What are Safari Parks?
A safari park, sometimes known as a wildlife park, is a zoo-like commercial drive-in tourist attraction where visitors can drive their own vehicles or ride in vehicles provided by the facility to observe freely roaming animals.
How Many Safari Parks In South Africa?
1. Pafuri Walking Safaris, Kruger National Park
Getting back to basics, Pafuri Walking Safaris is based in the northern Kruger, which has a different environment to the southern park, what with its huge baobab trees and large fever tree forest.
2. Samara Karoo, Samara Karoo Private Reserve
In the Great Karoo semi-desert, Samara offers a different kind of safari from the Kruger bush. The striking semi-arid landscape is rippled with flat-topped mountains on which the team sometimes set up alfresco lunches.
3. Singita Lebombo, Kruger National Park
Singita is arguably the best luxury safari company on the continent, so it would be remiss not to mention at least one of its South African lodges. Lebombo is in Kruger National Park and has a contemporary style that doesn’t detract from its spectacular setting, overlooking the N’wanetsi River.
4. Camp Figtree, Addo Elephant National Park
Camp Figtree is an affordable lodge just outside Addo Elephant National Park — a safari that fits snugly onto the end of a Garden Route road trip from Cape Town to Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth).
5. Royal Malewane, Thornybush Private Game Reserve, Greater Kruger
Another one of South Africa’s best and most elegantly designed luxury lodges, Royal Malewane is in the private Thornybush reserve on the edge of Kruger National Park, with two lodges — the main lodge with eight suites and the Africa House villa; the other, the Farmstead, with three suites and the Farmhouse villa.
6. Motswiri Private Safari Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve
Madikwe is an excellent option for families. It’s malaria-free, has a great game (big five, cheetah, and more than 350 bird species) and the drive from Johannesburg airport in Gauteng is about four hours, so it’s not necessary to fork out on expensive light-aircraft flights.
7. Eastern Cape Safari Parks
If you want to combine a Big 5 safari with the Garden Route, we recommend one of the parks in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. The area is malaria-free, making it safe for young children. Our favorite private reserves in the area include Kwandwe (renowned for sightings of rare black rhinos) and Shamwari.
Which part of South Africa is best for safari?
The best safaris in South Africa
- Where to go.
- Kruger National Park.
- Sabi Sands.
- Kwazulu-Natal.
- North West Province.
- Eastern Cape.
- Western Cape.
- In this guide.
What is the largest safari park in South Africa?
The world-renowned Kruger National Park is South Africa’s largest wildlife sanctuary with nearly 2 million ha (4.9 million acres) of unrivaled wilderness and wildlife land, and home to, not only the Big Five but more species of large mammals than any other African game reserve.