ADVENTURE. The ‘safari tents’ in the Bontle camp site are comfortable and well-equipped. Picture: Brendan Seery
When it comes to stress relief, there is nothing better than dunking a rusk in tea (or coffee) just as the sun begins peeping through the trees in the Bosveld.
At this time of year, there’s the added bonus of perpetual dust in the air, ahead of the rains, which make the rising and setting sun a massive, blood-red disc.
As we sit on the verandah of our “safari tent” in the Marakele National Park, we realise there are a few other bonuses to this location.
Firstly, it’s warmer than Joburg, so we don’t have to be wrapped up like Eskimos as we declare that spring has arrived (a week earlier than Joburg).
Then, padding up silently comes a female ostrich, obviously habituated to people in the camp who, despite the injunctions of the park authorities, clearly hand out the odd tidbit.
She looks at us, begging, but we harden our hearts. The vervet monkeys, of course, never beg – they just steal.
And I discover that, in the clever, supposedly varmint-proof rubbish bin outside (with a fancy, paddlelike contraption in its throat), you have to still push your rubbish a long way down.
If you don’t the little buggers will be in and out in a flash… as is the one now taunting me with the rusk packet, disposed of (I thought) with a clutch of crumbs inside.
Risky. The Tlopi tented camp, within the dangerous game part of the reserve, is well worth a visit.
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Elsewhere in the unfenced Bontle camp – which comprises campsites and two and four-bed safari tents – other wildlife ambles in and out.
Warthogs, mongooses, baboons, guinea fowl and an assortment of birds – fronted by cheeky hornbills – are constant visitors.
This part of Marakele is the place where the non-dangerous animals hang out and, although you can walk around in the camp and in a picnic site, as well as a bird hide next to a dam, you’re not allowed to get out of your car anywhere else.
However, I wonder if that is not more for money-making reasons when I later discover a reminder that walking or hiking is forbidden in the park – but that you can book guided walks…
The area housing the dangerous game is accessed via a subway under a provincial road… and there is an electric gate which you trigger yourself.
In that part of the park are the Big Five – although on our visit, we only managed to see a white rhino and an elephant in two days’ driving into that area.
RARE SIGHT. The rugged country doesn’t seem like common habitat for elephant, but they thrived here until being killed in late 19th century.
That’s not surprising because Marakele National Park is not a small area – it covers more than 50 000 hectares and there are not huge numbers of animals because the carrying capacity of this area is not as high as that in the Kruger National Park, for example.
Marakele is an amalgamation of state and private land and its area has expanded significantly since it originally saw the light of day in the ’80s as the Kranzberg National Park.
When the first land was expropriated (yes, even the Nat government was at it, way back when), farmers were not best pleased.
Yet, that attitude was before the days of the boom in the tourism and hunting industries, which came off the back of a change in legislation, which decreed all animals on a property (obviously not the endangered ones) became the property of the land owner, and not the state. When you look at the entire area around Marakele – which is part of the Waterberg Massif – all you see is game farms, reserves and tourist offerings.
Someone we know has a little place there called Phala Phala (although we hear he had to replace his couch not so long ago…)
The Waterberg is a highly biodiverse area, because it is the transitional zone between the arid lands of the western parts of southern Africa and the wetter eastern parts.
Couple that with the majestic mountainous terrain and, the experts will tell you, there are any number of different biomes with their own unique flora and fauna.
VISTA. There is a spectacular view from the Lenono viewpoint, higest part of the Marakele National park. Pictures: Brendan Seery
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In the case of Marakele, which abuts the Welgevonden private reserve, you go for the dramatic scenery as much as anything else.
After a 15km drive along a narrow (and sadly deteriorating) tarred road to the roof of the reserve, where there is a massive telecommunications relay station, you can take in the endless vistas.
And you can look across at the world’s second largest colony of Cape vultures, not far across the valley.
If you time your visit right – as the morning thermals are rising – you can witness these amazing birds in their scores, flying with very little apparent effort.
This time, though, unlike on our previous visit, it is very unpleasant at the top, thanks to a vicious, near gale-force wind, which makes even walking uncomfortable.
The road up to the Lenong look-out point is narrow and can be heart-stopping when you encounter traffic on the way up or down, because the passing places are small and often frighteningly high. Still, the view is worth it…
Other roads in the park could do with a bit of maintenance and I would suggest a high clearance vehicle, like the Ford Territory we were driving, will take some of the worry out of getting around.
You are warned that if you do get stuck on a road marked for 4×4 vehicles, you will be liable for the recovery charges.
It doesn’t help though, that some of the 4×4 routes are badly marked, or not marked at all…
Apart from Bontle, there is another tented camp in the dangerous game part of the park, called Tlopi, which has spectacular views… although on a previous visit we did find the tents, which are mounted on a deck, to be a bit too close together.
You don’t particularly want to share in the snoring of others… Bontle, though, was the perfect place to return to in the evenings, with a part canvas, part brick structure, containing all the necessary creature comforts, from a bathroom with shower (I am so done with communal ablution facilities), as well as aircon and electric blankets for those really chilly nights.
The kitchen is to the side, with a sturdy gate-door, which you are advised to keep closed even when you are around (remember the monkeys?).
TOUGH GOING. The road to the Lenong viewpoint gets nerve-wracking. A high ground clearance vehicle (like this Ford Territory) is recommended.
Braais are the order of the day here, although the kitchen has a hotplate, as well as a microwave with a grill function for your indoor cooking.
I also rediscovered the pleasure of braaing using wood and not charcoal briquettes, which is our normal method.
There is nothing like a fire in the bushveld for gazing into (they don’t call it Bushman TV for nothing) and contemplating the Meaning of Life…
When a few small bits of meat left around the braai disappeared in double-quick time, we decided that we would monitor the braai area the next time, putting a torch on the table on the patio and shining it on the place we’d left a few morsels.
Sure enough, we were treated to the arrival of a genet, a spotted cat-like carnivore which, although very alert and timid, stayed around long enough for us to have a wonderful show.
I supposed we shouldn’t have, but I was confident that the animal, which would dart back into the bush leaving just its reflected eyes in the torchlight betraying its position, would not lose its fear of humans. Marakele was also a reminder that this is such a beautiful country and that we really should get out more and take it all in. With the rusks and the firewood, of course…
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