Tzendze - yet another special place

On June 9th we set off from Letaba for our two night stay at Tzendze, not quite knowing what to expect.  The rest of the party extended their stay at Letaba, planning to meet up with us at Shingwedzi on the Saturday.

 Tzendze has to be one of the jewels in the Kruger crown, and it is kept polished to a brilliant shine by the amazing and delightful Roger and Elina, both of whom have been at Tzendze from the beginning.  (and, no, they are not a couple)

Tzendze began about 5 years ago, as the satellite camp to Mopani, 10 miles further north.  Mopani has no campsite, and so Tzendze came about.  Both are designed as low-impact facilities.  At Mopani the almost 100 bungalows are blended sympathetically into the surrounding landscape and are not visible from the road.

 Tzendze has no electricity, with solar power providing the lights in bathrooms and kitchens, and gas heats the water.  The individual camp sites are spaced well apart and nestled into the existing vegetation.

There is no gate guard and campers are asked to observe standard park opening and closing times, and the (very heavy!) gates have to be opened and closed each time one passes through.  The peace, silence and tranquillity have to be experienced to be believed.  The star display at night is incredible as there's no ambient light.

 We found game hard to come by during our time there, although there is a resident leopard, and lion and cheetah were both around.  That didn't really matter though, as the place was magic enough in its own right.

I was fortunate to spot some open-billed storks in a nearby pond - not a good pic, but proof of sighting!

 The real stars of Tzendze though, are Roger and Elina.  Their welcome is warm and gracious, and the camp is run to a very high standard.  They make their final 'rounds' at about 6 in the evening to check that everyone is happy, Roger with his file tucked under his arm in case he needs to record anything.  Kruger could do with a few dozen Rogers and Elinas!

Tzendze is the kind of place that automatically makes one lower ones voice in order to better able to hear the silence! It is also strikingly different from the older model KNP camp which imposes itself on the lanscape.  Mopani and Tzendze have clearly been designed to slip into place as seamlessly as possible.

Anyone who noticed the rookie error in a previous blog in which I identified a nyala as a tsessebe, just know I stand corrected, so you can all stop tsk-ing!