BLOUBERG NATURE RESERVE

I like people, but I’m not always in the mood to deal with them. That’s one of the more enjoyable aspects of the lockdown: fewer people. I would like to replace people with kudus, replace the mercurial loadshedding schedule with an enduring wood fire, and the monotonous walls of my city apartment with the silhouettes of Bushveld trees in Blouberg Nature Reserve, Limpopo.

There, I can light a fire at Mashatu Camp as the sun sets and a kudu breaks branches with its horns. There, I will head out into the veld the next morning knowing that this almost-forgotten provincial park, looked after by ranger Johan van Wyk and his team with great care and dedication, will be mine for the day.

This reserve is 18 km north-west of Vivo – about four hours from Pretoria. The Blouberg range towers over the landscape west of the Soutpansberg and is known for its Cape vulture colony of more than a thousand breeding pairs. The reserve is also home to buffalo, sable antelope and other rarities like mountain reedbuck. Predators include leopard, caracal and hyena. One of the camera traps in the reserve even captured a stray wild dog recently.

Tree lovers will want to linger here: There are big baobabs and also a wild fig forest – you can walk a short trail and greet these giants with a hand held to their trunks.

Cost: Day visitors R50 per adult; R25 per child. Molope Bush Camp R270 per night for two people, plus R90 per extra adult; R45 per extra child. Modumele Wilderness (one exclusive camping stand with a pit toilet; no power) R340 per night for up to two people, plus R160 per extra adult; R80 per extra child (max 10 people). Tamboti Bush Camp with communal ablution facilities: R850 per night for four people, plus R160 per extra adult; R80 per child

(max eight people). Mashatu self-catering house R950 per night for four people.

Contact: 073 068 3180 (Shadrack); bloubergreserve.co.za