Punda Maria - the most northerly camp in Kruger

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We drove into Punda Maria camp and missed the sign that said no caravans so drove right up to the reception, realised there was nowhere to turn round so had to keep going into the staff quarters to do a three point turn. I guess a little more practice would be useful.



Back down in the camp site and we found a lovely level patch right on the fence with tall trees overhead ideal for bush babies and owls, this was supposed to be a top birding spot.



We set up camp quickly, we do the whole lot in under half an hour now, and went out for an evening drive. Ten minutes into the loop and it started to rain lightly, thinking it wouldn't be much we kept on going hoping it would stop. About half way round the lightning flashed, the thunder rumbled and the rain came down in torrents. It was so heavy Andy was looking for a faster setting on the wipers and found it was already on max. The roads were starting to flood with water and the low bridges were under water. We now trying to get back as quickly as possible in case the roads became unpassable. We were very pleased to be driving our landrover as even that was starting to slide in the mud and rain. However, we did manage a small chuckle when we came across two game drive vehicles trying to shelter from the terrible rain under a large tree, at least we were dry inside, they were soaked.



Eventually we got back to camp and found our site to be under about four inches of water and mud. The whole site is on a slope and we were at the bottom - we never learn! The rain had rushed down the slope taking with it all the mud it could collect and left it at the bottom. We weren't the only ones to suffer and at least the caravan was high enough to be dry and the only things to suffer was my toilet tent which was now floating and sitting on a bed of mud, the fridge which was in inches of water - we hurriedly put that on the table, and the groundsheet which was nowhere to be seen but we just knew it would be filthy.



We waded through the mess and found the caravan nice and dry inside, thank goodness we hadn't been camping. After a while the water receded and we sat inside and dined on baked beans while the rain continued.



The next morning we had planned a cleanup but as it was still drizzling there was no point so we took a drive to the top of Kruger.



We got back and everything was dry - except the sticky mud, so we washed up all he muddy bits and hung them out to dry. We decided to move the caravan as we couldn't sit in the mud. All over the site were ground sheets out drying and piles of mud that had been scraped from sites.



That night we braaied with our neighbour as she had a nice dry patch for us to sit on. It was her first caravan trip, she'd just bought it (she was well over 65) and had decided she didn't want to sit at home after she had retired and wants to travel round. Good for her. She must be a salesman's dream, they managed to sell her every camping convenience you could think of. She had an inside fridge, an outside fridge and an ice maker (which we made use of). A fan and an air conditioner. A microwave and a portable convection oven. Many tents and awnings, storm straps, silver reflective covers and more guy ropes and pegs than she could ever Possibly use.



We heard an owl flying overhead and saw dozens of fireflies. A lovely site but not much good in the rain. We had a very enjoyable breakfast in the restaurant, it is one of the old fashioned ones but the tables were laid beautifully with exotically folded napkins and old fashioned service. The whole camp itself is from another era with its historical bungalows and good old fashioned service. We found the further north we went the nicer the people got.

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