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Hi there,

Am new to the forum. Would just like to know if there are night drives that go from Shimuwini Bush Camp. And if so, is it worth it compared to just staying in camp? Has anyone seen good sightings from a night drive from Shimuwini?

Thanks!

A very warm welcome to the forums mike23baum!!

There are night drives from Shimuwini - but I have never done one so cannot help you with your sightings question. Sorry - I am sure others will do so though

Dear Mike,

The following guided activities are offered at Shimuwini;

Night Drive 20:00 - 22:00
Price: R165 Adult and R82 per child (under 12 yrs)
Sightings includes: Elephant; Buffalo; Hippos out of water feeding; leopard sighted more than lions; Owls; nightjars and Water Thicknee. etc

Sunset Drive 16:30 - 19:30
Price: R165 Adult and R82 per child (under 12 yrs)
Sightings includes: Leopard; rhino; elephants; buffaloes; nyala; kudu; lots of diurnal and nocturnal birds. etc

This activity is popular as it has part of day and night. It's also longer compared to the Night Drive. Lots of great sightings are during this activity. Leopard has been sighted twice in a row last week. Yesterday a leopard was sighted with an Impala on its jaws.

Morning walk (30min before gate opens) 04:00 - 07:30 at present.
Price: R245 Adult and No children under 12yrs are allowed
Sightings includes elephants; buffaloes; hyenas; kudu; steenbok; rhino; interesting facts about grass to trees; birds (identified by calls for birders); insects; footprints and dung

For those who have been on a walk before they know how it feels for being in the middle of the bush on foot.

NB. Sightings are not guaranteed as it goes hand in hand with being at the right place at the right time

I hope this gives a clear insight about Shimuwini Guided Activities

What a great forum, finally there is a subject I really can add something on!

Johann is being a little modest. We went on a Night Drive and also a Morning Walk at Shimuwini and both were excellent and of extra interest because of the knowledge of the area and some of the resident animals displayed by our guide (Johann I think).

On the Night Drive we saw Owls, several other birds and an African Wild Cat.
For the Morning Walk after time out to track Lions, but choosing not to follow as they were some way off, we crossed the weir and ended up across the river from the Camp. The highlights were the wonderful views upriver and a Black Mamba right in front of our path (and which fortunately moved away).

Time in Camp is good too with Barbets and Kingfishers flitting around, plus plenty to entertain in the river just in front.

Hey everybody,

Just want to know, any more recent pics of this camp? More stories etc!? Just wondering if the camp is toddler/child friendly?

More info will definately be appreciated!

The camp is very toddler friendly as there is a lovely lawn leading to the river in front of the huts

We stayed at Shimuwini 23-28 Dec 1999.
I would definitely not stay there again during the summer months.
The camp manager at that time, was Frank Watts, who confirmed that the temperature rose to 42* Celsius every day for 5 days in a row.
With no aircons.and only ceiling fans, It made it impossible to sleep inside the bungalow at night.
We had to carry our beds outside and sleep under the stars.
But perhaps we got the climate at it's worst.
What was more terrible than the temperature, were the stink beetles which came out night, literally millions of them.
They were attracted by the light and if you step on them, they gave off the most horrible stench.
We used 2 cans of insect killers and swept them out of the bungalow by the bucketful.
The stench even penetrated our leg of lamb that we were supposed to have for Xmas.

From what I understood from Frank was the bungalows were sponsored by big overseas companies and they could design the bungalows (within certain parameters).
Apparently they have the right of occupation for a period of 30 days per year.

Regarding the duiker, Frank told us that he picked it up in the veld after it's mother deserted it.
I do not think that it will survive in the veld, for obvious reasons.
By feeding it will not make matters worse for the animal.
The situation is unfortunately that the duiker is there for keeps.

Frank was a very likeable man.
We could sit and listen to him for hours around the campfire, especially when he told us about the funny encounters he had with the animals.
One day we asked him as to what time the gate closes.
He said "man, if you arrive at the gate and it is closed, you just open it and close it after you have entered.
I will lock it at 22h00"
Obviously we did not take liberties but you get those situations where have great sighting minutes before closing time.

Oh yes Shimuwini is Gorgeous. We staying there again Sat 16 and Sun 17th Aug. We always stay in unit number 9. Lovely-it has 2 Extra beds in the loft.

There is also a tame resident duiker that lives there and she just loves all the attention.

You will love it. Last weekend when we were there the elephants were all bathing in the river right in front of our chalet.

Enjoy xxx

We spent 3 nights at Shimuwini last week... loved it!
We stayed in #10 which seems to be frequented by a "tame/begging" crested Barbet.
We met Shine (duiker) and she's lovely... she even let us stroke her.

They are busy with a new lapa (looks almost finished) near the middle of the camp and it has a small swimming pool - we didn't need it but from what I read here it will be welcome in summer.

We enjoyed listening to the hippos at night, saw lots of birds in camp as well as tracks.
Mmmm interesting.
Some of the staff confirmed the small cat like spoor as civet.
We didn't see them - I assume they wait until all is quiet.
We did see scrub hares in the evenings, hopping across the lawns in front of the units.
The most interesting spoor however was next to the back fence (near the "old" smaller lapa) - on the inside! - of a leopard.
So... stay near your bungalow at night until they confirm/figure out what to do about it, is my advice!

We had an incredible sighting the one morning around 7am.
A mere 800m from the camp gate, 2 adult leopards crossed the road in front of our car!
They walked into the bush and we lost sight of them but we hung around for a while and then heard them (what we think was) mating.
So maybe there'll be some cubs in a few months' time!

Another highlight there for me was the huuuuuge baobab tree nearby.
I wonder if anyone can estimate the age? I would estimate about 19m in circumference which should equate to about 3000 years?
Just looking up into the branches and trying to comprehend its age blew me away.

We discovered that there is a hyena den just to the north of where the Shimuwini dirt road meets the tar. You'll see the culvert on your right, less than 100m from the junction.
There were a few youngsters including one with a horrelpoot (deformed front leg) - not sure how long (s)he's going to last because already seems to be at the bottom of the hierarchy.
There was a small baby (still brown) the previous evening but upon returning on the morning it seemed to have gone.
The (mother?) called at the culvert and all of the clan were outside but no sign of the little one.

The pool


View from #10


And to the left

Shine's toes!


Beggar

I see the baobab's here already. But, different season... (love it so want to show it again!)

Can you tell me more precisely where this is located? Such as nearby which chalets?? I love Shimuwini for its tranquility and the idea of being stuck near a commmunal gathering place, with the inevitable resultant noise, is distressing. Not sure just what you mean by "near the middle of the camp"?? Shimuwini's greatest attraction has always been its peace and quiet.

I must admit, I am now utterly terrified of this camp, ever since meeting the Black Mamba in the hide... I consider myself the luckiest girl in the world to have escaped that with nothing more than slight trauma Every single time I visit that camp I see a Black Mamba, so it will be a couple of (hundred) years before I venture there again.