Mopani Rest Camp, Northern Region, Kruger National Park

Overlooking the Pioneer Dam, on an attractive hillside dotted with baobabs, Mopani Rest Camp, with its thatched, square, face-brick ‘houses’, is a significant departure from the traditional rondawel architecture of the park. This large camp has a quiet, peaceful atmosphere. The surrounding mopane shrubveld does not yield that many game sightings and, at times, it feels as if even the animals are taking a break.

Accommodation

Chalets
Mopani offers four-bed bungalows and four bed cottages, both with fully equipped kitchenette and bathroom. Also available are six-bed family cottages with three twin rooms, one en-suite bathroom and two other bathrooms and a full kitchen. Xanatseni Guest House sleeps eight and has a lounge/dining room, kitchen, outside covered bar and a braai. Tsendze Rustic Campsite recently opened some 8 km south of Mopani near Mooiplas picnic area (book at Mopani). The main rest camp also has a large, hi-tech conference centre.

Wildlife

The camp
A large baobab grows in camp and an in-camp trail winds through the interesting landscape, allowing you to get some exercise and providing a good opportunity to see a diverse array of birds, especially in the summer months, and giant plated lizards (males with red heads). Look out for water birds, not to mention crocodile and hippo on the dam. From the lady’s bar, waterbuck, impala, warthog, elephant and buffalo can even be seen drinking on occasion.

The surroundings
Tsessebe, roan and eland are all occasionally seen in the region. Caracal and black-backed jackal are seen relatively often.

The Big Five
Lion sightings are infrequent and rhino are seldom spotted in the area. Leopard, however, are common and large numbers of buffalo and elephant occur here.

Birds
Keep an eye out for mosque swallows in the baobabs and wire-tailed swallows in camp. An interesting collection of water birds gathers at Pioneer Dam, in particular painted snipe, osprey and African fish eagle. Kittlitz’s plover, chestnut-backed sparrowlark and collared (red-winged) pratincole can all be seen too.

Don’t miss!

The in-camp trail is a must before heading to the bar for sundowners on the deck overlooking Pioneer Dam. Yet another highlight is the extremely rewarding game-viewing offered by the relatively out-of-the-way Stapelkop Dam, which boasts plenty of good vantage points and welcome tranquillity.

Activities

Morning, sunset and night drives and morning and afternoon walks may all be booked at reception. Wildlife documentaries are shown in the open-air theatre when weather permits.

Best drives

Even though game-viewing can be a little frustrating from Mopani, the relatively large network of roads surrounding the camp makes it easy to avoid the traffic jams associated with good sightings in the southern parts of the park. Here, as you amble along the mopanelined dirt roads, you can truly feel as if you have the place to yourself.

Nshawu/Tropic of Capricorn Loop
This is the most ‘productive’ route in the region. To get there, take the short access road from Mopani back to the tarred H1-6 (the Letaba–Shingwedzi Road), turning south and continuing along until you reach the S49 dirt road to your left. Here you pass a number of research plots where the effects of different fire regimes on the mopane ecosystem are being tested. Birders should look out for ‘scorched-earth specialists’ such as Kittlitz’s plover, red-capped lark and Temminck’s courser. You have two options: about 3 km after you leave the tar, the road turns left, heading past the Mooiplaas Water Hole and then onto the S50 (Nshawu Vlei–Dipene Road). Roan have been released into this area; also look out for eland. Alternatively, continue straight on the S49 for another 8 km until you reach the S50 Nshawu Road and only then do you turn left. This option adds 16 km to the route but includes three more water holes Nshawu One, Two and Three.

Heading north along the S50, it is worth taking the short side track down to the Nshawu Dam (damaged in the floods of 2000). This is situated in an open grassy area, so game-viewing is good. The dam itself attracts elephant, particularly in the late afternoon when they come down to drink, and also provides a good opportunity to see hippo, crocodile and water birds, such as comb (knob-billed) duck, moorhen, Kittlitz’s plover, African spoonbill, blacksmith lapwing and, occasionally, saddle-billed stork. Look out for tsessebe in the grassy areas around the dam, plus the many grassland birds that occur here, including Swainson’s and Natal spurfowl, Shelley’s francolin, red-crested korhaan, black-bellied and kori bustard, crowned lapwing and Montagu’s harrier.

Further along the S50, take the lefthand turn-off onto the S143 (Tropic of Capricorn Loop), which passes through patches of open grassland between dense mopane stands, where you are likely to see giraffe, zebra and elephant. Turn left when you reach the S144, which takes you back to the H1-6 tar road through a small gabbro intrusion covered with thornveld. Back at the H1-6, turn left (or south) towards Mopani, but resist the temptation to speed up as you head for home because good sightings are often seen at Grysbok and Bowker’s Kop water holes. In particular, keep a lookout here for sable, especially in the area around Bowker’s Kop. The H1-6 also crosses the Tropic of Capricorn a few kilometres after you rejoin the tar, where a small plaque indicates the spot.

Shongololo Loop
The first few kilometres of the southern section of this loop (which follows the S142) can be very rewarding as it skirts the Pioneer Dam and thus attracts a variety of animals, including elephant, waterbuck, warthog, impala and others. It is also worth stopping a while at the Shipandani Hide, which overlooks the dam, providing you with a comfortable seat from which to view the birdlife, notably pied kingfisher hunting from nearby branches or hovering over water, African spoonbill, redbilled teal, and both white-breasted and reed cormorant. Continuing along, the route remains productive up until Baanbreker Water Hole, but after that, the thick mopane offers little in the way of good sightings. However, you can never really tell what animal will be sitting in the road ahead….

Once you reach the H1-6 (Letaba– Shingwedzi Road) head south, keeping a lookout along the way as the road passes through a small gabbro intrusion so the vegetation changes briefly to thornveld, before reverting to tall mopane veld and shrub mopane. Watch for sable all along the route, especially near the Bowker’s Kop Water Hole.

Stapelkop Dam
Many people are put off by the 18 km drive down the S146 (Stapelkop Dam Road), so those who make the journey often have the place to themselves. There are a number of good vantage points over the dam and this allows visitors good views of hippo, crocodile and numerous water birds, including African jacana, hamerkop, green-backed and squacco heron, dwarf bittern, red-billed teal and comb (knob-billed) and whitefaced duck. Having made the journey, it is well worth spending a few hours in a good spot watching the comings and goings of the birds and game animals.

Tsendze Loop
Although this loop is a little far from Mopani, if you have had little luck with sightings it is worth the drive, as this route often offers pleasant surprises. Leopard are often seen along the road. Head south on the H1-6, past the turn-offs to the S49, S50 and H14, and turning right on the S48 Tsendze Loop shortly after the Nshawu River. The road runs along the Tsendze River through a mixture of mopane, mahogany, sycamore figs and other large trees that line the water course, before returning to the H1-6 tar road after about 17 km. Turn left here and head north.

You can take the S50 Nshawu Road if you want to delay your arrival back home and complete the Tropic of Capricorn Loop described earlier. There is a relatively new sleepover hide on the Tsendze River, which boasts nine beds that fold down from the walls, as well as a fenced-in braai area and toilets. Another hide has been built on the Pioneer Dam, allowing a different perspective of a familiar spot.

This is an extract from the Kruger Park Guide by Cameron Ewart-Smith and Sunbird Publishers. Want the whole guidebook? Buy the Getaway Guide to Kruger National Park here.