Kruger National Park I – Adventures IN the rest camps

13 – 16, 19 – 24 OCTOBER 2020

We were almost bouncing with excitement when we left Phalaborwa on Tuesday, 13 October, for our first visit to the Kruger National Park since were both in Grade 11 (old Standerd 9) respectively. After watching the SANParks online reservation system for so long,(https://www.sanparks.org/reservations/accommodation/filters – works like a dream) chopping and changing our reservations, we were finally able to book a total of eight nights at three rest camps. It was unbelievable to think that we were finally here!

ENTERING THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

We entered through the Phalaborwa Gate on our way to Letaba Rest Camp. Although we tried our best to stay patient, it felt as though it took ages to get through all the Covid-19 protocols and safety measures at the gate. How our world has changed!

Apart from maybe a few individuals, most people visit the Kruger National Park to see animals. I am a cat-lover, known in my family as the Queen of Cats, and my biggest wish was to see a real, live, leopard in its natural habitat.

We were welcomed into the park by a giant, lone, elephant bull, but moved on quickly when he started flapping his ears.

There is a joke amongst the regulars in the park that you can immediately spot the newbies – they stop for every impala. Well, it took us more than three hours to drive the 50 kilometres from the gate to the rest camp. And, to be fair, even though the impalas are the most abundant game in the park, they are beautiful, graceful animals. My camera was clicking!

We even saw two young rams playfully butting heads – practising their skills for when they really had to fight for the right to mate.

LETABA REST CAMP – SOME SOUR WITH THE SWEET

When we checked in at the camp, many of the Covid-19 protocols were repeated. The staff were friendly and efficient though and really made us feel welcome. I must say, that is the greatest attribute of SANParks – their friendly, well-trained staff.

We could choose our own camping site. At this stage, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the park was only running at 40% of its capacity. This meant that the camp was not too full. We were lucky enough to find a shady spot right next to the fence and close to the ablution facilities. It certainly felt as though we had arrived in the bush!

We were shocked by how dirty the camp was after lockdown – dead leaves and branches urgently needed to be cleared out. It was also sad to see the black ruins of the shop that burnt down during lockdown. Luckily, we did not need anything from the shop, because you had to walk quite far to the day visitor area to visit the shop there. Although the bathrooms were clean, they desperately need an upgrade. Andre was especially disappointed at the shoddy workmanship in the men’s bathroom. In general, it felt as though the camp had lost its lustre. This is not what the flagship National Park should look like.

The swimming pool was in an excellent condition, though. And for this waterbaby, it was heaven to cool off in the crystal-clear water every day after hours of sightseeing – mostly whilst Andre had a quick nap on a pool lounger.

Letaba means River of Sand in Sotho – a very apt description of this broad, sandy river which runs through the Kruger National Park and lends its name to the Letaba Rest Camp.

The setting of the rest camp, and especially the Tindlovu Restaurant, high above the sandy banks of the Letaba River is spectacular. It was lovely to sit and work on the terrace. It is also a wonderful spot to have a sundowner overlooking the hippos and crocodiles in the river below. And if you are tempted to stay for dinner, the food is excellent. There is no better ambience than the sounds of the African nightfall and a little rock agama (lizard) keeping a watchful eye on you from between the stones in the wall. A few bushbabies startled me as they came tumbling down from the roof. This was just to remind us that in the bush you must be wide awake!

The Letaba Elephant Hall is well worth a visit. The highlight for me, was seeing the ivory and photographs of all the greatest tuskers. The Emerging Tuskers project encourages visitors to share their photographs of any elephant with large tusks. Informative displays teach you more about elephant biology and evolution. We also learnt more about elephant behaviour and their role in the ecology of the park.

CLOSE CAMPSITE ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS AT LETABA

Letaba has a large troop of vervet monkeys, as well as many scavenging tree squirrels and grey louries (kwêvoëls). Many people warned us about the naughty vervet monkeys in the rest camps which could apparently even gain access to your caravan via the netted panels in the raised roof. One afternoon, we saw a few of these monkeys inside the canopy of a bakkie. Andre warned the owner, who was dismissive and quite unperturbed about the little buggers. He was certain that there was nothing in the bakkie that they could do damage to. That was until he realised that these clever thieves were trying to steal a bag of nuts from his bakkie.

My greatest memory of Letaba happened on our very first night there. We had an early braai right next to the fence. As dusk set in, we relaxed outside until we would go for a Night Drive at 8pm. The next moment, Andre grabbed my arm and pointed towards the fence. A massive female hyena was patrolling the fence, sniffing right next to the braai where Andre had been standing a few minutes ago. She just stared right through us with those bone-chilling yellow eyes. I got such a fright that I nearly fell over backwards off my camping chair. I have never seen a live hyena before and firstly, I could not believe how big she was. Secondly, I was astonished that she would come so brazenly close to the camp without any sign of nervousness or fear. And we could just as well not have been there – in no way, shape or form did she even acknowledge our presence. Luckily, Andre managed to take a quick snappy of her, because I had literally frozen from the fright.

More hyenas made the rounds around the fence the next two nights. We subsequently learnt that most of the rest camps have “resident” hyenas that patrol the fence at night, scavenging for bones from the braais. Although each encounter sent a shiver down my spine, no other hyena had the same impact on me as that first giant female.

SATARA REST CAMP – MORE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE

After a short stint outside the Kruger National Park at Swadini (watch out for a separate blog), we returned to the park through the Orpen Gate on Monday, 19 October. Our first stay was for two nights at Satara Rest Camp.

Satara was much fuller than Letaba (not so sure about that 40% capacity) and the different plots were not clearly demarcated. Eventually we found a spot tucked in underneath a small tree not too far from the fence. I don’t know whether our neighbours thought we had encroached on their plot, but the next morning when we woke up, I realised that our electricity was off. When I checked, our plug had been pulled out inside its blue housing adapter. This was not something that could have happened by accident – it smelled of sabotage! We did get a bit of silent satisfaction when a storm wind had all the campers holding onto their fancy tents and gadgets for dear life – and we could just dive into Miss Daisy. Nature took particular revenge on our neighbours!

Satara cannot compare with the setting of Letaba. The ablution facilities were clean, but also needs an upgrade. Although I fully enjoyed cooling off in the swimming pool after two sweltering hot days, the pool at Satara was dirty and needed urgent maintenance.

Before our Night Drive, we had a lovely meal at the Tindlovu Restaurant. The shop at Satara was well-stocked and we could buy anything that we needed for a picnic whilst out sightseeing.

THE BUSH AT NIGHT

On our first nights at Letaba and Satara respectively, we went on guided Night Drives. If you do nothing else in the Kruger National Park, a Night Drive is worth every cent!

At Letaba we had an excellent guide who was informative, but also entertaining and enthusiastic about his job. It was so exciting to drive through the bush in an open vehicle at night. We saw more hyenas, hundreds of springhares and a scrub hare, a genet, and a black-backed jackal. Something that I have not seen before, and which intrigued me, were the hippos grazing in the bush. I could not believe their speed and agility on dry land.

Unfortunately, the leopard still eluded me. I was sure that I would see a leopard in Satara – according to the Kruger Park regulars, that was big-cat-country.

At Satara we did not have a good guide. She could not reverse with the big, open, safari vehicle and did not appear as knowledgeable or enthusiastic as the guide at Letaba.

But, boy, did we have an exciting evening!

We saw hyenas with the cutest puppies that were playing with the insects in the light of our torches.

We saw another genet and then I saw a weird animal in the few seconds that the torch shone on it. It looked like a racoon, but I know that we do not have racoons in South Africa! So, what did I see? Someone on the truck suggested that it might be a genet, but it most definitely was too big, even for a large-spotted genet.

Then we were in for a treat! Four male lions were walking about a hundred metres away, parallel with the road, marking their territory. And one of them was Casper, the only white male lion in the Kruger Park. What an honour! They did not flinch, or look at us, or give any indication that they saw us or were in any way affected by our torches. They just kept on walking and doing their thing.

We then spotted some hippos grazing – and boy, do they stink! While we were still watching the hippos, I showed the guide what I thought was a big pile of elephant dung further ahead in the road. The next moment our guide was charging ahead at high speed! The “pile of dung” turned out to be a lioness chilling in the middle of the road. She was totally unperturbed by this huge vehicle that came racing towards her. She was washing herself and yawning.

After a while she got up and walked right past the vehicle. I must admit, I think I wet myself just a tiny bit! I cannot believe that the video I filmed was not a total blur! What a thrill! And Andre’s commentary is priceless!

I did not even mind in the least that we did not see a leopard!

BERG-EN-DAL REST CAMP – LUSH, GREEN WILDERNESS

Berg-en-Dal Rest Camp had very few campers. We were fortunate to find a lovely, shaded spot next to the fence again. We had a beautiful view over a small ravine with impalas grazing on the other side.

The camp had a well-appointed shop with all the necessities, mementos, and curios. They also had a small pop-up restaurant that served roosterkoek in place of the restaurant that had burnt down during lockdown. (Weird, all these fires!) The swimming pool was stunning – clean and beautifully designed, although the water was freezing cold under the big trees surrounding it.

The ablution facilities were neat and clean, but the kitchen and washing-up area was really dirty and unkept. The rest camp in general needed some maintenance and a good clean-up to get everything ship-shape again.

INTERESTING NOCTURNAL VISITORS

After dusk on our first evening at Berg-en-Dal, we received a visit from the resident hyena patrolling the fence.

A little while later, a genet was also sniffing in the long grass next to the fence. It was a beautiful small cat. And then, the same racoon-like animal from our Satara Night Drive appeared outside the fence. I had done some research after that evening and knew that I had not been crazy. This cat is called an African civet cat. https://images.app.goo.gl/ARYmGQnkpEw7Cdvt5 He was absolutely gorgeous but very shy. He hesitantly came closer to the fence and we could see that he only had one eye. I was too scared that he would disappear if I went to fetch the camera, so unfortunately, I did not get a shot of him. At least now Andre also saw him before he disappeared when another hyena did his rounds. How exciting to see such an animal! We hoped that he would come back another night, but we did not see him again.

Late on our last afternoon in the Kruger Park, Andre saw an nyala cow with two small calves in the ravine outside the campsite. It seemed as though she was trying to hide them underneath some overhanging shrubs. We could hardly sleep that evening because we were so scared that one of the hyenas might attack them.

It is a pity that Berg-en-Dal does not offer guided Night Drives – maybe that would have been my best chance of seeing the elusive leopard. (But more about my quest to find a leopard in the next chapter of my blog…)