SANParks.org Forums

Light or dark grey is fine
And remember
The daytrip starts very early in the morning and it might be cold on the truck while on
route to the day trip area.
A windstopper or jacket
And you can leave it in the truck during the walk

Also, comfortable shoes suitable for walking. Don't leave your legs or feet uncovered. The grass can scratch horribly and there are a few creepy crawlies around.

We did a bush walk from Satara and it was great.
It was quiet, and we mostly saw Kudu, Zebra, Wildebeest and birds,
We also saw lots of tracks, and learned quite a bit from our guides about spoor and scat.
We did get to see two male lions from about 30 meters who we surprised.
They were gone in a flash, but did stop for one last look.
I guess they wanted to make sure they weren't hallucinating and verify that there were guns being carried by the men in green.

I actually don't know who was more surprised,
The guides or the Lions .
We saw them after they told us that the chances of seeing cats was almost nil.
It was exhilarating and also a big knot in the stomach, adrenaline rush.
After they explained that Lion will disappear when they see a group of people on foot, I was a bit less apprehensive, especially when the Lions did seem to totally vanish.
Though both the Guides seemed quite a bit more alert for the rest of the walk!

Reminds me of a a walk we did out of a bush camp one year.
We were moving up a hillside, when the ranger got us all to crouch down and be quiet.
The next minute, 3 lion cubs heads pop up out of the grass looking at us, about 20 metres away.
One of them was obviously worried about her complexion, as she was absolutely COVERED in mud.
While they were looking at us, mommy decided this wasn't such a great idea and she started growling.
I can quite honestly say that it made my blood run cold.
The sound has bass undertones that vibrate deep inside that prehistoric core in the pit of your stomach.
I was quite worried at one point, because it seemed as if the cubs were trying to get mommy's permission to play with the funny things in the grass (us).
She eventually herded them off and we followed them (at a distance).
She didn't stop growling the whole time, until they disappeared into thick bush.
We decided that discretion was the better part of valour and bravely moved off in the opposite direction.
Very exhilarating!!

Another walk that got my heart rate WAYYYY up there was out of LS.
The game vehicle took us about 20 minutes out of camp and we had to wait for a while for a very heavy mist to lift.
While waiting for this, we could hear roaring about 200 or 300 metres from us, which went on for ages.
Once the mist had lifted sufficiently, what does the guide do?
Aims us straight at the roaring!!!
Sweat breaks out, breathing becomes difficult, heart rate is about 300 bpm.
Through a dry riverbed and stalk up the other side.
We peer over the lip, fully expecting to see lion, but it was 2 white rhino bulls clobbering each other silly!!
Who knew that they roared like that?
I certainly didn't.
We were only about 10 metres from them and they were careering around all over the place, flattening bushes etc, and there was just no cover for us, so we just stayed low.
Once the wind shifted and they smelt us, they both took off away from us at a rate of knots.
Truly an awesome thing to witness though.
The power of them!! wow!!

The SANParks Confirmation Letter dated 23 March 2009 in my possession, stipulates the following:

"MW (MORNING WALK): Confirm departure time at reception in advance. Duration: Approximately 3 hours. Must stay in camp on previous night. No Children under 12 allowed."

Welcome to the forum rveeuwijk.
Yes it is possible to do a morning walk at Balule.
You have to book this or other activities at the reception of Olifants (where you also have to check in for Balule).
You will be picked up at Balule. !
One important detail! Do not forget to tell the friendly man who opens and closes the gate of Balule that you will do a morning walk, so he can open the gate for the jeep.
I had to wake up the poor man because I did not know.
Balule is a wonderful camp and it is special to stand there in the early morning in the dark, everything still silent, listening for any sound and as specially the motor of the jeep coming closer just for you.

I did a walk there in May last year. Here a photo of the guides looking down on Olifants bridge.

To make it complete:
There are no activities available from Balule, however...

• Guided Game Walks or Game Drives can be pre-arranged with Olifants camp.
• Groups of 10 people or more can book activities from Satara.

You can also check in at Satara for Balule. I think Balule is actually a satellite of Satara, not Olifants officially.

Orpen has great space and chance to see the big 5, Lower Sabie has a great walk in the Muntshe area if they still use it. Nice choice to have to make.

I would also suggest the morning walk, because of the heat.

We did the River walk at Olifants last week. Starts at 9am (28C) and ended around 12 (38C). If I was going to do a walk again, I would book it for as early as possible.

It was an amazing experience - we didn't see much in the way of animals, but just to experience the bush up close and personal was amazing!

Just my 2c

I have always been wondering about these morning walks.
How many people are there normally in a group?
What will happen if you accidentally step on a sleeping lion's tail and it attacks you?
Will the poor animal be shot because I wanted to walk in his territory?
What if a leopard jumps out of a tree onto someone walking in the bush and starts eating that person?
It will definitely also being shot.
In short, how safe are there morning walks for the animals in the bush?
Just asking.
I will never do it, I am too scared!
And I also don't want any animal killed because I was walking in his/her territory.

There are normally 8 people on the walk plus two guids that walk in front of you.
Doing our walk in LS we never felt unsafe and the guides respected nature and animals all the time.
Irving - our guys - told us that they run sometimes into sleeping lions and they usually run away.
If an animals attacks you, shooting at them is the last choice - there are lot of other possibilities
to solve this problem. E.G Irving does about 100 walks a year and never had to shoot...
You can read my TR - one of the last episodes is about the walk at Lower Sabie...

My vote is also on Lower Sabie... though the bush is thick and lush at the moment... I am not sure if it is the same in the Orpen area??

Hi Old Alsation A very warm welcome to the forums
read here for Shimuwuni
and
here for Talamati