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Good day all

Will be entering Kruger on the 23rd of March and spending the first 3 nights at Biyamiti and 4 nights in BandD , am coming from the Nelspriut side, will Malelane gate or Croc bridge Gate be the better one to enter at, also is it better to do grocery shopping in Nelspruit , Malelane or Komatipoort and at what shops. I am driving up from the Eastern Cape so will need to get almost everything up there.
Thank you

Believe Croc Bride is the closest by a few km.
But you have a nice pick&pay in Malelane, next to the main road
Not to big but you will everything you need.
So less toll and more kruger roads when you enter Malelane:wink:

It would depend what time you arrive and how much chilled and frozen shopping you have to transport. Coming in from Malelane will give you more time in the park as Bert says but that's more time for the shopping to get warm.

There is also a very good Spar in Komatipoort where you can do all your shopping.

And often more sightings between Croc Bridge and Biyamiti ........



Edit : And don't forget to buy ice and charcoal/firewood as well -- Biyamiti sometimes runs out.

At the moment my advice will be Malelane gate while the h.... is not there:

Its the shortest route in distance and time. 38 km to camps' private road versus 77 km via Croc Bridge. I agree the route in KNP is shorter but you need to drive through another town, which slows you down and your average speed along the highway may only be 100km/h.

The only problem with the longer KNP road is more sight-seeing so 38 km can take you 2 hours as in my case. Thats why we normally try to get bookings in the summer months to reach the camp in time after school closes on a Friday. Last year Jan we entered at ~ 4 pm and only got to the camp at 6:30 pm.

The other advantage is that you're driving east and if you coming in late you will not have to worry about the sun and uncoming traffic will be less closer to camp.

Flip a coin, but if you can't wait to be in the bush, as in my case, there is only one gate and thats Malelane.

You can always shop the next day at Komatipoort after unpacking your luggage. Just take food along in a small coolerbag for the evening.

Welcome to the forums, Tyerone

Please see photos of accommodation @Biyamiti (posted in this great thread ) here :

Hi Bushbuddies

Just got back tonight and although the wiers are closed the viewing is great, there are 3 packs of W/dogs in the area at moment, one on the s25/S114 in the Gardinia area and 2 on the tar between Malelane gate and s118. They are being seen daily Mornings and evenings.
There is a big lion pride 6 males and 6 females/ 8 cubs in the area around Biyamiti as well as 2 cheetah on the s 114 between s118 and H2-2. Didnt see the pride myself as I turned right instead of left when i left camp in the morning they were on the private road, in the road.
We saw Leopard on the tar road 1km from the Malelane gate and had 2 sightings of different dogs but no lion, we kept missing them. Lots of Leopard sightings beween Malelane and Afsaal at the moment..

Eliot the resident ranger is very knowledgable and his sunset drive was an education. Take a jacket if you go.
The camp is great and the staff friendly as ever,

Hope this wets your appetite, good luck happy viewing

The areas teaming with big 5, its a matter of being in the right place as you know.

I know you are all Kruger fanatics like myself so here's a couple of stories about Biyamiti, compliments of Eliot the local ranger.

On Thursday the 29th of March on the morning drive he came across a 3 metre crocodile dragging a male lion which had been dead for +-3days over the road towards the river on the s25 just before Lukimbi lodge.

He hadn't seen such an event so tracked back what had happened, he couldn't establish the cause of death of the male lion but with 6 resident males it might have been obvious.
What was so amazing was the fact that the croc smelled the lion 800 meters away and left the river to fetch that carrion.

He talks about wild dog making a kill right outside the camp at the T junction that the guests all asked him to turn back because they had had their fill.
He's a bird specialist and takes part in the annual Kruger census and talks about the count group leaving at full moon to make sure they include the night heron, which we saw.
Very informative guy.

I don't wont to spoil your exploration anticipation so wont say any more, every day is different, but if you stay in camp for awhile I can recommend interacting with Elliot ex Pretoriuskop guide for those added experiences.
I will be back at Biyamiti for sure,
I look forward to your comments and experiences on the forum.

I must echo what alleycat has said about Elliot, his enthusiasm is fantastic.
We got our car stuck on the private road ( long story, very embarrassing) and he had to come to our rescue with the game drive vehicle.
On the way to the car we got an impromptu game drive.
He will often go out on his own if he hasn't got a drive booked, just studying his area and looking what is around.
His love of the bush shines through.

Just returned from a 4 night stay at Biyamiti.
I wanted to give some feedback on my personal experience with regards to the road closures.

We go to Biyamiti at least 4 times a year and this time for me was definitely not the best experience in terms of game drives.
The road closure towards Crocodile Bridge limits one.
The drive gets boring and one could see on the sightings board that no one was spotting any animals and chatting to some other guests the game was scarce.
I know the bush is dense but every December we go, we spot lion and leopard every day on the road.
I had a chat to Raymond and he said that even on the night drives he found it very hard to get good sightings being so limited.

So what I ended up doing was something I should have done a long time ago.
Every night after supper I went for a walk around the camp.
At least an hour.
I managed to spot a honey badger every night, 4 different owls, Civet and genets.

My trip was mixed and one thing is for sure, I will go back even if there was only one route.
The peace and quiet is great.
You feel relaxed in that camp.

Love the discussion about walks along the camp fence.
We've had some fantastic luck over the years doing this.
This time last year we got very lucky with a good lion sighting from the fence late one evening.
We've also enjoyed some quality game drive sightings over the year.
Absolutely love Biyamiti and cant wait to go back in December.

What is the river bed looking like at the moment?
Is there much surface water after the dry season?
Has there been much rain of late?

How about the vegetation in and along side the river bed?
I imagine the Jan/Feb 2012 floods must have cleared it out some what.
Visibility from the road and campsite must surely be better.

Look forward to the response

JoJ

On the main Biyamiti page, it says:

"We are currently upgrading four cottages in the Biyamiti Bush Camp. The majority of the noisy work is almost done but we will have contractors in the camp until 30 November 2012."

Does anyone know which cottages are getting an upgrade????

I also wonder what upgrading entails?

Hi All

Anybody who has recently visited Biyamiti or recently driven some of the roads close by, please share of your experiences and sightings with us. Which roads have been working for you and what did you see. I'm very interested to find out what has been happening in the area over the past few weeks/ months.

Arriving in Biyamiti in early Dec for a 4 night stay. Cant wait!!! I absolutely love this special little bush camp

I believe the bridge has been rebuilt - fantastic news That opens up all kinds of exciting options from a game driving point of view. Can anybody tell me what the river bed looks like at the moment? Is there much surface water after the dry season? Has there been much rain recently?

How about the vegetation in and along side the Biyamiti river bed? I imagine the Jan/Feb 2012 floods must have cleared it out some what. Visibility into the river bed from the road and bush camp must surely be better now.

Look forward to the response

JoJ

Just got back from a stay at Biyamiti. The bush is very dense and the heat intense, but without fail, the area has delivered great sightings again. The lion activity around the camp was very quiet, but toward croc bridge and malelane along the S25, were good sightings. The guides at camp are great and guided drives are always informational.

For me personally, the biyamiti area is a birding mecca. We had huge success with the migrant summer cuckoos spotting klaas, diederick, striped, great spotted, jacobin, red chested and common (rufous morph.) We were lucky enough to hear the common cuckoo calling, which according to birding literature, does not occur alot in SA. We identified it from the african cuckoo/ juvenille piet my vrou in that it was quite large, had a higher pitch call than african and most of all was a rufous brown colour, which i've read only common cuckoos demonstrate (not african.) A few weeks back, madagascar cuckoo were spotted on the S114 and S139 by the windmill.

All in all, another great stay in this camp, excellent sightings, fantastic bushy feel and highly recommended!