Monday, 30 May, 2011
Entering Kruger: Malelane to Talamati Bush Camp
Up before first light, we left Rio Vista Lodge by 5:40 a.m. The
gates of Kruger National Park open at 6:00, and we have a long day
of driving ahead of us today. Due, again, to the initial flight
cancellation, we've missed our first day and night in Kruger, where
we were scheduled to stay at Biyamiti Bush Camp, in the southern
part of park, so we're now traveling to Talamati Bush Camp, in the
central section. Therefore, we need to cover as much of the
southern portion of the park today as possible.
Arriving at Malelane Gate just after 6:00, I parked the car, and we
went in to complete the necessary paperwork. Our accommodation was
all prepaid, including the night we couldn't use, but we still
needed to pay our daily conservation fee for each day we'll be in
the park. After filling out a form with our names, reservation
number, and license tag number, I was handed a flyer with park
rules and an overnight visitor permit, and the park employee
instructed us we should pay our conservation fees when we check in
at our first camp. No problem. Right? We'll see.
Also at the entrance, Linda and I wanted to buy an official Kruger
map and guidebook, but none were available in English. We were told
the book would be available in any shop in the park. I'd bought a
map in advance from Amazon.com and also purchased the Tracks4Africa
maps for my GPS, "South Africa: Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga &
Northern Province," which proved very useful, but I wanted the
official book, with another set of maps and animal
identifications.
Renosterkoppies
Loaded back in the car, we showed our permit at the gate, and the
game drive began! Our route today: H3, S118, S114, S23, S6, S102,
H5, Renosterkoppies Loop, S21, H4-1, H12, H1-2, S36, S145. In
general, the H roads are tar, and the S roads are gravel and/or
dirt.
Warthog giving us the
eye
Everpresent
impala
Great sightings today, especially because everything we saw was the
first of its kind of our trip: impalas, elephants, warthogs, a
water monitor lizard, vervet monkeys, buffalo, waterbucks, kudus,
baboons, a leopard tortoise, zebras, hippos, crocs, blue
wildebeests, giraffes, and various birds. We probably saw
additional types of antelope other than the ones named above but
just couldn't distinguish between them.
Water monitor lizard
a/k/a water leguaan
Stupid
cows
Waterbucks a/k/a
circlebutts
Leopard
tortoise
At Kruger you must remain in your vehicle at all times unless in
designated areas, such as the camps, picnic areas, and a few
scattered lookout points and blinds. As it happened, from 6:30 a.m.
when we entered the park, we didn't have another chance to alight
from our vehicle until 2:00 p.m., at the Nkuhlu Picnic Site. Thank
goodness Rio Vista Lodge had packed us a substantial breakfast that
we carried with us in the passenger compartment of the car (boiled
eggs, cheese sandwiches, sausage, bacon, fruit, and juice), because
we had no access to the trunk until now. Here at Nkuhlu we used the
restroom and scarfed down sandwiches while guarding our cooler from
baboons.
Planet of the
Baboons
Male baboon, in case you
couldn't tell
After lunch, we still had a long way to go before reaching
Talamati, and the gates close to all camps at 5:30 p.m. It's hard
to make time when the speed limit is 50 kph on the tar roads and 40
kph on gravel. Truly, you want to go about 25 kph or below for good
game viewing. We made our picnic stop as short as possible and
continued on our way.
We saw a multitude of birds, the most omnipresent of which were the
southern yellow-billed hornbill (a/k/a flying banana), guineafowl,
lilac-breasted rollers, and cape glossy starlings. Other notable
birds included a grey go-away-bird, a malachite kingfisher, and a
secretarybird.
Flying
banana
Lilac-breasted
roller
Grey
go-away-bird
Malachite
kingfisher
Secretarybird
So far we've spotted no cats or rhinos, and the hippos and crocs
we've seen have been far in the distance. I really want to see a
rhino on this trip, as we never got to see one during our trip to
Botswana.
Elephant
bull
Burchell's
zebras
Road-hog
zebras
At 4:30 p.m., after a hot (high of 90 degrees), dusty, fantastic
drive, we arrived at Talamati Bush Camp, checked in, and again
attempted to pay our daily conservation fees. The receptionist said
to come by and pay tomorrow. That's strike two on attempting to
pay.
Our first Kruger
camp
Used, abused, and
dusty
Talamati is a small bush camp of only 15 guest
cottages located in the west central region of Kruger, 25 km
southeast of Orpen Gate, on the mostly dry Nwaswitsontso River.
There is no restaurant or shop. The only items for sale are ice and
matches. Very peaceful.
We'll be staying in cottage number 5 for four nights. It has two
bedrooms, two bathrooms, a modest kitchen and living room, and a
large stoep (Afrikaans for porch). Home away from home! We've been
advised that extra precaution must be taken when latching the
cottage door to prevent a baboon invasion.
Our cottage at
Talamati
It was too late by the time we arrived at Talamati to go for an
additional drive, so we made tequila-sunrise sundowners and sat in
the hide next to the waterhole for sunset. There were no animals to
see, but we're satisfied for today. After the sun went down, we
made burgers and baked beans for supper, showered, and planned our
route for tomorrow, which will be a much easier day.
