EXPEDITION WILD
Lonely Bull Primitive Wilderness trail
Letaba Valley, central Kruger National Park
Expedition Basics:
6 night extended primitive backpacking trail exploring the Letaba River valley,
located in the central region of the Kruger National Park, this trail is commonly known as the Lonley Bull wilderness trail
Late September 2019 - late dry season, hot and dry!
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Overview:
The Lonely Bull backpacking trail is located in the central region of the Kruger National Park and is currently one of the only three primitive backpack trails in the Kruger. The area is made up of predominately mopane woodland that straddles the west-east flowing Letaba River the life blood of this region. The other two main features of this wilderness area is the Tsendze drainage line that flows from the north into the Letaba forming the eastern boundry, and the long north-south running sandstone ridge to the west of the Tsendze that give great elevated vistas of this central region. Its truly a wilderness area worth visiting.
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Trail Dairy:
Lonely Bull proved to be a fitting name for this trail as we came across many lone male buffalo and elephants as we traversed this area. With the river being the main water source in this region, and being the tail end of the dry season we found the game and bird viewing to be excellent.
As it turned out we started on possibly the hottest day of the year, easily into the late 30’s early 40’s, it was a proper scortcher and as many of the locals know this is the tell tale signs of a larger weather system or front pushing in from the south west. Typically this hot spell is followed by a sharp transtion starting with high winds from the north, before swinging 180 degrees and then blowing from the South. This hit us on our second night as we bunkered down on the leeward side of the southern bank of the Letaba River. This proved to be a life saver and was only with the exceptional knowledge and guidence of Wayne Te Brake from www.lowveldtrails.co.za who was our lead guide on this trip (as many before) that we where spared the drama that would have unfolded if we had camped out in the open - it was a dramatic show of mother natures power.
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With the extremely hot weather we spent the first two nights on the river with every other animal it seemed desperate for some relief, but as the cooler weather pulled in we moved north into the sandstone ridge elevating us above the Tsendze drainage system to the east providing awesome views of the surrounding area.
One scene I will never forget was what looked like a dust storm in the distance that later proved to be a huge buffalo herd moving on mass down to the river, kicking up dust continuously for what seemed like forever, nice to know these moments still exist. This dry land wilderness had some special feeling to it.
From the top of the world we traversed south west into the ‘bad lands’ a remote and largely dry mopane woodland that at this time of the year is the last remaining grazing left. Large herbivores like hippos and elephants trek in what seems like an endless commute from the river to these grazing areas, deeper and deeper into the Badlands in a daily rhythm that you could almost set your clock with.
One of the other highlights worth mentioning was Kusumba Springs, just north of the Letaba River. We had a quick visit but this place certainly deserves a dedicated trip. Next time…
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