This is one of the best parks to visit in order to see white rhinos. They often come right into the camp to graze. If you have chosen the right camp site you can just sit by your tent and enjoy watching the animals as they come to the waterhole. The woodland kingfishers were there in force together with the rollers.
If you have not been there recently this way point may be of interest: S24.49455 E27.49760 - This is where the new electric gate has been placed between the two sections of the park. The roads to this gate and from the gate to the old tar road to the towers are new. A number of the old tracks have been closed and new roads have been built. The wider and the straighter the road the faster some people travel. To me it is a shame that the tracks have been widened. If necessary they could have been made one way. This park used to have real 4x4 routes but these routes have now been smoothed over so any car can access them easily. When we arrived the roads were like new - after the rains things began to change. Also the gutter of the electric gate became filled with sand and it is just a matter of time before the gate jams. Also if it is essential to keep the parks separated they should install a second gate on the other side of the tunnel so if one fails the other may still hold.
The weather was lovely - not too hot or too cold - and if we felt too cool we went to the lowveld and when we felt too warm we traveled up to the highveld.
There is not a lot of game to be seen in the Northern part of the park although we were told there are about five lions and over a hundred elephants in addition to the other game. I said that I was sure that they brought in elephant dung from Kruger and placed it around some of the roads in strategic positions.
Something happened which made me think of the NOW problems being discussed all over the country by serious 4x4 users. A man wearing a shirt with a South African Parks Department logo turned up in the afternoon while the rhinos were visiting the camp. Everyone was aware where the rhinos were and we were enjoying taking pictures of them while they peacefully grazed. This fellow (with the aforementioned shirt) walked to where we were and while looking at the rhinos began to rant on how dangerous this was and how there should be proper fences around the camp to prevent this obviously terribly dangerous situation where all the children would be trampled and gored at any moment. He disappeared and a few minutes later his mother or wife or whatever rode at speed at the rhinos and chased them out of the camp while he and another idiot holding a camera were standing on the back bumper of their bakkie. Unfortunately they did not fall off. The rhinos left at a gallop and this caused an unnecessarily dangerous situation. Although I thoroughly despised these people I realised the next day on the way up to the tower that they could not drive and had no real 4x4 experience as they were too scared to overtake us in an area where there was lots of room. In spite of this extra insight into the fact that they might be underprivileged and ignorant I still despise them all.
