The Pafuri Triangle — a piece of wilderness in the very northern corner of South Africa’s Kruger National Park — is a land of giants. The trees are huge. The animals are huge. The beauty of the landscape is beyond comprehension.
This elephant looks small in the photo (which, incidentally, was shot from the doorway of my tent at Return Africa’s Pafuri Camp). Trust me though — he’s huge.
I spent three days at the Pafuri Camp, run by Return Africa, in the Makuleke Contractual Park. This section of the Kruger has a fascinating history, which I’ll describe in a future post.
Elephants and Baobabs: Kruger’s Photogenic Giants
I saw so many elephants during this trip and it’s been a struggle for me to narrow down the number of elephant photos I want to share. Same goes for the baobabs: I love these huge, ancient, topsy-turvy trees — which can only be found in the northern part of the Kruger — and I photographed them profusely. So before I go into the whole story of my trip, here are my favorite photos of the giants.
This is my favorite baobab photo because you can also see the shadow of our safari vehicle. Note how this tree, which may be more than a thousand years old, dwarfs all of the other trees around it.
My favorite elephant photo, which again makes the elephant look smaller than he really is. This was a special elephant sighting because it happened in Pafuri’s magical fever tree forest. Fever trees, while they don’t compare to baobabs, are majestic in their own way with clouds of lacy green leaves and eerie, green-tinted bark.
More elephants and fever trees.
A baobab in the late afternoon sun. The branches are dotted with weaver bird nests.
Baobab silhouettes at sunset.
A single male elephant, seen through the back of our truck. The elephant is in musth (pronounced “must”), as you can see from that dark, wet patch next to his eye. Male elephants in musth are particularly moody. He wasn’t too happy about our intrusion onto his road, but he held his temper.
We encountered the same elephant on the same stretch of road a couple of hours later. There was a car trailing behind him; the driver was afraid to pass the elephant and had been following along behind for 40 minutes.
Sunset at “the big tree”. Apparently this is the largest baobab in Pafuri. See the ant-like people on the bottom right?
Ezaya, our guide, demonstrates how to climb the big tree.
My colleges Bridget (left) and Mini (right). They climbed the tree but I elected to stay on the ground.
I’ll have more to say about Pafuri soon. In the meantime, feel free to read the posts I wrote about a previous visit to Pafuri in 2011. See here and here and here.
My stay in Pafuri was courtesy of Return Africa. Opinions expressed are mine.
Majestic land.
It really is!
What fantastic photos. And yes, I did wonder whether the elephant in front of the fever trees was a juvenile, because it looked so small!
Does the park have a poaching issue?
Thanks!
Yes, poaching — mainly rhino poaching — is a HUGE problem in Kruger and all over South Africa. Rhinos are being driven toward extinction at an alarming rate.
I’ve seen the stats on the rhino poaching and it’s tragic. Is it mainly fueled by Chinese medicine/ superstition? Because it does seem like ivory is on its way out worldwide, so there is hope for the elephants, even as it dies for the rhinos.
Yeah, apparently the demand is mostly in China but I think it’s happening in other Asian countries as well. Rhino horn is thought to be a natural remedy for erectile disfunction and also a cure for cancer. Which is crazy because from I’ve heard, the horns are basically made of hair.
Elephant poaching doesn’t seem to be a huge issue in SA (at least I never hear about it), but it is still a major problem in East Africa. Elephant poaching increased alarmingly in Tanzania last year. And Kenya was in the news a couple of weeks ago when they rounded up thousands of pounds of illegal ivory and burned it all in a giant pyre, as a way of sending a message to poachers.
The plight of the rhino makes me want to drop little parachutes of viagra all over Asia. 🙁 I guess we just have to hope the internet educates the populace.
I saw pictures of the ivory pyre. Impressive and yet so, so tragic.
Can you answer an old question of ours? Is it pronounced bay-oh-bab, bow-bab, or bow-bahb?
Very good question. Before moving here, I always said Bah-oh-bab, with a short a in the first syllable. But most South Africans say Bae-oh-bab, with a long a. So now I’ve adopted that pronunciation.
Thank you! That’s been driving me nuts for years. Unfortunately I have yet to hear it in person.
Ha! Well I have no idea if I’ve told you the right thing 🙂
Beautiful photos Heather, the north of Kruger is too often overlooked and I think it is the most stunning part of the park!
I agree!
Great pics,and thanks for the pronounciating tip.
Well hopefully I’m right 🙂
Magic! My favorite baobab photo was the one at sunset. I can’t believe how much you get to travel, Heather!
I like that one too. I know, I’m really lucky 🙂
Fabulous pics, lovely words, great area.
Thanks Di! Have you been to Pafuri? You’d love it.
Stunning photos of a beautiful place!
Thanks!
Wow! 🙂