Bateleur to Pafuri – New Territory

Tuesday morning we took our last safari drive in Bateleur. The sunrise gave us a grand send-off. 

Wildlife viewings began with some lovely birds.

No drive is complete without an elephant greeting.

This Steenbock was not interested in saying hello, preferring instead to bounce off into the bushes.

Another small ellie group stopped by as Temba explained Striped Hyena hunting strategies. If the prey/kill is small, a solo hyena will gobble it down. With larger prey – like a leopard kill that the hyena wants to steal – the solo hunter will call the pack. Brown Hyenas (which we have not seen this trip) are solitary scavengers – they don’t hunt at all.

We got a lovely, close look at some very large Ground Hornbills… 

…plus a much smaller Yellow-billed Hornbill with its scorpion breakfast.

And we finally got a good look at a Bateleur Eagle, the tight-rope flying raptor for which the safari camp is named.

Peter, guiding another group from our camp, saw Bateleur Eagles circling and followed them to their perch, where they kept staring at the ground. Peter couldn’t see anything, but heard crunching nearby. He drove forward about 10 meters and came across a male lion in a very secluded spot, dining on the carcass of an elephant calf. (The guides said this was likely a calf that had died from some other cause – broken leg? – which the lion was scavenging.) 

A Black-backed Jackal really wanted to get in on the act, but never quite worked up the courage. (Smart jackal!)

After watching for about twenty minutes, we were driving away when Simba spotted a second lion in the gully, just a little distance away from the guy having breakfast. We bushwhacked our way in (literally whacking bushes) to get a closer look.

This second, dominant male, had eaten first – to bursting point – and was ready to settle down for a post-prandial nap, letting his brother have a go at the feast.

With the predators otherwise occupied, other critters in the vicinity were relatively relaxed. 

We watched a male Zebra trail along behind his harem for a bit. Males stay behind the mares and foals to protect them, and to keep tabs on which mares are in estrus by sniffing their dung and urine. Baby Zebras are born with exceptionally long legs so they are nearly as tall as the adults. The “dazzle” of the herd moving together – all those white stripes on black skin – makes the foals blend in, confusing predators and making it harder for them to zero in on the vulnerable little ones.

Back at camp, it was time to say fond farewells and thanks, then load up for the short flight from nearby Hoedspruit Eastgate airport to Pafuri, in the Makuleke concession, at the northernmost tip of Kruger National Park.

Hoedspruit is a small town (population just over 3000 people) located on the N-S highway that runs parallel to Kruger and the private reserves. Hoedspruit Eastgate airport is a civilian add-on to a military air base located about 15 km SW of the town. Although only about 36 km from Bateleur, roads being what they were, our trip to the airport took about an hour. 

We were booked on a small private charter plane scheduled to depart at 1:30 pm. We arrived at with about one hour to wait, so passed the time hanging out in the pleasant (but crowded) interior courtyard, being entertained by fellow travelers and opportunistic monkeys.

This airport is so small that there isn’t much in the way of gates. We were told that our pilots would come find us when it was time to depart. As departure time approached with no pilots, I went exploring – and encountered our pilots trying to locate us.  We were duly rounded up, along with another couple who had booked a 2nd plane for Pafuri, and shepherded on to the planes.

Don had been training on a flight simulator, and was thrilled when the pilot let him take the control yoke once we were at cruising altitude. 

 From the air, the boundary fences for Kruger and the private reserves were clearly discernible, with lots of animal trails visible. Once we flew past the fences, animal trails disappeared.  We flew over several villages, a gravel operation and a very large open pit mine. As we approached the Makuleke Concession, the Limpopo River appeared as a wide, sandy expanse snaking through savannah with a lot of granite upthrusts.  This is a land of baobobs (which I adore), and I was thrilled to be able to spot some from the air.

We landed on a dirt/grass airfield as our our guide and helper, Jan and Joe, pulled up in Land Cruisers to collect us.

The Makuleke Concession has a very different ownership model than the private reserves.  In 1969, South Africa’s apartheid government forcibly removed the resident Makuleke people in order to add their traditional territory to Kruger Park. The people moved to a new village in the south.  In 1996, the tribe successfully submitted a land claim to about 49,000 acres in the northern portion of the park, and negotiated an ownership and land-sharing agreement.

Rather than re-settle the land, the tribe chose to collaborate with private sector operators to invest in tourism development that would produce economic benefit for the tribe. The tribal council contracted with two private investors to construct the lodge and tent camps; Return Africa now manages the lodges and tourist activities. Revenues from the lease and commercial activities go into a trust to improve the village the tribe moved to, and to fund a training program for young folks. Tribal members occupy about 90% of the jobs in Makuleke, although management personnel are currently non-tribal. Return Africa has an active training program on how to run a business for tribal members, so it is expected that tribal folks will take over management positions in future.

Makuleke borders Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and poaching is, unfortunately, rampant. By agreement, wildlife, conservation and ecology are managed by Kruger Park. There has been an active program to re-introduce wildlife, and the park is building an anti-poaching infrastructure. During our stay, the wildlife here was decidedly more skittish than we had experienced in the private reserves.

Pafuri Tented Camp, where we stayed, is spread out along the Luvhuvu River.  The area is renowned for birding.  As we turned into the road to Pafuri, we were greeted by a Kory Bustard, Africa’s largest flying bird (3-5 feet tall, with a wingspan of 7-9 feet).

On arrival at the lodge, the human staff turned out to give us a warm, traditional welcome. 

The camp’s central area includes a lounge/reception area, bush bar, swimming pool and very large deck for outdoor dining, all located right on the river.  It has lovely vernacular architecture: thatched roofs, wooden supports and stone dividing walls, all shaded by giant Nyala/Mashatu and Jackalberry trees (a.k.a. African Ebony trees).

Nineteen tent “suites” extend more than ½ mile along the river, tucked in the trees, and linked by a series of elevated wooden boardwalks. 

The tents are quite luxurious, with open air showers and private viewing decks overlooking the river.  We were in #2, which was about a 5 minute walk from the central area.

After checking in and dropping off bags, we hustled back to the central area for a quick lunch (an excellent buffet)  and the afternoon game drive.  Jan, our guide, has a very laid back style (especially compared to his friend FJ, our guide in Idube) and we came to appreciate his dry sense of humor.  It was very hot and the vehicle had its canvas cover on, which Matt appreciated and the rest of us hated because the cover blocked the view and made birding and photography very difficult.

The vegetation around Pafuri is quite different from the southern reserves. The dominant species is a bush called Wooly Caper, which strangles out other species and nobody eats so it is abundant.

Makuleke has year-round water from the (crocodile-infested) Luvhuvu River and in several river channels isolated from the main stem during the dry season.  We stopped to peer into one channel and saw several crocodiles sunning, plus two hippos hiding from the heat.

Back at camp, we were herded through the dark into a giant outdoor boma for a buffet dinner and special event in celebration of South Africa Heritage Day.  We got to sample excellent local food, including staples like pap (made from “mealie” meal = maize) and malokhai (which I finally figured out was the much loved – or despised – spinach-like plant called Mulukhiyah in Egypt).  Dinner was followed by an (unfortunately) long program telling the story of the tribe’s forcible relocation and re-acquisition of the land, accompanied by lovely traditional singing and dancing. The local folks’ energy was wonderful, but we would have appreciated the show more if we hadn’t been falling asleep after a very long day!