Our next stop was the Blouberg Nature Reserve. Roger has been looking forward to this for a while now. During an earlier discussion with Martin Louw he mentioned that he would also like to visit Blouberg after flying over it many times. Besides that, the Blouberg Vulture Colonies is another IBA in Limpopo and the main reason for our visit.
We got a lovely campsite in the Molope Camp. There are 5 campsites spaced to allow complete privacy from your neighbours, but we were the only occupants so privacy was not a problem anyway.
It was a very cold evening so we decided to make a hot mutton curry instead of the usual braai. We have a good selection of curry mixes that Roger bought on night stops in Durban so in a jiffy the pot was on the stove.
The next morning we set out to visit all the points of interest around the reserve. It is dotted with large trees such as Baobab, Nyala, Ficus, Jackalberry and many more. There are no elephants in the reserve, so unlike the large trees in Mapungubwe these are not recently damaged by elephants. The Boababs do however bear the healed scars of previous encounters.
A visit to the Fig Forest was followed by a trip (4×4 only) to the Fountain which is the closest we can get to the Vulture Colony.
It was very cloudy but the vultures were out in force. What a sight!
After lunch we went to the lookout point, again strickly 4×4
Along the route we saw this magnificent rock fig
Now off to the vulture restaurant in case they were feeding. On the way there we saw this Red-Crested Korhaan. While watching we saw him climb onto a mound and call. Really very special!
Sadly there was no ‘life’ at the hide besides starlings snacking on maggots gleaned from deep inside the carcasses. They would pick an entrance, disappear to the inside and appear minutes later with a beak full. Yuk…….. Luckily for birds they can’t smell!
We had another cold night and were up early the next day. After getting ready to leave we again went to the hide but still were not fortunate enough to see Vultures close-up and feeding. We were disappointed but who knows, maybe later on in our trip we will have the privilege…
Roger was a little disapointed that the reserve did not include the whole of the Blouberg Mountain – the highest section is to the west of the reserve. We saw a reasonable number of animal species, including buffalo, but were very surprised at how nervous they were.
We enjoyed the rustic nature of the campsites and clean facilities offered and can recommend a visit.