SANParks.org Forums

Bangu waterhole

Any special sightings at Bangu watehole (pics will be appreciated) , and is it worth a visit in July?? I am also curious if rhino's are frequently seen there, because the Kruger’s CyberTracker indicates small concentration of rhinos along the s 90 / bangu waterhole.

Hi Monné

Quite a few years ago we saw a pride of lions attacking a lone buffalo at Bangu waterhole, but as it was late afternoon and we had to get back to Olifants, we did not see them bring the buffalo down. The next morning what was left of the carcass of the buffalo was lying in the trough. I will dig out the old photos and try my hand at posting them.

We have also seen at Bangu :

- two cheetah drinking
- a black-backed jackal catching a hare!
- lion (in addition to the occasion mentioned above)
- elephant drinking from the reservoir
- zebra, wildebeest, giraffe and impala

We have seen White Rhino on this road, but normally further south, not actually at Bangu.

In April the waterhole was quite over-grown and you could barely make out where the trough was and we did not see any animals near it. We went passed Bangu again about two weeks ago and the area around the trough had been cleared so you could again clearly see the trough, and workmen were busy working on the windmill. Owing to this human activity in the vicinity, again there was no animal activity near Bangu.

When in the Satara/Olifants area, we always make a plan to drive past Bangu at least once, even though our sightings there haven't been that great the last year or two.

I hope this helps.

Linda

Agree with Linda , the S100 - S41 (past Gudzani) - S90 route is very productive . It also passes thru 3 good ecozones (see your Jacana map) for variety .
It equals the other top Satara drives IMHO - Timbavati , Sweni and Nwanedzi . From Balule it is probably the best and in the early morning low traffic (till the s100).
The Bangu waterhole is where the old road to Gorge camp/ picnic spot used to be (sigh) .

In december 2005 i had sighting of rhino and lion between Bangu and Gudzani.
The rhino in the afternoon, and the lion in the morning, 4:50.

A very lovely and quiet road for me.

Hi there

Where is this waterhole????

On the S90 below Balule NatyP

As promised herewith photos of the buffalo kill at Bangu a few years ago. (As this is my first attempt at posting photos, please bear with me!).











Linda

Amazing sighting Linda

It's truly awesome the power of the power of lions .. two young males not even fully matured able to take down a buffalo like that ... Awesome!

Thanks W@H.

Sorry, my photos are so small, but if you click on the picture to see a larger image, you will actually see that there were more than just two lions. In the first picture there are four lions, one on the left and three on the right of the buffalo. The next morning it was just the two lions still eating on the carcass, the others had had their fill!

In total there were about 7 or 8 lion in the pride. Herewith two other pictures, with three lions in the first image and five in the second.





Linda

Thanks for the replies everyone

WOW LindaS, what A SIGHTING that was , this waterhole is definitly worth a visit. As I read in guids ect there is also a pair of cheetah seen in the vinicy of Bangu.

Will take an updated photo and post it

So many roads, so little time. I am probably going in December, so I will make a note of this hereto unvisited-by-me waterhole.

As with all sightings - you have to be lucky!

This is the area where one of the Olifants walks goes - and it is amazing how many rhino middens and tracks there are. And it was a few miles south of here where we saw 12 rhino together, as reported in a trip report.

Best sighting at the water hole itself; several hundred marabou stork and a smattering of various vultures. Several bateleur - and tress full of tawny eagles - we counted at least 15. This was January - and there were loads of quelea around.

Richard

Interesting about the rhino's, I thought they were scarce in the area. This proves the point that thoughts and evidence can differ quite from eachother..., but thanks anyway!