Place names in Kruger - origin and meaning

[Oumie]

Reference from the book "A dictionary of Kruger National Park place names"

Babalala: Borehole, picnic spot.
Babalala: The name of a person who lived here in earlier times (Historical Name)

[luislang]

Nkulu - Natal Mahogany

Balule - is a shortening of "Rimbalule", the Tsonga name for the Olifants River.

Pafuri - is a distortion of "Mphaphuli", the dynastic name of the Venda chief through whose area the Luvuvhu River flows.

Makhadzi - Venda name for 'father's or chief's sister.

Taken from KNP PLACE NAMES.

[Albert]

One from the Dictionary of Place Names in the KNP that I found very interesting was Sirheni..apparently means "place of the grave". Where the present dam wall is constructed there was a water hole. During the 1959/60 Anthrax outbreak an elephant died at this water hole. Because the carcase was too large to burn, it was buried. This "elephant grave" is the origin of the name...(personally I think it MUST be easier to burn an elephant than to bury it... )

[Richprins]

Perhaps this should be conducted on a "question and answer" basis.

I'm curious about "Pafuri" and "Mhlanganzwane", for example.

[Freda]

I can't find Mhlanganzwane in Dr Kloppers and Hans Bornman's book, does it have a different spelling perhaps?
Pafuri - a distortion of Mphaphuli, the dynastic name of the Venda chief through whose area the Luvuvhu River flows. Magnus Forssman named the Luvuvhu River the Paforis as early as 1869 and in 1875 Merensky named it the Pafuri.
This is an excellent book and I hope they will forgive me for quoting it.

[Freda]

Another question - Mafortini, east of Shingwedzi.

Don't know of a Mafortini, east of Shingwedzi
There is a Mafotini waterhole, also known as Mafourteen, used to be spelt Mafortini, 13kms northwest of Lower Sabie, got it's name from the Mozambicans who walked through the park and had to spend 14 days in detention as illegal immigrants before they were allowed to continue their journey. The footpath they used passed nearby.

You really must buy the book, it's a steal at R150 and all for a good cause

[Freda]

Dipene now spelt Dipeni, Tsongo for 'at the dip tank'.
The cement dipping tank was built during the outbreak of foot and mouth in 1938.
People who crossed the border from Mozambique had to immerse their feet in the disinfectant to prevent spreading the disease.
Again thanks to Kloppers and Bornman

[ceruleanwildfire]

I recently bought the book "A Dictionary of Kruger National Park Place Names" by JJ Kloppers and Hans Bornman and started plugging in the coordinates, as supplied in the book, into GoogleEarth. Wouldn't you know it, a whole bunch of errors in position of common places like Crocodile Bridge rest camp. I am trying to contact the publisher/editor to inform them of the errors and will let you know what happens. Other than the coord errors this is a really great book.

[GlenD]

Hi All

I was reading a book this weekend, "Kruger, Portrait of a National Park". (publication i think was early 80's).

They mentioned the camp Balule, as well as a proposed camp by the name of Ngotsamond (check spelling) about 1 or 2 km's away from Balule. This was supposed to be a caravan/camping only camp, and when complete, the camp of Balule was to be done away with.

Does anyone remember this, have the factual history about this, the Parks reasoning behind and the subsequent change of mind.

It would be an interesting read seeing Balule still stands today.

[richardharris]

I have tried to find this in the 3 volume 'The Kruger National Park - a history'. This is a fascinating 'book' but actually rather hard to get around!

So far no reference to Ngotsamond but I will keep looking.

However, Balule was the original Olifants camp - and was replaced with what we now call Olifants in 1960. This was in the era when tourism started to be taken seriously. No suggestion that Balule would be closed - again I will keep looking!

Richard

[elephus]

My dad said that Balule used to be the 'non white' camp and whilst other camps had non white huts, one for men and one for women, at balule, you were allowed to book your own hut. He said that it didn't have much of a fence, probably 1,5m at the most and a guard with a rifel and a handbook on how to use the rifle.

On the communal 'non white' huts, my dad's favourite story was how one night, he realised he hadn't taken an ashtray and whilst enjoying a ciggie in bed, he was 'forced' to use the shoe of the oke in the next bed Needless to say, my uncle was not very pleased the next morning.

[Meandering Mouse]

I also heard that Balule was a "non white" camp. There was also an area set aside in Skukuza for "non whites".

I am so enjoying these history threads. I wish that there could be a dedicated space to all things related to history, or that there could be "sticky status" confered on them.

[elephus]

I could be mistaken, but the Skukuza 'non white' area was to the right of where the filling station is, if you drive into the filling station immediately upon entering camp, if that makes any sense.

[GlenD]

I read recently on this forum (pls dont ask me where i saw it because i cant find it now ), that the proposed Ngotsamond caravan camp was halted because of archealogical findings in the proposed area. Following that, it was decided to build the cavaran section onto Balule.

Is someone able to verify that (or at least find the missing link)?

[Bush Baptist]

Yeah, I also recall Balule being the so called 'non white' camp. In those days there were only a few camps. Pkop, Skukuza, Letaba, Satara and Punda were the others.