What we saw that afternoon really took my breath away. We stumbled upon, or rather he stumbled upon us, one of the biggest tuskers in Kruger. I later found out his name is Ndlovane, and he is magnificent.
I find his name rather amusing, as 'Ndlovane' means 'Small Elephant', and he is definitely not that. He has been given this name, not for his size but for his young age and great potential to develop into a future great tusker.
One morning we had the pleasure of spending time chatting to some of the honorary rangers, section rangers and members of the Emerging Tuskers Project at Mooiplaas Picnic Site. They were here observing some of the elephants in the Mopani region and were very thrilled about the cheetah and tuskers they had spotted in the area. Richard Sowry, the section ranger from Orpen region discussed with me, ways to improve my stay (by keeping the monkeys away) at Tamboti. Tips for next time
We did spend a lot of time at Mooiplaas picnic site, for obvious reasons for those have been there. It is truly one of the best in Kruger, it's close proximity to a Mopani Rest Camp seemingly contributing to it's lower usage, compared to a site like Timbavati. There is always activity there, and the absolute tranquillity definitely plays a huge part. Constant birdlife, including the Plum Coloured Starling who I took great pleasure in observing over a few sundowners.
Phineas, who run's the picnic site speaks of fantastic sighting there, including regular leopard coming to drink in the Tsendze River. We never got that lucky there, but the bushbuck, waterbuck, zebra and giraffe that came to drink there were perfect, and even complimented one evening by a pair of rhino that came down to visit. Lake Panic of the north
(without the stifling silence for the kids)
