Marakele National Park is located in the Waterberg Mountains a couple of hours north from Johannesburg in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The park sits in a transitional zone that is somewhere between the dry deserts to the west and the moist biospheres to the east. It’s a great stopover if you’re traveling onward to the Botswana border crossing near Gaborone. Near the park, Thabazimbi is a great place to provision.
The park is particularly known for its beautiful landscapes and birdwatching, but it also hosts many other animals, including the big five in the main section of the park. We stayed both in the Bontle Rest Camp in the lower section near the main entrance and at the Tlopi Tented Camp, which is located within the bigger main park further on. This part of the park is accessed through a an electrified gated area to help keep the big five from roaming to the unfenced Bontle campsites.
The Bontle Rest Camp has 36 campsites divided into 3 sections, each section having a communal ablution block with kitchen, showers, etc. The campsites each have power points and built up brick braai stands. The section we stayed in looked out on a meadow that stretched into wooded areas. There’s no fence, so the resident animals wander through. I got chased away from my clothes line by a mom warthog with her four babies lined up behind her. (I heard a snort about twenty feet behind me and quickly got around the other side of the rig to make room for her to pass.) The ostrich came through. We heard animals munching at night next to us. Impala, kudu and others head through the sites whenever, which makes for an extra special experience. I think the only drawback to the Bontle Rest Camp is that there is a disco located outside the park and close enough that you hear the faint beat of techno music on Fridays and Saturdays. That bit did drive me a bit crazy, but otherwise I loved this campsite.
After a couple of days camping in Bontle, we decided to try the tented camp in the main area of the park. We didn’t have a good reason, just some extra relaxation before our next destination. We really liked the tented camp and actually went back to the main gate to extend our stay a few days. The Tlopi tents are safari style with two beds, bathroom/shower, separate full kitchen with fridge and freezer, pots and pans, and most anything you need to make some nice meals. The kitchen is kept closed with sliding/locking doors because of the naughty monkeys. The veranda overlooks the lake with a view to the mountains. There’s a braai and deck chairs. We loved sitting out and watching the elephant that came by to drink each day on the opposite side of the lake. And at night, we could hear the lions!
We had a pair of lions that woke us about 5am. They sounded so close. We grabbed coffee and headed out to look for them. It turned out they were practically right next to the Tlopi camp. (A bit concerning when I thought about it because the tented camp lost electricity overnight. No electricity was no problem, but I did hope that the electrified fence around the tented camp was on a very long-lasting generator.)
Watching the Lions!
We watched them for hours one morning. They were a mere twenty feet in front of us, mating, it turned out, every fifteen minutes. Another male lion showed up and laid next to our vehicle. We were locked in and just sat and enjoyed the experience. I got some video, but mostly I was just absorbed watching them so close. We were also completely by ourselves. Just us and the lions all morning.
We did game drives each day in the main park. The day before (or was it after?) the mating lions, we found more lions and two adult rhinos grazing with a young rhino between them. The lions were youngsters with the parents not far away in the grass. It was fascinating to watch the lions watching the rhinos and the rhinos watching them back. It seemed that the young lions wanted to get at the juvenile rhino, but an adult was also between the lions and the little rhino. It was a standoff of sorts that lasted at least an hour. We also had other rhino grazing near the vehicle and one crossing the road and blocking any passing by until he was well to the other side.
There are only a few loops in the park, with one for 4x4s and the other dirt/tar roads. The Lenong view point is at the top of one of the mountains. The main road eventually winds you upward to the view. When I read that the drive and lookout were not for the faint of heart, or anyone scared of heights, I chickened out. Apparently vehicles have a difficult time passing up and down with the treacherous incline and sheer drops. Not for me. However, the view is no doubt worth it for the brave. There is also an opportunity up there to see birds of prey soaring close overhead. The endangered Cape vulture nests in this area. ( I read that the word Lenong is Setswana for vulture.) I would have liked to see the sengis (rock elephant shrew) that are also there.
