Breaking Free from Lockdown. Day 35. A Slow Day

It was a cool 13 degrees C when we left for our morning drive at 08:00 and it did not warm up much at all during the day.   All we did this morning was drive around the roads close to the camp. We did not find much but below are the highlights

Wattled Lapwing

Klipspringer

Manungakop one of the many rocky outcrops around Pretoriuskop was named after Manunga who was one of the followers of Joao Albasini

We were delayed by buffalo on our way back to camp

Here’s looking at you, kid.

After the buffs we popped in at Metsel Dam and found a mother with a very new baby.

Isn’t he the cutest little hippo you ever saw.

When we got back to camp, nobody felt like cooking breakfast outdoors so we went to the Pretoriuskop Wimpy.   We then spent some quiet time in camp, got the caravans ready for departure tomorrow and only went out again at half past four. We spent an hour at Shithave Dam in the hope that the creatures would come to us.  I think, though that they, like us, were feeling chilly and were hunkering down in some warm and sheltered spot that we could not see.

At first this heron hid behind a tree stump but at his supper time he decided to do some fishing.

Quick as a flash he went for his prey

And came up with a morsel

This is delicious

And that was all that we had for the day. 

We drove back to camp admiring the setting sun

The cold drove us to the restaurant again this evening and it was surprisingly good.   Earl and Cathy had Chicken schnitzel with salad, Alec had a chicken salad and I had grilled chicken breasts with spinach and butternut.  

Pretoriuskop is the oldest camp in Kruger National Park.  It is named after  the Voortrekker, Willem Pretorius, who died here in 1845. 

Pretoriuskop has a  large swimming pool  which we did not use and I did not take any photos but it is known to be the best one in the park.   There is also a play park for children.   
The Park Shop is good and the restaurant, a Wimpy, is open from 07:00 to 19:00.  

The ablutions were clean and neat and seemed well maintained.  There are hooks in the shower cubicles but no bench as there is not enough room to put them.  They do not have mixer taps which makes it difficult to adjust the water to the correct temperature.   Tonight, there was no hot water at all.   Another problem is that when someone is running a bath, the hot water in the shower stops running.

The laundromat was out of order.  However, we were able to have our washing done by dropping it off at reception in the morning and collecting it beautifully done and folded in the afternoon.   It is a free service but they say you may give a donation which we did.

There are two sections to the campground – the upper tier and the lower tier.  We were on the lower tier and it was the better section. The campsites are not well laid out.   It is difficult to know which area belongs to you.   The ground is also hard and uneven.  However, we had enough shade and access to electricity and a tap. 

It is a very pretty camp with lovely trees and it is good for birding.  

Game viewing around Pretoriuskop, we found, was not as good as elsewhere.  It is supposed to be good for finding rhino, sable and roan but we were not lucky in this respect. Having said all that, it is not a bad place to camp and I would go back another time.