Timbavati River, Ratelpan and Roodewal Bird Hide Along the S39
At waypoint 482 I turned left onto the S127 heading east towards the Timbavati Picnic Spot crossroads 9 kms away. Not really crossroads but a point where 4 roads come together in close proximity to each other.
![]() Waypoint 483 is where the S40 and the S39 meet … S40 goes to Satara. I made a brief stop at the Timbavati Picnic Spot and then at waypoint 484 I turned heading north towards the Ratelpan Bird Hide and Roodewal watering hole. This road skirts the Timbavati River and makes for a really wonderful drive. Riverine and Thornveld dominated the scenery. In one of the river pools was a Goliath heron standing in the water and close by was a smaller heron cousin. Waypoint 485 is Ratelpan a watering point borehole driven and named after the Honey Badger by Jim Meiring who drilled many of the boreholes in the Kruger Park. Opposite the pan is a large stand of Lala Palms. |
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![]() Shortly after the Roodewal watering point was a very interesting landscape at waypoint 492. On each side of the road was a koppie and each came to an abrupt end characterised by a rocky slope. It appeared to me that maybe at some stage these koppies were joined together. They were both part of a large semi-circular kind of koppie structure and in between the 2 “broken-off” sections was the Timbavati river bed. I surmised without any kind of Geological knowledge in a fantastical kind of way that at some stage these koppies had dammed the river creating a massive lake. Then during a large flood the waters washed away the central damming section leaving the two hills never to meet again. The photograph is of the “broken” section on the northern side of the road and is taken from the waypoint 493 at the bottom of the slope next to a small dam. What’s wrong with dreaming a bit? |
![]() I arrived at the Ngotso small concrete dam and river crossing at waypoint 496 and noticed a stationary vehicle on the crossing. I took the view point road just before the crossing to get a closer look at the river. This turned out to be a bad mistake. The vehicle that was stopped at the crossing had been watching a Leopard close up that was quite relaxed lying down next to the concrete dam wall. They had viewed it completely undisturbed and alone for 15 minutes. As I was watching the river from the viewpoint another vehicle approached the river crossing from the other side and apparently this disturbed the Leopard that walked across the road from south to north to vanish in the bush. This I learned, a few minutes later, from the occupants of the first vehicle I referred to. They said had I not taken the view road I would have been right next to the reclining Leopard. Ah, well … next time. |
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![]() Take a look at this series of images … look for the chick. |
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