Pilanesberg Day Safari

Are you looking for an exciting and unique way to explore the stunning Pilanesberg National Park? A day tour of the park is the perfect way to get up close and personal with the beauty of the African bush.          

About the Park

The Pilanesberg National Park is situated in the North West Province of South Africa and is home to a large variety of fauna and flora. The park is the fourth largest in South Africa, covering over 55 000 hectares of land. It is also home to the Big 5 – lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo. 

Our Day

A day tour of the park is the ideal way to get a comprehensive overview of the area and to experience the African bush. Our tour started with us being picked up in Johannesburg at around 6:00 am and after picking up two more guests we started our journey.

After a scenic drive of about 2-3 hours, we arrived at the park. We entered the park at the Manyane gate. Upon arrival, we were  welcomed by our guide Bernard who prefers to be called Benny. He gave us a brief introduction about the park and himself and then we were given a safety briefing and before we knew it we had started our game drive. 

Straight off the bat not even 300 metres into the park we were fortunate enough to see a tower of giraffes. Benny taught us about how to tell the difference between male and female and that when they are standing still they are known as a tower of giraffes but when they are moving they are called a journey of giraffes. The two pictures show one scratching his head on a tree and the other picture shows one trying to enjoy a delicious snack. 

Benny then got a call on the radio that another guide had spotted a pride of lions under a tree. It really is such a blessing to be able to be taken around the park by someone who has such knowledge and knows the park like the pack of his hand. Benny got us to directly where the sighting had been made and although we could slightly see them they had moved back into the thickets. 

Our next sighting was a huge male African elephant , we was having a rather luxurious stroll along the road causing havoc for the vehicles. He started acting a little aggressively but luckily Benny having the experience and knowledge he has was able to notice the signs and act accordingly. Was a phenomenal experience to see such a beautiful and majestic creature so close. 

Not too much further up the road from our bully bull elephant guides has earlier reported a cheetah sighting. We sat patiently for a while and luckily after a short wait we saw it, a cheetah tail. Then through the thickets we saw this beautiful cheetah head. This beautiful cat got up and readjusted and we were so fortunate to make this rare sighting. 

Now after all this excitement I think everyone on the vehicle was a little peckish. So we unanimously decided it was lunch time, or so we thought. Our radio had other ideas , another guide just called in lions making a kill. Benny asked if we would still like to head to lunch or could he take us to the lions. It was a no brainer, everyone agreed that lunch can wait. While Benny was driving us to the sighting he was telling us about this specific pride that had made the kill. It is a pride of just two females and one adolescent male. The pride that they were previously apart of had been taken over by a new male and to save the male cub from being killed by him they ran away and now live on the outskirts of the previous pride. When we arrived at the sighting we just heard the most incredible sound, lions feasting, gnawing on their kill. Sadly all we could see was a tail wagging in between the long grass. We waited for a while and decided to go for lunch and we would come back a little bit later. Benny told us that they would be devouring their kill for a while so they will not be going anywhere any time soon. 

We stopped at the Pilanesberg Centre for lunch, it is located at the heart of Pilanesberg National Park close to Mankwe Dam. We ate, laughed and spoke about what we had seen and how amazing this whole day has been. After a delicious meal we were energised and ready to take on round two. 

Benny didn’t even hesitate but took us straight back to the kill sight, as we arrived there and as we did it started to pour down with rain. Most people would complain about being in an open sided vehicle in a storm but we were focused on the lions and the rain did a massive favour by making a female lion stand up and head for cover under a canopy of bushes. 

Luckily the rain came at the end of our game drive, on our way back to our gate we did drive past our havoc wrecking elephant. We then got back to our gate and after a quick run to the bus in the rain our amazing day had sadly come to an end. It was an amazing day and it is always so special to spend a day in the African bush and just be in awe of its beauty.

So don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to explore the Pilanesberg National Park and book your next tour today!

https://www.safariwithus.com/countries/pilanesberg-safaris/