The skies which had been hazy since leaving Johannesburg (“Jo-burg”), owing to the dust & smoke from coal-burning electric plants and diamond mining operations, cleared as we headed north to our next destination. Polokwane is the name of both a town and its nearby wildlife preserve…but is known mainly as the “fruit & veggie basket” of the region. Citrus groves particularly thrive in this area. En route to the wildlife preserve, we stopped at a tasting room for “Amarula”…a reportedly delicious liquor made from oranges and heavy cream. As it was still early in the day, I opted for the fresh orange juice instead which was delicious, too!
The Polokwane reserve is much smaller & less diverse than Kruger NP…and we were told that there were no dangerous animals in this park (except for white rhinos!), so we were able to take a 2 hour hike in quest of the more gentle critters…like birds and the many members of the antelope family. We didn’t find any rhinos but, sadly, did come across the scattered remains of an elephant.
Avians were quite plentiful at Polokwane. One interesting bird called the ‘buffalo weaver’, builds several nests in a single tree as decoys…in hopes that a hungry tree snake won’t be able to find the “real” nest containing the bird’s eggs or hatchings. A clever ‘bait & switch’ survival strategy!
Dab's Travelogue 