HISTORY KNP : History of camps
In Issue 19 of KRUGER MAGAZINE, we featured the history of Malelane. In Issue 20 we look at the history of Mopani Camp, the satellite Tsendze Rustic Campsite, as well as places of historic interest nearby.
Origin of Mopani
At the Board meeting of September 1981, it was resolved, inter alia, that new medium-sized (50-100 units) camps be built and one of these was to be in the large, undeveloped tract between Letaba/Phalaborwa and Shingwedzi.
The site was at Pioneer Dam, west of Mooiplaas Ranger station, and it was initially referred to as Pioneer Camp.
Origin of the name Mopani and other local names
Bowker Kop: Hill just north of Mopani named after a hunting party from the Reef (Johannesburg). The party consisted of Miles Robert Bowker (his name was carved on a baobab tree), Alec Bowker, Edward (Charlie) White, his cousins, Fred and Harry Barber, after whom Barberton was named on 24 July 1884, and a certain Miller. They had a hunting camp in the area in 1888.
Grysbok: Borehole with name from Sharpe’s grysbok (Raphicerus sharpei).
Letaba: Name of river, rangers post and camp. From the Sesotho word lehlaba meaning ‘sand river’.
Mahlangeni: Rangers post and borehole. From the Xitsonga word meaning ‘at the confluence’ referring to junction of Little and Great Letaba Rivers.
Name of first rangers post in Shingwedzi Game Reserve, next to the Shongololo River near the mouth of the Nhongo. The Xitsonga word meaning ‘the loser’, the name of an earlier inhabitant of this area. Prior to it was a recruiting post of a Witwatersrand
