A Sparkling Diamond In The Rough

Somabula Nature Reserve

- Richard van Ryneveld

I was absolutely sure I was being watched. I couldn’t turn around as I had a tent guy rope in my teeth and tent peg in one hand, trying set up the off-road trailer I’d collected some 40 minutes earlier in Pretoria. Happy in the knowledge that there are no Big Five predators at this reserve, I finally turned around. Standing some 70-odd metres away were three giraffe. Infinitely curious, these long-necked spotted beauties of the bush stared down at me as if to say, “For goodness sake mate, get your darn tent set up!” This was back in 2015, my first introduction to the Somabula Nature Reserve close to Pretoria.

In life, we tend to have our favourites, whether it’s actors, restaurants, sports teams, or campsites. Somabula has become one of my favourite campsites in Gauteng. A short hop, some 40 minutes from Pretoria and an hour‘s drive from Joburg, Somabula is situated off the R515 between the small towns of Rayton and Cullinan. The Somabula turnoff is on your left, some four kilometres from Rayton. It’s only after entering the reserve’s entrance gate roughly 3km from the R515 that you start seeing the beauty of the surrounding bushveld. Getting closer to reception, you discover the lovely indigenous trees in the lower-lying areas.

This scenic nature reserve, consisting of pristine bushveld and plenty of indigenous trees, is spread over 400 hectares of land. The lovely thing about Somabula is the fact that there are no dangerous animals.