We had started our autumn trip through the Kruger National Park up in the far north of the reserve at Shingwedzi, and after three fantastic days there it was time to move camp again, heading south to tiny Orpen Rest Camp in the central regions of the Park.
We were in for a long drive down at leisurely game-viewing pace, stopping en-route at Mopani, Letaba and Satara to stretch our legs.
Very near Orpen we received a nice reward for a long day of driving, encountering a beautiful cheetah just as dusk was descending over the lowveld.
Having spent most of the previous day in the car, on the 30th of April we decided to take only short morning and evening drives and spend the hotter hours of the day relaxing in the camp.
We’ll dedicate a special post to the Orpen Rest Camp in another blogpost, but for now just a quick introduction. We spent two nights at Orpen, in the very spacious Oasis Cottage (number 15) right in the corner of the camp, with a clear view of Orpen’s famous waterhole (which is floodlit at night, and you can follow the action live via a webcam!). Enjoying an early morning cup of coffee and a rusk or two on the veranda and watching first a pair of leopard and then a pair of lion walk past within half-an-hour was undeniably one of the highlights of our visit! The game viewing in the general vicinity of the camp is always excellent, though the road network near camp is rather limited.
Come May Day, and it was time to head on again, to Berg-en-Dal in the far south-west of the Park.
Misty Orpen sunrise
