Location:
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Pafuri
Camp is situated between the Limpopo and the Luvuvhu Rivers in the
northern sector of the Kruger National Park, in a 24 000-hectare area
called the Pafuri or the Makuleke. This area is the ancestral home of
the Makuleke people and is one of the most diverse and scenically
attractive areas in the Kruger National Park.
This area is certainly the wildest and most remote part of the Park
and offers varied vegetation, great game viewing, the best birding in
all of the Kruger, and is filled with folklore of the early explorers
and ancient civilisations.
It is well known for its fever tree
forests, beautiful gorges and Crook’s Corner, where the Limpopo and Luvuvhu rivers and three countries, Zimbabwe, South Africa and
Mozambique, meet. The region is considered one of Kruger's
biodiversity hotspots, with some of the largest herds of elephant and
buffalo, leopard and lion and incredibly prolific birdlife. |
| Pafuri Camp
caters for the traditional Kruger Park visitor and is the only camp
accessible to self-drivers in the extreme northern sector of the Park.
Being so different from the rest of the Park, it complements the scenery
and experience offered at the lodges in the southern Kruger and the Sabi
Sands.
Travellers visiting the lodges or camps in the south can experience
the Kruger in its entirety by including the Pafuri / Makuleke region in
their itineraries. |
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Game
Viewing / Activities:
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Activities in the Makuleke / Pafuri area are extremely varied and
interesting. Game drives in open 4x4 vehicles, night drives, walks,
hides (including some that will cater for sleep-outs) are all part
of the range of activities that are on offer.
One of the most
important aspects of this area is its palaeo-anthropological
history, with its plethora of evidence of early human ancestors
stretching back some 2 million years ago, through the Stone Age and
into the Iron Age about 400 years ago when the Thulamela dynasty
ruled in this area. This dynasty built incredible structures that
are not dissimilar to that found in the Great Zimbabwe.
Throughout
the concession, there is evidence of its human inhabitants, in the
form of rock paintings and artifacts – under many a baobab are Stone
Age hand tools, such as hand axes, to be found. |
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The Pafuri
region boasts fully two-thirds of the Kruger’s wildlife and vegetative
biodiversity, with many large mammal species and incredibly prolific
birdlife. It is famous for the large herds of elephant and buffalo
that are resident most of the year round, which concentrate in
particular around the permanent waters of the Luvuvhu River in the dry
winter months.
Cheetah have been sighted hunting the strong population
of nyala and impala that live alongside the Luvuvhu system. On the
easternmost boundary at "Crooks Corner" the Luvuvhu supports a large
population of hippo and crocodile. |
The Limpopo and Luvuvhu rivers host the highest density of nyala in Kruger
and species such as eland, Sharpe’s grysbok and yellow-spotted rock dassie,
which are difficult to find further south in the Park, are regularly seen
here. A drive along the floodplain and riverine fringe of either of the
two large rivers usually produces good general game in the form of nyala,
impala, greater kudu, chacma baboon, waterbuck, warthog and perhaps grey
duiker or bushbuck, while careful searching may yield the more elusive
residents of the area such as lion and leopard.
Other areas hold steenbok,
the agile klipspringer and herds of Burchell’s zebra. Recently, and
excitingly, species such as giraffe and white rhino have been relocated to
the area, from which they have been locally extinct for almost a century.
The area has long been regarded as something of a Mecca for southern
African birdwatchers. Some species are found nowhere else in South Africa
and the serious birder will revel in being able to find Böhm’s and Mottled
Spinetails, Racket-Tailed Roller, Three-Banded Courser, and Southern
Hyliota. Other specials are Black-Throated Wattle-Eye, Pel’s Fishing Owl,
Yellow White-Eye, Meve’s Starling and Tropical Boubou.
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Rates:
Please contact us for a suggested
itinerary and quote
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