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I think the caravan ban is to prevent game viewing (in the Eastern Section) with a caravan, which would indeed be ridiculous in Mapungubwe. However, Mazhou is easily reached from the Pontdrift direction and is situated in the Western Section. The Den Staat gravel road that runs through that section is a public road, so even game viewing can´t officially be banned. Anyway, the Accomodation page clearly says the campsite is for caravans too!

Can anyone tell me what the camping facilities are like? Communal kitchen, stove, freezer, braai? The website mentions only a power point.

We leave early tomorrow morning.

Hi Senyetse!
The sites each have a power point, water tap and rubbish bin. There is a simple communal kitchen with a 2-pit electrical stove and dish washing facilities but no fridge or freezer. There are a number of movable braais on the campsite, which you can snatch. They´re quite heavy, so you might want to ask a elephant to give you a trunk...

Enjoy your stay!

Thanks JoelR! I'm not really very well acquainted with elephantese so before I unintentionally cause insult, I'll take my small portable braai just in case . I'm really looking forward to it - this will be a weekend of birding birding and more birding

The ellies are very docile but also very busy the whole day, so not sure if they´ll have time for braai moving. So a small braai might come in handy


Sounds stressful Say hi to the Tropical Boubous from me.

So we returned safe and sound (but vry stressed - traffic on the N1 yesterday was a nightmare). I'll upload some pics when I get some time. Here are some of our thoughts on the park and the campsite. You check in at the main gate and then have to follow a badly corrugated gravel road for about 20 km to the camp site. The camp site is lovely and the area reminds one of the Pafuri area in KNP. The 10 shady camp sites are arranged in a circle around the small ablution building. Each camp site has its own tap, dustbin, light and power point. There is no need for long extension cords. The ablution building is a bit small - 2 toilets, 2 showers and 2 basins are supplied. There was quite a jam in the mornings. There is also a tiolet, basin and shower for the disabled. The 2 basins are situated right next to each other on the outside - there are no deicated ladies/gents. My wife felt quite uncomfortable about having to brush her teeth and do what women do in fron of the mirror so openly. Quite a few people complained about the small size of the ablution. It was not really a problem to me though.

The camp site is enclosed by a fence with 2 strands of electriifed wire to keep out the elephants but will let everything else through. The camp attendant knocked off at baout 2 pm every day so there was no one to close the "gate" at night. On Friday night the camp ran out of water and a group of campers decide to walk to the Limpopo forest tented camp to get help. We thought that was quite a dangerous activity since we had seen elephants close to the area that afternoon. The camp attendant had also seen two lions at the forest camp a few days before. On their return these people told their fellow campers how they had scared a baboon troop out of the trees and how the animals were defecatng as they ran. They thought it was extremely funny. The water was later restored much to the relief of some very irate campers.

The next night this same group again set of into the bush armed with torches to show see if they could scare the baboons once again. I shudder to think what would have happened if these people had met the elephants or lions along the way. We all know how difficult elephant are to see at night.

We also visited the eastern section of the park. I must say that it is a bit far to travel to get to that side from the camp site . The western section feels like a farm, with many areas beig rehabilitated. The eastern section is beuatiful and worth the visit.

To be continued...

Very interesting thank you Senyetse for sharing your experiences.

I shudder to think too what would have happened.


Just a question, as I am just a little foncused as to what a women would feel uncomfortable about doing in front of a mirror in front of others?


I look forward to the next installment.

My Mapunguwbe trip report will continue here



- you know the hair and makeup - some women (includng my wife) are shy that way.

AAhhh, thankyou Senyetse, I must admit that my mind was going into "boggling" mode

Interesting you hear other people's view on the park. I must say i loved every bit of it... Eastern and Western side and would go back any day!

I agree with you 100% about the dangerous situation Senyetse. We stayed at Limpopo forest tented camp. On Thursday night there was some elephants drinking at the water hole at #5 and we could hear them all around the camp. We also heared lions roaring and hyenas and jackal (was awesome all the night sounds ), so dangerous walking around indeed.
On Friday night the elephants were also close by... when we arrived back from the sunset drive just before 8 there were ellies all around the camp. And yes it was very difficult to see them as it was extremely dark that night

Shame poor baboons i don't know why people like that go to nature reserves and parks!

That specific troop of baboon posed for us for some nice pics in the golden early morning light

We didn't hear the lions on Thursday night but did hear the jackal and hyaena. There was one hyaena who sounded a bit hoarse . Don't get me wrong - it is a really lovely park and has so much potential. The birding is just awesome - on Friday morning I spent about 2 hours just watching the birds above my tent.

My wife was extremely annoyed with the fact that these people expressly went to scare the baboons. I just could not believe the absolute stupidity in walking around outside the camp at night. We had seen an elephant breeding herd on the access road to the camp site that same afternoon.

Yep the birding is prolific isn't it
We also saw a lot of birds inside the camp and had a few favourite spots although birding was great almost al over the park (also spent a lot of time at the Tree top hide).

We went out searching for some target species and were very lucky in finding a few of them and we managed quite a list for winter... think it will be awesome in the summer and can not wait to go back then!

Hi all, I read in the Mapugnubwe site that caravans are not allowed into the park. Does this include the so called "OFF ROAD" trailers as well?
Thanx

Welcome to the Forum Ockert123!
Scroll down to Mapungubwe: Camping - lots of information as well as photographs.
Caravans and trailers are allowed - the campsite is for tents as well as caravans.

Hi Ockert123

I camped at Mapungubwe in August. Caravans are not allowed into the eastern section. The camp site is in the western section where caravans of all types are allowed. The