Game Viewing, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Of the hundreds of activities that South Africa has on offer, probably the most popular activity on offer is game viewing in the wildlife rich national parks and private game reserves in Mpumalanga.

Game viewing in any one of the many game reserves in Mpumalanga provides an opportunity to see wildlife in all their beauty in their natural habitat. On a self-drive expedition, with a guide, on horseback, on elephant back - whatever your preference, you’re assured of a memorable game viewing experience.

Probably the most well known game viewing location in South Africa is the Kruger National Park. Home to South Africa's Big 5, the Kruger Park an incredible self-drive route through the open veld where you’ll see countless variations of buck, zebra’s, giraffe and many others. Self-driven game viewing trips offer the benefits of being able to determine the pace of you journey, however without a guide who knows the area well, you might miss out on seeing something special.

The Kruger National Parks game viewing isn’t limited only to self-drive expeditions. The park has been very well developed to cater for many different preferences. Guided groups will be taken out into the bushveld, where you’ll camp overnight and experience the bushveld at night with all its fascinating sounds and sights.

The private game reserves of Mpumalanga are one of the best destinations for anyone seeking an exceptional wildlife safari. The private game reserves lie along the western border of the Kruger National Park and recently, much of the fencing that once separated these reserves from Kruger have come down, allowing the animals to roam freely between the private Game Reserves and the Kruger Park. Although the game in both the Kruger Park and the neighbouring reserves is essentially the same, there are differences in the overall game viewing experience. In the Kruger Park only closed vehicles are permitted and off-road driving is forbidden.

Night drives in Kruger may only be conducted by park rangers in large park vehicles. In the Private Game Reserves, day and night game drives are conducted in open vehicles. The biggest advantage of the open safari vehicles is that you get a better view and also a much better feel for the bush than in a closed vehicle. At camps in the private reserves, the driver and tracker who accompany you on excursions are expert rangers and they are in contact with the other vehicles on game drives, greatly increasing your chances of finding the wildlife that you most want to see (including the 'Big 5'). Vehicles in the private game reserves may also leave the road to follow animals into the bush and provide much better opportunities to witness animal behaviour and interactions. Night drives in the private game reserves are also exceptionally good opportunities to spot game not usually seen during the day.

One of the hardest animals to spot when you’re game viewing in South Africa, is the leopard. Because of its reclusive nature - spending most of the day in the trees out of sight - game viewing trips don’t often get to see this incredible animal. However the game viewing parks in Mpumalanga offer some of the highest concentrations of leopard per square kilometer in South Africa. A day or night spent in most of the game reserves in Mpumalanga is bound to include a number of leopard sightings - definitely worth the trip.

Game viewing in Mpumalanga offers more diversity of wildlife and more excitement than any other country in the world - make sure you don’t miss the experience.