South Africa 2022 - Limpopo & Kruger National Park

MAY/JUNE 2022

Having signed off as full time travellers in 2021 we are in the process of reinventing ourselves as part time travellers. Our initial plan was to get this new lifestyle underway in 2022 but we soon realised that this was in conflict with our plans to renovate our house. Therefore a staged approach has been adopted. House renovation will take priority in 2022 and the new part time travelling lifestyle will be launched in 2023.
However this is not to say we won’t be leaving these shores in 2022, it will just be not so regularly.

Which brings me to the start of this new adventure. A taxi from Hove and a flight from London Heathrow deposited us (Anne, me & Rob) to the warm winter sun at Johannesburg International Airport, where our latest South African adventure was about to start. But not before we had completed the entry formalities, which were well organised and reasonable swift. The lack of foreign tourist obviously helped, but even with the Covid checks we were soon through immigration and ready to collect our hire car.
With the paperwork completed and in possession of our hire car keys we headed north along the N1 and into the Limpopo province. A fairly flat landscape gradually turned more mountainous as we approached our first stop of the day. We had chosen the town of Polokwane and its “Mall of the North” for lunch and to shop for provisions. Then with bellies and shopping trolleys full we continued our journey, this time east and further into the mountains, passing the strangely named town of “Nobody”.
Finally, high up in the Magoebaskloof Mountains we turned of the main road and continued along a dirt road that cut its way into the Woodbush Forest. Somewhere along this “road” was our accommodation for the next five nights. Our host had said the accommodation could be accessed by a saloon car but we were very relieved to have 4x4. However, the bumpy journey was worth it, our palatial villa with stunning views was idyllic.

Veranda at our villa

Bedroom 1 in the villa

Inside the Villa

We had five nights and four full days in the Magoebaskloof Mountains and spent each day exploring the area. Generally the weather was warm and sunny each day, which evidently hadn’t been the case the week before.
We broke ourselves in gently on the first day with a look around our nearest town, Haenertsburg. A quaint town at the bottom of the mountain pass with a few shops and restaurants. We started with a bit of shopping then retired to the outside dining area of a charming restaurant for a late lunch.

Haenertsburg main street

The next few days followed a regular pattern. We would start with a leisurely breakfast on our veranda with just the forest and bird life for company. Then head out for our daily hike. Each day would take in a different terrain. The mountain foothills one day, into its dense forest another and a combination of the two in a local botanical gardens. They all were very enjoyable with their own charm. We either had rolling hills and forests laid out in front of us or we were immersed in those very forests, so dense the sky was barely visible.

Breakfast on the Veranda

Relaxing on the Veranda

View over the Magoebaskloof Foothills

The Haenertsburg circuit hike

Some muddy part of the circuit

Funny on the walk

Botanical Garden in the winter

Forest hike in the Magoebaskloof Mountains

Forest hike in the Magoebaskloof Mountains

Scenic view over the Magoebaskloof Mountains range

By mid to late afternoon our activities were normally complete and we would return to our villa in the forest. There were many reasons not to stay out later. Firstly, we wanted to enjoy the villa and its surroundings. Especially the visits from a troop of rare Samango Monkeys, which are endangered and not found in many parts of South Africa any more, together with its varied birdlife. Secondly, the forest road to the villa wasn’t easy in the daylight so avoiding it in the dark was a priority.

Knysna Lourie

Knysna Lourie

Samango Monkey outside our Veranda

Samango Monkey

Samango Monkey

From the mountains we drove east and into the Kruger National Park. We had booked a cottage in Letaba camp in the more northernly section of the park. The cottage was comfortable and had views down to the Letaba River just a short walk away.
Each day we would head out into the park to explore the surrounding area and see the wildlife it supports. Although we had some amazing sightings the animal population in this part of the park didn’t seem so plentiful as we had experienced further south. Maybe they were there but the thick foliage blocked us from seeing them. South Africa has had good summer rains this year, which they were in great need of, which meant the foliage was very thick and very green.

Sunset at Letaba Restcamp

Lilac Breaster Roller, in total, it has around 8 colours: green, white, black, yellow, turquoise, dark blue, reddish-brown, and lilac

Grey Hornbill

Waterbuck,crocodile and lion avoid preying on waterbuck because of their unpleasant smell

An elephant trunk has up to 40,000 muscles

Klipspringer :this pint-sized rock hopper can jump onto a spot the size of an Oreo cookie.

Impala

One thing we hadn’t encountered before in the Kruger was having a flat tyre. Fortunately the tyre stayed inflated enough to get us to camp and they had a garage that could perform a repair. In fact because the hole was so big we needed a second repair when the first started to leak. The second repair still leaked a little bit, but did the job and got us through the rest of our stay in South Africa.

Tyre repair

Tyre repair

Tyre Repair

Repaired Tyre

On the forth day we traveled through the park to get to our next destination, the small town of Hazyview. And what a day. We probably had the best wildlife sightings we ever had in the Kruger, which included amongst many others, Spotted Hyena, Lions, Leopard and Wild Dog. What also enhanced the pleasure was that the park wasn’t as busy as usual, far fewer foreign tourists.

Oliphant River

White Crested Helmet Shrike

Grumpy Yellow Billed Hornbill

Zebra are closely related to horses but they are not the same species

Oliphant river view from Olifant Restcamp

Zebra grin

Elephant have 4 toenails at the front and 3 at the back

Giraffe towering above the trees, world tallest mammals

Baobab Tree, probably over 2000 years old due to its size

Giant Kingfisher

Southern Ground Hornbill , The adult male has an extensive brilliant red face and throat wattle. Prey can include rodents, snakes, lizards, frogs, bird eggs, nestling birds and insects.

Hippo mummy and baby, look at the front of the mother

Male Ostriches . A group of ostriches is called a flock. Flocks can consist of up to 100 birds. The most we saw at a time was 4

Giraffe are at they most vulnerable when drinking. These 2 after hesitated for 10mn decided it wasn't safe enough and left

Southern Ground Hornbill. They are only 1500 left in the world , all in South Africa, the species is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Spotted Hyena pup. they Live in social territorial group call Clans

Natal Spurfow, used to be called Natal Francolin but change name due to it's spur claw

Hyppo - as a group called a Pod of Hyppo

Spotted hyenas - Hyenas are not members of the dog or cat families. Instead, they are so unique that they have a family all their own, Hyaenidae

Leopard in the shade

Hazyview is a sub-tropical farming town renowned for its large banana and macadamia nut industries, contributing about 20% of South Africa's bananas and 30% of macadamia output. It’s located just west of the Kruger National Park, and at the foot of the Blyde River Canyon massif. The town's name is derived from the shimmering haze that occurs during the heat of summer.

During our stay we split our time between exploring the Blyde River Canyon area and day visits to the Kruger.

Access to the Blyde River Canyon area requires a steep drive out of Hazyview up a mountain road, avoiding the many large potholes and past the numerous banana plantations. Usually this takes about 30 minutes, but during our stay the journey was substantially longer due to road works en-route. Although designated as road works the hold up was for rock blasting. Many of the rocks in the cliff above the road had become dangerously loose during the summer rains and needed to be dislodged before they fell on any passing motorist. We queued in an open mountain tunnel with other motorist, most of them got out of their cars which created a bit of a social event whilst we all waited patiently. This unusual event caught the attention of a group of vervet monkeys who briefly came to investigate what was going on.

Blasting the road warning

Waiting for the blasting to be completed

Road after the blasting

Once clear of the hold up we were able to continue to the top of the canyon. Blyde River Canyon has many natural attractions and we are fortunate enough to have visited most of them on previous occasions. However, two of our favourites hadn’t been visited by Rob, so these were the ones we selected.
First stop was Graskop Gorge. Situated at the bottom of sheer cliffs and fed by an impressive waterfall is a pristine sub-tropical forest. Originally almost inaccessible it can now be reached via a lift. The bottom of the gorge is a nature reserve where we followed a circular boardwalk to explore the indigenous flora and fauna. The boardwalk provides access to the thick foliage as well as protecting it from foot traffic. Although only small, there was enough to see to keep us amused for an hour or so.

Scenic from the lift down to Graskop Gorge

View over Graskop Gorge and waterfall

Lift down to Graskop Gorge

Boardwalk at Graskop Gorge

Having extracted ourselves from the gorge and taken lunch in the town of Graskop. We proceeded out of town to our second stop: the Graskop Pinnacle, a 30m quartzite tower protruding up from the valley floor and fringed by the dense forest of the Driekop Gorge. The tower was covered by brightly coloured aloes which is a major attraction for the bird and insect life in the area. Cliff top platforms provided us with panoramic views and good photograph points. There were no other tourists so we had the place to ourselves, which made exploring even more enjoyable.

Pinnacle View

Of course they had to beyond :-)

In addition to some shopping in Hazyview, we managed to fit in two day visits into the Kruger National Park. As is usually the case when on a self drive safari, the wildlife sighting were variable. You can spend a lot of time driving around without seeing anything of note and then your luck is suddenly in. Which was the case on these two days. Amongst the memorable sighting were a large pack of Wild Dog (Painted Wolf), Spotted Hyena and our first ever sighting of Civet.

King of the road

Lions chilling out next to the road in the Kruger

Close encounter of the furry kind. I had to use my mobile phone , it was so close my zoom wouldn't work

Flying Vulture

Painted Wolf: They only have four toes per foot - other dogs have five toes on their forefeet.

Cape Buffalo

Mum and pups cuddling and feeding time

Spoted Hyena and pup

Painted Wolf are critically endangered but numbers are improving due to conservation efforts

Wild Dog or Painted Wolf, their scientific name is Lycaon pictus – which translates directly as painted wolf and reflects their mottled caramel and brown fur

studies have shown that hyenas kill 66-90% of what they eat and when it comes to the actual hunt they are extremely versatile and successful hunters

African Fish Eagle

Bee Eater

This pup is probably no more than 3 weeks old

African Civet have an omnivorous diet includes carrion, rodents, birds, eggs, reptiles, frogs, crabs, insects, fruits, and other vegetation. Poultry and young lambs are sometimes taken.

African Civet and young,Despite their cat-like appearance and behaviours, the African Civets are not felines at all but are in fact, more closely related to other small carnivores including Weasels and Mongooses

African Civet. A nocturnal animal, this is the first time we had a good sighting of it

Young Spotted Hyenas with very young pups

It was now time to drive back to Johannesburg airport and say goodbye to Rob. His holiday was complete and he needed to fly back to the UK and return to work. A straightforward journey with some nice scenery to begin with, then turning to a less interesting flat area full of mining operations. It also completed the first part of our stay in South Africa. We had an overnight hotel stay at Johannesburg airport before continuing our travels south (see South Africa 2022 - Drakensberg & Kruger).

Personal Observations & Interesting Facts

Covid-19 in South Africa
During our stay in South Africa we found Covid-19 restrictions were still in place. Before entering any public indoor area you were required to sanitise your hands and wear a face mask at all times, except if you are eating in a restaurant. This was not an issue and seemed very sensible as the virus is still with us and vaccination rates amongst the South African population is lower than ours in the UK.

Pronunciation
We struggled with the pronunciation of the region for our first stay so we asked a local how to say it. Magoebaskloof is pronounced as Ma-huber-klouf.

Mode of Transport
We hired a Nissan X-Trail with 4x4 option for the entirety of the trip. This gave us enough room for 4 adults, luggage and provisions. The 4x4 mode wasn’t needed but we were pleased to have the safeguard.

Our wheels

Weather
In the Magoebaskloof Mountains were lucky to have very little rain, it had been very wet the week before we arrived. Most days were sunny with temperatures ranging from low 20’s C during the day and circa 5-10C at night.
In the Kruger & Hazyview it was sunny every day and a little warmer than in the mountains.

Local People
Meeting local people allows us to better understand the country we are travelling in. Although we don’t seek out interaction we encourage it when it is offered.
Although almost all conversations are informative and interesting, some individuals leave a greater impression than others. During this part of the trip two stand out amongst the others.
People of the small town of Haenertsburg seemed very proud of the environment they lived in and went to great lengths to encourage us to explore the mountains paths around them. Details of where to go, where to park and then enquiring how we enjoyed it, helped us plan the activities during our stay. A waitress took the time to help us pronounce the name of the mountains (see above), even though our attempts were poor and it delayed her.
Then there was Alec at the tyre repair shop in Kruger’s Letaba Camp. Dedicated to get our tyre fixed using only the most basic tools and materials, which initially didn’t fill me with much optimism for success. His workplace was a concrete slab and his tools were basic, looked on their last legs and stored in a plastic shopping bag. Yet he had faith in his ability and equipment and did a job that would see us through the rest of the trip. Even when the first fix wouldn’t hold, our second visit didn’t phase him. He just doubled the size of the hole plug and reluctantly took a small payment, claiming he should have fixed it on the first occasion. We left the camp feeling very grateful for his help and wished we could have done more to show our appreciation, if I could have called in at a hardware store I would have bought him new tools.

Tyre repair