Reviewer Diaries: Part 1: Kruger to Machampane

Introducing a new feature on The Game Lodge Index Blog - Reviewer Diaries. Our review teams will share their stories, their experiences, the memories and the tales of their reviews.  Some funny, some sad and some just a glimpse of what is out there......Enjoy!

Mozambique’s Wild Frontier

African Array’s review team of Jaime Naylor and Jake Hoddinott recently returned from a trip to Mozambique. Camps, walking trails and canoe trails in the Kruger National Parks new Mozambique section (the Limpopo National Park or Parque Nacional Do Limpopo - PNL) were assessed. Overall it was an extremely entertaining trip with great natural and local cultural experiences.  A pleasant smelling lion carcass, fishing for tiger fish, anti-hippo vuvuzelas and 50 degree heat. Read more…

Through the Kruger…

The trip to Mozambique heralded the first reserve and safari experiences outside of South Africa to be included on the Game Lodge and Safari Indexes. Jake and Jaime set off early on an overcast October morning entering the Kruger National Park through Orpen Gate and spending the day driving through the park up to Letaba Camp. Game viewing was fair providing good sightings of two large herds of buffalo, a cheetah, numerous elephant, some rhino and three separate sightings of the world’s heaviest flying bird – the kori bustard. At one point along the Letaba River we came across a couple over 100m from their vehicle standing in a reed bed on the Letaba River floodplain trying to get a closer look at some elephant. Given the high concentrations of wildlife along this river system we concluded that they were a little loopy. It is not an uncommon occurrence in South Africa’s national parks that people alight from their vehicles but this should be strongly advised against as it often leads to interactions with wild animals that lead to detrimental circumstances for both the humans and the wildlife.

Letaba Camp

We headed on to the Giriyondo Border Post which is situated just north of Letaba Camp (roughly an easy hour’s drive) and is a clean, friendly and very efficient (although there always seems to be one very grouchy customs officer as was the case) African border experience and we were in Mozambique within 30 minutes of arriving at the gate. Machampane Wilderness Camp was our first stop and this was a short 40 minute drive through the dry Mopane bushveld on a gravel road which at the time was in good order. This may change however with the first rains due any moment.

What’s that smell??

Just before reaching Machampane we came across a dead lioness next to the road. Although she was fairly decomposed, and stank to high heaven, we were told that she had died about 5 days before and as often happens with predator carcasses scavengers had decided to leave it alone. What was most bizarre was that all her hair had fallen out and this had happened a day after she was found dead. Guides from Machampane and rangers from Parque Nacional Do Limpopo (PNL) suspected that she had been poisoned by one of the villages which still exist in the reserve. Hair loss is often a result of poisoning and this is quite likely as locals in the area had been complaining about livestock being eaten. The Limpopo National Park is a massive 1 million hectares in size and there is massive potential for this park.