Pilanesberg National Park
First published in 2017
Between some Business Meetings in Johannesburg, I had a weekend off and looked for options on how to spend it. As the city itself does not offer too many options, I was happy to hear about Pilanesberg National Park being near enough to go there for just a short trip. The next positive finding was that the homepage offers full package tours including pick-up from Johannesburg. Usually, I'm not too keen on something like that, but this time it was a perfect fit.
Compared to the usual cost of living in South Africa the stay at a lodge (I was at the Ivory Tree Game Lodge) is anything but cheap. On top the rating as a five-star lodge has to be seen more in relation to other lodges than to the usual hotel rating. On the other hand, you get a full-service package (it was excluding drinks, but prices for them were ok) and, most important, access to the park you would not get if you visit it on your own.
You can drive the park in your own car, but obviously, and pretty common in South Africa, you have to leave the park before the sun sets. This does not apply to the drives organized by the lodges. We stayed for an hour after sunset at the afternoon drive and started before sunrise for the morning drive. Especially the lions walked around at these times, while we have not seen a single one during daylight.
If you are not an experienced gamer you will also benefit a lot from having a guide on board who knows where to find the animals and is finally able to spot them even if they are half covered by grass or trees.
We found lots of animals, from lions to elephants and from cheetah to African wild dogs. In most cases, they were peacefully walking around - nice to see but I would have preferred a little bit more action 😉.
All in All, it was a nice trip and the photos are better than I expected during the drives. One last tip: Bring some warm clothes and take them with you on the drive. Even if it’s warm during the day, it gets pretty cold as soon as the sun disappears, especially when the car starts to move ...
