Safari to Phinda Mkhuze

savanna safari and subtropical beaches

Phinda Mkhuze is located in the KwaZulu Natal region of South Africa.
This area contains some wonderful open beaches, backed by enormous vegetated sand dunes.

But of most interest, further inland lies an array of private wildlife reserves, some of which offer some really high quality safari accommodation.

Phinda Game Reserve

At 1230 square kilometres, Phinda Game Reserve is the best known safari location in KwaZulu Natal.

This substantial private reserve, contains an unusually broad range of habitats including mountain forests, savanna and vegetated coastal dunes.

It’s a high quality privately-owned conservation area, which provides a reasonably strong sense of wilderness.

The area contains a full range of savanna wildlife, including elephants, lions and leopards. In fact Phinda is one of the best places in Africa for viewing rhinos in particular.

In addition to the usual safari activities, it’s also possible to visit local villages, beaches and even go diving. There is nowhere else in Africa that offers this unique combination and breadth of activities in a single location.

The reserve caters mainly to international guests, with the half dozen lodges all being under the same ownership and to a very high standard, with a reputation for very high quality safari guiding.

Zululand Rhino Reserve

The Zululand Rhino Reserve is another substantial private wildlife reserve, a little further inland. In reality it is an amalgamation of several smaller reserves, which are doing their best to combine their efforts and extend the rewildification project over an ever increasing area.

This area also contains a good range of scenery and a full complement of safari species.

Guest accommodation is in a handful of properties, notably including the upmarket Thanda Safari Lodge and the more earthy Leopard Mountain Lodge.

Mkhuze National Reserve

At 225 square kilometres, Mkhuze National Reserve is a substantial safari area with a good range of sub-tropical habitats, largely across the coastal plateau, and featuring a wide range of safari animals.

The reserve is largely aimed at domestic self-driver visitors. It therefore tends to be pleasantly low cost to visit, but not really of a high enough standard to interest many of our guests.

The Phinda Mkhuze area tends to feature relatively rarely in trips, mainly because it has to compete with the better known and much larger safari areas of southern Africa. The only real reasons to come here are because you are already in the KwaZulu Natal area or you specifically want safari and beach activities in the same location.

The usual stay duration is 3-6 nights.

Seasonality

The best time to visit thePhinda Mkhuze area is during the May-Sep cool dry season.

The converse season is hotter and experiences higher rainfall, but may still be worth considering.

Where to stay

We tend to recommend safari in this area relatively rarely.

For high-end flying safaris, Phinda is a viable option, where the beach aspect is the primary advantage over other more wild safari areas further north on the continent.

For lower cost self-drive trips, we are more likely to include lodges on the other reserves, if we need a stop in this area.

options to visit by air or self-drive