Mphongolo Back Pack Trail

[Katamboega]

Mphongolo Back Pack Trail will be a new wilderness activity where you walk into the biggest wilderness area in the Kruger Park.conducted over three nights and having to be totally self sufficient.
what do you think.

[Katamboega]

Yes it will be conducted between the Mphongolo and Bububu rivers with many interesting sights like Phonda hills and Matiovila warm water springs.
the main focus will be on wilderness and not an A to B walk like the Olifants river back pack.The park has approved this activity but has not made the launch date public yet.

[ndloti]

I have susequently been informed of your identity by a moderator , Katamboega , I immediately recognised you from a photo in a book (I won't mention which one) when I saw you in Sept at the 30th anniversary function .
I will certainly be most interested in walking this trail .
As far back as early 90's I heard trails rangers talking about the possibility of trails in this area when the initiall Olifants backpack route was deemed a bit dangerous or strenuous , or was it the fact that satphones were not easily available at the time ?
The area sounds a delight , I found the scenery and variation of biomes etc on the Olifants bp area a bit monotonous .

[ndloti]

I have been wondering if the sleepover points will be pre determined ?
As Riverrat mentions above , the Olifants backpack trail is a fairly strenuous exercise , with rough terrain which made me concentrate heavily on the footing instead of the scenery .
I also found Olifants to be perhaps rather monotonous as far as scenery is concerned , basically the same riverine scenery all the way .
Will the arrangement possibly be to walk from a central point carrying a daypack while your main backpack is hoisted into a tree , as I would assume one need not follow a predetermined route from west to east following the river as is the case with Olifants b p ?
What is the permanent water availibility in the area ?

[G@mespotter]

Imberbe, I'm in to!!

I still wanted to create this topic, but Katamboega beat me to it. It's indeed true! And they will be using a combination of up to 4 rivers in the area. Or so I was told by Doanavan Terblance. He also said that they are currently conducting test trails on the area. Very interesting! I also picked up that this will only be finalised by June 2009.

These backpack trails are the way of the future for the ultimate Kruger fanatics IMHO. What is very interesting is that you mention it's not a focus on pint A to B. This is a nice variation as to the Olifants Backpack Trail!

I personally think because SANParks put the emphasis on the trailists safety and on the policy of 'leave nothing bedhind' does make these activities sustainable.

Altough I disagree with Ndloti that the Olifants route is a bit monotonous, I cannot tell you the excitement about another trail close to one of the most beautiful and scenic routes in the park. I believe once the bakcpack trail gets more attention, real nature lovers will discover it as the ultimate, a goal that one should reach in life. I have experienced this myself, as I struggled to get enough members of the 'Forum backpack trail'. Coming back with all the stories, first impressions and pictures, I'm sure I will get 2 groups of 8 together easily...

Since I walked in Kruger, I doubt if I will exclude a wilderniss / backpack trail if I had the money.

As you expected, I'm a huge fan of this idea and wait in great anticipation for it's official announcement. GO SANParks! Go Backpack trails!

[Katamboega]

Some of the Parks Senior Managers are doing a test run next week and they might be able to comment on this.

The rivers don't flow this time of the year in this area but there is still lots of water around and it will be able to cater for all your wilderness needs.

[AjayB]

This area covers a big part of Mafunyanes old stomping ground if I am not mistaken.Didnt they find his body somewhere on the Zare river? Might be an idea to include the area near spot if possible.Dont know if there would be a general interest or not? I certainly would be if I were doing a trail in that area.
There should be enough ellies up there thats for sure---

[Katamboega]

Zari spruit and the water hole in the Phugwane at its confluence is in the area that the trail will be operating in.
There is just so much historical things to see in the area and there is definitely no shortage of Jumbo. Other game is also well represented but the main focus will be on the wilderness experience as this is the biggest wilderness area in Kruger and most of what you encounter will be a new way of looking at the thing that you might have become use to, as this area sees very little human activity.

[Katamboega]

Doesn't look like they want to comment but hopefully some of the guides that are doing it this week will post some comment for you.

The last trails highlights were absolute silence during the day no sign of other humans or modern man.
*** and buffalo around camp at night,finding ***, elephant and buffalo on foot and hearing lion and leopard. Swimming or rather bathing in the hot water spring and finding the missing graves at Zari.

[ndloti]

R
Please tell us more !
Who's graves , and where is the spring ?
Did they get close to the Phonda hills ?

[Katamboega]

The spring were Matiovila and Mafayeni.
the graves are from boors suspected to have been killed by Bulala Taylor.
The next trail will be in the Phonda hills area.

[Katamboega]

Some of the guides got to experience true wilderness in the far north.
they were all impressed when they got to the top of Pondo hills and there was no sign of human development anywhere to be seen.They were all from the South of Kruger and have never been in such a wilderness area.

The whether was a bit cold and windy but still great to be out there and this did not stop us from finding game. We tracked down a pride of lions,the tracks were from the previous evening but following the tracks for 4.5 km brought us to where they were sleeping for the afternoon and gave us the perfect opportunity to view them from close without them knowing of the human presence.We found buffalo and lots of Ellie's to. lots of general game.

[Riverrat]

This is starting to get really tempting GS... you planning another invasion of bushwhacking Hollanders? Let me know if you're keen on this hooligan coming along?....I'd be honoured to join your bunch again

As for the particular trail route, from the reports we're getting, it appears to me that either:
1. the pioneering team are still attempting to identify specific sections and combinations of route to follow, or
2. The route has been finalised, but experienced trails rangers are being used as guinea-pigs to give feedback and fine-tune certain aspects such as suitable rest / bathing locations, emergency evacuation routes, or
3. The route is already complete, and select members of the press and publicity and tourism houses are being taken through it in preparation for a large press and TV launch. (they would still need to edit their video material and complete their productions in time for the release.

[Katamboega]

Katamboega was there.

The launch date has not been decided yet but i will tell you as soon as the bookings open for it.
The area is huge and there is no route,but we have divided the area into blocks that we will use on a rotational basis to minimise the impact.

This last trail we got dropped of in the Malalhapanga block and only did 1km before pitching camp close to a waterhole were two ellies were drinking.During the night we heard lions roaring so started tracking them in the morning from the waterhole close to our camp for about 3.5 km along the Mphongolo river until they spotted us and ran off,we gave them a rest to settle down while we were having breakfast at a beautiful pool.We continued tracking them for about 2km but gave up on stony ground around mid day.Returning to camp we packed up and headed to the Malalhapanga spring and enjoyed a bath in the warm water and camped close by.Lots of other game was sighted during the tracking
and even sign of Black ***.

This is the type of day that you can expect (total freedom)WILDERNESS

[Imberbe]

This sounds like a dream trail!