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Published: August 25th 2021
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Kruger National Park
Entrance to Sirheni. An exquisite bush camp which will be revisited! “I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want.” – Andy Warhol A wonderful added advantage of selecting camp sites never visited before, is the element of the “unknown.” Without exception, each one of the four visited thus far has delivered big time in terms of each being very different and unique from the others. There is no “one size fits all” and there is a real sense of anticipation setting off for the next destination. Shingwedzi had us enthralled due to its totally different layout and location on a wide and currently, dry river bed. The next leg of this superb adventure was a gentle nudge northward along the H1-7 having done the necessary research to get us to
Sirheni Bush Camp; 36kms away. “Kruger Routes- Self Drive Companion” provides extensive detail on the routes and loop roads available which, thankfully, eliminates the prospect of simply following a straight line. All routes are rated on a 2-to-5-star game viewing basis. Importantly, the route chosen, had the Babalala picnic site conveniently placed and yet another fine, skottel-fried bacon and egg concoction was devoured.
Sirheni was a short
Kruger National Park
The never ending wonderful views of the Mphongolo River. distance to the west and Kruger never disappoints! On route, crossing the road ahead was the largest breeding herd of buffalo we have ever seen and the grumpy behaviour of the large bulls clearly demonstrated that messing with their little calves was not on. A little further on Sue spotted 5 Ground Hornbill strutting slowly through the grassland. These are impressive birds and it is disheartening to note that they are on the endangered list. The Sirheni Bush Camp has 15 beautifully constructed chalets located close to the fence line and overlooks the dry Mphongolo river bed. Absolute bliss! Whilst unpacking the vehicle, two elephants strolled by in front of our chalet and there were raucous calls of many different birds in the large trees and shrubs in the camp area. Cutting to the chase! On the first evening, sitting alongside a roaring camp fire, the conclusion was unanimous. Sirheni scored 20/20 and moved ahead of Biyamiti Bush Camp due to its superb setting. An added bonus was a 2km walk along the fence line on the camp perimeter.
The S56 which runs south of the camp, along the Mphongolo river, is listed as an animal viewing “hot spot”.
Kruger National Park
Late afternoon elephant sighting at a large pool on the river. Hippo looked on warily. The banks are lined with massive and majestic sycamores, jackalberry’s, nyala and tamboti trees. It looked like prime leopard territory and many hours were spent slowly threading up and down this spectacular area but the leopards remained elusive. To put the game viewing into context; we probably saw more animals in number and species alongside the S56 road than we had seen in total after six days in the park. An unusual sighting was a small herd of klipspringer on the river bed; one associates them with rocky outcrops but a quick check revealed that they do tend to move away temporarily from their usual habitat to find water.
A feature of any drive in Kruger is the amount of elephant dung one sees on the roads. Not surprising, as an adult bull will tuck into as much as 300kg of food a day washed down by up to 160 litres of water. No wonder that this guy finds it essential to unload almost 155kg of dung every day. This is manna from heaven for one tiny little creature; the
dung beetle! “Game Ranger in your backpack” provides superb detail on these amazing insects which are astute navigators when
Kruger National Park
"Sometimes I stand and think and sometimes I just stand!" it comes to finding a fresh dump. They play an important ecological role by removing waste underground and destroying the eggs of internal parasites and reducing the population of flies (which explains why the Aussies “imported” our humble dung beetle to help them reduce their massive fly problem). What is remarkable is that in one pile of elephant dung, there could be up to 16,000 dung beetles. I kid you not but someone counted and did the maths! So, avoid driving over piles of elephant dung as there is important work going on in that steamy mess.
Kruger Park fact file: When driving the length of Kruger, one may conclude that the bushveld is fairly uniform, not much changes. But a good question would be; so, how many ecozones are there in the park? Incredibly this spectacular wildlife game park boasts a total of 14 ecozones. In the South there is the “Malelane Mountain Bushveld”, the “Pretoriuskop Sourveld”, “Mixed Woodland and Thorn thickets” and finally, “Wooded Savanah on Shale”. That is just the very bottom area of the park! Huge diversity. What is very noticeable on the ecozone map (page 45 of “Kruger Park Map & Guide 3
rd edition), is the massive area denoted as “Mopane Dominated Woodlands on Granite”. In these areas game viewing is a lot more challenging.
“I wish the world was twice as big – and half of it was still unexplored.” – Sir David Attenborough
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Jeff
non-member comment
Always a good read
We’ve had a great two weeks and 2400 kms through the Western Cape. Thanks for sharing our favorite- the Kruger