Reviews of Phinda (From 6 Acclaimed Safari Experts)

Expert

Kim Wildman –

AU

Visited: Multiple times

Kim is a travel writer who authored and updated over 15 guidebooks, including Lonely Planet's South Africa and Bradt's Tanzania guides.

7 people found this review helpful.

Big cat country

Overall rating

4/5

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KwaZulu-Natal’s top spot for game viewing is without a doubt Phinda Private Game Reserve. For a relatively small park it harbours a huge diversity of wildlife and sightings are virtually guaranteed. It’s also one of the best places to see Africa’s big cats. Lion and leopard are plentiful and thanks to the careful reintroduction of cheetah into the area after 50 years of absence, you can now watch these magnificent cats play and hunt in the wild. During my last trip I had an incredible up-close night encounter with a leopard and the next day spied a cheetah hiding with her cubs in the long grass. What an amazing experience! But it’s not just the cats that make Phinda so special. Herds of elephants, buffalo, giraffe, wildebeest, giraffe and zebra roam the reserve along with thousands of antelope, black and white rhinos and hippos.

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Expert

Stephen Cunliffe –

ZA

Visited: July and September

Stephen is a travel writer and avid conservationist whose work appears in prestigious magazines such as Africa Geographic and Travel Africa.

4 people found this review helpful.

Wildlife Wonderland

Overall rating

4/5

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The exclusive 23,000 hectare Phinda Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal is the setting for one of South Africa’s finest wildlife-viewing experiences. What the reserve lacks in terms of true wilderness appeal is more than compensated for by its reliable and diverse wildlife sightings and quality nature-guiding experience.

Home to all of the Big Five (as well as the endangered black rhino and cheetah), quality wildlife viewing is all but guaranteed at Phinda, while the professional &Beyond guides enhance the interpretive safari experience with their vast bush knowledge and enthusiasm for the natural environment.

Comprising woodland, grassland, wetland and forest, interspersed with mountain ranges, river courses, marshes and pans, Phinda is a small but scenically diverse wildlife sanctuary and birding hot spot (415 bird species have been recorded to date) that offers a genuinely luxurious bush escape to safari goers looking to notch up some quality wildlife encounters without having to sacrifice on any of their creature comforts.

4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Expert

Dale R Morris –

ZA

Visited: August

Dale is a multi-award-winning writer and photographer with more than 500 published magazine articles featured in magazines such as National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, Travel Africa, and CNN Travel.

1 person found this review helpful.

Lush and Green

Overall rating

4/5

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The impala jumped out of the bushes, narrowly missing a collision with our safari vehicle, and then stumbled and fell. Hot on her heels was a cheetah.

Things didn’t end well for the poor impala, and as the ‘Circle of Life’ Lion King movie song played through my mind, the diminutive antelope took its last breath.

For the rest of that morning, we watched this beautiful cat, and her three little cubs, dine heartily. I felt like I was in a David Attenborough documentary, with a front-row seat.

Phinda is a privately owned nature reserve in KZN, situated in the lush green bush that typifies this province of South Africa. Some might bemoan the restricted views that the tropical vegetation can cause, but the guides who work out of the six lodges on the reserve all know exactly where to find all the most exciting creatures.

The Big Five are pretty much guaranteed, but you will also see plenty of other animals, including the typically hard-to-find pangolin if you sign up for one of their ‘Pangolin Conservation Experiences’.

Walking with a researcher into the bush, tracking these weird and wonderful scaly creatures, was definitely a highlight for me.