Tamboti Tented Camp, Kruger National Park

 

Satisfying Simplicity

The most rugged and spartan of the 3 tented camps reviewed this month by Characterstays, Tamboti Tented Camp is the real deal in terms of an African safari experience. The authentic canvas tents have 8 lovely large netted windows and a wooden door onto a private deck overlooking a riverbed. Each tent is set amongst indigenous trees and the dappled shade creates an endless play of pattern on the khaki-green canvas roof and walls. There are no bathrooms at the tent, but the forested walk to spotless and spacious communal bathrooms make up for this lack. Twin beds, a full size wooden wardrobe, electricity, a fan, a fridge and glossy wooden floors elevate this stay well above grovelling in the ground. There is an outdoor table and chairs and each tent has its own braai area.

Tamboti Tented Camp is situated near the Orpen Gate of the Kruger National Park. It is a productive game area, with the highly recommended Big Five tarred road to Satara Camp.

Accommodation experience:

This is as authentic as one gets in terms of a tented safari experience and I play my part well. I arrive wearing an oversized sun hat and three-quarter length linen pants, carrying an old leather duffle bag and my camera as rifle. In keeping with the safari theme, we drink gin and tonics on the deck in the evening, watching elephants pull down trees on the opposite bank of the river. A Genet cat jumps onto our deck with eerie stillness and a Honey Badger rifles through the bush next to our tent.

By now we have been in the Kruger National Park for almost two weeks, and we consider ourselves specialists. No longer content with the Big Five or calm sits in hides overlooking water holes, we are on the hunt for the most elusive finds. We have chosen the Orpen area specifically to seek out the rare wild dog, as this region has the highest concentration of the mere 200 wild dog in the Park.

We set out as the gate opens in the early morning, where open plains shrouded in morning mist set the scene for our hunt. We soon become distracted by four Ground Hornbills perched in a dead tree, performing a haunting dawn lament. This display is followed by a deep red African sunrise and a hovering Kingfisher perfectly catches the morning sun before diving down to a splashy breakfast.

Finally, as we have almost forgotten our mission, we chance upon them – a pack of 14 wild dog, running synchronised along the road in the golden light. We follow them for several kilometres, watching their antics and interactions. It is a beautiful privilege and once again the Park has not failed to deliver on its gentle surprises, calming and inspiring the mind and feeding the soul. 

Punda Maria Tented Camp, Kruger National Park

Gently Slowing

With soft twin beds, an en-suite bathroom, ceiling fan, a private viewing deck and an outdoor kitchen, Punda Maria Tented Camp is both pleasingly simple and satisfyingly comfortable. The tents are situated on the perimeter of the Punda Maria National Parksboard gate camp at Kruger National Park, overlooking natural, open bushveld. The spacious canvas-enclosed shower has views overlooking wide, green Fever Trees. Located in the far North of the Park, the setting offers a fascinating array of migrant birds, Baobab trees and a viewing site of the great Limpopo River and border to Mozambique.

The camp itself has a forest walk through indigenous bush, a welcome relief after time in the car. In the surrounding area we find the elusive Grey-Hooded Kingfisher, various colourful Rollers and Bee-Eaters, the Saddle-Billed Stork, Ground Hornbills and the cutest little Scops Owl. We also happen upon a leopard just outside the camp and cheeta further South towards Shingwedzi.

Accommodation Experience:

We had started our safari in the game-rich Southern and Central areas of the Park. And after the initial frenzy of the hunt for the Big-5, we began to slow down and appreciate the smaller, rare sightings. We were ready to move North. We watched the landscape change, becoming more lush, with greener trees and bluer waters. Finally the pace slowed, the zoom-lens envy settled and we became content to simply drink in the sounds, sights and smells of the wild. We spent ages at water holes and river bends, content to watch the animals go about their interesting interactions.

This is the power of a game reserve – to bring about a gentle slowing. It can be difficult to move from a very busy life straight into the abyss of free time, and game viewing offers a helpful transition into stillness. While speculating and hunting for wildlife, one can initially be busy, both physically and mentally action-oriented, but in a way that takes one completely away from the everyday stresses of life. This leads naturally into a mindful attentiveness and a quietening. Until finally one is calm and a quieter, better version of oneself - allowing a renewed reconnection and appreciation of oneself, one another and the natural world.

Hamilton's Tented Camp, Kruger National Park

Natural Connection

Following an 1880’s Africa Explorer theme, Hamilton’s Tented Camp is everything that luxury safari accommodation should be. Romantic tented suites are spaced far apart under ancient Jackalberry Trees, connected by raised wooden walkways. Set in a private concession right within the central, Big 5 game-rich area of the Kruger National Park between Skukuza and Satara, visitors have access to exclusive roads as well as their own private game viewing deck, with each suite overlooking a different curve of the Nwatsitsontso River.

The tents embrace the safari theme, with khaki-green canvas walls, oil lamps, a colonial style writing desk, old trunks and glossy wooden floors. The extra-wide King size beds have fine white linen and are draped with white mosquito nets. With air-conditioning, electricity, a generous wardrobe, thick, soft, white robes and towels, a glorious slipper bath overlooking the river and a private outdoor shower, this stay is both traditional and sumptuous.

We choose to stay in Tent 6, the furthest away from the restaurant, overlooking open bushveld. The suite is surrounded by windows, with two sets of double doors opening onto the riverfront deck. From the suite we see giraffe gliding past above the trees, and we hear an elephant munching. In the night we hear the call of hyena and hippos grunting, and we wake to the sound of a lion roaring so close by we need no further motivation to get up and head out for the morning game drive.

Back at camp after a successful morning drive, delicious meals are served at individual tables on an expansive deck overlooking the river. We watch an African Civet cat slink through the grass right below the deck and we drink a toast to our happy discovery of this wonderful place.

Accommodation Experience:

Sometimes the most intense loneliness comes within a relationship. With age comes the growing chasm of different interests, unspoken fears, and small slights opening deep wounds. Yet arriving at Hamilton’s luxurious and romantic Tented Camp, it is instantly clear that any divide between us had never really existed except in our own imagination. We immediately forget our sniping and become connected by our sense of shared joy at each new discovery. We move enthusiastically from exhilirating game drives to glorious meals, to heavenly bubble baths, to massages in our beautiful suite.

By evening we are sitting peacefully on our private balcony, relaxing in comfy Morris chairs. We enjoy sun-downers overlooking the river where a Saddle-billed Stork lands clumsily amongst the reeds. We both spontaneously admit that we would prefer to skip the evening game drive and enjoy our lovely view and the silence of our corner of the camp. 

Psychologist James Finley says that one of the best ways out of an impasse in a relationship is to be real and vulnerable about your own experience in the relationship. Soon we find ourselves speaking honestly about our fears and longings. In such a beautiful riverside setting, the words come easily and the feelings are gently held by the natural environment. A fresh breeze blows through our relationship, thanks to this caring accommodation situated in this unspoilt corner of the earth.

Kruger National Park Tented Camps

From the Sublime to the Spartan

There is something other-worldly about driving in through the gates of the Kruger National Park. Pre-historic looking giraffe glide past in the bushveld and armour-plated rhinos graze, defensively protecting their baby rhinos. A furtive hyena pauses to sniff the air then slinks off and disappears into the scrub, leaving you wondering if you imagined seeing it.

One cannot help marvelling in wide-eyed wonder at the privilege of entering such a vast expanse of pristine natural land. Larger than some countries, it is an extraordinary space set aside for ordinary people like us to enjoy while the wild natural world continues its interaction unchanged by the decades.

And what better way to commune with this wild nature than in tented accommodation, set up alongside an ancient tree, safely raised on wooden platforms and overlooking river beds. This month Characterstays has the enviable task of reviewing 3 very different levels of tented accommodation in the Kruger National Park. We start with the sublime Hamilton’s Tented Camp in the Big 5 game-rich Satara area. Then we move North to the stylish, simpler Punda Maria Tented Camp, famed for its varied migrant bird life, Baobab Trees and wide, lazy great Limpopo River. Finally we wend our way back Southwards to the spartan and satisfying Tamboti Tented Camp near Orpen, territory of the rare finds like wild dog, jackal and smaller cats.

These eco-friendly tented stays are one of the best ways of appreciating the wonder of being in such an unspoilt, wild environment. On a quintessential safari experience, one can embrace the Kruger National Park slogan “Custodians of Nature”, engaging in the natural world as explorers have done for hundreds of years before. 

Kruger National Park Tented Camps to be reviewed in August:

• Hamilton's Tented Camp (near Satara)
• Punda Maria Tented Camp (at Punda Maria)
• Tamboti Tented Camp (near Orpen)

Other recommended Kruger National Park character stays:

•  Plains Tented Camp
•  Lion Sands Treehouses
•  Rhino Walking Safaris