Lowveld Game Reserves
Interactive Map of Lowveld Game Reserves
Lowveld Game Reserves
East of Gauteng, the province of
Mpumalanga, formerly known as the
Eastern
Transvaal, begins. The landscape changes
quickly as one travels further east. From the
flat plateau, the bizarre mountain world of the Drakensberg
of
Mpumalanga rises, which separates as part of the
escarpment the inland plateau (Highveld) from the
low plains (Lowveld) in the east. In the
expanse of the Lowveld lies the Kruger National Park,
the world's largest game reserve, and a collection
of private game reserves bordering Kruger on its
western
boundary.
The private game
reserves of South Africa's Lowveld are the best
destination in the country for anyone seeking high
quality
wildlife on an African safari. These private game
reserves lie along the western border of the Kruger
National
Park and recently, much of the fencing that once
separated these reserves from Kruger have come
down, allowing the animals to roam freely between
the reserves and Kruger.
Although the game
in both the Kruger Park and the bordering reserves
is essentially the same, there is a tremendous
difference in the variety and quality of experience
between visiting Kruger Park and visiting the adjacent
reserves. In Kruger, which has over 500,000 visitors
annually, only closed vehicles are permitted and
off-road driving is forbidden. Night drives in
Kruger may only be conducted by park rangers in
large park vehicles. Facilities in Kruger are fair.
In the private reserves,
day and night game drives are conducted in open
vehicles and the accommodations, food and service
are excellent. The biggest advantage of the open-air
African safari vehicles is that you get a better
view and
also a much better feel for the bush than in a
closed vehicle. At camps in the private reserves,
the driver and tracker who accompany you on excursions
into the bush are expert rangers and they are in
contact with the other vehicles on game drive,
greatly increasing your chances of finding the
animals that guests most want to see.
Vehicles in the private
reserves may also leave the roads to follow animals
into the bush and provide much better opportunities
to witness animal behavior and interactions. Night
drives in the private reserves are also exceptionally
good opportunities to spot game rarely seen during
the day.
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of Limpopo Province
For
tourist information and activities in the
Limpopo Province, click More
Limpopo
For further information about Kruger National Park, click More
Kruger
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