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.

Photos from Pilanesberg National Park

Sunset over Pilanesberg.

Lisa Glenn's mom and sister visited recently. Katie, the sister, didn't love guinea fowl. It's a bird with polka dots and a blue head -- what's not to love?!


This was either a crested francolin or common quail, I'm not sure. One of them had a club foot and had become quite adept at begging food from humans.



A red hartebeest.


The red hartebeest grazes near a blind on Mankwe dam.

Young giraffe.

He looks like he's smiling, doesn't he?

A white rhino with some kind of fungus on his belly.

In SA, they call the white stripes painted on the road to indicate a pedestrian walkway a "zebra crossing". Here's a real zebra crossing!

Some of the big grey louries, also called the go-away bird. Not because his call sounds like those words, but because a particular call of his warns other animals that a predator is around.

An African darter dries his feathers.

An enormous, old elephant. The breeding herd was about 5K away. He'd been set out to pasture, so to speak.

Some hippos napping in the sun.

A skinny white rhino.

Female kudu.

Vervet monkeys and guinea fowl line the road.

This monkey seemed to be posing.

Another pod of hippos in the sun.

One of them moves around.

Yellow-billed hornbill. Isn't he the Guiness bird?