Monday 9 October 2017

Waterberg Wilderness Reserve - October 2017

Camping at the Waterberg Wilderness Reserve - October 2017


We (John, Anne Sue and myself) decided to try a camping weekend at a park where there was to be no electric power. John wanted to see if his solar panel worked ok and I wanted to check if my battery system would work my fridge for the entire weekend. My freezer in the camping trailer works on 12v, 220 and gas. So that ran off gas the weekend.

For this, we decided to book at Waterberg Wilderness Reserve. The website looked good, so we made the booking a few months ago.

Waterberg Wilderness describe the park as :
The Waterberg mountain range is situated in the Limpopo province of South Africa and is one of the more pristine, scenic and wildlife rich areas in South Africa. Positioned on the Eastern side of the Waterberg range the Waterberg Wilderness reserve is only 5 hours from Johannesburg and conveniently positioned half way to Botswana. Due to the rugged nature of the reserve which is typical of the Waterberg, a 4×4 vehicle or vehicle with good ground clearance is recommended to access the property. In the wet season a 4×4 vehicle is often essential.
Certain areas of the Waterberg Wilderness Reserve offer spectacular views over the surrounding hills and valleys and exploring the impressive gorges with natural streams and pools is certainly a highlight. The reserve is ideal for the more active with some beautiful walks and potential mountain bike trails.
The game lodge offers accommodation in the Waterberg Wilderness camp but is exclusive and can only accommodate a maximum of 12 guests in the 4 safari tents with an additional 2 campsites available. All accommodation is self catering with comfortable and complete facilities.
All game drives are in your own self drive 4×4 vehicles.

In another section of the website, it explains that the park is only 2.5 hours from Johannesburg. I checked on Google maps and my Garmin, and yes, it was 2.5 hours. So we were sorted.

Sue and I left Friday morning and made our way, slowly as there was no rush, to the park. We arrived at about 12h30 and checked in. The dirt road up to the gate is ok, but it has some bad sections,. You definitely will not get in with an ordinary vehicle.  
We were directed to our site and soon settled in to a comfortable weekend.






It was so nice to have peace and quiet. The sites have private ablutions and the water is heated via a gas geyser. So no problems there.
The camp staff are extremely friendly, pleasant and anything that we asked was taken care of immediately and without any fuss.
Another very nice thing about the reserve is that the sites are a long way apart and private. So even if there were other campers, we would not have seen them from our campsite. The reserve also has safari tents where each tent has a built in bath and shower. A fully equipped kitchen as well as a braai area. Oh, there is also an outside shower, private and with a view of the bush. Looked lovely.

We were camping in Bee Eater private campsite. It was large enough for two (or more) camping trailers and we were not even on top of each other, fantastic !


Each afternoon braai wood was delivered by an old Massey Furguson tractor.

We enjoyed two very pleasant braai's, one Friday and the other Saturday evening.

On the Saturday we went for a drive around on the 4x4 tracks, We were provided with a very comprehensive map and each intersection is marked by a rock with a number pained onto it. The roads were actually in a good condition and not bad at all.






We did see some of the game that is on the farm. Giraffe, Zebra, Kudu, Nyala and Wildebeest. There are others, but we did not see them. Also did see a few bird species as well.

On the Sunday we went for a drive to a view point.

It did not look like much from the parking spot, or from the path leading from the signpost.
But, when we got there, the cliff was actually made up of conglomerate. According to the web, conglomerate rock is :
Conglomerate ( /kəŋˈɡlɒmərɪt/) is a coarse-grained clastic sedimentary rock that is composed of a substantial fraction of rounded to subangular gravel-size clasts, e.g., granulespebblescobbles, and boulders, larger than 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter. Conglomerates form by the consolidation and lithification of gravel. Conglomerates typically contain finer grained sediment, e.g., either sandsiltclay or combination of them, called matrix by geologists, filling their interstices and are often cemented by calcium carbonateiron oxidesilica, or hardened clay.
The size and composition of the gravel-size fraction of a conglomerate may or may not vary in composition, sorting, and size. In some conglomerates, the gravel-size class consist almost entirely of what were clay clasts at the time of deposition. Conglomerates can be found in sedimentary rock sequences of all ages but probably make up less than 1 percent by weight of all sedimentary rocks. In terms of origin and depositional mechanisms, they are closely related to sandstones and exhibit many of the same types of sedimentary structures, e.g., tabular and trough cross-bedding and graded bedding

It was actually quiet spectacular and the view down into the valley was also great. We were pleased that we had made the effort.




We also took the opportunity for a few "people" photographs.


Well, that was Sunday morning and we returned to the campsite for a very nice breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, brinjal and mushrooms as well as toast. Was good.
Thereafter we packed up slowly and made our way back home. Unfortunately you have to travel along the N1 and the drivers were driving like fools. passing in the left emergency lane. One fellow was just driving, fast, in the emergency lane for km's on the N1. They also try to push other vehicles off the road. But, luckily, we all made it home safely.

Was another lovely weekend camping !!

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