We left Pretoria early on 10th April for the long haul to the far north of the country. Because of the distance, we decided to have a two night stay just outside the Kruger Park at the small village of Ben Matale. Delana had found this place on Air B&B. It proved to be a lovely little hideaway right on the banks of the Matale River.
Our little shack!
We arrived late afternoon & didn't do much apart from settle in & cook a great evening meal. Our hostess was at hand & turned out to be charming, knowledgeable & a very interesting lady.
It really was a bit of a change for us at Ben Matale. Staying on the edge of a rural African village, hearing cow bells, peoples voices & chickens. It was interesting & relaxing, the locals were accepting of us & we had a nice stay. The next day we enjoyed a walk around the village & then checked out the nearby Makuya Game Reserve, which looks very interesting for a future trip. We also discovered a nice campsite
12th April was my birthday! We were up early for our trip into Kruger, but one look at the car so we had a double puncture! Luckily the nails were both still in their respective tyres, so we struggled on to a nearby village to get them fixed.
The birthday boy!
Once fixed, we drove on into Kruger entering at the Pafuri Gate. We enjoyed a slow drive to the picnic spot on the river & we had my birthday breakfast complete with champagne! Delana had organized everything very nicely!
The view from inside the tent!
Tiny baby Hippo with Mummy!
maybe only a day old?
He got a little too close!
Some big Crocs here!
We then continued to the Pafuri Camp our home for the next four nights. I had been wanting to stay here for quite sometime but normally the expense prohibits it. However we enjoyed a covid special rate of 70% off but even then it was not cheap!
Water Thicknee
We settled into our safari tent right on the banks of the Luvuvhu River & what a spot it was! Magnificent! We stayed rooted to our perch in front of the tent sipping champagne & watching the local wildlife.
Plenty of general plains game here.
Plains Zebra
Emerald spotted Wood-dove
of its range.
Yellow billed Stork
Feeding young
Young Grey Herons
African Spoonbill
The next day we were up before dawn & loaded into our safari vehicle for an exploration of this 26,000 hectare private concession. There are so many habitats here that you don't see from the normal tourist roads & of course you have this wonderful area all to yourself!
The whole area is dotted with huge Baobab Trees.
In the afternoon we enjoyed another game drive & came back in the dark, spotting this Bronze winged Courser along the way. A great ending to a wonderful day.
We were up very early on 14th April. It was semi-dark when we set off, but quickly got light.
Today, we explored the northern section of this concession area towards the Limpopo River. Scenery was magnificent & it was great to have the entire place to oneself!
Young Diderik Cuckoo
Red backed Scrub Robin
Pearl Spotted Owlet
It was a long morning to Makwadzi & The Big Pans, but very worthwhile, going through some amazing scenery & visiting habitats which are not readily available to the normal tourists in Kruger.
for a drive a long the river.
This was a pan close to the river.
which is rare these days.
But it had lost its tusk on the other side!
We then had some downtime in camp in the middle of the day before setting out again along the river to Crook's Corner. It was an amazing drive along the river & drinks at Crook's Corner at sundown was magical. Of course we had been to Crook's Corner many times before but never from this side away from the tourist picnic spot.
Up at dawn again on 15th April for the long & very bumpy drive to Lanner Gorge. This had long been on my most wantd spots to see inside Kruger. It is off limits to normal tourists, only people staying in the Pafuri Concession Area can visit.
Breeding herd of Elephants in the river.
In the afternoon we visited the Luvuvhu River again & then to a different area of pans associated fever trees. It was a very scenic location.
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