Pilanesberg Game Reserve

Pilanesberg

I visited the Pilanesberg in September 2014, for a long weekend. We stayed in the Madikwe facility. The accommodation is satisfactory. We hired a 4 sleeper unit. I slept in the "upstairs" bedroom. The layout of the units does not allow beds to be pushed against the wall, which I did not like and the beds were not particularly comfortable. We ate at the camps restaurant. The food was adequate, but they could not produce all the items on the menu and were slow to deliver food. Breakfast at Bakubang was good. The units cooking facilities were good, with a barbeque and other cooking facililities.

From a wildlife perspective, we were fortunate to see a number of animals including rhino. The dam had a number of animals and provided for some good photo oppurtunities. We saw several animals over a period of a few hours, and had plenty of photo opportunities. The range of animals is pretty diverse. The park has reasonable flora. Good views over the lands from some of the higher elevations of the park.

The reserve became pretty full during the mid-morning and their were a significant number of vehicles in the park. The roads are mostly good.

The park is conveniently located being an hour and a halfs drive from Pretoria and Johannesburg. The park is close to Sun City and Rustenburg.

My view is that for a short visit of two days the park is certainly worth visiting, if you are in that part of the work.

Safari near Johannesburg

Me and a friend stayed at Kwa Moritaine for a weekend and enjoyed two safari rides, one morning ride (with the sunset) and one during daytime. If you only have time for one safari join the morning one. The mornings is the best time to spot the animals. Except for leopard we saw all the "big five" in addition to lots of other antelopes, zebras. Our guide was very talented and knowledgeable. He could answer any question we threw at him.

The highlights of the safari was seeing lions in the wild (2 adult, 4 cubs) and a one day old elephant calf. This experience was priceless!

As for the accomodation Kwa Moritaine was a beautiful resort with excellent food and great service. Can absolutely recommend.

A beautiful, natural, open park with many opportunities to see a wide variety of wildlife and nature

My trip to Pilanesberg was wonderful! I was staying in Johannesburg for a few days and decided to drive to the park for a full day and a half of wildlife enjoyment. The weather was great! I stayed with a family after booking a property on airbnb. It was fun and a much better way to check out the area than staying in one of the hotels. I did not book a guide because I am a much bigger fan of self guided tours, which Pilanesberg is very easy to do on one's own. My car was a simple rental which served the purpose perfectly. I brought my own food with me and I would recommend doing the same.

I took many pictures while I was there, some of which required a few hours wait for the exact moment that I wanted to capture. This would have been impossible in a group. I saw all of the large animals that the park is known for including Lions, Hippos, Giraffes, Elephants and many many more. This was a gorgeous park and I would recommend going there.

Probably best visit for visitors with limited time and Gauteng inhabitants.

One of the best South African Safari destinations.

PGR is one of my favourite destinations in South Africa. It boasts great numbers of game including the Big 5. One can do self drives or go on a game drive with knowledgeable guides.

A day jaunt to the Pilanesberg

We have an American friend in Johannesburg and we wondering what to do with the weekend after New Year. We decided to take him to see Sun City and the Pilanesberg. It's close by, has the big five and some great lodges. It was late at night and very spur of the moment when we decided - could we get accommodation? A search on the Internet revealed some options - most places were full but we found a lodge with two rooms - and it turned out just perfect. We spent the next day in the sun re-living childhood as we hurtled down the water slides at SunCity's Valley of the Waves. That night we stayed at the Bakubung Reserve. We ate supper on the terrace with the bush sounds and starlit sky as companions. The next day we drove through he reserve - we left a bit late in the morning but still saw plenty of game. All in all a great way to spend two days!

Again, so much to see and all the big fives are there.

Easy to reach and to visit, affordable, interesting

I did not expect plenty of wildlife, being a small park surrounded by civilization; however the variety and the amount of game viewing surprised me. We just missed big cats, but the kind of vegetation does not help easy spots; we could see several interesting mammals, including black rhinos. Birding is really worthy, as the quantity and variety of birds is impressive. Access is easy, roads are well maintained and such that even if the park is crowded, you seldom have to share space with other visitor's cars if an interesting spot is made

We went to Pilanesberg National Park (PNP) before going to Idube and this was perfect. In PNP we saw many wild animals but missed out on lions, leopards and buffalos of the big five. We came close to hippos, giraffes, wildebeests a rhino, zebras, and many kudos, spring bucks and other antelopes.
The combination of going to PNP and drive around by our self and then go to Idube where we were shown the nature by experienced guides was perfect.

I thought Pilanesberg was gorgeous, but we saw less animals and the animals we did see were not as close.