Mapungubwe & Kaoxa

Planning ahead as always (not), we drove into Kaoxa Bush Camp hoping to find Virginia there to welcome us. She was nowhere to be found and her phone was on voicemail. So we booked into the SA Parks camp inside Mapungubwe, the first time I have stayed inside the park. Jess was pleased – the chalet had aircon! And it was hot. Even the eles sought shade:

I drove around Mapungubwe east, the more famous half of the park, and walked the boardwalk to overlook the Limpopo and into Botswana and Zimbabwe. Jess mainly stayed in the chalet. The day we left I drove the long way round to the gate, so she did see some of this interesting Eastern section of the park.

Then we moved on to Kaoxa. We drove down to Virginia’s home and found her. She asked us to bring cash, so we drove the 70km to Musina and drew cash as we needed to do some food shopping anyway. The tar road is in very good nick except for two patches near Mapungubwe with bad potholes. So 110km/h is easy, but when you see potholes, slow down drastically! Each patch is just a couple hundred metres, but bad.

Good ceiling fans and great showers, a cool shady pool and lots of shade under thatch. As we arrived there was a squirrel in the chalet. It jumped onto Jess and scratched her arm, then fled. We ate and swam and birded and stared at the view. For wifi we drove to Duncan’s homestead and sat on the back veranda. Good birding there, too. A very special place is Kaoxa Bush Camp. Do support it so it can stay wild forever! Best to book online.

~~oo0oo~~

Birds seen in the area:
Cinnamon-breasted Bunting
Black Eagle (Verreaux’s)
Familiar Chat
Jamesons Firefinch
Mocking Cliff Chat
Kori Bustard
Grey-headed Sparrow
Lanner Falcon
Woodland Kingfisher
Dusky Flycatcher
White-browed Sparrow-Weaver
Rufous-naped Lark
Arrow-marked Babbler
Violet-backed & Redwing Starlings
Wood Sandpiper
Acacia Pied Barbet
Black-collared Barbet