uMkhuze Game Reserve

Primier destination for birding in KZN. The hides are well located and visited by the many species of birdlife, both migratory and resident species abound in this park.

I've only spent one day at uMkhuze, and didn't see much in terms of the big stuff. It is nice park, however, birding is very good, and the new facilites there, such as the new hides, are excellent!

My first visit to South Africa, my first Safari.

Just to put things in perspective my holiday was actually called "Butterflies of South Africa" it was a four centre holiday starting at Wakkerstroom then uMkhuze, Saint Lucia and finally eShowe, only 2 nights were actually spent in the game reserve.

The main entrance to the reserve was flooded due to recent heavy rain, so we made a detour to another gate. Even at this one there was plenty of water about. For the remainder of my visit we never had any problems with floods, and the tracks and roads around the reserve were dry and in good repair.

I was provided with a tent. It had all modern conveniences, shower, flush toilet, electricity. Beds had mosquito nets. Unfortunately I was never at ease in the tent and didn't have a minutes sleep on my first night. I missed having a solid door! There are chalets on the site so if I went back I would definitely stay in one of them.

Butterflies and birds were our main objective, but we still had plenty of time to drive around the reserve to see much larger wildlife. It is hard to explain just how thrilling it is to see antelope, rhino, giraffe, zebra in their natural surroundings. We were actually in two minibuses, window seats were at a premium. Generally, my fellow travellers were considerate to others needs, and there was much moving around within the vehicle so everyone had a chance to get a good view and take some photos.

I have to mention our guides: John Davies and Bert Palthe of Lawson's Birding Safaris. They were very friendly, resourceful, and had a totally awesome knowledge of the fauna and flora of the region. In short they were totally amazing, and this added greatly to an already amazing experience (please remember this was my first safari)!

Some highlights of my visit were:
An early morning walk in the reserve searching for butterflies. The chief warden with his rifle made this particularly memorable, it also proved very rewarding in terms of butterflies seen.
An early morning drive to a viewing tower in the reserve. John and Burt supplied tea and "rusks" while we gazed over a panorama of the reserve. Mainly zebra sighted, but still rewarding.
An evening barbeque, where John and Bert cooked the food. A bright light shone on a white sheet attracted many insects. Another member of the group was wearing a white shirt and a gigantic dragonfly landed on it and stayed their for quite a while.

Finally I would just like to mention the drive into the reserve. It was particularly striking due to the enormous number of vast spider's webs on view. Large Golden Orb spiders were clearly visible on many of the webs.

definitely will be going back there, my family loved it!

If you enjoy camping as we do, you'll love uMkhuze. We stayed at the Emshopi campsite The ablutions and campsites are well kept. The hides have been upgraded and are absolutely stunning. uMkhuze boasts the big 5 so there is plenty of game to view. The staff at reception were amazing as was the guide who took us on our game drive. For more information and images please see www.lecphotography.co.za.
Please note that there is currently a drought so there are water restrictions in place and taking your own bottled water is advised.

Some very birding here, with some species difficult to see elsewhere.

Very nice, but unfortunate timing due to construction

We stayed at uMkhuze for two nights in the end of July 2016. We stayed at Mantuma Camp, which was very nice; the rooms were clean and comfortable. We had a small difficultly with the hot water but the staff were very helpful.
In the morning we drove out to KuMasinga hide, and spent a lot of time at the waterhole there. Wildlife was plentiful - lots of Nyala, Wildebeest, and a single White Rhino. We also saw lots of neat birds in the sand forest, including some of the specialties of the area. We also visited the KuMahlahla hide, which had some more birds and baboons.
Unfortunately, at the time we were there most of the roads in the park were closed for maintenance, so we could only visit a small part of the reserve. This was disappointing, since it meant we couldn't see some of the birds we'd hoped for... however, it probably won't be an issue for much longer.