The park on Gauteng’s doorstep
Time is money and that’s exactly why the Pilanesberg is a great destination – it’s only a two-hour drive from Joburg. The camps might have seen better days, but you’re not here to sit on the stoep, you’re here to see animals!
It’s always exciting to explore a place for the first time. The landscape you’ve only ever seen in photos takes shape in front of your eyes. Sometimes it’s better in real life; other times you’d like to sue for false advertising… Pilanesberg is a bit of both. I arrive at Manyane rest camp and it seems like the North West Parks Board has forgotten that their premier game reserve even exists. The buildings are run-down and you could lose a toddler in the weeds. But the staff members I meet at reception are friendly and soon I’m off to look for a camping stand for the weekend. I pitch my tent under a cluster of thorn trees and have a look around. Yup, the campsite has enough trees to ensure every camper has that I’m-in-the-Bushveld feeling. Early the next morning I drive the Tshepe Route close to Manyane (see map on p 52). The facilities at the rest camp might have made for a poor first impression, but the natural scenery is much more beautiful than I expected. The mountains surrounding the camp were formed more than a billion years ago. The geology is complicated to summarise, but I’ll try: A volcano erupted and collapsed several times over centuries, forming mountains and valleys in concentric circles. The Pilanesberg is one of the best preserved examples of an alkaline ring-dyke complex in the world. ( Very exciting for geologists.) It’s mid-summer and the mountains are cloaked in green. Trees tower on the slopes and it looks like a leopard could be hiding in every single one. I scan the canopies until my eyes hurt. I’m so focused on finding that leopard that I nearly drive into an elephant bull on a bend. He’s not in the mood for chitchat so I reverse a few metres and wait for him to walk away. Who cares? I’d rather be stuck in traffic behind an elephant than a truck…
Shhh, it’s quiet
Later that afternoon I head to Bakgatla rest camp, with a detour into the west of the park along the Moloto Route (see map on p 52). Grassland rolls out between the mountains where herds of wildebeest and zebra graze. Elephants stand in the landscape like statues. I brake for a dung beetle to roll its ball across the gravel road. There’s less vehicle traffic in the west and north of the Pilanesberg. Most visitors and game-viewing vehicles keep to the roads
around man-made Mankwe Dam in the middle of the park because this is where the animals are most often seen. I much prefer the quieter sections. The Pilanesberg might not be very big (about 550 km², compared to the Kruger’s whopping 19 485 km²), but it’s big enough to make you forget about the outside world. I hammer in my tent pegs at Bakgatla, which has fewer trees and even more weeds than Manyane. No matter – I forget about the weeds when two friends from Joburg join me around the campfire later that night. Pieter Steyn and Simon Sonnekus were both at their desks this afternoon; now they’re drinking wine with me in the bush. This must be the main reason why the Pilanesberg is so popular. For the people of Gauteng – and for foreign tourists – the wilderness is within easy reach.
I tackle my leopard-finding mission the next morning with renewed vigour, but still no luck. Elephant, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe and impala, however, are abundant. It’s hard to imagine a time when there were almost no animals here. The park was established in 1979 and populated with 6 000 animals by Operation Genesis – one of the biggest wildlife translocation projects of its time. The lions came all the way from Etosha in Namibia. At midday we drive the Mankwe Route around Mankwe Dam (see map on p 52). Apparently a pride of lions has been sighted. We find some vehicles parked in a cluster, but the lions are some distance away and snoozing on their sides. Everyone waits. And waits. Eventually, the six lions get up and walk along the edge of the dam. Suddenly it’s like every person in the North West arrives. It becomes hard to find a place to see anything. Some people get out of their vehicles; others lift their kids onto the roofs of their vehicles for a better view – with hungry lions 50 m away!
On our last morning in the park, we drive all the loops around the dam. On one of those loops, called Mankwe Way, another visitor tells us about a leopard he just saw crossing the road and running up a nearby koppie. There’s one other vehicle at the sighting, its passengers scanning the hillside feverishly as if Charlize Theron might show up with a suitcase full of lotto money. We join them. Like a phantom, the leopard suddenly materialises on a rock. It gives us a fiery look, then disappears into the veld. The encounter is over so quickly it feels unreal. I check my camera screen to make sure I wasn’t dreaming and there it is: one of the most beautiful big cats in the world. The weeds, the tired facilities, the potholes… All is forgotten. Pilanesberg, I forgive you!