15 things to do at Marakele National Park

By Roxanne Reid
Huddling among rocky peaks and valleys in the heart of Limpopo’s Waterberg mountains, Marakele is a place of wild beauty and a refuge for large game species. It’s also home to one of the world’s largest breeding colonies of Cape vultures. Here’s my pick of 15 things to do at Marakele National Park. 

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1. Remember to fill up with fuel before going to Marakele National Park because you can’t buy fuel in the park. The nearest town is Thabazimbi 12km from the main entrance gate.

Marakele is a place of sanctuary' for big game like elephant, rhino and lion

2. One of the best things to do at Marakele is to go on a game drive and look out for some of the mammals that occur in the park, such as Burchell’s zebra, rhino, elephant, buffalo, giraffe, kudu, reedbuck, eland, klipspringer, gemsbok, sable antelope and tsessebe. Lion, leopard and brown hyena also occur here though you’ll need luck to see them.

The view from the top of the Sentech Towers hill

3. One of the more unusual things to do at Marakele is to see one of the world’s largest breeding colonies of the endangered Cape vulture by taking a drive to the top of Sentech Towers. You might see them riding the thermals anywhere in the park, but this is the road closest to their colony; when we visited, we looked down from the mountain onto them gliding through the air below us. 

Marakele's Bontle campsite is one of my all-time favourites across South Africa

4. Spend a night or two at the unfenced and well laid-out Bontle camping site in the western section of the park. It has everything a camper could want: grass, shade trees, sites that aren’t too close together, braais and clean ablutions. As a bonus you may catch sight of some of the game that comes to drink at the waterhole. 10 tented huts are currently under construction at the back of the campsite for those who like a little more luxury.

Your deck at Tlopi tented camp is a great place from which to watch the sun set

5. Stay at the Tlopi Tented Camp in the eastern section of the park, 18km from the main gate. Your wooden deck overlooks a dam where you can watch animals come to drink. Last time we were there we watched a herd of 30 elephant drinking and cooling off in the water. Be aware of naughty baboons and monkeys at your safari tent: keep food locked away in cupboards in the glassed-in kitchen and close up everything when you’re out.

6. Drive some of the park’s 4x4 roads to increase your range and explore further afield. If you don’t have a 4x4 check with reception which roads are possible in a sedan and watch out for signs at turn-offs that warn you of 4x4-only sections or else you might get into difficulties or damage your car.

7. Join a morning or sunset drive with an experienced guide who can tell you more about the park’s mammals, birds and trees.

Ikhutseng picnic site

8. Take a picnic to the Kwaggasvlakte section (western section) of Marakele. At the pretty Ikhutseng picnic site you can get out and stretch your legs, crane into the trees for some bird watching, and sit at comfy tables to enjoy a quiet picnic or braai. Remember to bring your own wood.

9. See how many birds you can chalk up in your few days at Marakele, which is excellent for bushveld birds. Apart from the large breeding colony of Cape vultures, Marakele is home to some 300 species, including Verreaux’s and Wahlberg’s eagle, wailing cisticola, black crake, African finfoot, orange-breasted bush-shrike, redbilled firefinch and blue waxbill.

The hide at Bollonoto dam

10. Visit the bird hide at Bollonoto dam for a chance to see some waders, water birds and warblers among the green reeds. Large mammals come here to drink too.

11. Go on an early morning bush walk with a guide, a chance to learn about tracks and signs in the bush, as well as the history and geology of the area.

12. Do the three-day eco 4x4 trail at the top of the Waterberg mountains. You’ll need a 4x4 with low range and high clearance. No trailers are allowed and only five vehicles (plus the guide’s) are allowed at a time. Departures are on Tuesdays and Fridays in the dry season (April to October) only. Following flood damage in March 2014, the trail was closed until 2015 and is being rerouted. If the new route is anything like the old one, you can expect a difficulty level of 3 (low-range and some off-road experience needed) to 5 (extremely technical, for experienced drivers only; some vehicle damage a possibility). Get more info here.

13. See if you can find some of the endemic Waterberg cycads (Encephalartos eugene-maraisii) that grow up to 5m tall. Just one of some 765 plant species you might find in this park, they’re named after author and poet Eugene Marais, who lived in the Waterberg for 16 years. They occur on the mountains at altitudes of 1 450m so your best chance of spotting them up close is on the eco 4x4 trail (see 12 above).

14. Ask at reception if you can visit one of the Iron Age sites with a guide. When we visited there was talk of making some of them available to the public.

Sunset at Marakele

15. Watch the sun set with a glass of something cold. Sunsets can be startlingly crimson here and are particularly attractive when reflected in Tlopi Tented Camp’s dam. See the sinking sun paint the rock faces various shades of ochre and pink.

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