lonely bull trail

A half hour drive from the Mopani Camp left us in a totally unspoilt piece of the Kruger with our two guides, Ian and Dave. From this point onwards its hiking through Mopani woodland, along sand rivers and along the Letaba river. Routes are not fixed. The guides plan as you go along. The only definite is the final spot where you will be picked up four days later. In between the route could be based on water availability, following tracks or simply how fit the group is feeling.We had some very fortunate sightings, plenty of buffalo, elephants, hippos, zebra, kudu, impala, klipspringer and even a leopard. At night, camping along sand rivers and the Letaba, sounds of hyenas, lions and hippos fill the night air. For me the most amazing thing about the trail is that from the moment the drop off vehicle leaves you until you are picked up four days later the only sign of humanity is the odd airplane flying overseas from OR Tambo. All paths are created by animals walking through the bush. None are man made. The randomly chosen camp sites are left in such a way that you cannot even see you had just slept there up to an hour before. There aren't even any human footprints until you make them.An absolutely amazing trip and I will definitely go back to do it again!

8 of our friends went on the 4 day 3 night guided hike in the Kruger National Park in Limpopo, South Africa during the beginning of May 2014. What an amazing experience. We were collected by our two very knowledgeable and professional guides at the Mopani rest camp. We were then transported with an open game vehicle to the starting point where Ian and John gave us the safety briefing before setting off into the bush. After a two hour hike, Ian selected a camp site in a dry riverbed after testing for water. We pitched our tents and dug a water pit, lined with rocks, which gave us clean safe drinking water. Day two we hiked with day packs (food, water and cameras) to a sandstone outcrop. We saw almost no animals, but plenty of birds, especially a honey guide which tried the entire day to get us to follow him to a bee hive.After another spectacular sunset, we sat and chatted next to the fire for the rest of the evening. Day three we had to hike 15 km as we wanted to be close to the end point on the last day. It was the National Elections and we were exited to get home and vote in our 5th democratic election. We stumbled upon a small pan with a very large hippo, which charged in less than a second from seeing us. The guides knew exactly what to do and we retreated to let the hippo go off on a separate path. Next we saw a heard of buffalo and waited on a giant ant hill until it was safe to carry on.We then joined the animal "highway" to the Letaba river where we saw two "lonely bulls", one buffalo and one huge elephant from up close. Less than 200 meters further, we surprised a large male leopard next to the river bank which roared and disappeared into the bush. We set up camp on the same spot with a magnificent view of the river. During the night, the lions were very vocal on the far bank of the river. The last day, we had a 200 meter walk to the waiting vehicle, and were spoiled by some good game sightings on the way back to Mopani. The hike gives you the freedom to decide how far you want to hike and what type of activities you want to do. You carry all your camping gear, food and water and you need to be relatively fit. What an unforgettable experience. Well done to the parks board and the fantastic guides.

We planned our trip to Kruger for quite some time. We wanted not only to drive through and see animals, we wanted to get a feeling for the park and have a more natural look at everything. What better way to do that than hiking through the park for a couple of days and sleep in the wild?We organized backpacks, a tent, food and everything we could think of -and carry!The trail started from Mopani where we first met our rangers - Marina and Shawn - usually there can be up to 8 participants - but we were a small group - just me and my friend and Richard an "observer" who also does trails in the Kgagadali.We where dropped of near the Letaba and after some security advice (if something unforseen happens "get behind our rifles" of the rangers) started walking single file through mopani trees -it was quite a walk that first afternoon, getting used to the possibility to "run in" wild animals, carrying the backpack, enjoying the nature - and coping with the heat and humity!After a couple of kilometers we arrived at a place where we decided to camp, beautiful views of the river, "showering" at the river, and taking the "ogre" when you usually would look for a bathroom and toilet.Each guest cooks his own food and is completely independant what to eat - take enough small snacks and stuff that doesnt need ages to prepare.Later we sat around a small fire and talked - amazing stories from really interesting people.The next days followed a similar pattern, getting up early and start for a new walk, the rangers are free to decide where to go and where to camp - so every trip will and can be different!We learned how to find water (we didnt even use the waterpurifier we bought), saw many small and some big animals, learned about tracks, birds - our rangers simply told us everything they realized we could be interested in. Thanks so much for that!We really enjoyed that experience - it changes your point of view to be in the wild for a while with people who love their work and nature.No cell phone reception, no bathroom - just you and some people in the wild!If you have the chance - get on a trail!

our second trail we did after the oilfants - guides piet and duncan great, location was beautiful - again up and close with nature - what a lekker kuier and guides walk always the best. highly recommended.