The Lebombo Eco Trail

On Wednesday morning we embarked on the Lebombo 4x4 Eco Trail from Crocodile Bridge Rest Camp at the southeast end of Kruger National Park.

Ready to roll on the Lebombo Trail

This trip has been on Ken’s want-to-do list for a while: a way to engage in a challenging offroad adventure, getting access to roads in Kruger that are not normally accessible, with the “safety in numbers” aspect of a caravan of vehicles and a national park guide. We didn’t know what to expect in terms of road challenge, animal sightings, pace-of-the-day, and so on.

We were joined by 3 other vehicles plus our guide’s Hilux truck; two of the tourist vehicles had overlanding trailers. One pair of South African brothers from Pretoria were in one vehicle plus trailer, while a mixed UK and South African group were in the other two vehicles (one trailer between them). Eight others plus our seven made for a tourist crew of 15 alongside our guide EJ.

The overlanding route involves four camping stops with three possible re-supply spots at official Kruger rest camps. We knew from the get-go that our route would change because of the heavy flooding in north Kruger and the Limpopo River: much of the national and park border overlanding trail near the fence line was washed out.

Waterbuck in the meadow

We spent our time partially on the tourists roads (which are often dirt/gravel), usually as a means of getting to the designated roads for the tour (and other park functions). The animal sightings were frequent and when a major find was encountered the group was happy to stop and share the experience. Much of the smaller sightings (mostly birds for me, plus the usual antelope) had to be enjoyed and photographed on the move or with a quick stop.

Spotted hyenas blocking our way

Our other vehicle (second to last, we were last) had a great encounter during the golden hour of the first day: two spotted hyenas casually jogging up our road, likely hunting. They were very unconcerned with us as we crept along for 20 or more minutes, maybe for a mile on the road. Julie, Karen and I were behind them and kept getting glimpses of them in front of their vehicle.

Giraffes at sunset

The driving portion of each day was usually long and exhausting, partly because of the detouring required (and partly for another reason that I’ll explain below). This meant for the first two nights we were pulling into camp right after sunset. Camp setup in the dark isn’t a problem for us, and created some opportunities for amazing viewing and light as the sun set over the lowveld.

Meal prep at camp

I love traveling with a group this size as we can share in resources and duties: meal prep, fire starting, cleanup, morning hot water, etc. Everyone is always eager to pitch in. With the long days of driving, then setting up camp and preparing food, finally some fireside chatter, we were all exhausted and ready for tents well before 9pm.

Vehicle recovery

The driving was mostly easy but gnarly at times: deep mud crossings, stream crossings with surprise deep holes, boulder fields, and so on. Our Bushlore Land Cruisers never had an issue other than maybe needing to back up a bit for some traction and momentum. We did often engage the diff lock and 4wd low, usually cruising around in 4wd high. We had a few vehicle recoveries from mud, and one precautionary tow of a partially disabled vehicle through a mud bath. We continue to be very happy with our rigs.

One of our private crossing bridges

I love seeing Ken smile about the unaccessible roads, bridges, and dams we were able to be on, plus the use of our team to recover the others in the group (including the guide!). Add to that some requested navigational help provided from Ken and this turned into his dream trip.

Black-backed Jackal

I’m loving the camera setup so far but learning that there reach limits with my lens configuration. The 2x extender will likely only be useful with a tripod (I’ll experiment with that) and I’ve got to be in a situation where the subject nearly fills the frame at high zoom to get quality shots. Karen’s Fuji gear might be performing better but I need to do some pixel-by-pixel comparisons.

Army staff walking down to recover ambulance

Poaching and border security remain a problem in the camp and by traveling alongside the Mozambique border we encountered a few army and park ranger bivouacs. Always saw smiles from the folks we encountered.

Guide EJ sharing botany knowledge

Our guide was solid and a long-term Kruger guide staffer; about the same age as Julie and me. He has strong expertise in the ecology of the park and botany in particular, giving us a different perspective than we’ve had before. He lives in the Skukuza staff village and has been playing the golf course there for a long time so it was fun to chat about our experience there a few days prior.

Rest break with extra solar charging

We had to be on issued radios for the journey so we could communicate with the guide and each other, and sadly that radio took up the one and only 12v cigarette lighter spot in the vehicle. We regretted not bringing a male to two female splitters as this would have made it a non-issue; we have heavy charging needs throughout the daily driving (batteries for CPAP, Starlink, our phones, laptops, etc.). My new solar panel helped a lot during the mid-day stops, and we played radio repeater for the other vehicle so they could use their socket for charging.

Chocolate cake in dutch oven

I continue to bake in the dutch oven: one loaf of bread, chocolate cake, and chocolate brownies. I was rushed on the first two and didn’t have my best showing, but round three (brownies) were cooked perfectly. More of this will be coming in Zimbabwe.

The full Lebombo crew

Overall this was a great experience. Highly recommended, especially if you have a desire to do some challenging overlanding but don’t have a crew to go with for backup. Our guide gave great advice on what modes to use when and we definitely felt like we pushed things.

Still, don’t think of this as a great game drive experience. There’s a timeline to adhere to and, especially with the detours as we moved further north, we had to ramble faster than usual to make up for the extra distance and get to camp in time.

Every night the overall group of 16 were talking and collaborating more and more, which is want you want for an experience like this. Very glad to have met everyone and share the experience.