Manyeleti - Place of Stars

According to Villiers Steyn's excellent article in the March 2011 edition of go! magazine, Manyeleti is Shangaan for 'place of stars' and it is certainly that.  No ambient light and zero pollution must make Manyeleti a stargazers dream. There are a few expensive luxury tented camps in Manyeleti, but African Ivory Routes have two tented camps which are a budget option at R250 pernight for two people.  As we were caravanning at Satara in the KNP it seemed an ideal chance to experience something totally different.  The booking was made and on June 1st off we went as excited as kids on an outing.  We elected to stay at Ndzhaka, in the middle of the reserve, which is on the banks

of a (dry when we were there) river with the tents set among trees and linked by wooden walkways. The feeling of being completely alone, seated at ones campfire, with nothing but complete silence and the odd animal noise, is hard to describe.  We felt completely safe, although apparently I did spend a lot of time saying 'what was that? and 'did you hear that noise'?   

We were looked after by the charming Monica and camp manager Derek, both of whom could not do enough for us - thanks guys.Our expectations were well managed by Villiers's article but for one small thing. The article stated that African Ivory guests are allowed to self-drive in the reserve between sunrise and sunset. This is, according to Derek, not so, as African Ivory attempt to run a low-impact operation, and prefer clients to use the game-drive option.  This is meant to be made clear to prospective guests when booking. We were only allowed to self-drive because we were the only guests that night, so lucky us!  

 The fences between Manyeleti and its neighbours were removed in the 1990s, so game roams freely over a wide area.  We were not fortunate enough to see lion or leopard (must have been dining with the rich and famous next door neighbours !) but saw the other members of the big three.  We also saw grey rhebok and side-striped jackal both of which were new sightings for us.   All in all, a fantastic experience - even if it was 3 degrees C that night!  Ndzhaka is a jewel of a camp and we felt very special and priveliged to have it to ourselves for the night. Our camp chairs were straight out of a movie about the Desert Campaign, and the bucket shower a novelty which we were too frozen to use! So yes, there is some basic maintenenance needed, but take all you think you might need, and be aware that it is a budget operation, and you will be rewarded by a unique and wonderful place, which may not retain that character for much longer - go while you can!