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
Safely (well, relatively) packed into their tin cans, humans can explore the wild places of South Africa to their hearts content…
“Containers” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge
Baobab sunset, near Shimuwini in the Kruger National Park
“Contrasts” is the theme for the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge
After entering at Phalaborwa Gate in the early morning of 26 April 2014, our most recent visit to the Kruger National Park kicked of with three nights at our beloved Shingwedzi Rest Camp, in the far north of the Park.
Rocky outcrop near Phalaborwa Gate
Sunrise on the Mphongolo Loop
When it comes to game-viewing we’ve always maintained that Shingwedzi does not need to stand back for any of the more popular camps in the southern half of the Park, and this latest visit served only to reinforce our opinion. We had excellent sightings while driving slowly along the Shingwedzi River, both in the direction of Tshange Viewpoint to the west along the S52-route, and towards the Lebombo’s in the east, along the S50 (our favourite Kruger drive) that skirts the Kanniedood Dam (or what is left of it after the January 2013 floods).
Despite the autumn season being in full swing, with most of the summer migrants having already left for warmer climes, the birdlife around Shingwedzi did not disappoint either!
Even if there were no wildlife around to keep us enthralled, Shingwedzi’s scenery alone would have been worth the trip.
Our accommodation at Shingwedzi, unit 29, was built in 1956 in the traditional white-washed Shingwedzi-style, and is a very comfortable little two-bedroomed cottage, ideal for our group of four (we were joined on the trip by my mom, a real treat and even more so for Joubert having his granny by his side for nine days in a row).
There’s few places where the hustle-and-bustle of daily life seem so far away as at Shingwedzi, and it was an excellent start to our eight-day autumn visit to the Kruger National Park. From Shingwedzi we moved to the central regions of the Park, basing ourselves at Orpen Rest Camp.
28 April 2014, Shingwedzi Rest Camp, Kruger National Park
We’ve just arrived back at camp after a fantastic morning drive along the Kanniedood Dam and Shingwedzi River.
Apart from the beautiful scenery and tranquil atmosphere, we enjoyed numerous good sightings of elephants, zebras, waterbuck, impala, baboons, monkeys, lots of crocodiles and hippos, two satiated hyenas, a myriad of bird species and this magnificent male lion.
Heaven on earth is spelt S-H-I-N-G-W-E-D-Z-I…
Yes indeed, we’re back in the Kruger National Park, and kicking of our visit with three nights in our beloved Shingwedzi Rest Camp! We had a great first day with sightings including two promising new tuskers (elephant bulls with heavy ivory), four roan antelope and even a lone pelican hundreds of miles away from the nearest ocean.
“Letters” is the theme for the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge
During our latest visit to the Kruger National Park, we saw this crocodile lying in a pool near the Olifants Rest Camp, likely pondering just how and where its next meal would come from…
“Reflections” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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
Pick up any guidebook about the Kruger National Park, and it will probably tell you that you’ve not experienced the “real” Kruger if you haven’t seen Pafuri.
Pafuri is a diverse wilderness in the far north-eastern corner of South Africa, where the borders of SA, Zimbabwe and Mozambique meet at the confluence of the Limpopo and Luvuvhu Rivers. Because all kinds of smugglers, bandits and poachers from the late 1800′s and early 1900′s could evade capture by the law-enforcement authorities of these countries by simply slipping across the borders, the area quickly became known as “Crook’s Corner”.
The wide variety of habitats – muddy rivers, glimmering pans, lush riverine vegetation with magnificent stands of yellow fever trees , mopane woodland interspersed with huge baobabs (some hundreds if not thousands of years old) and dramatic sandstone ridges and cliffs, are home to probably the greatest variety of birds in the country and supports large concentrations of mammals.
Along the roads that follow the course of the Luvuvhu River, five species of game are especially numerous. The antics of the vervet monkeys and chacma baboons are always entertaining to watch, and the warthogs go about their business as if without a care in the world. Impalas are a familiar sight; as they are in many other parts of the Kruger National Park. But it is to the regal Nyala that Pafuri belongs.
Pafuri however has even more to offer in terms of big game viewing with hippos, elephants, buffaloes, zebras, giraffe, wildebeest, kudu, bushbuck and crocodiles being encountered often, while lucky visitors enjoy sightings of the resident lion pride.
As already mentioned, Pafuri is a bird-watcher’s heaven. Several bird species are at the southernmost limit of their range here and can be seen nowhere else in South Africa. During summer, when the already astounding diversity of birdlife swells with the arrival of migrants from further north, Pafuri is the place to be!
The Pafuri Picnic Site on the bank of the Luvuvhu River is the ideal stopover for anyone and everyone that find themselves in the magical place. Among the picnic tables and benches that overlook the river the birdlife seems especially relaxed and a keen eye is sure to notice many of the small invertebrates that hide among the leaf litter and twigs. We spent lots of time enjoying the energetic vervet monekys that frequent the site, but our most memorable sighting of this visit to Pafuri was the stiff-legged show of dominance between two mature nyala bulls, strutting their stuff as if we were not even there.
And this is exactly why Pafuri has such a special place in our hearts. It still feels like a wild frontier, a place where humans are just passing through. We absolutely agree: You haven’t experienced the “real” Kruger if you haven’t spent some time at Pafuri.
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While exploring magical Pafuri on our latest (February 2014) visit, we based ourselves at the Pafuri Rivercamp, which is located just 3km outside the Kruger’s Pafuri Gate, in mature riverine woodland along the Mutale River. Rustic though the camp may be (there’s no electricity or cellphone reception and everything is built from wood, reeds, canvas, gauze and chicken mess) but you could hardly imagine a more romantic place from which to explore the Pafuri’s wilderness. The camp staff are friendly and hospitable, and the camp has a central pool, bar, lounge, and lapa where meals (which must be pre-arranged) can be enjoyed. The tents are pitched on platforms among the branches of large jackalberry, leadwood and apple-leaf trees and in the clearing below is a fireplace, picnic table and comfortable canvas chairs with your private kitchen and ablutions located to the side. There’s nothing like being lulled to sleep on a hot February night by a cool breeze passing through the leaves around you and straight through your open tent windows, accompanied by the sounds of bushbabies and nightjars! We’ll definitely return to Pafuri Rivercamp at the first opportunity.
The Kruger National Park’s own Punda Maria Rest Camp is also a highly recommendable alternative accommodation option if you want to visit Pafuri. Have a look at our special Punda Maria post if you’d like to learn more about this historic rest camp.
We spent the better part of today exploring the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve around Swadini, and came across this beautifully reflective pool along one of the walking trails.
Tomorrow we’re heading back home to Pretoria after nine days exploring the north-east corner of South Africa. We plan to publish several posts about the places we visited in the coming weeks and hope we’ll see you around de Wets Wild again soon!
DeWetsWild 