Mountain Zebra Park, Up-close
The MZP is quickly becoming my favourite park
This is the first time ever that I am writing a Real Safari newsletter from the Mountain Zebra Park (MZP). I will only publish it when I get back to Makhanda so that I can do some last minute editing, but I am sitting in an armchair after many hours of driving, writing up our experiences. I tell you this dear reader, so you can understand why this is more like a personal travelogue than anything else.
Ilza and I arrived at the MZP after an 815km drive from Johannesburg on Friday afternoon. We were tired from the long journey but excited about going on a game drive. It couldn’t wait till the next day. We hurriedly checked in at reception and left chalet No. 4 just after 4pm, heading for the mountains.
Rain was predicted for the weekend and we knew that the mountain roads would become treacherously slippery if there was a downpour, so we decided to do the mountains before the rain came. The rough tracks are demanding. They are bumpy and have many large puddles remaining from rains earlier in the week, but the drive makes you feel alive on the wild side. The steep drop-off on the one side and the heavy boulders waiting to slide down from the mountain top make for an exhilarating experience.
We had travelled the same route in the snow in August last year. Of course we had to make comparisons as to what it was like then when we were so enchanted with a light brushing of snow. This weekend it was cold but nothing like last year.
In the first few kilometres of the twisty ascent we saw virtually no animals but when we reached the plateau above we came across dozens of herds of springbuck, some of them mingled with smaller herds of blesbuck and black wildebeest as well as a single buffalo.
We had stopped and started many times to take as many photos as possible when it gradually dawned on me that we were running late. In winter, guests are required to be back in camp by six pm. The gate closes at that time and if you are late there is plenty of explaining to be done. I definitely did not want to be late but I was not sure how far we were from camp.
I couldn’t go too fast as the speed limit is 40 km/h, besides there is the danger of hitting animals, so we had to cut out photography stops. Even when there was some kind of large raptor on the top of a tree we couldn’t stop to identify it. Drive on smartly, carefully.
We made it back to camp with seven minutes to spare. Whew.
I checked the MZP WhatsApp group only to discover that a woman had seen a mother cheetah with her cubs at a kill only one kilometre from the MZP gate. She did it to tantalise us.
On the group, and hoping against past experiences, I asked if there was any chance that the cheetah would still be at the kill the next morning after the camp gates opened.
Another member of the group explained that the prey was probably a springbok and that there was very little chance the cheetahs would be there in the morning. Long before daybreak, the hyenas would have chased the cheetahs off the kill and together with the black-backed jackals, they would have devoured every last morsel of the springbok – bones and all.
And so it came to pass. Saturday morning we were probably the first guests to leave the camp and went straight for the area where we believed the mother cheetah had hunted a springbok.
We could not find even a trace of the kill. No cheetahs, no hyenas, no wandering jackals not even any crows fluttering around the area.
Never mind. That’s how things go and at least it did not rain so we could enjoy our outings without concern for slippery, mud tracks. On the track along one of the crests of the plateau it was misty making the drive a little eerie, but it was never dangerous as long as you drove responsibly.
The sky was overcast which made it good for photography as there were no harsh shadows. We did not see any particularly unusual animals, but there were good photo opportunities – some of which I present on this page for your delight.
Some observations from a photographer’s perspective: different animals species have different discomfort zones when it comes to approaching vehicles such as the one transporting a photographer. This is convoluted, what does it mean?
Let me illustrate this with some examples. In the MZP, springbuck will not normally allow a vehicle to approach closer than five-metres. Any nearer and it will scamper off. This is of course only a rough estimate as some springbuck are more skittish than others, and some less so. Blesbuck, also plentiful in the MZP, have an estimated ten-metre buffer zone while black wildebeest, bigger and stronger than the two antelope, are much more timid and will rarely let you get within their 20-metre buffer zone.
Animal buffers zones depend not only on the particular species but also the location. This does not sounds plausible, but it is fact. I am guessing that the reason this is so has to do with hunting in that reserve or park.
In the Addo Elephant Park, you can often drive up to two metres from a zebra whereas in the MZP you will be lucky if you find yourself within ten metres of a zebra.
There are of course, always exceptions. On our late Saturday late afternoon drive, I stopped the car and turned off the engine within a herd of about thirty springbuck. They peacefully munched on the grass while keeping an eye on the intruder. They all kept their distance except one. He lifted his head and walked straight towards my side of the car. Was he curious or was he going to challenge me? Judging from the length of his horns, he was still quite young, but if he charged the car those little horns would probably have pierced my door. He didn’t charge, thankfully, but he certainly looked like he was considering it.
Most park visitors hope to see predators. They are the big attractions. Some people are avid birdwatchers and only aim their cameras at the treetops. Personally, I look out for photo opportunities but of course it’s exciting to see the big cats or hyenas. On this trip, the only predators we saw were black-backed jackals. In all we saw about six of them, but could not get any extraordinary photos.
We had to leave on Sunday morning so that we could get back home to pick up the dogs from the kennels. It was sad to leave as I could easily have spent another week there, but it had started raining and most of the animals were hunkering down.
It was a great trip, but Ilza made me promise that the next time we visited the MZP would be in the middle of summer.
Previous Real Safari newsletters about the Mountain Zebra Park:
Mountain Zebra Park – Part One – August 15, 2023
A lioness siesta becomes a hunt – Mountain Zebra Park – Part Two – Aug 23, 2023
Wonderful pictures. Thanks for 'brining us along' on the journey