Musina Nature Reserve

Musina reserve was proclaimed in 1983 specifically to protect baobabs, which grow in unusual density on this hot dry ground near the Limpopo and were being damaged - cut for firewood, stripped for bark fibre, and lost to land clearing. Baobabs are protected trees in South Africa and the largest here are estimated to be well over a thousand years old, with trunks several metres across and the characteristic upended-root shape. Around them is mopane and thornveld with impala, kudu, giraffe and eland, and a gravel loop road runs through the reserve for self-drive. This is the hottest part of the country: summer temperatures regularly exceed forty degrees, and midday in any season is uncomfortable. The reserve is easy to reach - it sits directly on the N1 a few kilometres from the Zimbabwe border post, which makes it a natural break on that drive.

What you actually see

• The baobab density - an unusual concentration of very old trees, some over a thousand years.
• The 1983 proclamation - a reserve created specifically to stop baobab damage.
• The mopane game - impala, kudu, giraffe and eland on a self-drive loop.
• The border setting - the far northern edge of the country beside the N1.

When to go

April to September - summer heat here regularly passes forty degrees. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The heat is the main obstacle for most of the year. Game is thin compared with the big parks. Facilities are minimal. The reserve sits on a busy border route, so the surroundings are trucks and road traffic.

Nearby

The Beitbridge border is north; Mapungubwe is west along the Limpopo.