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Shimuwini Bushveld Camp, Kruger National Park

16/3/2016

10 Comments

 
Shimuwini Bush Camp, Kruger National Park
By Roxanne Reid
There’s something special about the atmosphere of the bushveld camps in the Kruger National Park. They’re quiet, without shops or restaurants, so there’s a sense of being closer to nature. After camping in the Kruger National Park for a couple of weeks, we treated ourselves to two nights at Shimuwini Bushveld Camp – with mixed success.

​Once you leave the tar road to drive along the riverfront S141 to Shimuwini Buishveld Camp, northwest of Letaba in the northern section of Kruger, you find a different world where only people visiting Shimuwini are allowed. It’s a blissfully peaceful drive, winding along among silver cluster leaf, leadwood, mopane and baobab trees, stopping in a pull-away to look out over the river and watch the wildlife that lives there or comes to drink.
Shimuwini Bushveld Camp, Kruger National Park
​Shimuwini is a Shangaan word meaning ‘place of the baobab tree’. The living and eating area of our chalet was outdoors in a deep porch under thatch that was cool even at midday. There was a gas stove and a fridge that ran on generator-powered electricity for part of the day. One bedroom looked out on to the porch and river through big glass sliding doors, the other had a window overlooking the river.
Shimuwini Bushveld Camp, Kruger National Park
​By far the chalet’s best feature was the view out over the green grass and jackalberry trees to the river beyond. We could kick back and relax in the shade to watch warthog, crocodile and a hippo with a teeny-tiny calf no bigger than its mom’s head, impala, kudu or waterbuck grazing on an island in the river.
Shimuwini Bush Camp, Kruger National Park
​There was a host of birds from pied, brownhooded and great kingfishers to blackcrowned night heron and greyheaded bushshrike. Yellowbilled hornbill, crested barbet, blackheaded oriole and green pigeon feasted on the jackalberry fruits right in front of our chalet. We saw tree squirrels chasing each other in the trees, watched kurrichane thrushes hopping along the ground in search of food and listened to the insistent ‘three blind mice’ call of the chinspot batis. All of this without leaving camp.

As the afternoon cooled and the sun prepared to set we’d take a walk along the riverfront to the hide overlooking the river where we might find black crake, goliath heron, a group of seven water thick-knees, go-away birds squawking from the trees or arrow-marked babblers jabbering nineteen to the dozen.
Shimuwini Bush Camp, Kruger National Park
On one of these walks we heard an elephant ripping grass and found him about six metres from the camp fence, mobbed by a clutch of visitors wielding phone cameras. We watched for a little while and then moved on to the hide. The bull endured the humans’ excited chittering for a while before he lost patience; he turned to face them and stood tall on his front legs holding his head high – a telltale sign of irritation. Then he turned and stomped off through the water, swish, swish, below us at the hide. We could almost have reached out to touch his back.
Elephant, Shimuwini Bushveld Camp, Kruger National Park
Shine the duiker
Shimuwini used to be the home of Shine the grey duiker. Her mother was killed by a leopard and Shine arrived at Shimuwini with her umbilical cord still attached in 1993. She was raised by the camp manager’s wife and became a popular attraction around the camp.

She didn’t leave camp often or for long, and was a guest of honour at weddings and functions. Her luck finally ran out in mid 2015 when she too was killed by a leopard. She was 22 years old, even though duikers seldom live beyond 12 years in the wild.

Our shabby chalet
Shimuwimi was originally built in the early 1990s although the SANParks website says it is ‘the most modern of the bushveld camps, being completely rebuilt after the floods in 2000’. But our cottage No. 14 was looking really old and scruffy, badly in need of maintenance if not a full revamp. 
Shimuwini Bush Camp, Kruger National Park
​In the kitchen, the fridge shelves were rusted to hell, the back was totally iced over. There was encrusted filth on the floor tiles (especially in the corners), as if all a dirty mop had done was push dirt around then allow it to dry. There were cracked and dirty walls, whole colonies of web-trapped insects along the kitchen door, evidence that it hadn’t been dusted for months if not years.
Shimuwini Bush Camp, Kruger National Park
In the bedroom there were small droppings on the beds and side tables; after I cleaned them away they didn’t return for the rest of our two-day stay. There was broken thatch in two places, a torn curtain and a congregation of broken curtain rings.

Things were no better in the bathroom. The net curtains were stiff with dirt and dust. There were broken, missing or badly replaced bathroom tiles, some of them not even vaguely matched. There were bare screws where a mirror had been mounted on the wall above the basin, but the mirror was long gone; someone had complained about it in the guest book three months earlier and still nothing had been done about it. 
Shimuwini Bush Camp, Kruger National Park
Shimuwini is a pretty camp, set among the natural bush and overlooking the river so the surroundings can’t be faulted. All the more frustrating, then, to find such substandard accommodation at a fairly steep cost.

Come on Kruger, you can do better!

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10 Comments
Dawie
16/3/2016 03:28:25 pm

I agree. They are not cheap. We also found then to be shabby and dirty. The main camps seen to be much better run. Regarding the insect infested door and dirty accommation the hospitality manager should see how Rogers and Elina maintain a spotless camp at Tsendze. Maroela camp is another example of spotlessly clean facilities.

Reply
Roxanne
20/3/2016 08:18:43 pm

Ah, Dawie, I agree wholeheartedly about the great standards at both Tsendze and Maroela. Rodgers, Elina, Zonde and Nikiwe are wonderful role models.

Reply
Terry
17/3/2016 08:03:54 pm

What a pity that such a special camp is not well tended. We had a similar experience at Talamati Bush Camp. Beautiful surrounds and spot but chalets in desperate need of a jolly good scrub.

Reply
Roxanne
20/3/2016 08:16:44 pm

Sorry to hear that, Terry, I know the bush camps were built with donor money, but it's SANParks' job to maintain them.

Reply
Sara Essop link
22/3/2016 03:18:06 pm

Having just spent a few days in Kruger myself, I was reminded again of how it is one of SA's greatest assets. I wish that the people entrusted with looking after it would realise that and take good care of it.

Reply
Roxanne
22/3/2016 03:36:50 pm

I agree, Sara. It's a wonderful place and a lure for tourists both foreign and local. I know money is tight for all of us, but there's never an excuse for dirt.

Reply
Melissa Grib
4/6/2020 09:47:15 pm

We experienced the same @ Biyamiti
In desperate need of maintenance
Those bungalows not cheap ..such a shame

Reply
Roxanne
5/6/2020 08:57:53 am

A crying shame indeed, Melissa. Such beautiful camps.

Reply
Bernard Hellbeg
14/1/2021 10:15:05 pm

As a travel feature writer for Signature (Diner's Club) and InFlight (FlySafair), we'll be staying over on March 10 this year. Hopefully, things would have improved.

Reply
Roxanne
17/1/2021 08:16:12 am

I hope so too, Bernard. There have been renovations at Kruger during the Covid lockdown but I'm not sure if Shimuwini was included in these.

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    I'm an independent travel writer and book editor with a passion for Africa - anything from African travel, people, safari and wildlife to adventure, heritage, road-tripping and slow travel.
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