Kruger Day 3 - Letaba Camp

We were up at 5am this morning and this time we had left the kettle, cups and stove out ready to make coffee first thing and that’s what I did.
Then it was time to move camp and like some kind of military operation we loaded “little Simba” back up with the tent, sleeping bags, pillows and table and chairs and then our bags. By 6:15am we were rolling out of the gate.
Our next stop was Letaba Camp but we couldn’t check in until 2pm so instead of turning left out of the gate we turned right, then right again onto a dirt road a little bit further up from the watering holes we had visited.
This road was about 40 miles and our top speed was 15mph running along the gravel washboard track. I’m surprised we’ve got any teeth left in our heads.
Near a water source we saw hundreds of animals. Zebra, Waterbok, Impala, bushbuck, steenbok, giraffe and even hippo. Away from the water and where the river had completely dried up it was baron of all life except for the odd bird. Unfortunately a lot of the river was dry which made the drive tedious and by 9:30am it was really getting hot outside and the herd animals we saw were already sheltering under trees so we gave up looking for big cats.
We did come across some beautiful viewpoints all overlooking the river and where there was water there was an abundance of wildlife.
At one point on route we encountered a huge heard of elephants blocking the road and there was a massive bull so we had to reverse. They kept walking towards us and we ended up reversing about 200 meters until they eventually went off to one side and we could go past. All that was left on the road was a trail of destruction. Branches pulled out of trees and trees that had been completely knocked over. It was an incredible scene.
We finally left the gravel road and got back onto the tarmac with just 26 miles left and we managed to do the full 30mph which is the speed limit here the rest of the way. We had covered 80 miles in 7.5 hours and arrived at Letaba camp at 1:30pm.
The camp let us check in early and as much as we wanted a spot next to the fence to see the hyena there were no decent spots in the shade with electric left so we found a spot in the middle under a shady tree and here we pitched up.
As soon as we had made camp we went to the restaurant and had a sandwich and chips and then we headed back out down to the Dam for our evening drive.
At 4pm we reached a grassy clearing running down to the river with hippo and Waterbok dotting the area.
The vegetation at the side of the road here is much thicker than the plains at Satara so we decided to call it a day and head back to camp.
As we returned we stopped at the shop for cold drinks and just as we were about to enter a monkey came running out with a packet of biscuits closely followed by one of the staff screaming and shouting. There’s nothing funnier than a grown man chasing a monkey.
As we got back to the tent we realised we were all under attack from monkeys. As we pulled up they fled our camp and no damage had been done, but the trailer tent next door was now a complete play area with the monkeys dropping out of the trees and bouncing of his awning like a trampoline. Then they would jump back up the tree and do it again. Ellie and I tried stopping them but then that became the game. It was so funny.
We gave up trying to deal with the monkeys and went for a quick dip in the pool to cool off although the water was easily bath temperature and when we came back to camp another camper was seeing the monkeys off with a slingshot.
By 7pm it was pitch black and the hyenas were at the fence line whooping and giggling trying to work out a way in. We could see them clearly with another campers spotlight.
As I sat down for the first time and started writing about our day we heard rustling in the trees above us. We thought it was a snake and shone the torch up only to be greeted by a bush baby just sitting there watching us.
This is a pretty cool camp.Read more