Pilanesberg, South Africa

We went down to Pilanesberg, South Africa last weekend for a short camping trip. Pilanesberg is a big game reserve that is about a 3 hour drive from our home here in Gaborone. They have all of the Big Five in the park. (If you don't know the Big Five, click on the link).

The park surrounds the crater of a long extinct volcano, that last erupted 1.5 Billion years ago. Yes that is Billion with a B. The crater makes a series of concentric rings of hills that radiate out from a central valley.

It is near the end of the wet season here, so the park is dense with long grass and green vegetation. It is very beautiful, but all that greenery makes it difficult to spot anything but the largest animals. Thankfully there are plenty of large animals in the park. We saw more than 20 elephants. Some at pretty close range. The park is abundant in Giraffe as well. We lost count of how many of those we spotted. In fact at one point, as I was driving around a tight curve in the road I had to jam on the brakes to avoid rear ending a giraffe that was standing in the road. We also saw loads of wildebeest, Impala, warthogs, zebra and a few white rhino. The bird life in Pilanesberg is also incredible. I usually stick to the mammals in my game viewing, but you can't help but notice the beautiful colored birds throughout the park.

Where we were camped was a bit of a zoo. There was little or no privacy while camping in the Manyane campground. It was more densely packed than a KOA on 4th of July weekend. It was nicely kept though. It was clean, with nice facilities including a small store, a swimming pool, playground, gift shop and a restaurant. We ate at the restaurant the night before we left and had an interesting meal. I had the Eland steak, and Cassandra had the Kudu. Impala chops were also on the menu, but will have to wait till next time.

Still with all those people around you had to watch out for thieving baboons. We saw baboons running throughout the campground stealing food and generally causing havoc.

We will be going back to Pilanesberg in April when my Mom and Bill Arrive for a visit. We will be staying in the nice chalets they have on sight, so we should have a bit more comfortable stay.