Letaba Wilderness Trail

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Your tent by the river

Forget the comfy safari vehicle and all the mod-cons of a safari experience. If you want to get back to nature and have a genuine African wilderness experience then head for Letaba Ranch next to the unfenced border with Kruger National Park.

I’ve had my bucket shower under the stars, accompanied by chortling hippos with a vocal backing group of frogs, and am now tucked into my sleeping bag on a camping mattress in my little dome tent beside the river.

An elephant passes by...

A hippo ambles by on his way to the night’s grazing without a glance through my netting window.

Today we have walked a few kilometres with our armed ranger and armed guide, stopping to look at birds and browsing elephants, nibbling giraffe and skittish antelope, before coming back to our riverside camp, tucking into a tasty stew prepared by our guide, and then sharing stories around the camp fire.

Ssh! No, it’s not another hippo I can hear but the sounds of an anti-poaching unit on their nighttime patrol.

Then it’s up at dawn and another day spent exploring the banks of the Great Letaba River or following animal spoor in Big 5 territory on our 3-night, 4-day trail.

Hippos galore...

Category: Routes & Trails, Wildlife