Pilansberg and Dinokeng

Monday 12 April to Wednesday 14 April

Lockdown Day 382 to 384

We stayed in Bakubung Lodge in Pilansberg for 2 nights. They have great specials on at the moment. Even so the place was so quiet with only a few rooms occupied. It's sad and desparate to see all these places so empty. South Africa really needs to work hard on getting the population vaccinated so that we can start welcoming tourists back here. In the last 6 or so months Neil and I have stayed in all the major National/Provincial Parks in South Africa that focus on the Big 5 or big predators;14 parks in all. (We have also now stayed in every camp in the Kruger- with the exception of the all-inclusive lodges.) When travel resumes and you are ready for a safari, feel free to contact us for some guidance and perhaps we'll be able to travel with you too. Local knowledge is good but up-to-date, tried and tested knowledge is better. 

On Wednesday we stayed at Chameleon Bush Lodge in Dinokeng Game Reserve. Dinokeng is a newly proclaimed Big 5 game reserve in Gauteng. 170 individual land owners working together with the Provincial authorities. We couldn't believe it either! And it feels very much like you are in the bush, eventhough it's just a stone's throw from Pretoria. There are a few public roads and some huge electricity pylons traversing the park but they have developed very nice self-driving routes and most of the lodges are well spread out and don't detract from the natural surroundings too much. I'd suggest an overnight stop here rather than a soulless ORT airport hotel any day.