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Ndloti, just a gentle reminder, Mapunguwe was only declared a heritage site in 2003. I find your comment rather suprising.

Smuts' house .

Yes you're right ndloti,
I have fond memories of times spent on the hill (koppie) overlooking the confluence of the Limpop and Shashe rivers many years ago. We could even hear the resident leopard patrolling his area at night. Beautiful!

Sorry I know this is a old thread just wondering from where you here the shot coming? Were they in the western part itself east of the western part or west of the eastern part .

This post was also made in July last year and as yet no response. I think there are many people who would like to know what the current ecological management plan is for Mapungubwe. Last time I did research, the park's elephant management plan referred to the fences to keep the ellies out of at least some areas. Has this plan now been dropped due to lack of funds or what is the situation?

I don't know if it's been dropped but I can tell you it doesn't really work. The ellies break the fence and just walk in if the electricity is not on and if it is it just "irates" (read urinate) them off and then they break it and walk right in. I have seen ellies inside the "no elephant zone" with all the fences intact aswell.

Not much stops the African Elephant.

I guess this is a regional problem rather than a Mapungubwe-only problem. There are high numbers of elephant coming from the Tuli area into Mapungubwe and their impact is concentrated along the river due to their habitats away from the river getting smaller and smaller, mainly as a result of farming developments. I don't know if there really is a simple solution for this...
The problem is that the riverine habitat along the Limpopo has developed over many centuries without high elephant numbers. Now this habitat is under severe pressure due to frequent droughts (notwithstanding the latest floods), mining and high numbers of elephant.
It would be a tradegy to loose these unique habitats due to all these factors and I would hope that Sanparks have some kind of management plan to salvage the situation. It would be nice if we can get some official responses?