Two Rivers: Luvuvhu to Limpopo

In the early morning glow of the sandstone cliffs near Lanner Gorge, we see a smudge of tan and black. Or perhaps two smudges? Did it go left? Or right? Then we spot it, just beside the track, five metres to our right – a half-grown leopard, a cub no more, separated from its mother, who scampered the other way. An adolescent, old enough for Mom to decide, you’re on your own now, handle the situation. With the aplomb of youth, it saunters into the undergrowth.

We’re in the extreme north of Kruger National Park, known as the birding mecca of South Africa. The Punda Maria-Pafuri region is synonymous with biodiversity. It is also the jewel of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park.

En route to Pafuri, on the main road north of Sirheni, where the vegetation starts to change from flat, featureless mopaneveld to tree mopane savanna, we saw two lionesses on an early morning stroll with two cubs, cute as can be. Next thing, a tawny flash from the left across the tarmac; seconds later, the apparition turns out to be a third lioness, who now has an impala dangling from her jaws. All of this still on the H1. What a sight to see the little ones make a beeline for their aunt and her quarry.

At Punda Maria we relish the peace and quiet, compared to some of the busier camps in the south. That afternoon, on the popular Mahonie Loop, we see a buffalo herd, hundreds strong. Impressive stuff. You almost guaranteed to see nyala, kudu, elephant; if you’re lucky, eland, roan, suni and Sharpe’s grysbok.

In the morning, en route to the Thulamela Iron-Age archeological site, we discover one of the most beautiful drives in the whole of Kruger. Whether you go at sunset on a night drive, or on a morning walk, Nyala Drive is luminescent with dozens of shades of green. Thulamela (1200AD) can only be visited on a guided tour and is organised through Punda Maria. It is an easy 40-minute hike through alluvial forest.

From Punda we drive across the Luvuvhu river bridge to the Makuleke concession. Following the Makuleke land claim, a deal was brokered with government that the clan would enter into a private-sector partnership to develop new tourism facilities in the north. The Shangaan speaking Makuleke community numbers 14-15 000 people who live just outside the park, distributed over three villages. The southern border of the Makuleke concession is the perennial Luvuvhu river, its fever tree forests and plains dotted with acacia.

The Luvuvhu river drive to Crooks’ Corner (S63) has to be the most spectacular in all of Kruger. While access to the Limpopo pans that teem with migrant water birds in summer is reserved for guests at Pafuri Camp and The Outpost, everyone can enjoy the Luvuvhu river drives. No more mopane trees, instead we cross a flood plain of thornveld. The forest is a thick riverine bush, populated by ghostly jaundiced trunks, interspersed with copses of palm trees. Bushwillows, silver cluster-leaf and white syringa trees form a dense blanket.

Game is abundant, plentiful nyala and a fair number of kudu and bushbuck graze peacefully in the shadow of baobabs. Many of these characterful giants, some of which are 4 000 years old, have been ravaged by elephant trunks. This confirms that we are deep in elephant territory, in a primeval African landscape with an ancient history.

We just manage a glimpse of the Mozambican and Zimbabwean shores where the two mighty rivers meet. This is a place of legend and adventure, where rough-and-ready big game hunters and gunrunners lived as outlaws by hopping along the many bush paths from one country to the next. Theirs was an ivory trail, a network of trade with precious cargo destined for the interior and the Mozambican harbours, in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Because of heavy downpours the previous days we are denied access to Crooks’ Corner, nevertheless we penetrate the alluvial floodplains and persevere to the edge of the famous fever tree forest. An aficionado of lush, tropical, verdant landscapes, I am in seventh heaven.

Our sightings have been incredible. Within 48 hours of arriving at Pafuri, I ticked 96 species of birds on my checklist. For me, the call of Kruger has become the call of the extreme north.

Unabridged version published in Wild magazine Autumn 2011.