South Africa
Southern Africa
UK
Campsites (Africa)
The weather reports for the Drakensberg weren't good so we decided to have a couple of days at Spioenkop Nature Reserve which is quite close but, being away from the mountains, was likely to have less cloud and rain. The animals on the Reserve were obviously used to vehicles so we were able to get quite close to them and then sit and watch them. The campsite is next to the dam. During holidays and weekends it can get busy as people can fish or take boats onto the water but, apart from 1 other couple, we had the campsite to ourselves. Location: S28 41.956 E29 30.240 You can camp anywhere but there are only some areas with any shade. The ablutions had hot water and showers. Animals can get onto the campsite - we woke to find a group of wildebeest grazing close to us. We'd read that there were a few white rhino on the Reserve and, when I went out on a drive, I was delighted to see one of them just after it'd had a mud bath. After a short while it wandered off into the bush. I was just about to move on when a jackal jumped down onto the track ahead of the bakkie and then lay down in front of a pool in the track so I switched off and sat and watched it. After a little while it got up, made its way around the puddle and off up the track. I slowly followed. It then turned off into the bushes but then came back towards the track close to the vehicle so I was able to get a close-up shot. On another drive we saw a big group of giraffe with several youngsters. we saw several groups of red hartebeest, some with calves. Diary (Word '97 document).
Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. January 2012 - Spioenkop Nature Reserve.
