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A road I dont miss...as explained in my trip report of last year...Lugmag dam is a must, althought the road was horrible, from recent reports I believe its good now...seen lions at lugmag dam last year and the year before had a kill right outside Nhlanguleni Picnic spot...thought I had gone blind as could only see through one eye, then realized the cover was still on my binocs Also dont miss Jones Dam, Shimangwaneni Dam and Welverdiend waterhole...As im staying at Talamati again this year, Im hoping to see all these again....cant wait...only 29 days to go!!

BH Im not sure I understand your question....Rebalais Dam is no more, and have not been for a few years, aparently it was built in the wrong spot...Orpen Dam is a hell of a way away from Tamboti..So I would suggest just going for a quick drive, then come back to Tamboti, start your fire and wait for the hyena to patrol the fence or the honey budger so show himself..
Have a great time, you will be there when I leave

I think BH means the Nsemani Dam on the Orpen road
From Skukuza I would also take the S36 to Orpen, seen lots on this road.
If you want to take an afternoon drive I would do the S106, Rabelais loop and back to Tamboti on the H7, seen cheetah, jackal and wilddog on this drive but also hard to drag myself off the stoop once I get to Tamboti

Speedster? Heaven forbid. If there was a life threatening emergency, I might consider it, but otherwise, slower is better.

During our trip last year, on the Old Voortrekker road, (H2-2) I was approaching a rain gulley that ran accross the road and the surface was poor. I was slowing down from about 25km/h and really watching the road carefuly when SO souted "Sable".

I jammed on the brakes but with the trailer behind, stopping power on the gravel was awful and the car slid for about two feet. Unfortunately the road was too narrow at that point so I could not turn around without doing a 30 point turn either so I missed it and SO only got a fleeting glance.

Now that happened at low speed, imagine what it takes to stop from high speed. (I digress and getting offtopic here.)

So, I see that lugmag dam is just below Nhlanguleni. Christo mentioned that Muzandzeni is a rustic type picnic spot, which appeals to me. Can you tell me what Nhlanguleni is like? I am inclined to stop at Nhlanguleni for breakfast, go via Talamati (S145) and then to Orpen to get our permit for Tamboti.

Sitting on the decksipping sundowners and just watching from there sounds like a great idea. Peaceful and relaxing.

BTW. LMAO at your blidness stunt.

BH, Nhlanguleni is also very nice, its a very open picnic area, not many trees etc and not too much of a view, there is a bit of a waterhole in front but when we were there last month it didn't really have any water in it and the grass was very tall, partially obstructing the view.
The toilets, long drop, were very clean and well looked after.
I think your planned route looks good.
Enjoy.

With my trip just over a week away now, I am keen to get some ideas of:

The general condition of the S36 and who has seen what on this road recently.

Henche will be going on this road around 8 May 2008 so he also has an interest in the replies.

Just got back from KNP 04 May 2008.

We travelled this road from the start right up to the H7 (Orpen Satara tar road).

The road is heavily corrugated in places and fair in others. To be sure, I am quite surprised my car is still in one pice although my fillings have all been shaken loose.

On the up-side, eating was easy in the car. Just insert bit to be eaten and close mouth. The shaking did the chewing for me.

Saw Lions at Nhlangulene bit far away. The staff there are very friendly and keep the place clean and tidy.

Also saw lots of general game on the road.

Hi henche -- we also did the whole road from Skukuza up in April. The road from Talamati is not too bad up to the H-7. The Sweni road (S126) was also pretty bad but they may have graded it by now. Have fun

Henche.

The road condition is fair overall. There are just a good number of heavily corrugated spots and these are really quite bad. Thank heavens I put new shocks on my car in Nov 2007.

I deviated from my planned route and went striaght up the s36 all the way to the tar due to the road condition. So we did not get to go around the S140 / S145.

EDIT: The bad corrugations are from north of Nhlangulene all the way to the H1-7 (Satara Orpen road). Cannot help with the condition of the other roads leading to it.

henche....I also stayed at Talamati in April and did not find the road between Muzandzeni and Talamati too corrugated, but the the gravel road from Talamati to Orpen is a definate NO!! Very badly corrugated....

Look out for the resident leopards around Muzandzeni, we saw one (a young male), but were told by the ppl at the picnic site that there are 3 resident in the area...enjoy!!

sorry guys busy looking at map. where is Muzandzeni can't seem to find it on my map

About 10 kms down the S36, Joekin off the H7.

I stayed at Talamti for quite a couple of nights and found this road unproductive. South from the Talamati turn off we did find something interesting



It's a great place for birding though, I saw a lot, and got a new tick: the Lesser Grey Shrike.

I also found the S36 rather quiet but my last 2 trips were more successful on this road.
This female Leopard was seen just south of the Muzandzeni Picnic spot. After this single photo was taken she did a uturn and with unbelievable speed jumped into the undergrowth and disappeared.


This Lioness was part of a pride of 8 lions seen at about 15h00 acouple of kilometres north of the Talamati turnoff.

Great sightings adw.

That stretch of road has always been very productive for us.

Lion, big tuskers, Rhino, Waterbuck, Cheetah etc.