Ithala Game Reserve

Out of season definitely a nice park to visit !

Ithaca Game Reserve is a beautiful park. There are no lions in the park, so you get to see a rich population of Giraffes, all kind of Antilopes, Warthogs, Zebras, Monkeys, Wildebeest and many more and they aren't really afraid of cars. For birding it is also good although there were not many raptor birds like Eagles, when we where there. It is even allowed to leave the car in the reserve. The Ntshodwe Camp is the only camp in the park without self catering. The best times of the camp are over, but it is good to stay. we have been there out of season and there were just another handful of people staying. In high season the camp can cater over 200 (1) people, which for our taste would be too much, too busy. The main road in the park and to the camp is tar and in real good conditions. Out of the other 4 roads you can only do one, if you do not have a proper 4x4, which is a shame, as the most interesting parts like the Pholongolo circle are not maintained and therefore just for 4x4 tourist. The only alternative is to book a game drive, which luckily is not very expensive but done in big game "buses" for over 12 people. What is unbeatable in the Camp is the friendliness of the people. And the scenery in the park is worth to go.

Didn't see a lot of the wildlife.

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.

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