South Africa 2009

In November 2009 we spent eight days at Matombu Wild, a private lodge which is at the top of a valley in the Kranspoort pass, north of Middelburg, Mpumalanga Province (formerly Eastern Transvaal), South Africa. This private ranch has open grasslands, high ridges and deep valleys and a 5-star lodge perched at the top of a large and scenic valley. Meals, accommodation and service were all first class. Matombu Wild is operated by Forever Resorts.

While most of this trip was spent at Matombu Wild, we spent our first night of this South Africa trip in a guest house at Forever Resorts Loskop Dam, a few kilometres from Matombu Wild and a nice rest after the long flight from Canada. We also visited De Voetpadkloof Holiday Resort  and another game reserve near Loskop dam. Photos of Matombu Lodge Matombu Animals and other places nearby.

This trip to South Africa was primarily for photography but with the intention of a little trophy hunting. I was after a kudu and my friend Don was looking for an impala. Most of the hunting time was spent at Matombu Kamp but because the kudu proved to be very illusive we also visited two other game reserves in the Loskop Dam area. It took eight days to track down a kudu. Photos of hunting

Following or stay at Matombu Wild we traveled to Kruger National Park for a couple of days. While touring Kruger National Park we stayed at Grand Kruger Lodge which is about 10km from the park Crocodile Bridge Gate. The Crocodile Bridge Gate is in the South East corner of the Park and not very far from the Mozambique border. On our first visit to the park we entered through the Crocodile Bridge Gate and drove through to the Malelane Gate.

Our second day in Kruger National Park was a drive from the Malelane Gate to the Numbi gate which is about 130km if you travel directly on the main road. After leaving the Park we drove directly to the airport in Johannesburg. Kruger photos day 1 and day 2 plus a video of some of the animals we saw

The other couple that were traveling with us on this trip, Don & Ruth, also took photos. These are a few of them. Don’s photos