Ivory Wilderness
Our travel companion, booking agent, and tour guide Ken did a great job of selecting our second safari stop.
Our group with the safari Land Cruiser
We flew in our small charter Cessna from Pafuri down to the civil airport in Hoedspruit, a common launching point for Kruger safaris near the central west edge of the park. From there we climbed into our transfer Toyota van for the nearly two hour drive north and east into the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve where our new hosts at Ivory Wilderness were ready to greet us.
Chilling at Ivory Wilderness
This was a step up in luxury from Baobob Hill House at Return Africa, but not a significant one. We had three round yurt-style buildings with big beds and quality showers (at least once Ken and Tenya had their shower head replaced). Karen’t was configuired a bit differently as it was attached to the central lounging building.
There was a central covered patio, a patio out at the edge looking down into the river valley, and a tiny pool similar to the one at our prior house. For breakfast there was always a veggie and non-veggie option, and for dinner there was two options for each. Our first dinner was very average but after that the food was always good.
Bucky the bushbuck
There was a low electric fence to keep the elephants out but that didn’t mean there were no visitors. Our most regular visitor was a Cape bushbuck, and of course we named him Bucky. “Visitor” downplays his presence; I think resident would be more accurate.
Our schedule was more regular and relaxing than Baobob Hill House. Longer middle-of-the-day break and more routine meal times. With two safari vehicles to coordinate and up to 12 or so people this made sense.
Our guide Wiendand
Our guide was Wiendand, a youngish South African with perfect English and a tremendous command of all things wildlife. For about the first half of our stay we also had a Mexican couple (Alex and Alexandria) with us, but after they departed Wiendand became our personal group guide.
The terrain in Klaserie was quite different from the Pafuri region: more hills and deep drainage washes, and it felt a bit drier to me. It is at a slightly higher elevation than the lower river valley we were in prior.
Radio communication was nonstop amongst the various guides in Klaserie, which span multiple different private lodges. Wiendand’s radio could do 1:1 communication with another radio, participate in an Ivory Wilderness group channel, or be part of the broader Klaserie guide communication.
Whereas in Makuleke / Pafuri I think we saw more animals, in a wider variety, more of the time, Klaserie was all about the predators. Make sure you check out my prior posts on lions, leopards, and hyenas.
Example: in Makuleke we saw warthogs, babboons, and vervet monkeys constantly. They were hardly ever seen in Klaserie. The elephants and Cape buffalo were a bit more obstinate in Klaserie, blocking our return-to-home path multiple times on our night drives and forcing us to take a roundabout different path.
Dwarf mongoose
We are all getting better at spotting critters, even the little guys like mongoose, hares, and squirrels. The payoff is often high such as we when we came across a large group of dwarf mongoose playing and searching for food.
Giraffes drinking at pool
We had an epic morning watching a leopard in a tree after a kill, hyenas wandering in to the nearby pool, and a journey of about 11 giraffe coming to the pool to drink. It often pays to be patient and just lurk when something interesting is happening, even in the aftermath when things settle down.
Kudus in the green field
Let’s not forget the antelope! They are ubiquitous but always interesting, especially the wide varieties we are seeing now. In addition to the greater kudu we saw quite a few of the miniature antelope while in Klaserie: duiker, Cape grysbok, and steenbok. I hope to have some photos to share later that show one of these little guys next to a Kudu or similar larger antelope. They are doggy sized and very cute!
The last of the big 5 we were hoping to see was the white rhino, and Wiendand did his best to help us. On our final morning he even took us on a bush walk in an area where he had tracked a rhino. Alas, no joy so we’ll have to stick to photos and YouTube. We are very unlikely to see any while up in Botswana.