Kyleu Bush Camp

Sue, my wife, was in the UK visiting our daughter and my brother, his wife and I decided to have a weekend camping in Denokeng Big 5 reserve.

Denokeng is a newish reserve quiet cclose to Pretoria (http://www.dinokengreserve.co.za/) so we did not have far to travel.
I get away a little earlier than them so arrived and set up my off road trailer before they got there with their Invader trailer. https://www.invader.co.za/.

We had selected Kyleu Bush Camp because we had seen their good reviews on Facebook and also because thet had private ablutions. http://kyleu.co.za/  .

Kyleu Bush Camp aims to position ourselves in the market for affordable, luxurious bushveld accommodation for those with tents, off-road trailers or caravans. Our main aim is to provide a memorable and unique bushveld experience accommodating all ages and abilities. The atmosphere of our camp will provide both tranquil environments for a secluded bushveld experience as well as activities and amenities for children for a more family orientated experience.

Kyleu Bush Camp will launch in various phases: our first phase has launched and is an open bush camp without fences. What a magical way to experience the bushveld.

After the short drive from home, only 120km's I arrived to a friendly welcome and easily found the site. The place looked amazing. Setting up camp was easy and I was soon settled

Each site has its own private ablution, with hot water from a gas geyser and a small LED lights in the ablutions, powered by a small battery. 

My brother and his wife soon arrived and we were all settled in. 

 The camp does not have any electricity, but that was not an issue for us as we both have solar panels to charge the batteries to power the fridges and provide lighting via inverters.

We had a braai that evening and early next morning the cleaners were active cleaning the braai and all other items which required cleaning, such as the file tray etc.

The campsite is un-fenced and this gives you a real feeling of being in the bush. 

There was a Wildebeest that took to sleeping near our camp. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildebeest

The wildebeests, also called gnus, are a genus of antelopes, scientific name Connochaetes. They belong to the family Bovidae, which includes antelopes, cattle, goats, sheep and other even-toed horned ungulates. Connochaetes includes two species, both native to Africa: the black wildebeest, or white-tailed gnu (C. gnou); and the blue wildebeest, or brindled gnu (C. taurinus). Fossil records suggest these two species diverged about one million years ago, resulting in a northern and a southern species. The blue wildebeest remained in its original range and changed very little from the ancestral species, while the black wildebeest changed more in order to adapt to its open grassland habitat in the south. The most obvious way of telling the two species apart are the differences in their colouring and in the way their horns are oriented.

We took a few game drives around the reserve but our luck was not really in. Whilst we did see a few species, we did not see any Elephant or any of the cat family. However, we still had a very nice drive around. 

Had a lovely breakfast.

On our drive around we found a brewery, called Arlington Brewery and Cider. Very nice and we had a cider and something light to eat.

All too soon it was time to pack up and head back home.

Willems Rus Caravan park - February 2018

February and its time to go camping, but somewhere close to Johannesburg.
We wanted somewhere quiet, nice and nearby. We thought of Golden leopard, who run the camps in Pilanesburg National Park, but last time we were there the ablutions were a bit run down. It also gets very full and noisy over weekends.

So, I thought about looking for camping resorts in Dinokeng Game Reserve. Its a relatively new reserve and its in Gauteng.
 I foubnd
So, I started searching Dinokeng Game Reserve. According to their website :- The Dinokeng Game Reserve is the first free-roaming Big 5 residential game reserve in Gauteng – and probably in the world – next to an urbanized area. It is a private/public initiative for which planning and development started in the early 2000’s. It was officially opened on 22 September 2011 after the introduction of four of the Big 5. The last of the Big 5, the buffalo, were introduced in late 2012 and they have settled in well.

I found a few camping sites and we decided on Willens Rus. Their website : Willem’s Rus is a privately owned caravan park situated in the malaria free Dinokeng Big Five Game Reserve and it is perfect for getaways from the rush of city life. It is an outdoor experience in beautiful indigenous bushveld that will help you relax. This is the only free roaming Big 5 Game Reserve in Gauteng, a mere 45 minutes drive from Pretoria.

You can be certain to relax and spend quality time with friends and family around a camp fire under the cosmos of stars. Willem's Rus camping experience is unique in the sense that it is possible to spot the big five from your own campsite, only 35km north of Pretoria.

So we headed out with our Jurgens caravan, towing with the Chevrolet Trailblazer. Its only a short trip, at 124 Km's.

We had a good trip over. We had booked site 12, which has a write up as follows on the website :

This site offers beautiful Northern views of great bushveld scenery and the second waterhole. While building the camp a leopard walked a mere 3m away from this site on the opposite side of the fence at 11h00 in the morning.

We arrived and were welcomed at the reception. 

You could just see, from the look of the place that t was well run, well managed and that we were going to have a very nice peaceful weekend at Willemsrus.
We enjoyed the bush feel and the ablutions were 5 star.
About the only downfall is the dirt/gravel road from the main tar road up to the turnoff to Willensrus. This road is very badly corrugated and with a road caravan you can only drive at about 10 to 20 Kmph. However, luckily its only a a short 1.5 km stretch.

But back to Willemsrus. The bird life is amazing and we were able to identify quiet a few birds.

One nice thing is that the caravan park provide a very nice big braai to each caravan site. We had two enjoyable braai's.

The owner and his wife strolled around the park in the early evening to ensure that everyone was comfortable. Also, you can purchase ice and wood from the reception and the staff will bring  that straight to your site. The braai and bins are cleaned at least twice a day and we really enjoyed the comfortable settings.

There is a very nice swimming pool, which is kept clean. The surrounds are also nice and clean.

All in all, we really enjoyed the weekend camping and we will definitely be back at Willemsrus.

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