Safari to Pongola

three very different safari reserves

The modest town of Pongola is located just outside the southern border of Eswatini (Swaziland), in an area which contains a number of modestly interesting and generally very well priced wildlife reserves.

Pongola Game Reserve

The Pongola Game Reserve is situated at the main road entrance to southern Eswatini and is centred on a very large dam.

The area has some good wildlife populations including elephants and rhinos, but no large predators. There’s a good range of safari and water activities on offer, certainly enough to keep non-fishermen interested for a couple of days.

The stand-out accommodation is White Elephant Lodge, a relatively upmarket option on the western side of the lake.

Amakhosi Reserve

The Amakhosi Reserve is an excellent private wildlife area, rather more off the beaten track in the mountains to the south of Pongola. It contains a full range of savanna wildlife and some very attractive accommodation options centred on the main AmaKhosi Safari Lodge.

Ithala Game Reserve

The Ithala Game Reserve is a substantial conservation area which extends to around 400 square kilometres of mixed terrain, varying from open grasslands of the east to narrower river valleys of the west and crossed by ranges of dramatic granite hills, all leading northwards down to the Pongola River.

Although elephants, rhinos and cheetahs are present, on the whole the wildlife is relatively elusive. This is more the kind of place that you can spend time out on foot, tracking and birding, stopping off for picnics and swimming in rock pools.

All of the accommodation here is operated by the parks authority.

These lodges most commonly feature in self-drive trips passing from Kruger in the north, through Swaziland and on to the Elephant Coast and stops further south.

between Kruger and the Elephant Coast

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