30/08/2024
Looking for a vantage point.....
Come and experience the bush with WildSide!
2025 bookings are open. Get your group together, decide on a backpack or slackpack, choose the area and dates you prefer and let's go!
We offer Big 5 walking experiences in wild spaces - Pafuri and Makallai in the Lowveld, South Africa. We also train guides in these skills.
Looking for a vantage point.....
Come and experience the bush with WildSide!
2025 bookings are open. Get your group together, decide on a backpack or slackpack, choose the area and dates you prefer and let's go!
Lunchtime under the Apple Leaf trees.
It's nearly always a long break where you will get to eat, read, sleep, watch, chat and just be in the bush.
So awesome to be a part of this amazing team and support a crazy journey known as the Siyafunda Slog around the to raise funds for protection of the earth's animals in our region.
Well done to EVERYONE involved.
Great initiative and
You can still donate through Siyafundaslog.co.za
And why not join us in 2025!
“Death can really stare you in the face when you’re on foot out in the African bush. It’s part of what makes you feel very alive out there “
Aun dipping and a big moon is rising. What will the night bring at this incredible spot in Pafuri known as Mashish*ti Spring.....
This is such a cool book. Written in and about Rhodesia (Now Zimbabwe)
Hard to find so we've posted a few pages here so you can get a feel for it...
Our final part of the potentially dangerous game series by Mike At Siyafunda is out! The mighty buffalo:
Mike tells us about the might African buffalo and how it might respond to you on foot.
Yet another incredible experience in Pafuri living on the WildSide for 4 days and 3 nights!
Thanks for the beautiful photos
Sunrise this morning. You need to be in the game to experience some of these moments. So step out into the field, engage with the wild and you will experience your very own personal moments with nature!
Barefoot in the wild....
This beautiful section of the Luvuvhu allows us the opportunity to make direct contact with the earth. A spiritual experience!
📷 Heidi Meintjes
Stokbrood..... with honey 🍯.....
Around a camp fire...
Yum! 😋
Have a great evening everyone!
Giant Freshwater Prawn. Who would have said we would have found this while river walking early in the morning.
You just never know what you gonna get?
When are you coming on trail with WildSide?
https://youtu.be/ryvS_u5q1G0?si=vq2ZGtf9Ik5T9wQ0
Mike shares his experience with Black Rhino on foot.
Walking the Luvuvhu River Trail below Lanner Gorge.
A spiritual experience.
Time spent on the Limpopo during the Pafuri Traverse takes us back to our roots. It exposes your Wild Side...
Thanks for your great photography, it's so difficult to capture what we feel out there, but you've got very close!
This is why....
Leopard on foot. Part 5 of this YouTube Series by Mike At Siyafunda of Siyafunda Wildlife & Conservation
Leopard are all around us in the Lowveld, but we hardly ever see them, and thats actually part of what keeps us safe, they are not seen as much of a threat. ...
Learning young how to walk in the bush!
The last few weeks WildSide has had its first children trailists, some in big5 spaces and others not.
Regardless its been amazing to share knowledge with the kids and see them grow.
Awesome to be part of and show off our new gazebo!
Well done to everyone who conquered the mountain on Saturday, and now for the bushveld stage on Sunday!
Woohoo!!
has its first Game Viewer!
What colour do you think we should spray it?
This doesn't mean we're offering game drives, instead it opens up a host of different bush walking opportunities!
Those few moments just before sunrise in the bush!
The fever tree forest in Pafuri is a great spectacle. Many people visit Pafuri on the southern bank of the Luvuvhu and are disappointed not to find the elusive fever tree forest. Visiting the Makuleke concession on the northern side doesn't disappoint!
Get in touch to book your fever tree forest experience on foot with WildSide.
Camping among the rocks in Pafuri/Makuleke.
The wildest places are only accessible on foot.
Our next YouTube video is all about elephant behaviour 🐘🐘
Mike Job discusses elephant behaviour and differences between bulls and family herds.
Limpopo Sunset Views.......
Research suggests that watching the sunrise and sunset each day helps to calibrate your internal body clock and improve circadian rhythms.
No better place to do that than the Limpopo!
At our pickup point after 5 nights out on Pafuri Traverse. You're nearly always on a high coming off trail, even though you are leaving the peace of the bush and entering back into the modern world and what comes with that. But look at each face of contentment here....
https://youtu.be/mAYAorFagj4?si=nEmF0bHsZe3Sa0Ij
LIONS on foot...... 🦁🦁
Mike Job discusses lion behaviour towards humans on foot, n particular the difference between day and night!
Some of the Ramsar sites of the Makuleke (Pafuri)
holding water this winter and harbouring amazing bird and animal life:
Pic 1: Banyini
Pic 2: N'wambi
Pic 3: Jachacha
Pic 4: Makwadzi
Best all visited on foot of course! The Pafuri Traverse 5 night backpack spends time at each of these (and more).
Kampersrus
Hoedspruit
1371
Monday | 08:00 - 17:00 |
Tuesday | 08:00 - 17:00 |
Wednesday | 08:00 - 17:00 |
Thursday | 08:00 - 17:00 |
Friday | 08:00 - 17:00 |
Saturday | 08:00 - 12:00 |
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@Danike01 and @meg_mcsmith stepping up to the line and completing the shot placement exercise successfully towards their ARH qualification. They trained together for the assessment and their timing shows! A good day in the range, high fives and all. #ARH #trailsguide #assessment #twins #timing
An interaction between a male and female leopard when suddenly another male started calling nearby. Once these two had slunked off like naughty teenagers, we drove onward and found the other male moving in their direction. He continued to call intermittently for few hours after we saw him.
We do very little driving at WildSide, mostly to our drop off and pickup points. But every now and again we do actually guide a bit from a vehicle. @trailbooth recently spent 7 days in the Timbavati on special property known as Giraffe. 🦒 We had some incredible sightings, including this male lion 🦁 just testing the fitness of a herd of Zebra 🦓 and Wildebeest. While our love for participating in nature on foot will remain ever strong, observing behaviour and seeing animals up close from the vehicle reminded us that going for a game drive in the right place and at the right time is an amazing experience!
A pair of Saddle Billed Stalks taking flight along the Biyamiti River. Special bird! #Kruger #National #Park #Saddle #Billed #Stalk #Biyamiti #River
Walk in wonder and with curiosity. While summer can be hot and the bush a bit thicker, the abundance of life is incredible. In this clip we are making our own way down Milkwood George in the Pafuri. #Wonder #curiosity #Pafuri #Milkwood #Gorge #Summer #Life #abundance
Elephant charge! He was in musth, although not heavily, and he found us close to the spring he wanted to visit. He walked out from the bush showing himself side on. He only began his charge once the logs in the foreground separated us, this became an obvious barrier, if he crossed it then things would escalate. A stern voice and matching up to his aggression with body language shows him we are not backing down. Once he left the area so did we. Being early only 2 hrs in to a 3 day backpack the encounter had the potential to unnerve our trailists, but our clear communication and handling of the situation had the opposite effect, and grew their confidence in the guides, @trailbooth and @kei_vukani , for the many encounters that still lay ahead on this trail! #elephant #charge #pafuri #kruger #bull #musth #trailsguide #trailsguidetraining #backpacking
Ever wondered what it looks like from the tops of the hills around Berg n Dal……… #kruger #trail #granite #hills #backpack
Be a little spontaneous and join us in the northern reaches of Kruger next weekend to explore the Pafuri area on a special full moon expedition. Its the perfect place and way to find and ground yourself ahead of December. Info and bookings through our website www.wildsidetrails.com (link in bio)
BackPack Trail or Camp Walking Trail? Tents or SleepOut? Pafuri or Makalali? Only 3 decisions to be made for you to step out onto your next trail with WildSide Trails & Training. www.wildsidetrails.com
An absolute highlight on Pafuri Trail. #River #Walk #Kruger #Nationalpark #SouthAfrica #Sand #Barefoot
A very WILD place. Explore the wilderness with us. #wild#trail#pafuri#hike#camp#tent#campfire#river#limpopo#trailsguide
While walking in silence is one of the big safety rules of the bush, a secondary effect is that trailists are able to absorb the sounds of the bush and their footsteps moving through. The rhythm can become medatative and then healing. It's incredibly rare to be surrounded by only natural sounds, it's a resource we should be seeking out more. #WildSide
BRELL Private Tours, Safaris and Transfers
Eastgate/Timbavati Road