Holiday excursion to Marakele National Park

THABAZIMBI – The Marakele National Park is one of the youngest national parks in South Africa. The reasons for the creation of the park in 1988 were because the area is a biodiversity hotspot and also to deal with the Kruger National Park, which was overflowing with wildlife. Another big reason was to create a closer alternative that was malaria free for the people of Gauteng.

In 1998 they started to buy land next to the park to increase the overall size of the park. The goal was then to make the park large enough for big game. The overarching goal was to re-establish ecological processes of predator prey relations within the park.

An agreement was made with Mr Paul van Vlissing in 1999 to establish a private company. The company Marakele Parks Ltd was responsible for buying land, land rehabilitation, game introduction and management. Marakele Parks Ltd could also develop and oversee four safari lodges in the park. The income that came into the park from the lodges would be used to upgrade and develop the facilities in the park further. During this process the park has also grown to the size of 67 000 ha. In the future the park will hopefully cover an area of more than 110 000 hectares.

The accommodation in the park has also over the years have been moved and upgraded which was the case with the tented camp. The tented camp was upgraded to allow visitors more space and freedom of movement .The Caravan Park that was introduced into the park added a new perspective to the park that did not exist before.  The Bush Camp was also redone. The Bush Camp now has three clusters, accommodation eight people each.

The Thopi tented camp is located on the banks of one of the dams in the park. The ten luxury tents are set up for all facing the dam. All the tents are named after of birds that are found in the area.  You can sit back and wait for the wildlife to come to you. Among the animals that come to the dam are elephant ,kudu, impala, waterbuck, Blue Wildebeest and warthogs to name a few. If you are a bird lover take your binoculars and bird books because there are 360 identified species of bird that reside in the park.

At this time the Kwaggavlakte section of the park is the only section that is  easily accessible to standard motor vehicles. This section of the park, the roads is maintained in such a way that it is possible to view game from inside the safety of your own car. No open vehicles or passangers on the back of a bakkie is allowed

Maintenance work on the tower road has been completed the road has been widened to allow vehicles to pass one another with ease and also upgrade the road to a tar road to make it more accessible to the public. At the top of Tower Road there is not a lot of wildlife but the landscape more than makes up for it. It is a landscape photographers dream with that kind of view all around. This landscape resembels the fynbos vegetation found in the Western Cape with Proteas, Yellow wood and Cypress trees

The Park has the big 5. The park has at this stage also relocated, white and black rhino, gemsbok, blue wildebeest, giraffe, ground hornbill and eland. A number of species that existed in the park historically have also been re-introduced. This include kudu, duikers, bush babies and cheetah to name a few.

Each tent in the Thopi is equipped with everything that you will need. There is a fridge and freezer. The kitchen cabinets can also be locked; all the kitchen utensils are provided. There is a basin, toilet and shower that are private. The tents also have 220 Volt electricity that is supplied. The guests must just remember to bring their own bedding.

Local visitors are charged a fee of R15 a day. SADC visitors are charged R30 a day and children R15 a day. For international visitors the rates are R30 for a child and R60 for an adult. Accommodation at the Thopi tented camp is R500 a night for two people. Additional adults are charged at R90 a day and children at R45 a day.

There is also a new initiative where the public can buy a card at a cost of R700. With the card you can enter any National Park in the country at any time for a period of one year. The initiative was launched to in the hope of getting South Africans to go on holiday in the country more often.

Marakele National Park was also one of the first National Parks in the country where an entire herd of Elephant was successfully relocated into the park. The original herd of about 40 elephants has grown to more than 90. Since the park has become a tourist attraction more than 40 game lodges have been established in and around Thabazimbi.

In the Marakele National Park there is also 148 plant species and has a lot of diversity for a relatively small area that has to be preserved for the future generations.

The Marakele National Park is a must see for each and every South African.

See Kwêvoël for photographs.