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Malalane – Back to South Africa
Entering South Africa for the third time this year feels like coming home. Unfortunately, our visas are about to expire and we only have two weeks in the country left.
We spend the night in Malalane at Malelane Golf Club Campsite and Caravan Park, a small campground that is cramped and crowded. The campsite is located right at the fence of Kruger National Park, the one game park famous everywhere in the world and being the largest national reserve of South Africa. It happens to be high season and the park is packed with South Africans who have school holidays right now. Of course, we do not have a booking for the park, being the spontaneous travellers that we are. Standing in front of Kruger’s gates under these circumstances, however, is rather sad.
Longingly, we watch the Crocodile River through the fence. The water mirrors the pink sunset. We witness two hippos entering the water slowly. In the distance, a large herd of elephants crosses the river in rows. An unreachable paradise.
Healing in Mbombela
We drive to Mbombela (earlier called Nelspruit) to restock our supplies and have a Defender check-up at a garage. In one of South Africa’s life-saving shopping malls I manage to buy a new smartphone. So finally, after ten days of degrading, disgraceful intellectual boredom I become a whole human being again.
After the shopping tour we visit Lowveld National Botanical Garden where we find impressive waterfalls of the Crocodile and Nels Rivers, a playground, a labyrinth, and a large diversity of plants.
We settle down at Lakeview Camping and Caravan Park, a spacious, green campsite full of guinea fowls. Also, there are a small playground and a lake. On the next morning, the Defender visits the mechanic for its check-up. It turns out that an ambulant visit is insufficient but the Defender has to stay stationary overnight. Had we better not checked up. We find ourselves with a dirty spare Defender and have to move into our tent for the night.
For organizational reasons, we stay at Lakeview unexpectedly long (i.e., we are not organized enough to leave earlier). On our third day we discover Friends Café, a great restaurant in walking distance. We go there for lunch and while Timo picks up the Defender from the hospital garage the children play at the river Brinkspruit behind the restaurant.
In the restrooms of the restaurant I meet a nice South African who suggests us to show up personally at Mbombela’s tourist office and book there last minute for Kruger National Park. This is what we do the day after. And indeed, we get a booking for the following day at Pretoriuskop in Kruger Park! Owen, the friendly service person at the tourist office, even promises to call us in case of any cancellations for the day after. Celebrations, we are heading to Kruger!
Before we leave Mbombela we make a detour to Pumbaa Wildlife Park & Accommodation, a place that was warmly suggested to us by a fellow camper. This, however, does not turn out to be the best idea because we find big lions there that are caged. Even though it is impressive to see the golden pussycats from close we prefer to look for them in the wild and leave the place after only ten minutes.
Game-driving Kruger National Park
We spend the following night at Kiaat Bungalows & Caravan Park in Hazyview close to Kruger’s Phabeni Gate. In the morning, we leave at 6.30 and head to Kruger National Park.
Owen keeps his promise and calls us when he receives a cancellation for Satara. Hurray, we can stay a second night in Kruger!
And how is legendary Kruger? Most of the streets are tarred and many cars are around. We keep looking for game but are not very lucky at first. We eventually spot a sole elephant grazing in the woods. Our first campsite Pretoriuskop Rest Camp is quite crowded too. Disappointed about the very few sightings that we made on our first day I squeeze out Google for game driving tipps. I end up downloading an app called Latest Sightings which reports game sightings of the past 48 hours.
On the next morning, my new fantastic app tells us that half an hour ago someone has spotted two lions feeding at a kill besides the street close to our campsite. We drive there straight. When we arrive there are already about ten cars around and more and more are arriving. Indeed, there is a kill just besides the road and some lions are present that occasionally cross the road and roar. The highlight is when a lioness leads three cups through the high grass to the kill to feed. Even though visibility of events is restricted by high grass and numerous cars this is a really special experience.
Just like Pretoriuskop, also our second campsite in Kruger Satara Rest Camp is fenced. However, it is not as crowded as expected given that allegedly everything is fully booked. There seem to be many people who usually do not camp, identifiable by wearing make-up, high heels, and not greeting.
Apart from the gorgeous lions, we spot a hyena on the street and two leopard kills in trees, an impala and a porcupine (leopards pull up their prey into trees to defend it against other predators). Unfortunately, the responsible leopards do not show up while we watch.
Hippos and baobabs in Hoedspruit
Game-driving Kruger Park was exhausting as we spent many hours in the car. We settle down at Maru Djembe in Hoedspruit just outside Kruger to recover. The campsite is relatively new and the facilities are great. The children play in the concrete theatre and ride on a wooden hippo. Game is coming to the campsite, in particular, we witness a herd of gnus passing through at night. We try out the hiking path which, however, turns out to be confusing. At some point we have to return because we cannot figure out the right direction to go on.
We make a daytrip to visit Jessica and Seun, two tame hippos. In the year 2000, Jessica was found alone as a baby and brought up by humans. Nowadays, she is a free hippo that joins her wild fellows at night but always returns to her human father. Seun was found twelve years later under similar conditions. We stroke the two hippos, feed them sweet potatoes, and Jessica drinks two bottles of rooibos tea.
Ever touched a hippo? Their skin feels shockingly cold. They have some thick, hard hair around their mouths and touching them is like touching a broom with only few bristles.
On the way back to our campsite we stop at Glencoe Baobab. With its age of about 2,000 years Glencoe tree is one of the biggest and oldest baobabs in Africa. Sadly, its main part collapsed in 2009 and we can only admire its remains lying on the ground. Before its collapse, Glencoe tree was one of the stoutest known trees in the world.
Close to the fallen giant there is a second specimen growing which counts 800 years of age.
Sublimity in the Soutpansberg Mountains
We spend one night at ATKV Eiland Spa in Letsitele, a campsite that lacks personality from our point of view and is particularly pricey but has a huge, heated pool, admittedly.
Afterwards, we settle down at Zvakanaka Farm near Louis Trichardt. Zvakanaka is unsurpassed in its sublime views of the Soutpansberg Mountains. We enjoy the relaxing privacy of dense vegetation around our slot Shady John’s as well as the luxury of private ablutions and strong wifi at Bullet’s, the social area. The nights at Zvakanaka though belong to the coldest that we experience throughout the journey.
We make an attempt to hike to the top of the close mountain. The final part of the path turns out to be very hard with steep rock climbing through dense forest. When we finally reach a place with a wonderful view over the area we rest and picnic. Here, our daughter detects a needle of a porcupine between the rocks. We climb down again without having actually reached the very top.
Our friendly hosts Al and Gail leave us with a lot of advice for the upcoming, complicated border crossing to Zimbabwe as well as our journey onwards.
Tasting the baobabs of Maremani Nature Reserve
We spend our last two nights in South Africa in Maremani Nature Reserve at Klein Bolayi Game Lodge and Camping. The location could not be more contrasting to the former but it is equally beautiful. While Zvakanaka was green and cool Bolayi is dried out and hot. Sweating, we get an idea of the heat extremes that the place experiences in summers, and we are glad to have come here in winter. Like a giant sleeping turtle Bolayi Rock overlooks the lodge and campsite that were named after it. When we climb the big rock we are rewarded a great all-round view over the area and the many beautiful baobab trees which populate the area.
Numerous impala lilies decorate the lodge looking like tiny baobabs themselves but having beautiful white-pink blossoms. Some facilities are currently under construction but those that aren’t look cosy. Many rock hyraxes are around climbing the rocks as well as the lodge buildings.
Our host Jean-Marc is outstandingly hospitable. He not only lights a fire for us in the evening but he joins us with freshly brewed baobab coffee in the morning which he serves at our table. The baobab coffee is a creation of himself. Jean-Marc is currently experimenting with the fruit of the baobab. Baobab fruits are known to be super healthy and considered a superfood. Barely anyone yet though seems to exploit the fruit’s advantages to create food and beverage products, so the Bolayi lodge managers may become pioneers in the area. The self-made baobab coffee is brewed of roasted and ground baobab beans which are extracted from the dry, white flesh of the fruit. The result tastes mild, nutty and delicious. Jean-Marc kindly leaves us with a free sample of his baobab powder. We also taste the white flesh of the fruit. It tastes sweet and sour and makes a good snack.
Did you know?
- While South Africa comprises only about 1% of our Earth’s land surface, it is home to nearly 10% of its known bird, fish, and plant species and about 6% of its mammal and reptile species. Throughout the year, about 2,000 marine species visit South African waters.
- The top 20% of the population hold 70% of income, while the bottom 20% of the population hold less than 5% of income, making South Africa the most economically unequal country in the world. As of 2023, around 18 million South Africans are living in extreme poverty.
- The racial divisions induced by the policy of apartheid between 1948 and 1994 persist until today, creating and reinforcing distinct social inequalities between the races. E.g., the average wage of white South Africans is nearly four times higher than the average wage of black South Africans.
- South Africa’s persistently high unemployment rate amounts to about 33%, the unemployment rate among youths between 15 and 24 years old is even about 61%.
- With high numbers of assaults, rape, homicides, and other violent crimes, South Africa has the third-highest crime rate in the world.
Longing for more
On the following day we fill up our supplies in Musina and head north to cross the border to Zimbabwe at Beitbridge. And here, after nearly three months of exploration, our South Africa journey ends, what a cut! When we arrive at the border we are already annoyed regarding the upcoming burocracy but also excited about what might happen to us in the next country. Follow us detecting the secrets of Zimbabwe in our next post!
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Previous post: Eswatini – A Paradise with Rhinos
Longing for Earth 