The Tswana name "Marakele" means "place of sanctuary." You could not find a better one than this secluded reserve in the Waterberg Mountains, 250km north of Johannesburg. The park lies in the zone between the arid western and the wetter eastern parts of South Africa and therefore serves as a home to an abundance of mammals and bird species common to both regions. African Sky can custom-make safaris that visit Marakele.
Need Advice?Marakele offers diverse landscapes, from imposing mountains to deep, lush valleys where giant cycads, ferns, and cedar trees grow. The park is home to a wide variety of animals and birds.
Lions, elephants, and rhinos are some of the larger mammals that inhabit Marakele National Park. The park also has the distinction of having the largest population of breeding pairs of Cape vultures in the world – 800 individuals. Visitors to the park will appreciate that the rest camps are unfenced, allowing the animals to move around freely. Access to the park is via the town of Thabazimbi.
Marakele National Park is idyllically located within the folds of the Waterberg Mountains. The location offers marvelous views of this mountainous region. From here, guests can observe the diverse landscapes, such as the valleys and grassy plains and the animal inhabitants grazing or making their way to watering holes.
Many visit specifically for the population of Cape vultures, the largest in the world. Visitors can spot these birds in large numbers at the Vulture Restaurant. Be warned, however, that the journey to the vulture feeding grounds, set high on the escarpment, is not a "walk in the park."
The presence of the mountains, especially at dusk or dawn, combined with the diverse range of small and large animals, creates exceptional opportunities for photographers. We recommend you bring a macro lens if you are interested in documenting the smaller wildlife or details of the park.
Savor the views, savor the wildlife, savor the incomparable tranquility. Marakele is a one-of-a-kind park that leaves visitors in awe time and time again. The Waterberg is an under-explored and extraordinary wilderness.
Guests will start their journey to Marakele at OR Tambo International in Johannesburg. Upon arrival, you will be welcomed and assisted in transferring to a charter flight to a private landing strip in the park. If Marakele is not your itinerary's first stop, guests will be flown to OR Tambo or driven to the park, depending on your previous destination.
Marakele is approximately 250km from Johannesburg. The drive to the park can take up to three and a half hours. Suppose you prefer to travel overland to Marakele or are en route from another destination by road. In that case, you will be transported in a private, air-conditioned vehicle driven by an African Sky guide.
The best time to visit Marakele for wildlife viewing is during the dry season from May to September when the vegetation is thinner, and the animals stay near the remaining water sources. The area gets cold in the winter evenings, and early morning drives require warm clothing. The air, at times, seems hazy because of the dust.
From October to April, when the annual rains start falling, the park is transformed into a lush green African bush, and while this makes wildlife viewing harder than in winter, it is the absolute best time to see the birds and newborn animals. The peak summer months from December to February can be uncomfortably hot.
Marakele National Park was first known as Kransberg National Park when it was established in 1994 but changed its name to Marakele National Park a short while later. The area was home to inspiring people in recent history. The naturalist and poet Eugene Marais lived here and is best known for his work in the novel 'Soul of the White Ant.' Another local, Ramolefe Boy Maotshe, became famous for fighting a leopard with his bare hands and surviving. The leopard caught a calf from the herd of cattle he was watching. He then surprised the leopard in an attempt to retrieve the calf. He survived the 15-minute fight and went to a hospital only 10 hours later.
The Park has several prehistoric sites that iron-aged people occupied. As the name suggests, they could work iron; they did this by building clay furnaces to make the metal workable. Evidence suggests that these eastern Bantu-speaking people originated in Nigeria between 200 BC and 200 AD. They moved east and south and eventually settled on the Limpopo River around 450 AD. They could make an iron hoe to work the land and plant crops such as sorghum and millet. They also kept livestock such as cattle, sheep, and goats and, therefore, could settle in an area. Wildlife
Marakele is home to the Big Five, but the buffaloes are very rare and shy. The only Big Five animal that one is almost guaranteed to see is the rhinoceros. The other large species one is likely to encounter will be giraffes, Burchell's zebra, and blue wildebeest. Elephants and hippopotamus are seen occasionally. Large predators such as lions, hyenas, leopards, and cheetahs are present, but patience is necessary to find these. The Chacma baboon's and vervet monkeys' interesting behavior can entertain visitors for hours. Due to varied habitats, there are as many as 16 species of antelope, including sable, eland, tsessebe, and mountain reedbuck.
On night drives, you could spot insectivores like the aardvark and aardwolf. More than 280 bird species are documented, and it is a favorite location for birders to visit on Big Birding Day.
In the northern reaches of South Africa, situated in the Limpopo Province, Marakele lives up to its Tswana name, meaning a 'place of sanctuary. It is unique because it is situated in a climate and vegetative transitional region, with drier western and wetter eastern areas. The diversity of the Park is amplified by the fact that it is located in the Waterberg Mountains, with over half of the Park's vegetation belonging to the Waterberg Moist Bushveld group, which occurs on the higher areas of the mountainous landscape. These parts of the Park usually receive a relatively high amount of rainfall throughout the year.
The reserve rises to 2088m above sea level and tumbles to 1 050m. The other significant vegetation type within the Park is the mixed bushveld in the north and southwestern reaches of the Park. Rainfall is significantly lower than in the elevated areas; the soil is more nutrient-rich. Most wildlife occurs in these zones. The Sweet Bushveld covers a tiny area of the Park and is a critical vegetation type for conserving large predators, especially during the dry winter. Luckily the planned western expansion will incorporate more of this crucial component.
Marakele National Park is a birder's heaven and is a prevalent location for birders to visit on Big Birding Day, so remember your binoculars. The main birding attraction is the world's largest colony of Cape vultures. A strategically positioned mountain pass takes guests up the Waterberg massif to a vantage point close to the breeding pairs. As you hike up the escarpment, many other birds can be seen. Game drives into the Waterberg offer guests the opportunity to encounter the entire Big Five. The black and white rhinos are two of the main attractions.
If you have young children, this is your ideal safari destination. The Marataba Safari Lodge caters to children with activities such as family safari drives, arts and crafts, and Bug CSI. The lush, moist bushveld on the higher slopes of the mountain range are picturesque, and the contrast between the dry and wet regions in the Park is a wonderful opportunity for landscape and wildlife photography.
