Experience nature at its best
The camps inside the park are unfenced, which make them open to wild animals that wander around during the day and at night looking for food
LIMPOPO – “Waking up in the morning to find elephants grazing by your house and watch wild dogs in the evening scrambled for what is left on your braai stand is an experience that rarely comes by in most national parks,” explains Thandi Semenya.
Semenya recently visited the Mapungubwe National Park.
The camps inside the park are unfenced, which make them open to wild animals that wander around during the day and at night looking for food.
“I like to watch the mist disappear in the mountains when I wake up in the park, but there’s nothing more alluring than to watch elephants grazing by your doorstep. It is something that doesn’t happen to you every day,” continues Semenya.
Mapungubwe is the second national park in Limpopo after Marakele National Park that was designed in a way that allows for closer encounters with wild animals, a concept which provides tourists with an experience that does not come cheap in private game reserves.
Known for its dramatic scenery, abundant wildlife and rich cultural heritage, the park is a home to rare vegetation such as Acacia Salvadora woodland currently being conserved there. It is also known as the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Park as it brings three countries together, namely Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Its roads are exceptional to drive on.
Although not tarred, they appeal to both sedans and 4×4 vehicles. In addition to that, the park has roads designed specifically to cater for 4×4 vehicle fanatics who might want to test the ability of their vehicles’ performance on mountainous areas.
According to the park’s spokesperson, Divhani Maremba, the park was designed this way in order to preserve the nature while at the same time make it an attraction to tourists.
“Like any national park, we try not to disturb nature as much as possible, that’s why the roads are not tarred so people can get in touch with nature at its best,” she explains.
This is also the reason why camps are open to wild animals.
Maremba adds: “the beauty of being in a national park is to allow animals to roam free,” hence the camps in the park are unfenced to allow the interaction of tourists with wild animals”.
