SANParks.org Forums

We visited Tsendze camp for the first time on the weekend of 2 to 4 March. Much has been said about the camp on the forum. In my opinion, a camp that will definitely see me again. It has its own atmosphere. The nearest to this atmosphere I would guess would be Tamboti tented camp, bush lodges and bushveld camps excluded. We were slightly disappointed in our neighbours, being far too noisy for Tsendze visitors. Nothing any body could do.

We didn’t see a great deal of game. Our early morning drive took two hours before we saw an antelope! (Impies) But that didn’t take away the beauty of the park, nor the birdlife.

We had visitors at night in the form of 2 big ellies and a small herd of buffs. And then, while we were sitting around, in the moonlight, I heard and saw the grass move. Initially I thought it was the mice in the tree, but later I saw a snake, not two metres away from where we were. A huge one! A black one! Length? Undisclosed, because I never saw the head, but what I saw was enough for me to retreat back and let it go its own way. It might have been longer than 2 meters.

There was an eclipse of the moon, and it was wonderful to see it in total darkness, if you could get out of bed in time. I almost missed it, but got this pic.



Nice tusks


We saw this nest (?) on a branch,


And this ant in close proximity.


Does any body know what it is?

Skopsie great photo of the Eclipse

The Ant could be a Velvet Ant, have a look here:
Velvet Ant

Sorry no clue about the nest.

Katy

Also would go for Velvet Ant. My insect book say the following

...mostly lays its eggs on and parasitizes larvae in large, multi-celled mud nests of wasps such as Sceliphron or Synargis ... - From: Field Guide to Insects of South Africa.

From the photo in the book the mud nest of the wasps looks a lot like the one in your photo so maybe the ant was on its way to lunch

Katy and Francoisd, thank you for the help on the ant. I suspected that the nest was linked to the ant. I was bitten by one of those guys many years ago. All I could remember was that I never played with them again. It burned like hell.

MM, Tsendze is a camp with a difference. Each campsite is marked and gives one a bit more privacy than for instance the campsites in Letaba and Shingwedzi. There are huge trees in the camp, which gives nice shade to some stands, but it is a dry area in general. Lots of Mopani in the area.

You have to open (and close!!) the gate yourself, and trust the other campers that they do the closing thing as well!!



There are two communal kitchens which look like this:



All gas stoves which work very well. The deepfreezes are close to the kitchen.

This is a view of the bathrooms (two as well).


And it has an outside shower. Birding while bathing!!


All sites are numbered and a specific number is allocated to you. In future I will phone Mopani once I made my booking to get the better stands. In my opinion, they are 3,4,5 and 6. These stands are very private and close to the fence. Some of the other stands are much more in one another’s face and space. And in summer, shade could be a problem in the majority of the sites.

GO AND SEE FOR YOURSELF. You won’t be disappointed.