Arnoud Quanjer Wildlife Photography

The Makuleke concession is named after the people (the Makulekes) that were forcibly removed in 1969 to an area close to the western portion of the KNP when their land was confiscated and added to the Kruger National Park. Under the post-1994 land restitution program in South Africa they launched a land claim to regain their ancestral lands. In 1998 the Makulekes had their ancestral land restored to them; they own a substantial section of the park. The contractual park agreement between the Makuleke and the SANParks granted the community the right to co-manage (with the Kruger National Park) and commercialize their portion of the park for their own benefit. They have since started to exploit the Makuleke concession and have granted concessions to three companies; and EcoTraining is one of them.

In the Makuleke there are a number of special places that you will see during your months training. I've listed most of them on this page. In the Photo Gallerie link in the menu on the left of your screen you'll find pictures of all these places. 

Mutale waterfall and potholes

One of the hidden gems of the Kruger National Park is the waterfall and potholes of the Mutale river. The waterfall and potholes are only accessible using a 4x4 and I'm still not sure if they are accessible to tourists. When you enter the Kruger National Park through Pafuri gate you'll pass the the access road to the falls. When you drive through the gate the access road is directly to your right (it's a fence maintenance road). Follow this road, take the first dirt road to the left and follow that till the end. The falls are then a short walk (800m) downstream. As you have not yet formally entered the KNP you might argue that anybody can use that road. We were at the falls twice and I saw a number of tourists there so I guess at least some people use the road to get to the falls.

The falls are formed by the Mutale river. This river flows into the Luvuvhu river a couple of kilometers downstream. When you're at the falls you have to realize that although you haven't formally entered the KNP you are within the fence and can thus expect all kinds of wildlife roaming about. When we were there we saw elephant and buffalo droppings everywhere. You might argue that for this reason it's probably not a good idea to try to visit the falls on your own.

Lanner Gorge

In the Makuleke area of the Kruger National Park lies a hidden gem called Lanner Gorge. Over millions of years the Luvuvhu river has cut its way through the rocks creating a gorge. From a high lookout point you get a magnificent view of Lanner Gorge and the bushveld surrounding it. If you catch Lanner Gorge on a sunny day then it must be one of the most beautiful places in the Kruger Park, if not in South Africa.

During our stay in the Makuleke concession we visited Lanner Gorge twice.

Luvuvhu Bridge

Driving on the tar road from Pafuri Gate in the direction of Pafuri and Punda Maria you will cross a bridge over the Luvuvhu river. This bridge marks the boundary between the Makuleke concession and the SANP managed part of the Kruger National Park. Stopping at the bridge is a must because you can see buffalo, nyala and elephant in the riverbed on a regular basis. Birding is also good from this bridge. From this bridge we had many sightings of Trumpeter Hornbills, two sightings of a African Crowned Eagle and even Pel's Fishing Owl is spotted on a regular basis from this bridge.

During our EcoTraining course we used to have sundowners on the bridge a lot (looking at the sun setting while drinking beer). I've had sundowners at a number of special places in Africa, but the Luvuvhu Bridge ranks high on my list of favorite sundowner places.

Fevertree Forest

In the Northern part of the Kruger National Park you're likely to scattered specimens of the Fever Tree Acacia (Acacia xanthophloea). This tree is unique in appearance due to its yellow-green trunk and branches. This appearance and the fact that it usually grows near streams and rivers contributed to its name. When the early settlers moved from the Cape province to the lowveld they usually put up camp next to a river or stream. Near water you'll find a lot of mosquittos, and thus a lot of the settlers contracted malaria. The settlers blamed the Fever Trees for the disease because they all got sick in places where these green trees grew. Due to the combination of the trees looking weird and people getting sick they got the name Fever Tree.

In the Makuleke there are a couple of areas where there are so many Fever Trees that it can be called a (mini) forest. Near the Crooks Corner is the largest of these mini forest. On the southern side of the Luvuvhu in the Kruger National Park there is a small patch of it which is accesible to visitors of the KNP. The main part of it lies on the northern side of the Luvuvhu though and is thus not accesible to visitors of the KNP. During our EcoTraining course we drove through the fevertree forest a couple of times. The weather didn't always cooperate (clouded/rain) so some off the pictures might look a bit dull.

Crooks Corner

At Crooks Corner the borders of South Africa, Mozambique (formerly Portuguese East Africa) and Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) meet at the confluence of the Limpopo and the Luvuvhu rivers. The Limpopo river used to flow throughout the year, but due to the amount of water which is used upstream the Limpopo is now a perannual river. When we arrived for our EcoTraining course in November 2005 the Limpopo was completely dry and there was a trickle of water in the Luvuvhu river. Two weeks into the course there was heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of both the Limpopo and Luvuvhu rivers which caused them to flow once again.

If there's no water in the Limpopo river then animals can cross freely into Zimbabwe which puts them at risk of getting poached. The animals which are most at risk are the recently relocated rhinos and the elephant population.

Crooks Corner gets its name from the fugitives from the law could just slip across one of the borders and take refuge in a foreign territory when the authorities came searching for them. The hunters at Crooks Corner realized that they could supplement their income from ivory by recruiting labour for the Witwatersrand mines, and an illegal trade in labour began. The government eventually put a stop to this and Wenela was given sole authority to recruit labour. The Wenela recruiting station now stands as a sombre reminder on the S63 loop near Pafuri.

The Ivory Trail memorial

The Makuleke concession lies at the heart of the old ivory trail were the borders of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe meet. When white fortune seekers arrived in this region in the second half of the nineteenth century they made a huge impact on the region. The nineteenth and twentieth century has had an ambivalent attitude to the hunters, criminals and poachers, who made their livelihoods here decimating game populations. Between 1910 and 1929 a well-known elephant hunter named Stephanus Cecil Rutgert Barnard roamed these parts. He was named “Bvekenya” by the Shangaans and his exploits are admiringly recounted in T.V. Bulpin’s book “The Ivory Trail”. Ivory hunter Cecil Barnard hid on an island in the middle of the Limpopo near Crooks Corner in the '20s to avoid being tracked down by pursuing rangers and police - hence the name Crook's Corner. Ironically Barnard later mended his wayward life and became a ranger himself.

In the 1986 a memorial for Cecil Barnard was built in the Makuleke concession near to the island where he hid in the 1920's by the Barnard family. I'm not a big fan of hunters, or memorials which have been built in their memory, but Cecil Barnard is a part of the history of the Crooks Corner area so I've decided to add pictures of the Ivory Trail memorial on my website. The memorial is not accessible to tourists so this is probably the only look you'll ever get of it.

You can find pictures of the Ivory Trail memorial in the photo gallery.

Map of the Makuleke Contract Park