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Hello Sundowner

You can say that again! Had our hands full to explain to an OLD oom and tannie that they should abandon their picnic plans...

Thanks Elsa, will ask the attendant if the python is still there when we visit in May. It is quite amazing what animals can live under those thatched roofs. Very nice experience at such a wonderful picnic site Walloceros!

Ah a wonderful spot in Kruger

Yes it is.. Very curious to see it in real life!!

Was the python still there?

On the left.

We saw leopard spoor in the sand when we were there last. Sort of made us a little more observant.

Flutts! Its North of Shing! On the road to Punda (face )


No python ... I wish!!

Ralph and Lenny ... never seen Babalala? You must do soon
Staying at Shingwedzi is a MUST! Even myself, a Mopani hater, loved Shing and its now one of my top favorite camps
The tar road to Baba is quite monotonous, however there were lions pinned up on the road everyday (I also saw them) and when you see the lions ... no traffic jam!

I believe, these are the boys from the Babalala pride

This one appeared to be the smallest of the three

That's the one
The other elephant madness road is the s50 to Kannidood
But its all in good fun if we live right

Nice pics Cheetah2111,

Those are great male lions!!

A tip that helped me for Babalala was...if you see herds of zebra etc on the bushline from the picnic site or close to the area...stop your car and scan those herds carefully... you will be surprised at what you will find amongst the 'same old' game species...
The last 2 times I did this and believe it or not the one Zebra herd contained 2 huge male Roan and the other time 2 Tsessebe!
Its unexpected sightings like these that makes me keep going back to this picnic site and surrounding roads!!

Actually , its no more than 25 km from Shing to Babalala along the tar road . We usually take to Mphongolo loop up to Babalala , have brekkie , and leisurely go back , often the same way again . That road along the river is pure magic

Well .. if you take your own , then you can decide to use or not Of course , that also means you have to clean it yourself afterwards

In my experience the road is fine in the morning, but in the (late) afternoon; not for the weak at heart.



What a good tip. Thanks o-dog.

I had better not start.......

Once when I was there, we had to step over a steaming 'mopani pie' to get to the 'lookout' area, and I read on the forum of an ele that terrorized the elderly making them run for the cover of the ablutions once.

Hi All

Only saw this thread now and thought that I would share my experience. It was the year when Kruger had the 100% solar eclipse. The 100% zone was just south of Shingwedzi and as luck would have it there were clouds everywhere. Areas along the road were marked and guests were allowed to get out of their vehicles to take photo's. Traffic outside Loftus just before a big game comes to mind. Me and my mates decided we would settle for 95%..... and silence. We ended up at Babalala and there was not one single person. The next thing we know everything went dead quiet. No bird noises, no nothing and then the darkeness came. At that exact moment the clouds broke slightly and we had a good 10 second glimpse of the eclipse. It got really dark and it felt very, very eery standing there all by ourselves. The birdies started chirping again as soon as it got lighter and it was like another sunrise within a few hours.

I am having goose bums as I write this and the memory will stay with me forever.

hi vanderw

i was also in northern kruger for the eclipse. same experience - all the animals bedded down and stopped calling. it was surreal.



not sure about goose bums , but i had goosebumps certainly!

vanderw & lettuceleafe....sounds amazing, with goose bums and bumps!!!

BB - I am really starting to rethink this trip to the north...how does anyone make it out alive with all these rogue ellies??? Or is this just another ploy to keep us down south?