Balule - Kruger National Park

The next day we left Satara and headed off to Balule, the smallest and most rustic camp in the park. We were particularly looking forward to Balule as we perceived it would be more in tune with our like of camping in  the bush.

Before we left Satara we stopped at the reception to warn them about the Canadian nutter harassing the Elephants, they listened politely but we didn't get the impression anything would be done about it, still we had done what we could.

The morning was very hot and sunny and by midday we had arrived at the picnic spot at N'wanetsi Dam for brunch. A nice spot but not as nice as Mloadozi Dam, we arrived at Balule in the late afternoon and by 5.30 had set up camp and headed out for a sunset game drive.

Balule is a very small camp and is solely geared for campers or caravaners, it has no facilities such as chalets, shops or restaurant so anyone wishing more comfort stays at Oliphants the formal camp a few miles away. The shortest route to Oliphants is across the Oliphants river but the heavy rains had blocked the causeway so to reach there you had to go the long way round, around 40km, which was a bind.  

As it was all we could do tonight was to drive a little way onto the causeway and watch the sun set on the river, but in itself that was lovely.

The night was quite atmospheric with lightning flashing behind an ominous white cloud but thankfully no rain. As we cooked dinner the fun began with the insect world. First a huge stick insect decided it would be nice to have a taste of what was cooking then no sooner had we moved him on a yellow scorpion (the less deadly type) scurried across between our feet but the piste de resistance were the Red Romans.

Red Romans also known as Baboon Spiders are part of the Tarantula family and are large, hairy and pink, even when your sober! They can also give you a nasty bite if they wish, we had first come across one in Swaziland but Balule seemed to be Red Roman central as in the space of three hours we had about 10 come through camp.

The off putting thing about these spiders is that they are very fast and they like to use the shadows to hunt and in the camp lights you naturally create shadows so they have the habit of seeming to constantly come at you wherever you move, Sue loves them - not!

At 5am we were suddenly woken by the what sounded like Lions fighting over a kill quite close to camp so we quickly jumped up and got ready to go out in search of them. The gate is opened at 5.30am and we were out by 5.45, coffee in hand, we want those Lions!

By 6.05 we saw our first Jackal and at 6.25am we found a young male and female lion. They were on their own so clearly the roars we heard earlier were sounds of passion not anger! Whilst mating Lions tend to leave the rest of the pride and become totally obsessed with the job in hand so to speak, not bothering to hunt or drink till they are finished, which can be some days!

These two were some way off the road and well hidden in the bush so it was difficult to see them let alone get a decent photo so as it was unlikely they would move far we decided to drive to Oliphants and extend our camp booking for Balule then come back later to see if we could get a better shot.

By 11am we were back with the Lions who by now had sheltered from the heat of the day under a tree and were even harder to see so we headed back to camp for breakfast, we would come back late in the afternoon when it would be cooler.

When we eventually found them again they had moved about 500 metres but were still not offering a decent photo opportunity and by 6pm we reluctantly had to leave them to get back to camp before they closed the gate knowing we were unlikely to find them again the next day as unless on a kill Lions will move some distance during the night.

Still at least we had finally found Lion, our first in three weeks in the Kruger. Then suddenly as if on queue when just a few miles from Balule and racing to make the gate a pride consisting of three adult Lionesses and two sub adult males stepped onto the track and trotted towards us!

They were probably part of the same pride as the courting couple and even though they were quite a few miles apart they kept looking in their direction and  ignored us as they went past. Suddenly one of the young males turned around and came back  prowling around the vehicle and looking at us as if he had never seen a human or a car before! It all happened in a few seconds but it would have made a great photo so it was frustrating that by now it was almost dark and before we could fit the flash he had gone after the others.

After three weeks in the Kruger we had not seen a single Lion  now we had seen seven in just a few hours. Maybe Balule would be the start of some good sightings, later we heard the Lions roaring throughout the night.

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