Ithala Game Reserve

I have bad memories of Ithala because while camping in their lovely rustic campsite we had a hail storm with stones the size of golf balls which wrote off my car as well, as two caravans belonging to the rangers. The bird life was quite good and there was limited game.

Best park we have visited so far.

We love Itala because their are not to much trees near the roads, you can see a long way. The park has mountains and different routes with nice curvy roads (gravel/tar) were Kruger has only the main straight tar road. We saw elefant, giraffe, zebra, impala, kudu, secretaiy bird, warthhog and rhino. The lodges have lots of privacy and are spacious. The restaurant is very good, we ate their once. The supermarket at the park is not that big and low on products, we had to shop outside the park, a 12km drive. We love to braai and because we had a selfcatering lodge the supermarket is a bit of disapointment. The pool is very nice. Would love to stay in this park again!

disappointing

I travelled many years all over South Africa. I made a one day visit to Ithala game reserve by driving my own 4x4 car.
I was very desappointed except the scenic landscapes and some intresting 4x4 loops.
Wildlife is rather spare; there are no great predators. I drived sometimes long moments without seeing any animal ;when I was lucky I saw mostly isolated ones. Ithala is certainly a lovely place for week-ends in nature as the South african people like but sure not a place for tourist comming to SA for meeting games

Landscape, wildlife and birding is great in this park. The accomodation is fantastic.

A large park with different game across the very varied habitat.
Scenery is immense with the park dropping from 1450 masl at the mountain tops to 340 m where the Pongola River leaves the park. Habitats include thornveld, grasslands, river valley bush and cliffs.
You can virtually get lost in your own little valleys looking for wildlife. Some roads are sealed, but given the nature of the terrain this does make life easier.
Birding is excellent, the varied habitat and altitude allowing a large variety of species to make the park their home.

The KZN parks enjoy some of the most spectacular scenery anywhere in SA.

Not an abundance of wildlife and its too small for anything long term