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Tsendze is the dream camp.
What I love about the place is the way the stands are laid out, most of them have their own little entrance road and there you end up on a very clean, big stand, solitary yours, encircled with bush.
At night you see the other campers' flickering fires through the bush and their headlamps bobbing around.
A soft drone of voices from other sites drift through the air.
But it is very quiet, you hear the smallest rustling of grass...etc.
The ablutions are unbelievably clean, as well as the communal kitchens.
The caretakers, Rogers and Elinah, are the superb "host and hostess."
A high thumbs up for them.
The area itself has given us a fair amount of Big5 sightings, and a load of other animals.
The vegetation is also awesome.
One minute you feel you're driving through an apple orchard, the next wide open plains, then alluvial plains, a bit of forest...
I could go on forever. Tsendze is the Brigadoon of campsites.
I must mention the one evening when we went for a stroll around camp, coffee mugs in hand.
Along the road in the dusk the people greeted, we had a few short chats, came across a couple of kids riding their bikes, campfires were everywhere, the smell of meat roasting was permeating the air.
When we reached our campsite I said to SO: "If ever I saw the most perfect "neighbourhood", it was just now."

It was my morning in camp to make bread and do the laundry.
Our friends in PE want to come to Tsendze with us next August so I asked Alina to take a pic of me (to show them) in the Kitchen Tent on Campsite 26 adjacent to Mooiplaas picnic site but out of sight.
SO had left at daybreak to show our neighbours a Norwegian couple the Eendrag males as they hadn't seen lions in 10 days in the Park.
August is fantastic to camp at Tsendze as the gates open at 06h00 when it is dark and close 30 mins later than July @18h00 and its between Govt Schools 4 term hols and private schools 3 term holidays and the 30 camp site camp only ever had about 5 sites occupied at any one time.
It was warm enough to be pleasant and yet the leaves were still on the Mopani and Apple leaf trees so the shade was awesome.
Go in Sept and the trees are bare.

Ja Ndloti we always book #26 when we are on our own but when we are with friends we always book #27 and #28 as they are in the same clearing...
These sites also are near the gate into the staff house which in turn has a gate into Mooiplaas Picnic spot.
SO hates having a fence around camps so he loves to light the braai after all the Letaba and Mopani people have left the picnic site and then grabs a beer and goes and chills looking out over the Tsendze river without a fence in front of him as he watches the day say goodbye all alone...its his best and he drifts back to our site as the last car arrives in Tsendze in the dark.
I went with once but wasn't happy as we had to tip toe past a feeding ellie to get back that had arrived in the car park behind our backs so I normally am "busy" at that time having a shower under the stars...(a Tsendze Specialty) or making a salad...don't worry he is always back just at official gate closing to meet Roger on his nightly rounds..
He loves this camp and I love it as SO unwinds totally at this rustic camp....naturally we are there again this August in true Kruger lion country

For some or other reason the pic disappeared from my post - here it is again - Rodgers and Elina.

Good for Rodgers - there is a lot to be learned from him!

A few pics from our visit to show how lush and green everything was.

Full moon over Tsendze on New Year's Eve

Our campsite:

Welcome camp visitors:

And not so welcome!!!

And then there was the elephant........





He made us wait for quite a while!

Graham , in these camps cycling a screeching is not tolerated ... !

Tsendze is heaven .

BushChicken, there are gas freezers and they work well.

Gas fridge at far end of kitchen - on rhs of image .

Hi Rodger,

Thanks for the email. I am glad you are back at camp safely and that you had a good trip with good sightings.

I hope you don't mind, but here is the pic you sent to me so that others can see it to.

site 22 Jules