The scenic route through the Kgaswane Mountain Reserve, which we visited last weekend. If you’d like to learn more about Kgaswane, have a look at the blogpost we dedicated to this special piece of South Africa yesterday.
The scenic route
“On the way” is the latest theme for the WordPress Photo Challenge
It is hard to imagine a more peaceful mountain retreat than Kgaswane, especially so close to the maddening cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Kgaswane sunrise, taken by Joubert!
Located in the western Magaliesberg mountain range, the Kgaswane Mountain Reserve forms an integral part of the Magaliesberg Protected Environment, an inspiring collaboration between private and state land owners and agencies to protect this beautiful ecosystem from exploitation. Proclaimed in 1967 as the Rustenburg Nature Reserve, incorporating the farm Rietvallei that once belonged to Paul Kruger (legendary president of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek), Kgaswane today covers an area of 5,300 hectares and is managed by the North West Parks and Tourism Board.
The reserve is a popular hiking destination, with two overnight hikes; the Summit Route of 25km and the Baviaanskrans Route of 20km, each trail with two overnight hutted camps accommodating twelve hikers at a time. For day visitors, the 5km Peglerae Trail and 2km Vlei Ramble (which incorporates a bird-viewing hut overlooking the marshlands below the main visitor centre) is an excellent introduction to Kgaswane’s varied topography and habitats, with wonderfully shaded picnic sites available at the visitor centre. While the road network may be limited, it is tarred and in good condition, allowing for easy game and bird-viewing from vehicles and mountain bikes. There’s three spectacular viewing points along the way into the mountains from the entrance gate. Joubert and I spent a night on one of the twenty-two spacious camping sites and found the ablution facilities well maintained and entirely adequate (just remember to bring your own bath and sink plugs). There are no powerpoints at the camping sites but each site has a braai (barbeque) stand and picnic table and there’s a communal freezer available in the scullery. Best of all, there’s little to no cellphone reception in the camping area so no telemarketers can interfere with your rest and relaxation! Accommodation is also available in a self-catering cottage and two rondavels that sleep a combined 14 people and a group camp that can house up to 50 people in dormitory-style.
The Magaliesberg dominates the scenery at Kgaswane with rocky ridges, stacked boulders and deep ravines. The vlei (marsh) on the plateau is the largest in the Magaliesberg, and an important catchment area.
The reserve hosts good, though skittish, populations of a variety of game animals; we encountered black-backed jackal, baboon, warthog, eland, red hartebeest, plains zebra, oribi, reedbuck, blesbok, impala, kudu and waterbuck. The reserve’s birdlife is even more diverse, with 320 species recorded, including a breeding colony of endangered Cape vultures. Kgaswane’s most prized residents are the herds of the magnificent and rare sable antelope. It was here in the Magaliesberg that these regal animals first came to the attention of the scientific community, thanks to explorer Major Sir William Cornwallis Harris, in the 1830’s. But unlike Harris, we were not lucky enough to find the sable on our first visit to Kgaswane. And that’s just one of the excuses we’ll use to visit again, soon…
Kgaswane Mountain Reserve lies on the outskirts of the city of Rustenburg, in the North West Province, an easy 3km from the R24 offramp on the N4 highway and 134km from our home in Pretoria.
Pretoria to Kgaswane
(map drawn with Google Maps)
Joubert and I have just finished unpacking the car, after returning from a weekend camping at Kgaswane Mountain Reserve, at Rustenburg in the North West Province. Set high in the Magaliesberg range, the reserve abounds in magnificent scenery and interesting formations like this stack of boulders that looks almost like a toppled fortress. Of course, we’ll tell you all about Kgaswane in an upcoming blogpost.
“Broken” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge.
This morning, JacarandaFM – one of South Africa’s biggest radio stations – aired a humorous sketch based on one of our most hair-raising wildlife encounters and the events that followed in their breakfast show’s weekly “Story of my life” segment.
Unfortunately for most of our friends here at de Wets Wild the story is mostly in Afrikaans, our home language, but perhaps you’ll be able to catch the gist of it, which involves a swear word slipping out in an unguarded moment and being stored away in a little boy’s memory bank for later use…
Click here to listen to the piece.
Vir al ons Afrikaanse vriende, julle sal verstaan dat die “kru taal” juis is wat die storietjie so snaaks maak!
Two of the three rhinos that caused the swearing at Ithala Game Reserve…
Talk about South Africa’s most scenic natural attractions, and the Drakensberg mountain range is sure to feature in the conversation. The Kamberg is a distinctive mountain, reminiscent of a comb (“kam” in Afrikaans, “berg” meaning mountain), in the foothills of the Drakensberg. The Kamberg Nature Reserve was originally proclaimed in 1951, covering only 2,232 hectares. Today it forms an integral part of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park‘s expansive 243,000 hectares of protected mountain paradise, recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site of natural and cultural significance. Grasslands predominate, though forested sections exist in the sheltered valleys and extensive reedbeds and wetlands can be found along the Mooi (“pretty”) River, which forms a focal point for the reserve.
Whatever your energy levels, there’s ample opportunities to enjoy the refreshing mountain air at Kamberg. The reserve is well known in fly-fishing circles, with the Mooi River and two dams stocked with (admittedly exotic) trout. There’s three small, but well maintained, picnic sites – one in a copse of trees at the gate, one on the banks of Eland Dam, and one next to the river. Of course there are several trails leading down into the valleys and up into the mountains that may be explored on foot or mountain bike. And there’s a jungle gym and swings to keep the younger generation entertained within shouting distance of the chalets up at the camp.
The tiny camp at Kamberg, managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, is heaven-on-earth to any weary city dweller searching for peace and quiet, as there’s only 5 two-bedded chalets and one six-sleeper cottage at the camp. Eight kilometers from the main resort, the rustic and isolated Stillerust (Afrikaans for “quiet rest”) Farm House provides accommodation for ten guests. There’s a very limited selection of cooldrinks and sweets on sale at reception, and guests should bring along all their own provisions, firewood included. Just behind the camp, at the reception office, is the Kamberg San Rock Art Interpretive Centre where educational films on the San rock art of the Drakensberg are shown and from where the guided walks to the Game Pass Shelter departs. It’s a three-hour round trip to the internationally renowned cave, where high quality San paintings that were instrumental in deciphering the meaning behind the images left by these hunter-gatherers on rock faces across Southern Africa, can be appreciated. Unfortunately the prevailing weather conditions kept us from visiting the cave on this trip, but that’s reason enough in itself to return soon! For guests staying longer, Kamberg is also an ideal base from which to explore other destinations in the Drakensberg, such as nearby Giant’s Castle, and Midlands attractions like Midmar Dam, Karkloof Conservancy, Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve and Queen Elizabeth Park.
During our visit, the local wildlife mostly remained well hidden in the long, flowing grasslands through the day, except for a water mongoose that flashed across the trail next to Erskine Dam, a troop of baboons that sauntered through the camp one afternoon and a distant herd of black wildebeest we saw on the plains near Stillerust. At night however literally dozens of antelope; reedbuck, grey rhebuck and grey duiker, and hares and rabbits would come out to graze on the lawns between the chalets at the camp.
The Drakensberg is home to an amazingly diverse birdlife, with several rare and endemic species occurring at Kamberg. We were thrilled to see several pairs of grey crowned cranes in the wetlands, but absolutely overjoyed by our first ever sighting in the wild of the highly endangered wattled cranes, even if the breeding pair was quite far off in the distance and our photograph nothing more than proof of the sighting 😉
Speaking of cranes, we paid a quick visit to the Hlatikulu Crane Sanctuary on the nearby property of the Entabeni Education Centre where they take care of injured and orphaned blue, crowned and wattled cranes and do more than their share to preserve these special and endangered birds for South Africa’s future generations.
From Pretoria, it’s a drive of approximately 540km to Kamberg, following the N3 southwards to Mooi River. The road to the reserve turns off the R103 at Rosetta, between the Midlands towns of Mooi River and Howick. The 40km (30km tar and 10km gravel) stretch between Rosetta and Kamberg is a very scenic drive through green farmlands and the foothills that constitute the “Little ‘Berg”, and should not be rushed (the road is not in a good enough condition to travel on at speed in any case).
Pretoria to Kamberg (drawn from Google Maps)
Our first visit to Kamberg over a long weekend early in May 2015 opened only a tiny window onto the rich cultural and natural treasures protected there. We’ll be back for sure; there’s still so much to explore, experience and appreciate at this little known gem of “the ‘Berg”.
An exquisite example of San rock art, on display at the Main Caves Museum in Giant’s Castle Game Reserve, in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site.
“Intricate” is this week’s WordPress photo challenge theme.
This morning, we awoke to beautifully clear skies here at Kamberg.
We also learned just how quickly and unpredictably the weather can change in the Drakensberg; within half-an-hour of this photo being taken it was completely overcast!
It’s the Workers’ Day long weekend in South Africa, and we find ourselves at the tiny camp at Kamberg, in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. It is our first time at Kamberg, and thus far we’re quite impressed with what we found.
A public holiday long weekend in South Africa was just the excuse we needed to head back into one of our favourite South African wild places, Golden Gate Highlands National Park.
Glen Reenen Rest Camp, where cottage 25 was our abode for the two nights we spent in Golden Gate on this trip, was a festival of autumn colours. Two horses also made themselves right at home among the accommodation units, and provided loads of entertainment to us all, most especially involving Joubert either photographing them or inviting them over.
Of course we were not going to spend our time in camp only, as beautiful a place as Glen Reenen is, and we made sure we took in as much of Golden Gate’s spectacular scenery as we could fit into two days.
In a place this beautiful, the plentiful animal and birdlife certainly is a special bonus!
Almost exactly two days after we arrived, we set off back home to Pretoria, convinced yet again that Golden Gate is a very special place. If you’d like to learn more about Golden Gate Highlands National Park, have a read through the special blogpost we did on the Park’s fiftieth birthday.
Our new favourite route to Golden Gate, via Sasolburg, Heilbron, Petrus Steyn and Bethlehem, a distance of about 400km from Pretoria (map drawn with Google Maps)
Joubert really had a lot of fun with the two horses that roamed Glen Reenen Rest Camp in Golden Gate Highlands National Park this past weekend. Having had his fill of equine photography on Saturday, the next day he decided to lure the horses to our cottage, with nothing more than handpicked pieces of prime grass-stalks. His efforts were quickly rewarded, to the point where they would have followed him INTO the cottage if he didn’t rudely slam the door in their faces…
We think “Horse Whisperer” has opened up as a new career option for our boy!
(you can click on the images to enjoy them in a larger format 😉 )
DeWetsWild 