Ithala Game Reserve

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18 January 2011 – Ithala Game Reserve

Next stop was Ithala Game Reserve. Never having been there before we had no idea what to expect, all we knew was that the campsite was 20 km from the main camp and that it was expensive at R240 a night for 2 to camp so were maybe expecting too much.

The staff were pleasant enough but the roads were pretty awful, very uncomfortable to drive along and I feared for my poor little trailer bumping over the rough ground. We finally made it to the site which was lovely although extremely remote with no-one around for miles and no other soul in the campsite. Facilities were one open air cold shower with a couple of walls and one open air loo – although this did have walls AND a roof, although I was a bit more concered what was hiding in the roof and would maybe prefer to not have a roof.

We took a short game drive and did see some game including a hyena at the water hole but the rough roads made it unpleasant so we decided to head back to camp and cook and clear up while it was light. There were no oil lamps or candles at all and being so far away from everything it was going to be pitch black.

We lit the fire and cooked our dinner, this time managing to keep all the wors for ourselves and were ready for bed by nightfall, it was pretty spooky being so far out and no-one else around, at least you hoped no-one else was around and only had to worry about the animals.

There were some impala in the camp and we did hear some animal noises in the night but couldn't see what was making it, probably the impala although of course it could have been a leopard! Needless to say I didn't need the loo in the night, amazing how the bladder can cope when it needs to, and meeting hyena or other wildlife on the way to the loo in the middle of the night is quite an incentive. It goes without saying there were no fences.

Oh and they do say you can swim in the river if you like, but there is also another sign saying don't swim in the river as there are crocodiles in it, looking at the brown strongly swirling water I wasn't about to jump in anyway. Fortunately it stayed dry most of the night but was still very hot and humid.

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