Mapungubwe 27 - 30 June 2011 *

[Lorraine]

We attended the Cricket at Skukuza in March 2010 and prings was rewarded with a voucher for 4 nights at a Northern Park for undertaking to do the commentary and promoting the silent auction.

One drawback ...must be used within 6 months. Luck was on our side though and the voucher was made "open ended" so we could use during our 2011 trip. /

Mapungubwe was our choice and the planning began.

Kruger first and then Mapungubwe or Mapungubwe first...

We also planned to visit Marloth Park, Durban and Pretoria so many lists were made and amended.

We arrived in Joburg on Friday 24 June after a 12 hour layover in Singapore. Collected our vehicle and moved on to Pretoria to Bed and Breakfast in Hatfield.

We had an enjoyable Friday evening with Theunis & Elzet The remainder of the weekend was spent shopping, lunching at Monte Ca-sino with Jan and Dave more shopping and more lunch with friends who were in the diplomatic service in OZ and were now living back home in RSA.

Six am Monday morning we were on our way



We eventually arrived at 1.30.

Check in was quick...well prings wasn't gone all that long and we were on our way to Leoke camp.









Bungalow #3


More tomorrow :D

lp

[Lorraine]

Information on Mapungubwe can be found here http://www.sanparks.org/parks/mapungubwe/

There are only a few roads that can be travelled without a 4x4.
We were completely unprepared for what we found in Mapungubwe. The wildlife is not as abundant as KNP but the landscape is pristine and in most parts untouched. (pity about the mining just a few klms outside the park)


Bungalow











Animals didn't want to co-operate on many occasions and the bush was...bushy

lp

[Lorraine]

Just a few of the small guns
















lp

[Lorraine]

These were taken in various locations through the Eastern and Western side of the park.











lp

[Lorraine]

Western section




White Impala







Eastern Section



lp

[Lorraine]

Lis
Compared to some in KNP 5 star.
We could not find fault with anything. Will post some more pics of accommodation later.

[Lorraine]

Banded Mongoose










Getting close to the good stuff //\0---

lp

[Lorraine]

Banded Mongoose










Getting close to the good stuff //\0---

lp

[Lorraine]

Maybe you won't enjoy the "big stuff", but it was pretty exciting for us.

We had encountered Ellies several times in the Eastern section, but not all that close to them.

On Tuesday afternoon we travelled to the hide in the western section. There was a steady stream of animals to the waterhole including warties , zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, wildies kudu and Bushpig.
We also had a small group of Ellies.
I will admit I was a tad nervous because they were so close to us and I am sure everytime I clicked my camera one of the "mummies" gave me the death stare.
After they departed we decided to call it a day as well with a plan to return Wednesday with plenty of food drink and camera cards.

On Wednesday we were not disappointed.
A steady stream of general game and lots of birds kept us happy.

We were hoping that the ellies would return.
Sure enough they did, but they also brought along the extended family.
prings did a rough count and estimated there were 90 + in the group.

I wasn't too sure where to point the camera, but we did get some great pics and video.
I will post a combination of the 2 days photos













lp

[Lorraine]

It was incredible watching the interaction between all the ellies, and the antics of the babies were hilarious -O













lp