Tag: Travel

At this stage, one unfortunate still has to leave the park to travel between the Eastern and Western sections. The upside for us, however, was that between the two sections, we were able to get out of the car and photograph the never-ending fields of duwweltjies!

The Western section offers less in terms of structured activities, but it does offer better game viewing and, the jewel of Mapungubwe when we were there – the Maloutswa dam hide (but more about the hide in the next post!)

Wildlife sightings included a few very easy-going Steenbok

Reptiles, like lizards and agama are also very common.

There are also two 4×4 routes to drive, but we found both routes to be underwhelming both in terms of a 4×4 adventure and in terms of wildlife and bird sightings. We did, however, manage to get a few wonderful bird sightings from the comfort of our bungalow’s patio, such as this Diederik Cuckoo, courting a mate with a worm!

For many more photos, please visit the Trip Gallery!

Besides the spectacular array of birds, the Eastern section of the park offers a lot to see and a lot to do for non-birders. There is the treetop walk, where you walk on a raised walkway inside the forest canopy, and have the opportunity to get up close and personal with some tree squirrels

The path to the four confluence viewpoints start from this picnic site. The view are absolutely spectacular. Well worth a visit!

Of course, the fact that both the Limpopo and Sashe rivers were in full flood when we were there, served to make the views even more spectacular. Normally, you can expect to see the confluence of two wide, sandy river beds with a few standing pools of water. We were privileged to see the confluence of two large, fast-flowing rivers!

While at the viewpoints, one should also keep a lookout for the colourful flat-lizards that inhabit the rocky outcrops!

Further East of the viewpoints, you find the river road, where you will drive through a forest of massive Ficus and Njala trees.

The road through the Eastern section of the camp, from the gate to Leokwe camp… Well. We were told the park was beautiful. We were expecting to enjoy the scenery. But nothing prepared us for what we were about to see!

It’s no secret – we have been madly in love with Kruger ever since our first trip there together, back in 2006. But after all these years exploring Kruger, we decided that we need to spread our wings and explore other National Parks as well. So our first visit to a “new” park would be a week in Mapungubwe. 

Planning this trip was very different from planning a Kruger trip. We know Kruger. We know what to expect, what is on offer, and what we want. We didn’t know anything about Mapugubwe, besides a little bit about its rich history and where it is located. After trawling the SANParks forum for a while, we ended up booking the first three nights in Leokwe, and the following 4 in the Limpopo Forest Tented Camp. 

As it turned out, we were lucky enough to arrive at the park hot on the heals of several days of heavy rains. This meant that while we had mostly glorious weather, everything was drenched. The Limpopo and Shashe rivers were both in full flood. The veld alternated between long, abundantly seeding grasses that attracted swarms of Red-Billed Quelias, and riotous masses of flowering duwweltjies. And the Maloutswa hide… Oh my! We’ll get to that later…

First, lets start at the beginning – lunch-with-a-view at the cafe at the interpretive center.