Average Expert Rating
Rating Breakdown
Write a User ReviewAn attractive reserve best suited for a leisurely safari experience over a few days
Ithala’s main camp, Ntshondwe, is ingeniously camouflaged among wild fig trees at the foot of towering pink and russet sandstone cliffs. From here it’s a short walk to a waterhole, where the sight of rhino and elephant droppings instantly raised my expectations of what there was to see in the park. I wasn’t disappointed, and saw grazers on the grasslands including eland, giraffe, kudu, blue wildebeest and zebra, as well as the normally shy and rare tsessebe, plus good sightings of rhino in the woodlands and black and Martial eagles on the cliffs. While Ithala doesn’t have great herds of game in terms of size as other parks, and it’s a bit out of the way, it is home to four of the Big Five (not lion), and the camps are ideal for spending a few relaxing days in the bush.
Luxury safari destination at a fraction of the cost
Read more
Another big attraction of the park for me is that as it’s less popular than other parks such as Kruger, you’ll virtually have it all to yourself – bliss!Zululand variety
Ntshondwe Camp, the main accommodation, is spectacularly sited on a steep hillside of aloes and rock stacks, but may be too large and organised for some tastes. By
Read more
contrast, the three tiny bushcamps each accommodate only a handful of guests and feel far more remote; during my night at Thalu Bushcamp, a genet came sniffing around the campfire and greater bushbabies rummaged through our kitchen.Hill country
This is a very scenic reserve, with an altitudinal span of more than 1,000 metres, that can easily be visited in conjunction with other better-known ‘Zululand reserves’ such as Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, iSimangaliso and uMkhuze. The wildlife is less impressive than the scenery, though there is a good chance of seeing white rhino, giraffe and elephant, and on our most recent visit we lucked a brief but gratifying sighting of a leopard crossing the road. I was also impressed by the variety of antelope and birds we saw on most game drives. In many respects, my favourite aspect of this park was the main rest camp, which lies on a rocky, densely vegetated slope and supports plenty of birds and rock hyraxes. Based on our most recent visit, the rest camp is perhaps the most reliable spot in South Africa for close-up nocturnal sightings of the bug-eyed bushbaby and lithe spotted genet (a rather catlike relative of the weasel).
A wildlife sanctuary of rolling hills and cliffs in rural Zululand
Ithala Game Reserve lies in the rural heartland of KwaZulu-Natal. To get here you’ll drive along the scenic rolling hills dotted with picturesque Zulu homesteads. Ithala is not a big park, but it visually continues outside its borders. The high cliffs and open grassland characterize this scenic park. The cliffs are home to many rock hyrax, which also like to hang around the camp. Bald ibis and black eagle are some of the cliff-associated birds that can easily be spotted here. The open grassland is a good place to see a big variety of grazers. Some of the more unusual ones being the oribi, usually seen in pairs, and the very fast running tsessebe. As in the other KwaZulu-Natal parks, this is a great place to see black and white rhino. I can recommend doing a walking safari here, which can be booked at the camp. An especially exciting experience for me was approaching a black rhino on foot.