season
Baobab with Buffalo Weaver nests
Baobab
Baobab with Buffalo Weaver nests
Baobab in a see of mopane, on the way to Bateleur
Small Baobab next to Rentmeester Guest House in Shingwedzi
Baobab on the way to Kubu Island
Kubu Island
Baobabs are deciduous trees, covered in dense green leaves during summer and completely devoid of their foliage in winter. The wood is very soft, and when the tree dies disintegrates quickly into a heap of fibres.
Baobab flower
Unfortunately, elephants have a particular fondness for the baobab and especially the bark, often causing the death of the trees by their very destructive feeding habits. Several other animals, including baboons, monkeys, birds, and predators use the tree for food or shelter.
Mapungubwe National Park scenery
Baobab forest at Pafuri
Baobab
Baobab and elephants
Baobab fruit
Baobab fruit
Baobab flower
von Wielligh’s Baobab
Baobab at Timbavati in the Kruger Park
The baobab has many traditional uses: the fruit can be used to make a most refreshing cooldrink with water or milk, the seeds roasted as a coffee substitute, the roots can be used to make a kind of porridge, young leaves cooked like vegetables, and the fibrous bark, apart from being used in traditional medicine, can be woven into mats used to build shelter or as floor covering.
In South Africa, the baobab occurs naturally only in the extreme northern and eastern parts of the Limpopo Province, with magnificent specimens to be found in the Kruger and Mapungubwe National Parks.
Summer Lovin’
The midday heat of a Lowveld summer can get exceedingly oppressive. If you can muster the courage to keep yourself out of the swimming pool and head to a waterhole, you may just be lucky enough to enjoy the antics of a herd of elephant playing around in the refreshing water. These shots were taken at the Klopperfontein Dam, near Punda Maria in the Kruger National Park.
“Summer Lovin‘” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge
Berg-en-Dal Rest Camp, Kruger National Park
Nestled along the Matjulu Spruit, in the mountainous south-western corner of the Kruger National Park, just 12km from the Malelane Gate, lies the aptly named and very popular Berg-en-Dal Rest Camp (Afrikaans for “Mountain-and-Valley”).
Berg-en-Dal scenery
Berg-en-Dal scenery
When it opened in February 1984, Berg-en-Dal’s face-brick architecture was a considerable departure from the “traditional” appearance of other Kruger camps. The camp’s buildings blend in perfectly with the mountainous surroundings and the small dam at the central visitor complex is a popular attraction to visitors who enjoy quietly watching a wide variety of game and birds come to the water.
Berg-en-Dal entrance
Berg-en-Dal dam
The camp covers an area of approximately 24 hectares, in which the natural vegetation has been preserved as far as possible, providing both privacy and a closeness with nature to Berg-en-Dal’s guests. The camping area has space for up to 70 caravans and tents, and accommodation is available in 69 bungalows, 23 cottages and two luxury guest houses. Facilities available include a restaurant and take-away kiosk, shop, fuel station, conference facilities, laundromat, swimming pool and amphitheatre in which wildlife films are shown in the evenings. Guided game-viewing drives and bush walks (the only way to see some of the San rock art found in the area if you are not booked on the three-night Bushman Wilderness Trail) can be booked in advance or at reception. In the reception building, the information centre provides fascinating insights into the biology and conservation of the black and white rhino. A new picnic facility for day visitors has recently been opened just a short distance from the camp, on the way to Malelane Gate.
Berg-en-Dal Accommodation
Berg-en-Dal Accommodation
Berg-en-Dal Camping
Berg-en-Dal film show
Berg-en-Dal Rhino Hall
Berg-en-Dal Rhino Hall
Berg-en-Dal Rhino Hall
The Rhino Trail meanders from the dam at the restaurant along the camp’s fence for a total distance of over 2km, exposing guests to a wide variety of aromatic bushes and trees with frequent sightings of Berg-en-Dal’s avian inhabitants and sometimes even encounters with big game, safely on the other side of the electrified perimeter fence. The first part of the trail, about 600m in length, is made accessible to visually impaired nature enthusiasts by a guide rope linking displays and braille information boards.
Poignant memorial on the Rhino Trail
Wildlife encounter on the Rhino Trail
Wildlife encounter on the Rhino Trail – African Leopard Butterfly
Wildlife encounter on the Rhino Trail
Malelane is a small camp just 3km from the entrance gate with the same name, and 9km from Berg-en-Dal. The name means “out-of-sight”, referring to the outpost of warriors posted here to protect Swazi interests in the area in pre-colonial days. Agricultural and industrial development across the Crocodile River, which forms the southern border of the Kruger Park, unfortunately do detract from the visitor experience at this otherwise lovely camp and was a deciding factor in the National Parks Board opting to build Berg-en-Dal in the hills nearby. The Malelane of today is much smaller than the original camp, offering five bungalows and 15 campsites compared to the original camp of 25 huts and 30 camping sites, and does not offer any of the other amenities available at Berg-en-Dal.
Malelane Gate
Guarding the entrance to Malelane Camp
Malelane Camp
Malelane Camp
Game-viewing in the scenic surroundings of Malelane and Berg-en-Dal can be a richly rewarding experience. Lion and hyena are often seen, but it is leopards and wild dogs that the area is renowned for. Kudu, giraffe and impala, being browsing animals, are frequently encountered, while elephant and buffalo are attracted to the area by the relative abundance of water. A firm favourite (late afternoon) destination with many visitors is the Matjulu waterhole just 4km from Berg-en-Dal, where they while away the last minutes of sunlight before heading back to camp before the gates close for the night. Further afield the H3 main road through to Afsaal picnic site, and the gravel roads to the east of it linking up with the gravel S114-road to the Biyamiti causeway (and onwards to Skukuza) and the S25 that leads to Crocodile Bridge, seldom fails to deliver something exciting.
Afsaal Picnic Site
Berg-en-Dal scenery
Pied Kingfisher
Berg-en-Dal scenery
Elephant
White rhinoceros
Buffalo
Spotted hyena
Berg-en-Dal scenery
Crossing the Mlambane Spruit on the S114
Crossing the Mlambane Spruit on the S114
Berg-en-Dal scenery
Biyamiti weir
Biyamiti weir
Kudu
Giraffe and Berg-en-Dal scenery
Berg-en-Dal scenery
Ragged African Wild Dog
Containers
Safely (well, relatively) packed into their tin cans, humans can explore the wild places of South Africa to their hearts content…
Tembe Elephant Park
Kruger National Park
Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park
Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park
Lion, Kruger National Park
“Containers” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge
Orpen Rest Camp, Kruger National Park
Orpen, on the western boundary of the Kruger National Park, is a popular gate into the central regions of the reserve, and just a few hundred meters away from the entrance is the quaint little rest camp with the same name.
Orpen Rest Camp welcomed its first guests in 1954, when the entrance into the Park was moved 10 kilometres westwards from the then entrance and camp at Rabelais that had been in operation since 1926. This expansion was possible due to the selfless actions of Mr James H. Orpen and his wife Eileen, who at their own expense bought seven farms, covering a massive 24,500 hectares, in this area between 1935 and 1944 and then donated it to be included in the Kruger Park. Mr Orpen, a surveyor by profession and also a member of the National Parks Board, further donated generously to the drilling of boreholes in the Kruger to provide permanent water sources for game inside the then unfenced Park, so that they did not need to migrate outside the protected area where they were at the mercy of hunters. The little museum hut on the site where Rabelais once stood is dedicated mostly to this generous couple, and the beautiful camp at Orpen carries their name in tribute.
Rabelais Hut Museum
Only a handful of guests can be accommodated in Orpen’s recently revamped, and fully equipped, lodgings – there’s twelve 2-bed bungalows and three 6-bed cottages – surrounded by rocky gardens and shady trees. The camp has a small but surprisingly well-stocked shop, with a fuel station available at the entrance gate (where there are also adequate facilities available for day visitors to stretch their legs and enjoy a picnic). In the camp, a swimming pool next to the perimeter fence is for the exclusive use of Orpen’s overnight guests.
Orpen Rest Camp
Red-billed hornbill in Orpen
Orpen Rest Camp
Orpen Rest Camp
Orpen Rest Camp
One of Orpen’s most endearing features is the floodlit waterhole just on the other side of the perimeter fence, attracting a steady stream of game and birds of all shapes and descriptions throughout the day and night. During our visit to Orpen in April 2014, we were thrilled to watch in the hour before the gates open three of Africa’s large predators visiting the waterhole one after the other in the dark of early morning – first a spotted hyena, followed by a pair of leopards and then a pair of lions – while enjoying a breakfast of coffee and rusks on the veranda of our cottage! It will therefore come as no surprise to you to learn that the Orpen webcam, accessible through SANParks’ website, has a massive following from dedicated cam-watchers in all corners of the globe.
Orpen’s floodlit waterhole
Orpen’s waterhole
Less than four kilometres from Orpen, and administered from there, lies the twin facilities of Tamboti Tented Camp and Maroela Camping Area, both on the banks of the Timbavati River and both named after prominent trees occurring in the area. At Tamboti, 40 safari-style tents (ten of which have their own bathrooms and kitchenettes) are arranged along the fence, offering fantastic views over the river course and the wildlife frequenting it, while Maroela has space for a maximum of twenty groups camping with caravans and tents. Both camps have electricity, communal ablutions and camp kitchens. Keep an eye open for the resident family of black-backed jackals at the turnoff to Maroela and Tamboti, especially in the early morning and late afternoon!
Tamboti Tented Camp
Tamboti Tented Camp
Tamboti Tented Camp
Camping at Maroela
Black-backed jackal are frequently seen near Orpen, Maroela and Tamboti
The plains in the immediate vicinity of Orpen literally teems with an extraordinary number and variety of wildlife, which is a good thing as the road network from the camp is rather limited. The main tarred road heading into the Park from Orpen, the H7, leads to Satara Rest Camp and is one of the best roads in the Park for predator sightings, and thus extremely popular. Along the way, the gravel S106-loop that skirts Rabelais Pan offers an alternative to the tar road, which can get rather busy with holiday traffic on the way to Satara, for a few kilometres before joining it again, while the view point at Bobbejaankrans (“Baboon Cliff”) offers a beautiful vista over the Timbavati River below and the plains beyond (take time to scan the area with binoculars and you may be rewarded with glimpses of lions lazing on the sandy riverbed).
Impala are a guaranteed sighting on the road to Rabelais Pan
Elephant feeding near Bobbejaankrans
Lion are often encountered on the tar road to Satara
Lion are often encountered on the tar road to Satara
Kudu bull near Rabelais
You may be lucky to see a cheetah near Orpen
Bobbejaankrans viewsite
It takes a drive of 25-or-so kilometres from Orpen before you’ll have to decide whether you’re continuing towards Satara, or to turn off the tar onto either of two very rewarding, but long, gravel routes. Turn north and you’ll be following the S39-road to the popular Timbavati picnic spot (and onwards to the Olifants River if you wish), or turn south and follow the S36-road towards the rustic, and much quieter, Muzandzeni and Nhlanguleni picnic spots. Over the years, we’ve had excellent sightings on both roads though the road towards Timbavati probably offers slightly more frequent encounters with Kruger’s big game.
Giraffe youngster
Herds of wildebeest abound near Orpen
Gloomy skies over the H7 between Orpen and Satara
Orpen’s one of the Kruger’s smallest camps and as darkness settles on it, there’s little more than the soft mumbles of your fellow guests around their campfires to remind you that you’re not quite alone in this peaceful place. Staying awake as the rest of the camp’s guests retire to their accommodation, you’ll soon become aware of the symphony of African bush sounds laying claim to the night – a lion’s roar, a hyena’s whoop, an owl’s hoot, the call of a nightjar. And that scuffling sound coming from around the corner is well worth checking out with your flashlight; it may just be one of Orpen’s resident badgers, genets, civets or bushbabies coming to wish you a good night…
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