5 Best Family-friendly Safaris in South Africa

By Christopher Clark

The words ‘family’ and ‘safari’ do not usually go hand in hand. It can be challenging to find family-friendly safaris that are accessible and safe for the whole family, while also providing enough diversions for the kids. For starters, South Africa is certainly your best bet for the whole family. The country is malaria-free (except for Kruger National Park) and generally has good roads, infrastructure and transport links. South Africa also has a number of parks that allow self-driving. The list below is a rundown of South Africa’s best family-friendly safari destinations.

Driving times are only a rough indication. You should always consider the possibility of significant delays.

291 South Africa Family Safaris

1. Kruger National Park

Kruger National Park is South Africa’s largest national park, extending across 19,485km²/7,523mi² of lowland savannah, and certainly its most well known. It is also very accessible. The closest entrance gate lies around four to five hours’ drive east of Johannesburg or Pretoria. The park is also connected to Johannesburg by multiple flights daily.

The park can be explored on an extensive network of surfaced roads. Like all of South Africa’s national parks, Kruger is open to self-drivers. You don’t need a 4x4 or high-clearance vehicle to get around either. The Big Five (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino) are reasonably common to abundant and are mostly quite easy to spot, considering the size of the park.

Kruger is serviced by an excellent network of state-run rest camps, all of which offer affordable and comfortable self-catering accommodations in well-equipped bandas (standalone cottages). Most camps also have a swimming pool, at least one restaurant, a well-stocked grocery shop and a filling station. More upmarket options include Jock Safari Lodge, which is themed on the much-loved South African children’s book ‘Jock of the Bushveld’, and great for those with young kids.

491 Kruger Safaris

2. Pilanesberg Game Reserve

5 of the Best Family-Friendly Safaris in South Africa - Pilanesberg

Pilanesberg Game Reserve is one of the most accessible and family-friendly safari destinations on the African continent. It is less than a three-hour drive from Johannesburg and only two hours from Pretoria.

There are a couple of affordable rest camps at the park gates. These offer accommodations in self-catering chalets, and have swimming pools and children’s playgrounds. The rest camps are fenced so you won’t get any unwanted visitors coming near your little ones either. They cater mainly to self-drivers, who can explore the park on a network of surfaced and all-weather dirt roads that are poorly maintained but navigable with care in any vehicle.

There are also several more upmarket family-friendly options in Pilanesberg. These include aha Ivory Tree Game Lodge and Shepherd’s Tree Game Lodge, which offer well-priced packages inclusive of meals and guided game drives.

Pilanesberg can get very busy during the school holidays but the abundance of wildlife makes up for that. Elephant and white rhino are very common, along with giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and a wide range of antelope, but all the Big Five are present. If you want to really get that sense of ‘wild Africa’ Pilanesberg isn’t for you, but if you want your whole family to see a good range of African wildlife as quickly and painlessly as possible, look no further.

120 Pilanesberg Safaris

3. Madikwe Game Reserve

Madikwe Game Reserve is the best safari destination in South Africa’s North West Province. Covering an area that was not so long ago little more than abandoned farmland, it’s now bursting with wildlife, including all the Big Five as well as cheetah and wild dog, and is a true triumph of conservation.

Madikwe is four to five hours’ drive from Johannesburg and about 90 minutes from Pilanesberg Game Reserve and Sun City. It is only 45 minutes’ drive from Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana, not allowing for the border crossing (which is normally very quick and straightforward). Or you can fly in an hour from O.R. Tambo International Airport, on the eastern outskirts of Johannesburg.

Because Pilanesberg Game Reserve and Sun City lie en route to Madikwe coming from Johannesburg, it’s easy to put together a combined itinerary. However, while Madikwe, like Pilanesberg, is state-run, it functions much like a private reserve, insofar as it is only open to guests staying at one of its exclusive lodges and self-drive game drives are forbidden.

Jaci’s Lodges in particular cater to children of all ages providing special activities aimed at youngsters. Children are also given special attention at Madikwe Safari Lodge.

42 Madikwe Safaris

4. Shamwari Private Game Reserve

Shamwari Private Game Reserve certainly isn’t the cheapest place to take the whole family, but it’s one of the most family-friendly of South Africa’s luxury private game reserves.

hamwari is also one of the few private game reserves in South Africa with its own proper airport, which is serviced by twice-weekly shuttle flights to and from Cape Town and Johannesburg. Alternatively, it is an easy drive of approximately one hour from the city of Port Elizabeth, which has a fairly busy international airport.

Inside Shamwari, Riverdene Family Lodge is specifically geared to families. Seven of the nine rooms are interleading. There is a pool, kids’ adventure center, children’s playroom and a nanny service. Unlike Shamwari’s other lodges, there is a perimeter electric fence. Kids can also engage in the special ‘Kids on Safari’ program, which will take them to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre and Born Free Foundation within the reserve.

For all of the child-friendly features, Riverdene and the whole of Shamwari still exude exclusivity and bush tranquility. Wildlife viewing is superb, too, with all the Big Five present and sightings of four – elephant, lion, buffalo and rhino pretty much guaranteed.

5. Addo Elephant National Park

Addo Elephant National Park is exactly what its name suggests: it’s absolutely overflowing with elephants, with herds sometimes numbering around 100. The rest of the Big Five are all here too. You can even see sharks and whales (at the right time of year) from the coastal sections of this big and much-loved national park.

You can drive to Addo from Port Elizabeth in about one hour. Once inside the park, there are a number of surfaced roads and cheap camping and self-catering options. The cheapest and most cheerful of the bunch is Addo Rest Camp, which stands just inside the main gate and feels a bit like a small village, with a good selection of hutted accommodation and camping sites, as well as a well-stocked shop, a restaurant and even a floodlit waterhole, so you can spot wildlife without having to even get in the car.

13 Addo Safaris