Kruger National Park 21

DAY 1 AND DAY 2:

On the eve of my departure the Landcruiser stood all packed and ready, but still attached via its umbilical cord to the house mains electricity for the fridge.

Saturday morning came and it was a slightly ahead of schedule departure. All I had to do was unhook the mains current.

There is not much to say about the almost 2000km journey to Nelspruit where I am currently staying Day 2 night. You just have to put your head down and get it over and done with. I managed to negotiate the spaghetti freeways around Johannesburg with no trouble. Being a Sunday also helped with the traffic being light.

The first day was long and it was a latish afternoon arrival in Bloemfontein. The only notable feature of the day and, indeed, the whole trip so far is the quite startling number of heavy trucks on the road. They outnumber the cars by far. For large parts of the journey the main North South railway line can be seen. Not a single train was spotted. One has to question why the railways cannot get it together to get volume goods transported by rail. It can be so easy. It surely must be the answer. The fuel consumed and emissions by these monster trucks must be harmful.

The recent heavy rains have produced lush lands in the Free State and Gauteng areas. The Orange River was flowing strongly when I passed. The farmers must be pleased.

In Bloemfontein mention must be made of the chance meeting I had with a couple whose travels I have followed closely, Dr Stan and Ann Weakley from East London. They were on their way home to East London after three weeks in a wet Kruger Park. I mention this because Stan and Ann have made my planning of my various trips so easy. They have been generous with their advice both on the internet as in well as in private emails. This is the first time I have met them face to face.

Just some advice; the road from Witbank towards Nelspruit is under construction. My estimate is at least a year so be careful if you choose this route.

Currently in Nelspruit at the Town Lodge before entering the park at Malelane Gate tomorrow.

Day 3: Nelspruit to Skukuza.

As I braved the early morning commuter traffic a glance at the sky told me that rain was going to come at some time today. It did, at about 4pm. But what about the day?

It was easy to get on the road to Malalane and the Malalane Gate where I planned to entrance. There is major roadworks on the road, but fortunately the traffic for me was light. The incoming commute to Nelspruit was horrific. A queue of at least 10km for those poor people had to be overcome. Take note that the roadworks will be active for at least another year. Of course, they still charged you full price at the toll, for a road, that frankly, was in a very poor state. I can quite understand when I read about head on collisions in the press for this area.

A quick coffee stop in Melalane and a customer call (yes, we do have a customer there) saw me at the gate just after 8 in the morning. Covid regulations were easy and check in a formality.

The drive to Skukuza was very relaxed and I took the lessor routes. This produced no cars and a few sightings, but nothing spectacular. Very few cars were spotted. All the usual suspects, but no cats and dogs. They will come hopefully.

An early afternoon check in at Skukuza confirmed that the park was very quiet. The staff told me an occupancy of about 25%. During my afternoon walk around the large camp I was amazed as the usually busy shop area with open air restaurant had only 3 tables occupied. The car park where I have battled to get parking in the past had just a sprinkling of cars.

The new “Station Kruger” section was on display. This consists of a railway shed with coach and steam engine with a café/bar area. Of course, the numerous TV’s were in attendance to cater, I suppose, for the changing customer demand. The new hotel on the old railway bridge with carriages was punted to me, but it is a huge step up from simple camping.

On the camping theme, I walked around the campsite, again plenty of space available. I was struck by the unkempt campsites. The grass/weeds were knee high and growing where they should not be growing. A sign of slipping standards? I don’t know as it is early days, but it did look out of place compared to the rest of the camp which was up to the usual Parks Board standards.

The afternoon game drive produced not much, but then it was raining. All over there is evidence of the recent heavy showers that have occurred. Many of the secondary roads are closed. The signage is confusing at times and I must admit to taking advantage of this confusion to travel these side roads. After all, why have a Landcruiser?

The rain has cleared and it is extremely relaxing sitting on the stoep having a braai.

Day 4: Skukuza.

As usual I waited for the gate opening mob to clear before making a move. It was 06h00 as I rumbled over the cattle grate at the gate.

Virtually immediately a group of hyenas were on the road in front of me. A little way on another single hyena and I thought that is was hyena Tuesday, but it later turned out to be dog day Tuesday.

My plan was to go to Lower Sabie via the Sabie River road. Always a very pleasant drive, but it can be busy with many cars. As I turned onto the H4-1 the road was completely blocked by baboons. A troop of about 80 plus of varying ages. Forced to watch this lot for a while I was mildly champing at the bit as, well, there are many baboons in Cape Town.

The single hyena kept on appearing, different ones every few kilometers or so. They would run on the road in front of me for quite a while then veer off into the bush. I was telling myself that this was positive as there would be predators about.

The road was empty and I was idling along in beautiful partly cloudy conditions with a cool breeze wafting through the open windows. As I came around a bend I saw an animal shape in the distance. My immediate thought was buck as they had been prolific. This buck had a tail with a white tip. I managed to get a picture of him on the road, but he was alone. A lone ranger wild dog did not fit the pattern. I stopped and waited for about five minutes and was hugely rewarded when a pack of about 20 or so came from the undergrowth. They were boisterous and stayed in the road. I stayed with them, still completely alone for about fifteen minutes. They must have been feeding as their mouths were still bloodstained.

I could not believe my luck. Dogs are my favorite sighting, above leopard, lion and cheetah.

They remained on the road making steady progress, but playing around all the time. At this stage a few other cars arrived. All in all, I had a splendid forty minutes with them and about half that time was alone with them.

A few kilometers short of Lower Sabie a small gaggle of cars alerted me to a sighting. This time two big lions on the road. Great view. Breakfast was at the picnic spot Nkuhlu. A pleasant spot on the river and joined by a few others.

A note about the birds. I have been disappointed with the sightings so far. Not many around, and few raptors. Maybe further north it will improve.

Construction is taking place here and a large shop/fast food emporium is being built. A ranger I chatted to there said a camp is being planned as well. I have alluded to customer demand previously. It would appear that there is demand for these fixtures in the park. At the moment they are being built in the Southern Sector. This is the most popular part for the weekenders from Jhb. This is speculation, maybe the southern part is being “touristified” and the northern sector being left alone for the purist. Time will tell.

A word on Skukuza. I am staying in the classic rondawel units. Very comfortable and spotless. Here is the problem though; the bathroom in my unit has had the plastic shower curtain removed that was always a feature. In its place is a glass and aluminum door, but the unit is so badly fitted that the door cannot close and the floor gets full of water when showering. The drains still block up so nothing new there. The tile grouting is full of black mold. Although very clean these units are tired. So here is the argument. Parks Board are putting in mega facilities such as above at the picnic spot, the very fancy train hotel at Skukuza and the bar/fast food outlet next door. I hope they do not forget the many thousands of loyal customers who book the rondawels year in and year out that provide the Parks with very decent cash.

On the slight moan front, I can add another. The recent rains have caused havoc with many of the roads, particularly the secondary gravel roads. Many of them are closed. No issue there. My gripe is that Parks Officials have physically been there and closed the roads. Could a list not be put up at the respective camps as to which roads are closed? It makes planning so much easier and you don’t drive a secondary route only to find the next road you want to take is closed. A return detour along the same roads is not fun. Small niggle.

Day 5: Skukuza to Satara.

The early start record was still intact as I left Skukuza on a brilliant Lowveld day with a comfortable cooling breeze coming through the windows. I decided on the classic route to Satara as I was camping and all reading I have done advises to get to your camp spot early to be situated in a decent site.

Just before the concrete causeway across the Sabie River the lone hyena on a mission alerted me. On the bridge was a dog show. The wild dogs had appeared again and they had just taken down a water buck. They were quite considerate to move the kill from the bridge to the bank adjacent. They are noisy eaters and this noise attracted the hyenas which arrived from both sides of the river. The dogs protected the meal until most had fed and then sporadic raids were permitted by the hyenas. Quite a sight, and dogs for the second day. I have only seen dogs once before in Kruger and now two sightings in two days. No wonder the leopard still eluded me.

The Tshokwane tea room,about 40km from Skukuza, was now fully functional, but was quiet. The monkeys are still in attendance.

I am still intrigued by the management decisions being taken in the park. On the one hand they are spending millions to cater for the upper end Jhb type market, but, as I pointed out yesterday have they lost focus further down the value chain?

The story from Skukuza about the tired rondawels had a half happy ending. During the course of the afternoon I was approached by a staff member doing the rounds enquiring if everything was okay. Great, I thought, this is good. I mentioned the drain and the shower door. He went on his way and I, on my afternoon game drive. Imagine my surprise in the shower that the drain was fixed and an attempt had been made to repair the shower door. It could now close, but due to a poor installation it still leaked water all over the place. I was impressed; they had acted quickly and done everything they could.

In Tshokwane I used the bathroom facilities. Spotlessly clean, but the doors to the loos all had broken locks and could not close. Plenty of staff around cleaning and sweeping to keep the place perfectly clean. Now how about upskilling the cleaning guy to be able to tackle handyman jobs like fixing the bathroom door lock? He wins by broadening his skillset and the Park wins by not having to get repairmen from Skukuza or even worse, put it out to tender!

Fully relaxed in Satara campsite. Surprisingly the campsite is about 70% full, while the chalets are very empty. The facilities, as usual, are very clean, but, again, unkempt grass and weeds have made an appearance. The lawn areas between the chalets are untidy with weeds and high grass.

Day 6: Satara.

I was immediately awakened after being in a deep sleep. Sound travels in the bush and on a completely still lowveld night it travels just that bit more. A car alarm was going off and after falling asleep again another round and just for good measure a third one went off. All was not lost as in waiting for sleep to come again the hyena chorus started up. Loudly. A good omen I thought for game viewing.

Well it was a fantastic day of game viewing. Lion, leopard and cheetah, but spotted by others and not me. I had an average day as far as animals were concerned. However, the green grasses and trees in full bloom more than made up for it. The veld is spectacular. Every stream and every river has at least a bit of water in it.

Maybe my luck will change, but even it does not it is just so special to be here. It is comforting to know that the big cats are in attendance waiting to be found.

The birds continue to be a bit on the scarce side except for the Ground Hornbill and Lilac Breasted and European Roller. I have lost count how many of these are around.

Day 7: Satara.

Birds are difficult. I was reminded of this fact after finishing a biography of the late Barry Sheene. He was the last British World Motorcycling champion. To place him he finished just as Valentino Rossi started professional racing. He had many birds, both easy and difficult.

My difficult bird was a perfect shot of a Malachite Kingfisher on the Timbavati Road. He was perched just so, the sun highlighted his colours perfectly, his head was in the right position, but just as I was going to push the shutter he flew away.

To the day itself. If you are ever in the Satara region you can do no better than take a drive along the S39. This road is narrow, gravel and undulating. It follows the Timbavati River with its overhanging trees and sometimes dense foliage. One of the great drives in the Kruger. No predators, but frequent sightings of all the usual game you would expect. The picnic spot called Timbavati is beautifully placed at elevation to gain the most of a river view. The road has many little loops so that the river can be seen to advantage.

A short way after the picnic spot is a sponsored hide with a perfect view of the river. Called Ratelpan, this is where I saw my first crocs of the trip. The recent heavy rains, with the resultant heavy flows, have driven them into hiding I presume.

The afternoon drive failed to spot the lions that had been seen in the morning. No hard feelings as it was just great to be out.

The campsite is now just about full. Over lunch I have observed many campers arriving with all sorts of anchors being towed, including one truck that would not be out of place plying its trade on the N1.

On average these anchors take about three hours to set up. All sorts of fold out this and push back that and of course, the obligatory tent that covers half a rugby field. Me, I just park, pop my tent and sit in my chair with my table at hand. Simple.

Day 8: Satara.

It was absolutely perfect. The overcast conditions meant that my drive due east on the famed S100 road was not going to be into the rising sun. A lovely cool breeze came in through the open windows. I had jockeyed myself into position where there were no other cars around me and I had the whole road to myself. Today was going to be the day.

Only it was not. Despite my best efforts at crawling speed and looking hard the cats eluded me. Except an iffy sighting of a cheetah in a riverbed on its way to the plains. The other “normal” animals made up for it and there were more birds than I have usually seen.

At the usual breakfast stop at Nwanetsi the chatter that I picked up was the everyone had the same problem. At camp the sightings board confirmed slim pickings.

I declined an evening drive as tomorrow I leave for Tsendze Camp, a longish drive. I have never been there and it is camping only with 34 pitches in a semi forest setting. Completely off grid, so it should be pleasant.

It has been wonderful to get reacquainted with Satara, a camp which we have visited many times before. The camping has been perfect except and it has been busy. I had lost track about the days a bit and then realized it was weekend so more visitors would have arrived for the break.

Day 9: Satara to Tsendze Rustic Camp.

Why change a winning formula? So, it was up at 05h00 and depart at 06h00 on the way to Tsendze. My forecast was 6 hours for the drive and, indeed, this is what it took. Check in is at the larger camp Mopani and the actual camp is about 8 km south of Mopani.

My first time here. I was a bit apprehensive as there are many definitions of “rustic”. I need not have worried. It is a delightful camp of 34 pitches set in dense mopani woodland. All the sites have deep shade and are very pleasant. There is no electricity, the camp ablutions being run on gas and solar lighting.

If you are a camper and you are in the park then this is a must. Completely different to the more “mainstream” camps.

I am now finally in the Northern section of the park which was my objective. I have not spent much time in the tropics of the park and I am looking forward to it.

So how was the drive? A huge male lion was sleeping a Saturday night party off just lying on the Satara to Olifants road. A nice selection of birds on display as well. Again, for a while I was the only vehicle there. Breakfast at Olifants revealed that the camp was quiet. Then onwards to Letaba.

A word on Olifants and Letaba. I went around both quite extensively. I was impressed. The gardens were immaculate, the campsite at Letaba in beautiful condition and all in all both in splendid shape. It begs the question why the slightly tired look at Skukuza and Satara? Management? Must be.

Day 10: Tsendze Rustic Camp.

Charles Dickens said “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times”; so I am twisting (slight connection, Oliver Twist), his words to describe last night. As I lay in the tent the lions started roaring. Loudly. Not a bad sound, but when you trying to sleep maybe not so good. The best was listening to them and just knowing they were there although I have not seen them yet. The worst was trying to get to sleep with the noise.

A nice cool day greeted me and I took the lesser roads around the Mopani area. According to my reading highly recommended, and very enjoyable they were too. One drives through a section of clear plains where huge herds of wildebeest, zebra and buck were grazing. I actually never knew such herds existed in Kruger. A joy to see.

At my breakfast stop a conversation with some other visitors revealed that a leopard had crossed the road in front of them, so good to know they are about. Their last visit was in October last year and they could not believe the change in vegetation. The green grass, the trees, the general wellbeing of the veld was amazing. In October the drought had taken hold and everything was brown and the grass nonexistent. Viewing from their vehicle could be unobstructed for at least 500m they said. Water was scarce and thus spotting was a piece of cake.

Well for me I am happy the park flora and fauna has taken a turn for the good and I will happily sacrifice animals spotting if it means the game can flourish.

The elephants are numerous and are huge here. Significantly larger than those I saw further south. Their tusks are enormous and seldom have I seen such huge beasts. I give them a wide berth.

Driving on the secondary dirt roads is quite an adventure as the grass and trees are well developed. The road is just narrow enough for one car, such is the foliage. One has to take care as many an elephant lurks and they suddenly appear.

Day 11: Tsendze Rustic Camp.

Today was my eleventh day on the road as it were, and I needed an admin day. Last night the lions were particularly vociferous at about 3am. They sounded as though they were at my tent, but their sound does travel. As usual, despite my best efforts they eluded me in the morning. Nice to know they are around.

I decided to catch up on my other life in Cape Town by spending some time at the Day Visitors area at Mopani Camp. Very pleasant it was too with the whole place to myself and a strong cellphone signal.

The afternoon game drive produced a big herd of buffalo and the usual plains game. I weakened as it has been about 35 deg and I drove with the aircon on. It only really cools down in the early hours of the morning.

Day 12: Tsendze Rustic Camp.

My last day here before moving north to Shingwedzi. The duck on cat sightings continue, but great sightings of buffalo, elephant and the usual plains game. The elephants are in abundance and are huge.

If one ventures off the main tar roads onto the subsidiary roads it seems as if you are in jungle conditions. The roads are narrow, the vegetation thick. The only constant dangers here if elephant or buffalo suddenly appear, which they do.

Some of the roads I traversed today were very rough, requiring 4x4 on occasion to ford some massive dongas caused by washaways from the recent heavy rains. Obviously, the parks board road closing crew had not inspected these roads.

What does one take from Tsendze? It is a lovely campsite quite different to any other in Kruger. Rustic is a good word; the ablutions even have open air showers which is a nice touch. To be frank every guide book I have read say there are slim pickings from a game viewing point of view and this was my experience. The dense bush and trees did not help much, but on the other hand it is great to see the veld looking so lush and verdant.

Maybe three nights would have been better, but who knows?

Day 13: Tsendze Rustic Camp to Shingwedzi.

Today was a camp move further to the north. After an uneventful 2.5 hour drive, I reached Shingwedzi. What a lovely camp. Spacious with lovely camping facilities and the original huts still in use today by the chalet dwellers.

As usual the camp talk was about the lions and the leopard spotted within a 5km radius of the camp. Of course, I was not party to these sightings and me leopard duck is still intact.

I was amazed at the swimming pool adjacent to the campsite. It was huge and sparkling with a water feature tumbling water into the pool. The gardens are impressive and facilities immaculate. So Mr or Mrs or Ms Manager is clearly on the ball.

The heat has been turned up today, but there is a forecast of cooler weather with a possibility of a spit of rain. We shall see.

Shingwedzi was the home to “The Magnificent Seven”, the largest tuskers in the park. Now all deceased, but their offspring are certainly keeping up the tradition. They are huge.

The night was stormy. At some stage I awoke anticipating rain, but instead a ferocious gale was blowing. Immediately a bit nervous as I had not experienced heavy wind in my rooftop before. A gentle swaying of the vehicle in sympathy with the gusts and all was fine. My fellow campers were not so lucky; I heard many with their mallets pegging down tents and putting up extra protection. The joys of camping.

The morning brought overcast and cooler conditions. My game drive, whilst very pleasant, brought nothing special. That is, unless you count the three men who suddenly appeared out the bush in front of me. Initially I thought poachers, but then noted no weapons. It turned out they were construction workers repairing the roads.

This was the beginning of some questions about the rest of the trip I was having. At the camp I had spoken to several other campers as one does and their experiences were similar to mine. Unless an animal was in the road it was unlikely to be spotted.

At my breakfast stop, a meeting with some campers from Punda Maria revealed that all secondary roads and loops were closed in that area. They had cut their trip short there because of the extremely limited options available. The questions continued.

I then thought take a leaf from The President and as he tells us in his Family Meetings on TV “he consulted widely”. I spoke with Park Officials back in camp and their advice concurred with the fellow travelers about the conditions.

There and then I decided to turn around for home. The quickest exit to the park was the Punda Maria Gate as my target for the night was Pretoria. An interesting 130km drive from the gate to Louis Trichardt before turning south to Pretoria. Extremely rural for the first half then fully commercial farmlands for the second half. The rural parts I could have been driving through any part of Zambia, for example. The road was poor and progress slow.

Eventually Pretoria came into focus and I overnighted there. Very early, and still in the dark, I set course for Cape Town. Navigation through the Johannesburg freeways in the dark, due to load-shedding, was not too bad and I managed easily enough.

Sixteen hours later I was home.

Those that have read this far may think that northern sector of the park was disappointing. Yes, in terms of animal sightings and the fact that I could not go to the places I wanted to, it could be so. My thoughts are it is fantastic for the rains to have fallen. It is great that the grass is so thick and the bush so dense. This means that those animals who have a of diet grass and leaves are being seriously well fed. This will lead to increased breeding and of course increased prey for the carnivores. The cycle is thus complete for at least another year or two.

Is this not what it is about? The natural areas with the animals and birds being preserved. We are so lucky and privileged to have this virtually on our doorstep.