KRUGER NATIONAL PARK - Punda Maria and Pafuri

We drove from Johannesburg to Punda Maria in the north of the Kruger Park on Tuesday arriving mid afternoon in time for a late afternoon drive. The northern part of the park is great for bird watching and usually not as good for game as further south, but we saw lots probably because it's the end of the dry season and the game hasn't  dispersed yet.

Guess who has come for coffee?

World Cup supporters

We drove from Punda to Pafuri the next day to Wenela Camp perched on top of a hill and stayed in a house belonging to the Chamber of Mines - a house straight out of colonial Africa.

 Pafuri Camp was built in 1918 on a low rise surrounded by mopane scrub overlooking the KNP to the west, Zimbabwe to the North and Mozambique to the east.  Harold Mockford spent 47 years (1937 - 1985) at Pafuri as recruiter, “temporary” customs and immigration officer and Special Constable of the SA Police. He was a dedicated conservationist. 

In the middle and late 1890's the supply to the Wits mines could not meet demand resulting in high wages, illicit recruitment and poaching of labour between the different gold mines. The illicit recruitment was carried out by unscrupulous individuals who “sold” the labour on to other traders before the recruit reached the mines all of which added to the already high costs.

By 1900 the RNLA was formed and Wits Native Labour Assoc (Wenela) was set up. Recruitment was done by runners from Mozambique – from 80 bases – recruits marched or travelled by ox/donkey wagon to the nearest rail head connecting to Jo'burg. Pafuri was one of the staging posts.

The area was favoured by opportunists, mainly diamond smugglers,  and our favourite view site on the banks of the river is named Crook's Corner where the infamous Barnard nicknamed "The Swaggerer" slipped across the border to evade the law. The banks of the river is lined with huge yellow evil crocodiles so it must have been a difficult choice - crocs or cops!

Zebra crossing