Mapungubwe National Park is located 5-6 hours of driving north of Jo’burg airport or 2 ½ hours north of Polokwane. Inside the national parks resides the world heritage site of Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape. The heritage site is just a small part of the park although the national park is not very big either.

The tracks leading to heritage site is open only to those who join the Heritage Tour which is at 7 in the morning and at 10. The park has a circular dirt ring road and the hill that is the centre of the heritage site can easily be seen from the road, but you must know what you are looking for (the correct one between several hills).

On the heritage tour a guide takes you in a park safari vehicle straight to the hill. When leaving the vehicle, he loads his gun and the takes you by foot to the foot of the hill and up. The entrance is by a wooden stairway which is placed in the same narrow gap as the ancient sacred passage is. On top there are numerous small remains and marks showing what once used to be the royal area of this kingdom. The guide is good and very intense. He knows his story and probably is somehow related to it. After a question from one of the two other people on the tour I understood that the guide’s his uncle has written a book about the site. The story and the site itself are interesting although remains of the kingdom are not very visible.

Later we visited the little museum close to the park entrance. A small but only slightly interesting museum. You can’t help feeling that there are parts missing, parts that’s taken care of by the museums elsewhere.

We stayed in the Leokwe Camp for two nights. The camp is a self-service camp which means you bring your own food. It is a really good way to spend some time in this park. We spent every moment during daylight roaming the park. The dirt ring road I guess are possible to go by a saloon/domestic vehicle, but the fun part really lies in using the more extended roads, the 4x4 tracks. There are easy ones and toucher ones, and by far – the small tough extensions to the ring road are the more rememberable.

The landscape inside the park is remarkable different to the more flattened and boring landscape we passed through on the way up here. It’s rough, rugged, and rocky. It’s up and down, small gorges and hills. Very scenic! Quite a few animals are around but mostly the “regular ones” (like gazelles, zebras, and elephants). There are baobab trees which can make a fantastic scenery for photographing the sunsets and sunrises.

We found a treetop walk that makes you walk up “through the trees”, but nature has taken its revenge. The walk was supposed to continue onto the Limpopo River, but that part was smashed during some rainy season. We could see some remains into the water. Maybe they’ll rebuild it someday.

Also, The Confluence Point, which is a panoramic viewpoint overlooking the junction between the Limpopo and Shashe River, is a nice area.

Since the heritage site is in such a wonderful national park spending some tome there is recommended. At least if you’ve taken the step of bringing a specialized vehicle (4x4).