Pilanesberg National Park

This past weekend, Lisa and I loaded up the car on Friday afternoon and drove to Pilanesberg National Park (also called Pilanesberg Game Reserve; I can’t figure out which is correct). See (http://www.pilanesberg-game-reserve.co.za/index.html and (http://www.tourismnorthwest.co.za/pilanesberg/index.html). Kristian Collins, the University of Alabama law student who is doing an internship in Pretoria for 8 weeks, had hoped to go with us, but she has friends in Pietermaritzburg who couldn’t see her any other weekend but this one.

We stayed at the Bakgatla lodge on the northeast side of the park. The baKgatla were a tribe in that area. I think it was also the name of a territory in what is now Botswana. We had a self-catering chalet that had a small kitchen, small lounge, double bed in the one bedroom downstairs, one bath, and three single beds in the loft upstairs. Friday we paid the winter special, but Saturday turned into peak season. I think this is because it’s winter, and the game viewing is supposed to be easier during winter because the grasses are dead. Lisa and I observed that the grasses may be dead, but they are still standing and, therefore, still obstruct views!

I’d been wanting to go to Pilanesberg because everyone says it is closer to Jo’burg than Kruger, and has just as many animals. In the end, Lisa and I decided that Kruger is really better, and worth the extra distance. Still, we had a good time and saw lots of animals and interesting birds.

Animals: white rhino, elephant, hippo, mongoose, zebra, giraffe, blue wildebeest, vervet monkey, baboon, and several kinds of buck, including red hartebeest, impala, kudu, steenbok, waterbuck, tsessebe.

Birds: enormous grey louries (we have these in Jo’burg, but they grow them a lot bigger at Pilanesberg!), blue waxbill (so petite and cute!), black-collared barbet (beautiful), black-eyed bulbul, African darter, green-backed heron, forktailed drongo, Natal francolin, dark chanting goshawk, African hoopoe, yellow-billed hornbill, red-billed oxpecker, crimson-breasted boubou (or shrike; also really beautiful), red-faced mousebird, Swainson’s francolin, crested francolin.