Kruger top to bottom – Part 1 – Birds are our Story

3rd to 21st April 2024

Sally and I decided to get away before winter started. Our destination – the Kruger National Park. However, unlike our usual Kruger visits, we went in at the top of the Park and exited at the bottom.

We headed for the Pafuri entrance gate via a stopover along the way. 1080 Kms in one day was not an option for us so we overnighted at Waterberg Resort near Bela Bela. Our thinking was that it was close to the N1 and we could get onto the N1 first thing in the morning and be on our way early. Not so. We followed our map but the road we took went over the freeway and we wasted almost an hour backtracking to where we got off the freeway the previous day. Oh well.

Waterberg Resort

4th April 2024

The Resort was empty – sadly for the owners as it was a public holiday.

Once the Wildcat was set up, we took a walk around the Resort into the game area. The rains had been poor so there were not many creatures to see. There was an unusual Black Impala in the grounds next door.

Nthakeni Bush and River Camp

5th to 7th April 2024

Whenever we are visiting the north of the Kruger, we always choose to camp at Nthakeni Bush and River Camp. The hospitality of Kobus and Annalise is special and the campsite, in our opinion, is one of the best we have stayed at AND it is close to the Pafuri area in the Kruger.

We used this campsite as our base to head into the north of the Kruger Park – in particular to explore the Pafuri area. As you can see from the following photos, the area was very dry. Being April, most migrants had already gone and birding was quiet. Having said that we did find one or two special species (for us anyway).

Dryness:

Birds photographed:

Then there was this bird seen close to the turn-off to the Pafuri Picnic sight:

Yes, a Coucal. Senegal. Special special. Confirmed by Trevor Hardaker.

Shingwedzi

7th to 10th April 2024

We had three nights in Shingwedzi. Mostly overcast. We explored north to Babalala, east along the S50, south down the H1-6 and taking the S142 Shongololo loop to Mopani and also the Redrocks loops.

Like everywhere else the ground was dry, yet the grass seemed greener as we headed south.

We had booked our trip at the last minute so we had little choice of where to stay and for how long. Fortunately we managed to get 3 nights in Shingwedzi but they only had fenceline sites available – not unhappy about that as we found a pleasant site.

Being on the fenceline was entertaining at times. On one occasion a huge herd of Impala came roaring passed very close by. And of course, the camp birds and animals visited our site – forever hopeful.