Tamboti Tented Camp

We are at the Kruger National Park in South Africa, we are crossing the park from North to South in 12 days and tonight we are at the Tamboti Tented Camp; we are in the central West part of the park, near the Orpen Rest Camp, where there is the reception, as well for the Tamboti, and the shop with souvenirs and groceries.

The Tamboti Tented Camp is just a few kilometers from the Orpen Rest Camp and after checking in we head straight to our tent.

The tented camps are camps equipped with tents, as the name suggests, guests have at their disposal a private large enough tent in canvass, usually positioned above a wooden basement, raised above the ground, where there is also a terrace; inside there are two beds and some furniture, such as a wardrobe and bedside tables.

The tents are equipped with electric light and, in front of each structure, there is a braai, or barbeque, to cook on the grill; also in the camp there is a common kitchen, where you can cook using induction cookers and where there is also a kind of wall kettle, or water heater, from where you can take hot water for tea or coffee and to fill the thermos.

In the common area there are also bathrooms and showers.

We park in our parking space and follow the path that descends towards the river and leads us to our tent.

Wow! The tent is located right on the river, that at this time of the year is dry, along the bank of the river, just below our terrace, there is the fence of the camp; we look on the other side and we spot several elephants that are eating the vegetation serenely, we observe them for some time, while they are moving in search of new shrubs and leaves.

The sun is descending towards the horizon and colors the sky with its warm tones, it looks like a painting, impossible not to take photographs; a sunset like this deserves to be celebrated with a spritz with Aperol and the Casa Montini riesling, our favorite winery in the Oltrepò Pavese.

How wonderful the Tamboti tented camp and, after today's safari, this place and this evening are the worthy conclusion; we relax a bit and enjoy this spectacular sunset and the absolute silence, that only in places like this can be found.

When the sun has set we put the wood in the braai and light the fire, it is nice to hear the crackle and see the flames burst from the logs and feel how they warm the air that, as soon as the sun has gone, started to become fresher.

We wait for the wood to turn into charcoal and in the meantime we enjoy this moment; even our neighbors are cooking with the braai, we see the light of the embers and feel the unmistakable smell of grilled meat.

Apparently we are not the only ones to smell it, in fact, shortly after, we see a hyena that wanders in the river bed and approaches the fence; obviously it cannot enter, but to see it wandering sniffing the air that tastes of grilled meat gives us a slight thrill of excitement and adrenaline.

When our dinner is ready we put ourselves on the terrace and, while we eat, we look in the direction of the river, to see if the hyena is still revealed; with the light of the torch we sometimes try to sight it, but it is not easy because there is no moon in the sky and so it is very dark.

At one point we see something flying, it's an owl, from the sizeit  could be the milky eagle owl, or Giant eagle-owl, but we cannot see it well because it's very fast and it's not easy to light it with the flashlight, besides it is also undoubtedly hunting, so we would not want to bother it.

The spotted hyena continues to reveal itself at regular intervals, it runs along the fence, almost checking what we and the occupants of the other tents are doing; it is looking for food but it cannot come to this part of the fence, so at some point it desists and goes elsewhere to look for a meal.

After dinner we stay a bit on our terrace, we are curious to see if we do other sightings, but it's really too dark, though we hear some cries that we cannot identify, we wonder what animal it is, but this curiosity will remain forever .

We decide to enter the tent, after having locked up all the food and the garbage; we do not want to receive nocturnal visits by a honey badger that puts all our belongings upside down and spreads rubbish everywhere.

Good night!