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As I packed up and left Skukuza I was just thinking how great it was that I had seen no monkeys or baboons - and then went for a shower before driving off, and found a vervet greedily eating the remnants of the flying ants in the door of the ablutions!!!!

MAROELA

To check in at Maroela you need to go to Orpen. There is no easy way to turn the caravan without going out towards the gate and using the day visitor area as a turning circle. The folk who set up next to me just after
I arrived went to check in afterwards (not according to regulations, but if they do not provide easy turning facilities they must expect that).

This is a great camp! The cooking/washing up facilities are in the centre of the camp and there are 2 communal freezers although the camp has electricity.


The ablutions are barely adequate - the camp is quiet, but there was a queue this morning for the 2 showers and 1 bath. There are 3 toilets.

In the north west corner there is a little viewing deck


There are plenty of baboon proof bins about, and several picnic tables


Sadly the braai facilities are not all in good repair. Some of the sites are also a bit far from power points so an extension would be needed (I rejected my first choice of site because my lead was too short). Having said that there are plenty of fence sites to choose from! The view from my site (where my groundsheet actually touches the fence...)


And some general views of the site




There is plenty of shade about, but the ground does slope a bit so care needs to be taken for a level site - and to avoid being flooded out in the rain!

Laundry facilities are at Orpen, where I saw one washer, no dryer. It looked as if it took old coins only.

Maroela was a great camp and I will definitely be back..... Even though I nearly had to swim out this morning!

SATARA

Now at Satara, and again got a site at the fence. There are 3 ablution blocks here - and the one at the 'bottom' of the site is nearest me. Ladies side has 3 baths, 2 showers, and 3 toilets. I will investigate the others later.

Some sites are demarcated with brick outlines, others are not. Plenty of power points about, but long leads needed for some sites.

The laundry is up at the 'top' ablutions - and I will need to use it tomorrow so will tell you about it then.

Satara only has GPRS connection, and I am struggling a bit with it, so will post bits as I am able!

Some general photos of the camp area






There is not a lot of shade about - most trees are thorny or small. The ground is still hard despite the rain, and I struggled with some of the tent pegs (Berg-en-Dal, Skukuza and Pretoriuskop were much better than in the dry season).

Any other Satara questions?

The washers and dryer here at Satara are also R10 a go! My laundry is done and my cupboards stocked with clean clothes again - but I am R20 poorer. And they must be new R5 coins too - and no signs up anywhere to explain this.

Top ablutions (where the laundry is) has 3 toilets, 1 bath and 2 showers. The middle ablution block has 3 toilets, 2 baths and 2 showers. At the top ablution block there is a 'family shower room' - small room with a shower, basin, and toilet. Not room for a family, but I guess it is meant for dads to be able to take kids in....

There are 3 kitchen blocks around the site.

BALULE

The Balule swimming pool (aka sailing lake) this morning - it extended much further in the night - where I was standing to take the photo was my pitch - and I would have been paddling in about 8cm of water! (there's a hawk in the background....)


More pictures of the camp area




The last photo shows my rig ready to rumble....!

This is the kitchen area

The 2 communal freezers are really only fridges. MY frozen meat was just a little soft about the edges this morning after 2 days, and nothing that was not frozen when it went in did freeze.

And in the ablutions - 2 showers, 1 bath, 3 toilets (but one in the room with the bath) - a touch of class

LETABA

Letaba camp site is extremely noisy at the moment! There are cicadas in the mopane trees and the noise in some areas is almost deafening!

I am set up almost in the middle of the camp area, right on the fence again. Some sites are a distance from the power points, so again a long lead may be needed. There is a fair amount of shade about, because of the mopane trees, but that can also make it difficult manoevring a caravan! There are a few sites with hard standing too - but not always in a 'sensible' position! Dustbins are baboon proof. I have not seen any vervets or baboons about, but remember having vervet problems on previous visits.

Some general views in the camp area










I am near the middle ablution block where there are 3 toilets, 2 showers and 2 baths. I will check the other blocks tomorrow (there are at least 2 more). There is also a laundry at this block (2 washers and 1 dryer) - and it looks like it takes old R5 coins, and is still the R5/R2 price - no signs up to give any help. There is also another laundry nearer to the shop - I will try to check that one too.

The reception is currently a portakabin.... the old block is being demolished. I have not found any indication of what is planned for the future.....??

Final details for Letaba:

The lower ablutions are identical to the ones at Balule! 2 showers, 2 toilets, and a bathroom with toilet and bath.

The first ablution block has 4 toilets and 4 showers - no baths.

The second laundry is next to the top ablutions, and has 2 washers and 2 dryers. A sign on one washer said 'new R5' and on the dryer 'R2'. The second dryer seemed to have no slots and to be just a switch on and use job.....???!!!!

There were about 3 caravans about which seemed to belong to construction/work folk - a couple were not in use. There is work going on - tents 1-10 being refurbished and some parking areas being laid around the camping site itself, but the noise was much less than the cicadas!

SHINGWEDZI

There were only 3 sites occupied when I got to Shingwedzi! Another 3 or 4 have been occupied since. Very quiet.... and nice. The best 3 places were occupied of course! I took a place at the fence and compromised a bit on the shade issue. There are lots of trees about, but they do not seem to give much shade. I will try to take my photos of the area at a time which shows 'shade'.

The ablution block nearest me is actually across the road from the camp site - 3 toilets, 3 showers, 1 bath. The laundry is at the other ablution block, and I will visit that tomorrow.....

Power points are evenly distributed around the camp site, but my lead was only just long enough.... so long leads may be advisable.

Tonight I can hear some thumping type 'music' from the staff compound - and seem to remember that is a feature of Shingwedzi camp site. But usually not a problem as such - it stops early, and if the camp site was busy would not really be heard anyway over the usual camp noises.

The lower ablution block has 3 toilets, 2 showers and 2 baths. The laundry (which is not well signposted) has 2 washers and 1 dryer. They are well sign posted as to which coins to use (new R5, old R5, and R2) - but the one taking new R5 was out of order (with a sign to that effect).

Shingwedzi does not go in for grass - the camp area and most of the camp itself is bare ground!

Views of the camp area - sorry shady parts did not show well as it has been overcast most of the day!








The shadiest spot seems to be in the corner nearest the swimming pool - so could be noisy during the day if the camp is busy.

Most of the 'fence' sites face south/south west, so there is not the usual problem of the afternoon sun heating up the sitting out area... just angle the tent/awning a little, and try to ensure any shade is behind you!

PUNDA MARIA

At Punda now - and I confess to failing somewhat on the report side of things here! Betelgeuse came to talk to me, we ate lunch and talked more - and suddenly it was nearly 3pm and she had to do a sunset drive at 4.30! Spur of the moment I decided to join in - and had a quick snooze before that. Just back now, and really tired!

I did find that the ablutions near the hide at the bottom of the hill have 2 toilets, a shower and a bath. And the powerpoints are far apart - Punda is one of the camps that has a high proportion of sites without power, and that is probably why. If you want to be able to select any site - especially at the fence, you should have a long lead! I had to compromise between shade and the fence - and chose the fence. There are shady spots - but generally more in the middle of the camp area. One nice one on the fence is no good for caravans as there are too many small trees in the way for getting in and out.

There are also lots of ridges constructed for rain run-off management, and that can make moving about with a caravan in tow awkward.

The ablutions at the top of the site (near the swimming pool) have 3 toilets, 2 showers and a bath. There is another block near the huts which are being renovated, and there was a shower and bath there too.

Some photos of the camp site










There is a fair amount of shade about. There were 3 'permanent' caravans while I was there - 2 unoccupied. When I left in the morning they were the only sites still occupied!

TSENDZE

Tsendze! First off - if you want power you need a very long lead as Mopani is 8km away!!!!! Laundry facilities are basic - 2 deep sinks at each of the 2 kitchen blocks.

The ablution blocks have 4 toilets, 3 indoor and 2 outdoor showers each - and are kept in good order by Phineas the camp care-taker. The outdoor showers are a lovely touch!

There are plenty of signs about saying 'Low noise impact facility - Please consider your neighbour' , and they are serious about that. The first night a commercial group were noisy, complaint made to Mopani manager, and the immediate result was a ticking off for the tour guide and a personal apology to each camping party. There is a number posted at each kitchen block for any problems.

Each kitchen block has plenty of 2 burner gas hobs (bring matches!) and sinks. A large chest fridge is located in a small room at the end of the block.

All sites are level. Some are larger than others, and caravanners will have to choose carefully unless they are able to manually move the caravan into and out of the spaces.

I went around and took photos of every site and will post them in batches of 5. Bear in mind that I took the photos at about 10.30am, so use them in conjunction with the map to get an idea of shade through the day. I did drive around at about 5pm and at that time most sites had reasonable shade.

First batch, sites 1-5

Tsendze sites 6-10

Tsendze sites 11-15