Tag Archives: A Day in Pilanesberg

A day in Pilanesberg: Hour 2

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).