African Ivory Route

We have an absolute stunner of a country, in particular the Limpopo Province characterized by contrasting landscapes, the abundance of wildlife and nature based tourism opportunities. Situated in this beautiful province is the African Ivory Route cultural campsites and it was an adventure just to reach them. We planned our route to 3 of the cultural camps during the long weekend breakaway in April – mind the delayed blog post.

It was our second time at Baleni camp which is situated on the banks of the Klein Letaba river near Giyani. This is my favourite cultural camp thus far and I don’t think it will ever change. The weather is always great, neither to hot (lying) nor to cold (telling the truth). The camp is built opposite a natural hot spring, named Mkhulu a sacred place with legends abound with Nzunzu, a snake as its protector. The local Tsonga women, mine the salt from the river and can be used in cooking or taken as a remedy to cure high blood pressure, body aches and to avoid bad dreams. You can purchase some salt at the camp. The crystals are bigger than what we are used to and it is saltier but I prefer using Baleni Camp Salt in my cooking than iodized salt. It has a much better taste to it.

The camp guide, Thinashaka, told us some camp fire stories and legends about Mkhulu, how a man was set alight by the snake spirit that protects this sacred place and you can hear the hooves of horses galloping near the spring. There are signs when you are prohibited to enter and when you are welcome to. For instance when the water is murky or when reeds are at the entrance then you may not enter. One is allowed to bath in the hot spring but it should not be used for business. Great respect is given to the hot spring but you have to wonder if the legends are true. The next morning around the crackling camp fire we enjoyed our morning coffee while listening to the cow bell melody in the distance.

Fundudzi camp is situated in the Soutpansberg mountain forest on a terraced hillside within the Land of Legends. The landscape is the complete opposite of Baleni with bright green moss and the ever present smell of wet earth. We were welcomed by a slight drizzle and velvet monkeys entertaining us from the tree tops. Or was it the other way round … It was colder at the foot of the Launame Mountains and we found comfort by sitting around our camp fire. Although it was short lived due to rain.

Modjadji camp was our last stop for the long weekend and is located in the Modjadji Cycad Reserve. This was the only night that we met fellow adventurers. The previous two nights we had the camp to ourselves. That’s what makes the African Ivory Route a must for travellers wanting a little me time. After arriving at dark, we could only see the camp by means of lanterns and our flashlights. It was equally stunning to the other camps although each camp has its own charm.

A definite bonus is that all the camps have a fully fitted and functional kitchen and that camping chairs are a non-essential. It is all provided. I got to bake my first bread – shocker I know.  The only two items that you have to take along is bedding and flashlights. Although paraffin lanterns light up the camp during the night and morning, the rondavels are a bit dark inside and a flashlight certainly helps.

As rule of thumb my appearance also known as flat hair or no make-up is connected to the level of luxury or as I would like to call it – electricity that we have on our travels. Therefore flat hair means no electricity and the amount of make-up applied is dependent on my mood. There is no need to say that on this trip we didn’t have any of it. The pictures speak volumes – pun intended, although my mood was fine. I was very excited on this trip though because Marius bought me a 12V hairdryer that I could plug into the dual-battery system. Much to my surprise was that the wanna be hairdryer doesn’t even move my hair let alone dry it, so I tried a different technique. But for the love of all thing holy, don’t do it! All it does is tangle your hair. Enjoy the beautiful Limpopo province with your hair in a pony, it’s more relaxing and less frustrating. 

The face should act as a warning why it was a bad idea to start with. If you ever try this let me know - I have to know ... Don't try this at home or anywhere else for that matter!