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Published: August 27th 2021
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Kruger National Park
Tented safari unit. Superb! “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” – Henry David Thoreau A splendid two-night stay at Sirheni Bush Camp duly ended and, all that was left, was a slow drive up the R56 to
Punda Maria, the final stop on this ten-day expedition through Kruger. The name Punda Maria is a little out of step with all other Kruger camp names which are based on local language interpretations. It has a distinct Portuguese “flavour” to it. Well, it turns out that a guy named Coetser was posted to that area way back in 1919 as the first ranger. He mistakenly named his post Punda Maria thinking this was the Swahili name for zebra (the first big game he saw on arrival). The correct name is actually “punda milia” or striped donkey. The error was pointed out to him but he chose to retain the name in honour of his wife, Maria. Attempts were made over many years to change it to Punda Milia but when confirmed that it did come about originally as “Maria”, the Board in 1981 left it as
Kruger National Park
Splendid view of a kudu nibbling on foliage. it is today.The H1-7 threads its way up into the northern most region of the park which is defined as “Mopane dominated woodlands on mixed soils.” The topography of this region shows marked changes from the central and southern areas. Small hills dot the landscape and the mopane trees obviously relish the soil and conditions, as they are much larger than their cousins further back. There is always something happening up ahead and at one point we had to stop for the better part of five minutes to allow a very large breeding herd of buffalo to cross the road.
Punda Maria was originally a game ranger’s quarters and it was only in 1933 that it was established as a tourist camp. This explains the oldish appearance of all the buildings and there are very few chalets. What is on offer are rooms in a number of large single structures and the occupants have to share a common braai/dining area and communal bathroom facilities. Fortunately, we were booked into a very good tented safari unit (only seven of them). Anyone planning a stop at this camp, must do everything possible to book one of the tented units.
Kruger National Park
Vigilant Sue at Crooks Corner. The camping area is excellent and a great alternative for the “sleepwa”, RV and tenting folk.
A real bonus of this camp is a 25km loop road which circles the hills behind and it proved very productive for game viewing. The scenery, as the road wends its way through forested ravines nestled between hillsides and over a few stream crossings, is superb and the golden sunlight of late afternoon was breath taking. On two occasions on this drive, we had a very good sighting of a magnificent, fully grown leopard chilling on a small rocky outcrop. Judging by the large number of impala and nyala seen, there was no chance that this leopard would go hungry.
A short drive to
Pafuri along the H1-8 provided splendid open bushveld and game was abundant. Ever wide-awake Sue had identified a picnic site looking on to the Luvuvho river and it won the “best picnic site” award by a country mile. Situated under huge trees of every type, the view onto the river was superb. This area is renowned for spotting the Pels’ Fishing Owl, but despite scanning the trees extensively, this unique owl was not to be seen. When chatting
Kruger National Park
Massive baobab trees found in this northern region. to the picnic site manager, he said they were not really seen until February when the river flowed strongly. Another interesting comment from him was the prevalence of tiger fish in this river. Needless to say, our final breakfast in this beautiful spot, will linger in the memory bank for a long time (or at the very least, until we do a follow up visit).To add intrigue to this area is a rather shady place named
Crooks Corner. It is very close to the picnic site and the parking area looks onto the Limpopo River. Mozambique is on the other side and not too far further north is Zimbabwe. So, three countries meet and once upon a time provided the ideal haven for those skelms trying to evade the law. Think gun runners, ivory poachers and other outlaws. When the feds caught up, all these dudes had to do was hop across the border. It has an eerie atmosphere with huge fever trees providing a wonderful canopy. The sandy river banks had several very large crocs basking and one wonders how many of those early days skelms ended up on the croc menu as they desperately dashed across the river
Kruger National Park
Another mesmerisingly beautiful sunset! to evade the cops. Two anecdotal info bytes; Sue had been following a Kruger Park whatsapp group throughout the trip and there had been a recent posting, with photos, of four suspect looking characters on the sandy banks on the Mozambique side. Nothing unusual except the one guy was carrying an AK47 and they were all dressed in civvies. Secondly, whilst we were standing taking it all in, I heard muffled voices in the thick riverine bush not far from where we were standing. We were the only folk there and we decided to make a hasty retreat. Just in case these were skelms lurking!
The final bird count stood at 102 with the position of honour for bird number 100, being the
Meve’s starling (long tailed glossy starling). Two important factors; many of the summer migrants aren’t back yet and we did not spend any time trying to identify the “LBJ’s” (little brown jobs). Most memorable bird sighting was the tiny Pearl Spotted Owlet. On the animal front, we saw most with the noticeable exception of
cheetah and
wild dog. Best animal spotting moment was undoubtedly the leopard, literally three metres from our vehicle, seen at Shingwedzi. Importantly, its not all about viewing wild life. The stunning beauty of the varied landscapes and the tapestry of many winter colours and hues, early morning sun rises and spectacular late afternoon and evening sunsets are just as enthralling as the wild life one sees.
Kruger Park is very well managed. Sure, there are a few glitches in the different accommodation units we stayed in and some of the road signage was non-existent.
Sirheni Bush Camp was outstanding and one real take away, in terms of the next visit we make, will be choosing to stay in bush camps and avoiding the larger, busy camps.
Sitting around our fire on the deck of the safari tented unit on the final evening, various thoughts swirled in our minds. We South Africans are fortunate to have the Kruger National Park as a natural asset and we felt extremely privileged to have experienced first-hand a smattering of its magic. It could have been another hunter’s wasteland but for the foresight of Paul Kruger and his inner circle way back in 1900. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude.
Thank you, Kruger Park!
“We often talk about saving the planet, but the truth is that we must do these things to save ourselves. With or without us, the wild will return.” – Sir David Attenborough
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Megan
non-member comment
Kruger explores from bottom to top...well done!
Well done indeed, Tim and Sue...and are we not hugely fortunate to have such a magnificent Park to explore and enjoy!? You are extremely fortunate to have the means to stay at the exclusive bush camps, but there are magical, inexpensive options at Balule (where we saw the Pel’s fishing owl), the caravan/camping camp near Orpen (name? Maroela?), Tsendze, and the private camp outside the reserve at Pafuri...these are all camping/caravan options...isolated, small, private, wild, unique, inexpensive. The converted worker units at Punda Maria are outstanding...each have their own bathrooms and are luxuriously decorated, but you have to cook at communal facilities or eat at the restaurant (our choice when we stayed there!)...or you can camp in a lovely campsite. Really enjoyed following your adventures, sightings, special moments, thoughts, well researched information, wonder, and enthusiasm for this incredible South African heritage reserve. I presume you will now be visiting your beloved family in Joburg. Enjoy! and thank you so much for sharing your trip with us. Such a breath of fresh air, such a reminder of all we hold dear in Africa, such a reminder to make the most of every moment, grey nomads that we are. Lots of love to both of you, special friends xx❤️❤️