Did you know... elephants are right- or left-tusked

Like humans, who are typically right or left-handed, elephants are usually right or left-tusked. The dominant tusk is called the master tusk and is generally shorter and slightly more worn at the tip. The master tusk is the elephants main tool and used more often than the other one.

The tusks are used to dig for water and roots, to debark trees, to move trees and branches when clearing a path, as well as to mark trees to establish their territory and occasionally as a weapon.
The tusks of of both male and female elephants are acutally growing continously - up to 18cm per year. They can reach over 3m in length and weigh over 90kg. Males have usually larger tusks compared to the females who have small tusks, or no tusks at all.

Kruger National Park safaris ex Johannesburg >>

Mapungubwe National Park strongly affected by heavy rains

update (22 Jan 2013): SANParks has made some new updates about the current situation in the Mapungubwe National Park available:

• The rain has stopped.
• All the camps are closed.
• R572 from Musina to Mapungubwe is closed due to the bridge at Weipe that collapsed.
• The R572 to Pont drift / The town of Alldays is accessible by normal 2x4 vehicle.
• All the roads in the park are still closed except the main road from the main gate to treetop.
• All staff members are safe and no injuries have been reported in the park.
• Most tourist facilities are still underwater, eg. Interpretative Centre, Tshugulu Lodge, Limpopo Forest Tented Camp, Mazhou, Treetop, Malountswa Pan Hide.
• The Electricity has been restored.
• Telephone lines are now working.
• Some animals have died.
• All 4x4 roads are closed.
• The park is open to day visitors with 4x4 vehicles to limited areas.
• The clean-up operations has started.
• The camps will be open to the public on Saturday (26 January 2013).
• The park is full of water everywhere.
• The Limpopo river is still full to capacity.
• Staff accommodation affected are Limpopo Forest Tented Camp, Rhodes Drift, Schroda, Samaria Farm are still under water.
• Staff members at Samaria Farm have lost all their personal belongings and the road to the farm will not be accessible by road at least  for days to come.
• All staff members will receive counselling as many are visibly traumatized.
• The following roads are closed: * Schroda, All river roads, all 4X4 roads, Denstaat road, Tshugulu road, The road to the tented camp and Samaria road.
  

update (21 Jan 2013): All tourists in the Mapungubwe National Park have been safely evacuated and are accommodated in Leokwe Camp which is currently not open to the public.

• Bridge collapsed on R572 between Musina and Mapungubwe National Park. Access to the park not possible.
• R572 from Alldays to Musina is accessible up to the Mapungubwe National Park.
• 80% rain predicated today for the area according to SA Weather Services

Staff trapped in the following staff villages are being air lifted by the Limpopo Emergency Medical Services (EMS):

• Samaria
• Limpopo Tented camp
• Rossdrift

The following facilities are also affected:

• Vhembe Trails camp
• Limpopo Tented camp
• Confluence
• Tree top

update (21 Jan 2013): The Mapungubwe National Park is currently inaccessible from Musina, as roads leading to the area are washed away. More rain is expected over the next two days and SANParks is therefore advising all customers with confirmed bookings in the immediate future to contact the reservations office about the status of their bookings as the Park will be temporarily closed until further notice.

update (17 Jan 2013): SANParks has uploaded some photos of the floods in the Mapungubwe National Park to facebook!

According to a media release issued by South African National Parks (SANParks), the recently opened Mapungubwe Interpretive Centre in the Mapungubwe National Park has been temporarily closed due to the heavy rains in the area. The park, located in South Africa's Limpopo province, received about 212mm of rain over the past two days and experts are expecting the heavy rains to continue at least until Sunday (20 Jan 2013).
Some roads in the Mapungubwe National Park have already been washed away and SANParks is therefore strongly advising visitors not to make use of those roads and to avoid crossing any low-water bridges, especially if they are using small vehicles.

The roads listed below should be avoided at all costs for the safety of SANParks visitors:

• Confluence(4X4 only)
• Tree top walk (4X4 only)
• Limpopo Tented Camp (4X4 only)
• Mazhou (4X4 only)
• Vhembe (4X4 only)

As of today (17 Jan 2013), only the Tshugulu Lodge and the Leokwe Camp can easily be reached by 2x4 vehicles.

Kruger National Park: Bush Camps & roads in the north temporarily closed due to heavy rains

According to a media release issued by South African National Parks (SANParks), heavy rains in the Kruger National Park have resulted in temporary closure of Bush Camps and most of the roads in the Nxanatseni Region in the north of the National Park. Main roads leading to the rest camps with low level bridges have been affected as well.

The Bush Camps and roads which are currently closed are as follows:

• Shisha Low Level Bridge (S57) leading to Sirheni Bush Camp currently flooding.
• Shimuwini Low Level Bridge (S141) leading Shimuwini Bush Camp.
• Bateleur is also closed due to waterlogged road leading to the bush camp.
• Nyala Drive going to Thulamela.
• S-63 loop from the T-Junction to Crook’s corner
• Shongololo loop going to Shipandane Hide and Boulders
• Nkulumbeni Bridge (H1-7) between Shingwedzi and Punda Maria - guest are advised to use Phalaborwa - Letaba
• Mopani-Phalaborwa road (H14) – guest are advised to use Phalaborwa- Letaba

If you are booked in to one of the Bush Camps affected by the flooding, contact SANParks to find out to which camp nearby your booking was transferred to. Please keep in mind, that data lines at most of the rest camps in the north are currently affected.
As it is still raining, SANParks is expecting the closure of more roads and facilities.
SANParks is providing latest information about the state of the roads in the northern section of the Kruger National Park at the Phalaborwa, Punda & Pafuri Gates. We'll keep you posted!

Zimbabwe: ZIMParks introduced approved tariffs for 2013

The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, ZIMParks, has issued its approved tariffs for 2013. Private visitors and tour operators’ clients for Mana Pools National Park, Gonarezhou National Park and the Rainforest area of the Victoria Falls & Zambezi National Park will now have to pay a daily conservation fee. Visitors to all other parks have to pay a single day entry fee to cover up to 5 days (instead of 7) and the daily overnight fee. Persons not resident in Zimbabwe are required to pay in foreign currency. All charges include 15% Value Added Tax (VAT) and 2% tourism levy for locals where applicable and 2% tourism levy for non-residents clients. For more info on the (new) tariffs, download this pdf by ZIMParks.

Cape Town: Table Mountain Cableway to close for five weeks for annual maintenance

The Table Mountain Cableway in Cape Town will close for annual maintenance from Monday, 22 July 2013, to Sunday, 25 August 2013. During the five weeks a wide range of work needs to be done, including the complete overhaul of both cabins and the replacement of the direct current (DC) drive to an alternating current (AC) drive.
The Cableway will re-open for business on Monday, 26 August 2013, weather permitting.

Lower Cable Station

Promo video: Uganda, the Pearl of Africa

Produced by the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage of Uganda and the Uganda Tourism Board, the following promotional video about Uganda is displaying all the tourist highlights the East African country has to offer. Watch the video and get a first glimpse of Uganda's capital Kampala, the amazing landscapes of the country, such as the Ruwenzori Range, the Murchison Falls, and the source of the Nile, as well as its stunning wildlife and adventure sports options. Enjoy Uganda!

Marataba Lodge (South Africa): A very close elephant encounter (video)

Some guests of the Marataba Lodge, a luxury safari lodge located at the foot of the Waterberg Mountains, recently had the the rare opportunity to get up close and personal with an elephant bull while on safari. A scary, but also fascinating encounter with the largest extant terrestrial animal on earth. During the video you can hear a calming voice in the background talking to the elephant, which indicates that tour guide was in control of the situation and didn't put his clients on high risk. Anyway, the encounter was probably still one of those once in a lifetime experiences all pax in the safari vehicle will surely never forget.

The closest Marataba elephant encounter ever from Marataba Safari Company on Vimeo.


The Marataba Lodge is a 5 star luxury tented lodge situated on a private concession in the Marakele National Park in the Waterberg region of South Africa. The national park is home to the big five and known for its contrasting majestic mountain landscapes, grass-clad hills and deep valleys.