Ithala, Tembe, Ndumo and Mkuze

Early in the year I booked a place for us to accompany members of the Land Cruiser Club and others to visit Tembe where we are given permission to drive in the Northern and Southern sections of the park. The Northern section is generally closed to the public. The people pictures are on a link shown in the Land Cruiser Web Page.

As usual we did a bit before and another bit after the Tembe tour.

If you have not paid in advance - beware the only place where cards were accepted was Ithala. In Ndumo and Mkuze there was no connection - so take cash. Pensioner discounts are available. Never let it be said that I am suspicious when entries are made in pencil.

Again multiple cameras so pictures are in two sequences as taken.

In my opinion you need a 4x4 to really enjoy these reserves - in fact Tembe only allows 4x4 vehicles to enter the park.

The distance we travelled was just under 2250 kilometers.

3 - 6 August 2014 - Ithala

We had been to Ithala with Bhejane and had been told that the Sunday buffet lunch was good. So we decided to go and try the lunch. It was the best buffet I have had for a very long time. Every course of the meal was excellent.

This is a well run camp - and I know that from one feature that I noticed. The only time I have seen this before was in the olden days at Kruger and now still in the Karoo National Park which is also very well run. Polished brass taps are a surefire giveaway that there is someone that cares and it shows.

We of course did all the 4x4 routes and they were fairly spun out and rough in places.

There were a few veld fires in the distance and sometimes the view was not clear. On the day we left the visibility was very poor.

The camp site which had warm water and flush toilets. There were never more than about three or four vehicles there.

This is how I know this is a well run camp.

Grasshopper.

This sign was the precursor to some of the best roads in the park.

The "bad" road.

The day before we had seen a few elephants in the distance - there were none to be seen in this area (or anywhere else for that matter).

The Pongola River below.

Zebras enjoying the green shoots that have appeared after the fire.

Gnus.

The bridge at the picnic site.

7 - 10 August 2014 - Tembe

At the gate all the paperwork had been done and we were expected. (Thank you Shaun Cullen.) Like royalty I scratched my name on the beautifully prepared form and was wished a very happy stay in the park.

On the first night a potjie (stew - but do not tell anybody I said that) is provided and this is something to look forward to.

I really like the lovely soft sand tracks in much of the park.

The exceptional things we saw were a few lovely elephants, some lions and red duikers.

Most of the days were spent driving around exploring. Tracks4Africa has the routes and it was fun remembering where we had been before. Often Sylvia had a better recall and I only remembered some places like the picnic spot when we arrived there.

Dancing around.

Maybe the Egret disturbed it.

A grand old man.

Spiderwebs in the morning.

Misty moisty morning.

The footbridge.

Fine tusker.

Gnarled tree trunk.

A chance encounter. The sand is very soft and deep in places and you need good ground clearance sometimes to be able to proceed - or another high vehicle to pull you a little. Good things followed as this led to new friendships.

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Red Duiker.

10 - 11 August 2014 - Ndumo

Again Bhejane had introduced us to this park and we wanted to go back and explore it further.

On arrival the very friendly staff said we were most welcome and that we could use their fridge and kitchen.

At the camp site we discovered that we were camped beside the van den Brink and Duggan families. We had met Rob and Raymond the previous day at Tembe and they came over with their families to greet us. That night and every night thereafter we joined them at their fireside and enjoyed their company.

It was very dry and the most beautiful parts were the 4x4 route along the river and the hide near the camp site where we saw flocks of different birds with the fever trees in the background.

Toad tree seed.

The 4x4 route along the river is very beautiful - I think by far the best part of the park at this dry time of the year.

This is what we found instead of a hide - there was at least one hippo and five big crocodiles in the front there and we were quite far from the vehicle. Had the hippo left the water to greet us we would have suddenly been a very considerable distance from the vehicle and there were no trees behind us and I am not sure we would have gone towards the fig trees in front of us on dry land even. The one in the water was always out of the question.

A road sign that caught my attention.

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Crested Guinea Fowl - enjoying the rhino midden.

Crowned Eagle

The five crocodiles referred to above. (Different camera)

12 - 13 August 2014 - Mkuze

I had originally heard of this park through a camera club I used to belong to. There is one waterhole where you can spend the whole day just waiting for the animals to arrive.

On arrival at the park we were told there was no electricity or water at the camp site. We said that was fine as we were fully self sufficient. Not surprisingly they were wrong on both these counts. During our stay here we met a few people who worked at the park and came to the conclusion that English is a very foreign language in this part of the country. Often you see schoolchildren walking in the roads at odd times of the day - little time for formal education - understanding was beginning to dawn.

We headed straight for the camp and found a site which we happily gave up to our friends when they arrived as they needed more space and were going to stay longer anyway.

I discovered one hot shower, good toilets all round including at the picnic site so the stay was pleasant.

There is a sign indicating that much upgrading was going on. Hmmm - well the hide doors had notices to the effect that for safety reasons they should be kept closed - however the walls to the hide were in a very sad (not even sorry - sad) state of disrepair so the doors/gates might as well not have been there at all. In fact shortly this could be the case. This is in keeping with the Africanisation of our parks so they will be in line with the neighbouring states.

The really outstanding staff at Mkuze were the cleaners. They cleaned and polished with gusto and the floors in the hides were almost fit to eat off when they had finished. With good management and brass taps they would excel.

At the waterhole hide we met Chris Hooke from New South Wales Australia and it would have been nice if we could have spent more time with him. www.chrishookeafricablog.weebly.com is his web page. He has toured quite extensively around Southern Africa in a relatively short time.

Another recovery taking place. Sylvia discovered the valve was leaking after we pumped the tyre and we donated a valve cap which stopped the leak.

I thought this was an interesting wall construction. I can imagine it tumbling down though if the wood rots or termites get in.

Megan, Justine, Donovan and Raymond Duggan

Rob, Daniella, Corine and Sebastian van den Brink.

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The door closed behind us we were quite safe. Sylvia was not so sure and on one occasion headed for the vehicle when she thought she heard an angry elephant. I did not hear what she said when she told me so I feared nothing and just wondered where she had gone.

Chris Hooke with his vehicle and cameras. (I asked him to show off as it looks good to be with people with such big lenses.)

I thought this was an unusual pose for a Gnu.

Another lovely trip.