Category Archives: North West Province

Our experiences in the reserves of the North West Province, South Africa

A day in Pilanesberg: Hour 6

We’re still on a high from our sighting of Rain the cheetah and her cubs when we turn from Nare Link into Sefara Drive in the Pilanesberg National Park, following the road uphill. Before we even crest the rise we become aware of the sound of thundering hooves moving at speed…

“Buffaloes!”

The Park’s buffaloes are so seldomly seen that they’re known as the “ghosts of the Pilanesberg”, and any encounter with them is a thrilling treat. Even more so these particular buffaloes, as they are in quite a rush to get away as quickly as possible, allowing only a few photos as they run past us, thankfully without smashing into our vehicle. Was it us who scared them?

Buffaloes rushing past us on Sefara Drive

As the buffaloes stampede down into the valley, we get back our composure and drive on. We don’t get very far however before Joubert yells out, again, “Lions!” Could it really be our third lion sighting of the morning!?

Indeed, there obscured behind some twigs and branches, are a pride of 5 lions wrestling with a buffalo cow on the ground! Now the stampeding herd of buffaloes we saw half-a-minute ago makes perfect sense!

Lions killing a buffalo on Sefara Drive

As the bellowing of the cow dies down, no longer to be heard above the sound of raindrops on the car’s roof, and her feverish kicking stops, it’s clear that the fight is all over. In the excitement it takes a while for me to figure out that if I drive past the scene we’d have a much clearer view of it looking back. Just as the feeding starts one of the younger lionesses gets up and walks off, presumably to collect the pride’s cubs to join the feast. While we wait almost an hour for her to return, she doesn’t, so the cubs must’ve been quite some distance away. In the meantime the sights and sounds of the lions tearing the buffalo cow open and apart is as bone-chilling as you can imagine.

Lions preying on buffalo in the Pilanesberg National Park

And to think we’re only half-way through our day in the Pilanesberg!

If you’d like to follow along as we explore the Pilanesberg, a map may come in handy (for a large format version click here)

Scene where we saw the buffaloes and lions on Sefara Drive

If you need to catch up on our drive through the Pilanesberg National Park, you can read all the previous posts here.

To be continued tomorrow.

A day in Pilanesberg: Hour 5

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We’ve just been commenting on the scarcity of giraffe sightings so far into our day at the Pilanesberg National Park when we find ourselves in the middle of a giraffe roadblock on Tlou Drive.

Giraffe

Giraffe roadblock

It takes a bit of patient waiting before the giraffes clear the road for us. We turn off into Tshukudu e Ntsho Road to go and see what Makorwane Dam has in store for us. There’s a huge crocodile and a pod of hippos in the water, but a group of very noisy humans in the hide are spoiling the experience for everyone else and we don’t stick around for longer than necessary to use the ablutions. The view from the bridge over the stream feeding the dam is much more serene.

Back on Tlou Drive and then right on the Nare Link, there’s more wildebeest, red hartebeest and giraffes to see, and then…

“There they are! There they are!” Joubert sees the cheetahs first, some distance away from the road but thankfully out in the open and clearly visible despite the pouring rain. A female cheetah known, fittingly, as “Rain” and her three almost fully-grown cubs. We last saw Rain about 5 years ago, when she was still the only adult female cheetah in the Pilanesberg and already raising a litter of cubs. Since then the Park’s cheetah population has grown considerably, in no small part due to Rain’s success as a mother.

The Cheetah female Rain and her latest cubs

As we are watching the distant cheetahs this very wet black-shouldered kite is keeping an eye on us:

Soppy Black-shouldered Kite

If you’d like to follow along as we explore the Pilanesberg, a map may come in handy (for a large format version click here)

Tlou Drive to Nare Link via Makorwane Hide

If you need to catch up on our drive through the Pilanesberg National Park, you can read all the previous posts here.

To be continued tomorrow.

A day in Pilanesberg: Hour 4

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Mankwe Dam, a large man-made impoundment that holds water throughout the year and that’s a veritable magnet for wildlife, is located in the heart of the Pilanesberg National Park. On its banks you’ll find the Mankwe Hide, very popular with photographers and recently rebuilt after being destroyed in a veld fire. That is where we are headed next.

African Pipit just outside Mankwe Hide

We weren’t exactly thrilled to see this exotic invader, a Common Myna, at Mankwe Dam

Warthog and Mankwe Hide

View over Mankwe Dam from Mankwe Hide

Yellow-billed Stork at Mankwe Dam

Back in the hide’s parking area this southern masked weaver is enjoying a bath in a small puddle- as if he is too scared to go swimming in the big pool on the other side!

Southern Masked Weaver enjoying a muddy puddle at Mankwe Dam

Almost immediately after driving out of the parking area at the hide, we come across a pair of lions – our second lion sighting of the day and less than 200 steps from where we were standing outside our vehicle just a few seconds ago! Luckily, being a mating pair, their attentions are focused on satisfying other base instincts than finding food. Our day just keeps getting better!

Mating lions at Mankwe Hide

Leaving the lions to their honeymoon, we head north along Kgabo Drive and take a left into Tlou. Along the way we add further to our list of birds seen, including this rufous-naped lark singing its lungs out from a prominent perch.

Rufous-naped Lark

Just as we get to the junction of Tlou and Thuthlwa drives we find another brown hyena, walking quite purposefully away from an old elephant carcass with a large chunk of bone in its jaws. We follow alongside until it disappears into a thicket, its destination remaining a mystery to us but we like to think that it is headed to a den with hungry youngsters waiting.

Brown Hyena at the junction of Thuthlwa and Tlou drives in Pilanesberg

If you’d like to follow along as we explore the Pilanesberg, a map may come in handy (for a large format version click here)

Mankwe Hide to Tlou Drive

If you need to catch up on our drive through the Pilanesberg National Park, you can read all the previous posts here.

To be continued tomorrow.

A day in Pilanesberg: Hour 3

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As we’re driving away from the sight, and smell, of Mavuso’s carcass we find ourselves on Mankwe Way, one of the most productive game-viewing routes in the Pilanesberg National Park. And today this scenic road certainly lives up to its reputation. What is it that Joubert has in his sights?

What is Joubert photographing?

Yes, our first lion encounter of the day. Why exactly this female chooses to lazily lie down out in the pouring rain is anyone’s guess. At one point she gets up and we’re relieved that finally she had some sense infused, but she only wants to turn around… Perhaps she thought it rude to be lying with her back to us?

Lioness along Mankwe Way

Eventually we move off again, leaving the lioness to her shower. It continues to rain softly as we drive along Mankwe Way and Letsha Drive, spying kudu, zebra, wildebeest, impala and several kinds of birds on our way towards Mankwe Dam in the centre of the Park.

Female Chinspot Batis

Wildebeest and zebras under heavy skies

Blue Wildebeest in the rain

A very wet White-throated Robin Chat

If you’d like to follow along as we explore the Pilanesberg, a map may come in handy (for a large format version click here)

Mankwe Way and Letsha Drive

If you need to catch up on our drive through the Pilanesberg National Park, you can read all the previous posts here.

To be continued tomorrow.

A day in Pilanesberg: Hour 2

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We pick up our recollections of our day trip through Pilanesberg National Park at the the junction of Kwalata Road and Mankwe Way which was, on the 28th of August 2020, the scene of a deadly battle between two elephant bulls. Sadly Mavuso – a dominant bull that was brought to Pilanesberg National Park from the Kruger National Park back in 1999 and estimated to be around the mid-50’s in age – was killed in the fight. We were fortunate to have seen the gentle giant during a previous visit in November 2018.

Pilanesberg’s late tusker Mavuso, seen in November 2018

Mavuso’s massive carcass has been a magnet for scavengers since the unfortunate end to the fight, and it is amazing to think that even now six weeks later there’s still ample carrion available to attract the attention of black-backed jackals and brown hyenas. Apart from quickly popping in at the Fish Eagle Picnic Site for a body-break and a freshly made mug of coffee we spend almost an hour at the carcass watching the fascinating interaction between the scavengers. The pictures are gory, but trust me when I say that the smell is even more so!

Black-backed Jackals fighting over scraps

Black-backed Jackals at Mavuso’s carcass

King of the castle: Black-backed Jackal at Mavuso’s carcass

Brown Hyena carefully approaching Mavuso’s carcass

Brown Hyena carefully approaching Mavuso’s carcass and being irritated by the jackals

Brown Hyena and Black-backed Jackals at Mavuso’s carcass

Mavuso’s carcass on 06/10/2020 (photo by Joubert)

If you’d like to follow along as we explore the Pilanesberg, a map may come in handy (for a large format version click here)

Kwalata to Fish Eagle and back

If you need to catch up on our drive through the Pilanesberg National Park, you can read yesterday’s post covering the stretch from Kwa Maritane Gate to Kwalata Road here.

To be continued tomorrow.

A day in Pilanesberg: Hour 1

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We’ve just entered the Pilanesberg National Park through the Kwa Maritane Gate and following Tshepe Drive deeper into the Park.

As happens more often than not, the first animals we encounter are impala, followed soon after by a small herd of blue wildebeest. We notice that the winter fire season burned large tracts of land, but take heart from the flush of new green shoots poking through the blackened earth, and have no doubt that the continued drizzle we were driving through would boost the new growth enormously. Next sighting is the first of Africa’s “Big Five“: a nice big elephant bull and, not half-a-kilometre further, three more. Before we reach the junction of Tshepe Drive with the Nkakane road, 10km from the gate, a small herd of plains zebra, mixing with more impala, is our next “tick” before seeing yet another elephant, this one scaling a rocky hillside some distance from the road.

Elephant along Tshepe Drive

Wet Impalas

Plains Zebra close-up

Elephant climbing a rocky hill, seen along Tshepe Drive

It’s a further 3km to the left turn into the Kwalata road, during which we’re not only excited by beautiful scenery (despite the gloomy weather), lots of birds beginning to appear and the sight of a small herd of rare tsessebe but also by fresh lion tracks appearing in the wet sand on the road every so often. This particular lion however did not want to be seen…

Crossing the Mankwe stream along Tshepe Drive

Egyptian Goose at the Mankwe stream crossing

Scenery along Tshepe Drive

Rufous-naped Lark on a prominent perch

Grazing Tsessebes on Tshepe Drive (photo by Joubert)

Grazing Tsessebe on Tshepe Drive

As we’re merrily driving along Kwalata road, enjoying each other’s company and regular sightings of more impala, we’re flagged down by the driver of a safari vehicle with some very wet tourists in the back. He wants to know whether we’ve come from Kwa Maritane’s side. “Yes”, we answer. “Any cats?” he asks, obviously desperate to make his shivering clients’ ordeal worth their while (and money). “Not yet!”, we answer. Turns out all he should have done was to follow Joubert and me around the rest of the day…

Scenery at the junction of Tshepe and Kwalata

Impala ram on Kwalata road

If you’d like to follow along as we explore the Pilanesberg, a map may come in handy (for a large format version click here)

Kwa Maritane Gate to Mankwe Way via Tshepe and Kwalata

To be continued tomorrow.

A day in Pilanesberg: Before we set out.

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Our day trip to Pilanesberg National Park on Tuesday (06 October, 2020) was just so full of exciting and beautiful sights and experiences that we’ve decided to do a series of posts over the next two weeks to tell you all about it.

The trip has been a few weeks in the planning, and finally a week or so ago we identified an opportunity to visit the Park on the 6th of October. As the date got closer and closer the weather forecasts for the day grew ever more rainy, until the evening before it was clear and certain that the first decent rainfall of spring arrived in northern South Africa – very welcome indeed. Not being the sort to let a little wet weather dampen our exploring spirits we were not deterred, although wet weather usually doesn’t bode well for good sightings of animals or birds.

Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, South Africans are not presently allowed on the roads before 04:00 am unless to provide or receive an “essential service”. This meant that we couldn’t leave Pretoria earlier, which we would’ve preferred to do given the 160km of wet roads ahead following good overnight rainfall. Thankfully there was very little traffic on the road, and with ten minutes left before the gates opened at 06:00 am, we pulled into the parking area at Kwa Maritane Gate on the south-east border of the Pilanesberg National Park. That’s just enough time to fit lenses to cameras and pay our entrance fee.

It is 06:02 when we drive through the gate into the Park along the gravel Tshepe Drive.

If you’d like to follow along over the next few days, a map may come in handy (for a large format version click here)

Oh, before we drive further and I forget: Pilanesberg National Park is home to healthy populations of both black and white rhinos, but due to the continued threat posed by armed poachers we are sharing the photos we got of them on this trip to Pilanesberg here in the opening post, so that we don’t give away the location of our sightings (even if their horns have been removed by rangers to deter the poachers).

White Rhinoceros in Pilanesberg National Park (Joubert’s photo)

White Rhinoceros in Pilanesberg National Park

White Rhinos in Pilanesberg National Park

White Rhinoceros in Pilanesberg National Park

Pilanesberg for a day

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Yesterday, Joubert and I slipped away for a day visit to the Pilanesberg National Park. We’ll soon be telling you all about our amazing day in the bushveld, but until then we’ll share this little teaser of what’s in store.

Lions preying on buffalo in the Pilanesberg National Park

Our 2018 in pictures

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Taking a look back at all the wonderful places we stayed at while exploring South Africa’s wild destinations in 2018.

We hope that 2019 will be kind to all our friends here at de Wets Wild, and that we’ll continue to share in each others adventures!

Skukuza Unit 210, Kruger National Park, March 2018

Twanana Research Camp, Kruger National Park, March & May 2018

Haak-en-Steek Cottage, Mokala NP, April 2018

Chalet 26 at Augrabies Falls National Park, June 2018

Cottage 25 at Twee Rivieren, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, June 2018

Cottage 1 at Mata Mata, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, June 2018

Cottage 8 at Nossob, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, June 2018

Chalet 24 at Twee Rivieren, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, June 2018

Ntshondwe Chalet #20, Ithala Game Reserve, August 2018

Camping at Bakgatla, Pilanesberg National Park, November 2018

Umlalazi Log Cabin #1, December 2018

Chalet 16 at Mpila in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, December 2018

Boys Weekend in the Pilanesberg

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Early on this past Saturday morning Joubert and I headed for the Pilanesberg National Park’s Kwa Maritane Gate. Our plan was to spend all of Saturday, most of Sunday morning and the night between in one of South Africa’s most easily accessible wildlife destinations, enjoying a bit of father-son company and shared hobbies in the beautiful surroundings far from the city’s distractions. When the Gate opened at 05:30 we set off, enjoying some thrilling encounters with the Park’s wildlife right from the start.

With the kind help of wildlife photographer Brian Pettit (http://www.naturepicturesworldwide.com/ & https://www.zambezicruisesafaris.com/our-blog/), this massive insect was identified as the bush cricket Clonia wahlbergii

Pilanesberg’s tusker Mavuso

Grey Heron

Lioness feeding from the carcass of a poached rhino

Well-hidden lion

Plains Zebra searching for fresh green shoots

African Grey Hornbill

Secretary Bird

Speckled Pigeon (photo by Joubert)

Red Hartebeest

Red-billed Oxpecker

Southern Masked Weaver

White Rhinos hiding from the sun

Pied Crow (Joubert’s photo)

Steppe Buzzard in flight (Joubert’s photo)

Streaky-headed Seedeater

Steenbok Ram

Mountain Reedbuck family

Warthog

While we were enjoying the Pilanesberg’s sights and sounds from the coolness of the photographic hide at Makorwane Dam, Joubert suggested that we head for Bakgatla Resort to go setup camp before the day got any hotter.

Arrow-marked Babbler

Spur-winged Goose

African Darter in flight

Green-winged Pytilia (female)

Kalahari Scrub Robin

Giraffe

Bushveld Pipit

Baby elephants fast asleep in the heat while the rest of the herd stand guard

With our tent pitched and our camping chairs unpacked, we could enjoy our lunch, a few glasses of cold drink and an ice-cream treat surrounded by a selection of Bakgatla’s permanent residents of the feathered variety.

Camping at Bakgatla, Pilanesberg National Park, November 2018

Orange-breasted Bushshrike (male)

Red-billed Hornbill

Black-backed Puffback

Blue Waxbill

Chestnut-vented Warbler

Black-collared Barbet

The first stop on our afternoon drive was Rathlogo Hide, just a few kilometers from Bakgatla.

Hadeda Ibisses

Elephant enjoying a cooling mudbath

Elephant at Rathlogo

Buffy Pipit

Sabota Lark

Giraffe enjoying the shade

At Tilodi Dam we laughed at the antics of a male African Black Duck that was most impressed with himself for having chased off a White-faced Whistling Duck from “his” shoreline.

White-faced Whistling Duck

White-faced Whistling Duck being chased by an African Black Duck

African Black Duck enquiring whether his lady was suitably impressed?

There was much more wildlife to be seen as we traveled through the southeastern portions of the Park.

Immature Black-chested Snake Eagle

Hippos at Nkakane

Eland on Kwalata Drive

Baboons relaxing in the shade

Protective Tsessebe cow with her calf

At Lengau Dam a group of baboon youngsters were having great fun roughhousing in a dead tree and occasionally dropping into the water below – no doubt enjoying great relief from the oppressive heat but I was surprised that they weren’t more afraid of the crocodiles!

Baboons having fun at Lengau Dam

With the sun setting it was time to head towards Bakgatla.

Waterbuck

Elephant cow

Big Elephant herd at Makorwane

Sunset over Pilanesberg (photo by Joubert)

On Sunday morning we packed up our camp and headed for the Lenong Viewpoint to enjoy our morning tea and rusks from a beautiful vantage point high on top of one of Pilanesberg’s mountains. The rest of the morning we spent visiting more of our favourite spots in the Park, until the day started getting really hot again. We enjoyed a quick lunch at Fish Eagle Picnic Spot and then headed for Kwa Maritane Gate and home…