Kruger for the Connoisseur

by Alison Westwood, 1 February 2006

There's an almost forgotten part of the Kruger National Park that very few people experience. The far northern region of the park is a wilderness of great beauty and refined pleasures. But you need to be a certain kind of person to enjoy it. You need to be a Kruger connoisseur.

Not an Auspicious Start

The man in the seat behind me had smelly feet. The stewardess brought me a salad for breakfast. The frail and wizened old woman next to me looked like she might not last until we landed. This was the first of 3 flights we had to catch to reach the remote north of the Kruger National Park, and I started to wonder if it was going to be worth it.

Most visitors to the Kruger Park choose to stay in the southern region of the park or in the private game reserves adjoining it. A few more venture into the central region, and go as far as Letaba and Olifants Rest Camps. But hardly anyone goes north. Not as far north as we were going, anyway.

The reason is that it's much more difficult to get there and your chances of seeing the Big 5 aren't as high as they are down south. But the area must have its own special attractions, because 2 superb lodges have opened up there in the last few years. My aim was to discover them.

Flying Into the Wilderness

From Phalaborwa airport (which is charmingly Afro-centric, with thatched roofs, zebra-stripe floors and no doors or windows), it was just a quick hop to the top of the park in a Cessna 206. From the windows we could see how lush and green the bushveld was.

Thundershowers in the distance looked like foamy mosquito nets trailing from the clouds. The winding rivers were swollen and muddy, their colours changing with the soil. I saw no sign of people and hardly any roads.

A Birding Legend

After a feather-soft landing on the new dirt airstrip at Pafuri, we were greeted by our ranger from the Pafuri Wilderness Camp. When the ranger introduced himself as Johnson, our co-pilot got very excited.

"Johnson? Oh wow! You're Johnson! You were our ranger at Phinda. My dad said you were the best ever. You know every bird there is. Do you remember me? Felix - I was in standard 6 - you signed my Robert's Birds book."

Since Felix must have been in standard 6 at school about 10 years ago, we gathered that Johnson must be something of a birding legend. He was. On our game drives at Pafuri Camp we didn't see many animals, but we saw more kinds of birds than I've ever seen anywhere else.

Voices in the Trees

Becoming impatient with the quiet rumble of the Land Cruiser, Johnson would switch off the engine and freewheel, listening for specific bird calls. Even with the engine on, he would identify a voice among the frenzy of birdsong and come to an abrupt halt.

Next to us would be a red crested korhaan, gearing up for its operatic trills with a series of sounds that sounded like taps on a microphone. Sometimes they perform a display. The korhaan flies high into the air and then plummets to earth like shuttlecocks, opening its wings only at the last minute. It's a bit like base-jumping for birds.

"That's better than an elephant," enthused Alweet, Johnson's fellow ranger. I've seen lots of elephants. I had never seen a red crested Korhaan call. I had to agree with him.

Boasting About Birds

Birding is one of the main attractions in this part of the park. In fact, the Makuleke region has been identified by environmentalists as Kruger's best birding destination because so many central African birds are found here, as well as most southern African birds.

They aren't just LBJs either. The birds are magnificent; from the jewel-like woodland kingfisher with its shivering laugh, to the regal fish eagle whose call kept making me jump because it was so close by, and the rare Pels fishing owl who hunts by night in the Luvhuvhu River just opposite Pafuri Camp.

If you aren't interested in birds before you arrive in the Makuleke, you probably will be before you leave. A lion or a leopard is all very well, but to the initiate there's far greater glory in boasting about a bird.

At any rate, I succumbed to the glamour of twitching. I was more excited about a pair of saddle-billed storks in the distance than I was about the young male elephant that came within 10 feet of our vehicle. A swarm of white-fronted bee-eaters kept me captivated for the best part of half an hour, and seeing a single carmine bee-eater felt like the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition.

The Secret of Crook's Corner

The Makuleke Contract Park is at the northern tip of the Kruger National Park and shares a border with Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Its own borders are formed by the Luvhuvhu and Limpopo rivers and the 2 rivers meet at the same point as the 3 countries.

Long before the Kruger National Park swallowed it up, this lonely corner of the lowveld was the haunt of hunters, traders and scoundrels. Crook's Corner, as the settlement at this confluence came to be known, was a beacon for anyone who wished to avoid both the restrictions, and the enforcers, of law and order.

When men got into trouble in any (or all) of the 3 countries crowding the confluence of the 2 rivers, they would naturally gravitate to Crook's Corner. It was a bushy wedge of land where crocodiles sunned themselves on the sandy beach, dreaming their evil dreams, or popped up silently from submersion, warning the unwary of the dangers of illegal border crossing.

Daredevil Border Crossing

The strange settlement at Crook's Corner is gone, but people still cross the river into the park when an encounter with the border officials is inadvisable and the dangers of wild animals seem preferable to remaining where they are.

We stood on the edge of the riverbank drinking sundowners and watching the waters of the flooded rivers as they swirled around one another. The Limpopo was rushing and green, while the Luvhuvhu was bright orange and sluggish, replete with the mud it had guzzled from its banks.

To our left was Zimbabwe and straight ahead was Mozambique. The sunset was washing the sky pink and the moment was peaceful.

"Please stand further away from the river's edge," said Johnson a little nervously. "There are lots of crocodiles."

Somebody's Supper

We moved back. Then Johnson told us how far a crocodile could jump out of the water to grab its prey and we moved back a lot further. As we watched the water, nostrils and a pair of eyes appeared uncomfortably close to where we had been standing.

The cunning reptile regarded us for a few moments. Then it vanished - and reappeared even closer. We watched, fascinated. "Now I know what it's like to have something look at you like you're supper," joked one of the guests.

We noticed more and more pairs of nostrils. There must have been hundreds of crocodiles in that broad and muddy stretch of river. We finished our drinks more quickly than usual and left the crocodiles to stare at something else.

A Landmark Legal Case

But this area wasn't just home to crooks and crocodiles. Until 1969, the land was inhabited and farmed by the Makuleke people, a Shangaan tribe from whom the concession takes its name. When the Kruger Park was expanded by the apartheid government they were forcibly removed from their land.

When democracy arrived, the Makuleke petitioned for the return of their land. In a ground-breaking legal case in 1998 their claim was recognised. Wisely, they chose to keep the land as a conservation area and to use the money it generates to provide for their community. The Kruger Park, once a source of misery and anger for the Makuleke, will now be a source of income and opportunities.

Sustainable Safaris

Both of the lodges in the concession train and employ the Makuleke and a portion of the profits go back to the community. What's more, the Makuleke are being groomed to run the lodges themselves. A visit to one of the lodges in the Makuleke has the real feel good factor of contributing to sustainable conservation.

After 30 years, the lodge owners will hand the lodges over to the Makuleke people entirely. This was what the manager of The Outpost told us as he showed us to our 'space'. The Outpost is a complete contrast to Pafuri Camp and its classical tented rooms nestled on the banks of the Luvhuvhu.

Spaces for the Soul

Set on the steep sides of a high rocky outcrop, The Outpost was designed by an innovative Italian architect with a deep love of Africa. The spaces (as they appropriately call the rooms there) are modern, minimalist and eco-friendly. They are also completely open to the air and the breathtaking view.

It took a while for the reality of our space to sink in. Feeling like we were on a Hollywood filmset we looked around in disbelief for several minutes before giving in to childlike excitement.

I was a little shy of taking a shower in front of the entire park at first, but despite their lack of walls, the spaces are completely private. The beauty and freedom of the huge wilderness flowed into our space and intoxicated us.

Scenery on a Grand Scale

The scenic beauty of the Makuleke region is undeniable, even if you aren't experiencing it from a space at The Outpost. There are golden forests of fever trees and rustling Mopane woodlands with their delicate tracery of branches echoing Japanese paintings. There are thousand-year-old baobabs wider than houses.

In summer, flowers are everywhere - fields of lemon-yellow Devil's Thorn, sunny Pretty Ladies, neon red Flame Lilies and dusky lilac Wild Foxglove. The flowers attract so many different butterflies that Natasha, our ranger at The Outpost, can't find some of them in the butterfly books and has had to invent her own names for them. There are rushing rivers, soaring cliffs and deep gorges.

Whether you stay at The Outpost or Pafuri Camp, the chances are you'll visit Lanner Gorge, the most famous of these scenic attractions. On the morning we left the Makuleke, we stood on the highest viewing point with Natasha, drinking in the views, and the air that was more intoxicating than the champagne in our glasses.

Was it all Worth it?

We'd seen more birds than I could keep track of. We'd laughed at herds of buffalo and silly spring hares, held our breaths as jackals played in the road a few metres away, annoyed an elephant, and become old friends with kudu, nyala, bushbuck and impala.

We'd photographed baboons and zebra and caught fleeting glimpses of shy klipspringer and duiker. We'd tasted sour plums (for the first and last time) and learned the medicinal properties of the sickle bush and wild sesame. We'd even tried to become acquainted with a boomslang.

Best of all, the knots in my shoulders were gone, and the knots in my mind had unravelled at last. I was a child of nature again and I knew she wished me well.

Experience this Trip for Yourself

Pafuri Camp is a good self-drive option, especially if you want to combine southern and northern Kruger. It's also great value for money. The beautiful tented rooms on the banks of the Luvuvhu are filled with the sound of bird song, punctuated by the cry of the fish eagle.

The Outpost is a spectacular and unconventional lodge from which to explore this area. It's also easy to access by charter flight from Johannesburg. Expect jaw-dropping views, friendly service, and amazing food prepared by the two local ladies in the kitchen.

Article © Copyright 2006 Go2Africa.

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