Timbavati Private Nature Reserve

Honeymoon in Timbavati

My wife and I stayed at Tanda Tula Safari camp in Timbavati nature reserve for our honeymoon last April.

To give you some background as to what I benchmark Timbavati against i worked in a Safari lodge in Kenya in the past and have been on Safari in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

The abundance of wildlife in Timbavati is exceptional and we saw the 'Big Five' twice over during our four day stay and plenty of plains game and birdlife. The food at Tanda Tula was excellent, particularly the bush breakfast. Our guide spoke perfect English and was extremely knowledgeable about the area and its wildlife.

For safari first timers that want to see the 'big five' this is without a doubt the best area I have ever been to. However, for people who have seen a bit of Africa you may feel that you are slightly part of a 'machine' and that the guides feel an obligation who need to 'tick off' the big five for each and every guest. The guides radio to each other constantly when they find game which means that you absolutely will get to see the animals. They have a 'queuing system' to see them as they maintain a policy of only two jeeps viewing at any one time to minimise stress on the animals (an excellent policy). This is not true true African wilderness and so i suppose the bush vibe cannot be expected to be 100% authentic but it was the only slight negative for me. My wife had been on safari once before and i think felt it slightly less than me.

We were on a nightdrive, but saw only a few animals. The guide stopped at a fence where we could see the famous white lions.

Timbavati was fantastic from an accommodation and guest experience, however the animal population felt much more sparse than at Sabi Sand. Overall still a great experience and I would love to go back.

The River Lodge which we stayed in was very good, but overall we were surprised that there weren't more animals in the Reserve, yet we did see all the Big 5. At the Lodge, we had elephants walking by our tented suite and one even drank from our plunge pool. Also had hyenas and monkeys close by.

Large variety of birds and animals, pretty scenery, high level of hospitality.

I would recommend everyone to start your visit with a trip of a few days to a private gamepark. It is more expensive then Kruger, but the bush feeling is much higher as there are very few other tourists, no asfalt roads and lots of game to spot.