The thing about Marakapula Reserve is that it pretty much has it all. On the doorstep of the Kruger National Park with exclusive guided tours or self-drive adventures on the menu; a luxury lodge with private riverfront views and creature comforts you can’t live without; and its own Big 5 property that is home to all sorts of wonderful members of the wild!
On a recent trip to the reserve, we spotted a leopard slinking through the night, a baby waterbuck that seemed to have lost its mother, one rather large bull elephant, and a pair of enormous lions!
The landscape is varied with everything from leafy mopane woodlands to boulder koppies and baobab trees. Game drives are luxuriously long with dedicated coffee breaks that take you on a walk up a hill to a viewing platform that overlooks the reserve and its rivers. Herds of zebra and wildebeest, pairs of bushbuck, and giraffe can be seen from above, grazing and browsing on the trees’ abundant offerings.
Birds and butterflies catch the eye with their magnificent colours and calls, while creatures lower to the ground scuttle across your path with speed and agility. Chromatic skinks and their larger relatives, the monitor lizards, can be seen basking in the sun to regulate their body temperatures.
At night, the soft hooting of the southern white-faced owl can be heard, and its large amber eyes can be seen staring unblinkingly from the branches of a tree. The shy habit of the leopard brought this cat out at night, while the arrogance of the reserve’s lions meant that we got them in full sunlit display.
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