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Caroline
ZA
Visited:
August 2026
Reviewed: Aug 30, 2026
Email Caroline | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Bad management
What concerns us most is that this was not simply a matter of minor inconveniences. A number of basic service and maintenance failures occurred during our stay, culminating in a situation that we consider to be a serious safety concern.
1. Extremely restrictive accommodation times
We were only permitted to access the tented chalet from 15:00 and were required to vacate it by 10:00 the following morning.
While we understand that SANParks has established check-in and check-out procedures, the very limited time available to guests is disappointing, particularly when compared with other comparable wildlife establishments where guests
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are generally permitted to remain until approximately 11:00.Given the amount charged for the accommodation, we expected a better overall guest experience.
2. Repeated electricity failures
During our stay, we attempted to cook in the chalet, but the electricity repeatedly tripped.
This was extremely inconvenient and prevented us from properly using the facilities for which we had paid.
3. Basic maintenance not attended to
There was also no functioning bulb in the lamp in our room.
This is a basic maintenance issue that should have been identified and rectified before guests arrived. It is difficult to understand how accommodation can be handed over to paying guests without such elementary checks being carried out.
4. SERIOUS SAFETY CONCERN – GATE TO THE WILDLIFE AREA
The most unacceptable incident occurred the following morning.
We wanted to enter the gated area to see the wildlife — which was, after all, one of the principal reasons for bringing our grandchildren to Marakele.
When we arrived at the gate, the intercom was not working.
We contacted reception for assistance. Instead of providing a safe solution, we were instructed to get out of our vehicle, open the gate manually, drive through, and then get out of the vehicle again to close the gate manually.
This is extremely concerning because the instructions at the gate clearly state that visitors must not leave their vehicles.
There is an obvious reason for such an instruction: this is a wildlife area.
We should not have been placed in a position where we were effectively required to choose between following the safety instructions or following the instructions of reception.
Even more concerning is that the receptionist informed us that the gate had apparently not been working for some time and that everyone entering the area had simply been opening and closing it manually.
If this is indeed the case, we find it completely unacceptable that SANParks has knowingly allowed this situation to continue.
A malfunctioning gate in a wildlife area is not a minor maintenance problem. It is a potentially serious safety hazard. Visitors should never be instructed to leave their vehicles in an area where they have explicitly been warned not to do so.
5. Unacceptable attitude from reception
What made the situation even more upsetting was the manner in which our concerns were handled.
While we were trying to explain our concerns to the receptionist, she repeatedly laughed.
We found this behaviour extremely inappropriate and disrespectful.
We were not complaining about something trivial. We were raising a genuine concern about a malfunctioning gate in a wildlife area and the safety implications of being instructed to leave our vehicle.
A paying guest raising a safety concern should be treated seriously and professionally.
The impact on our grandchildren
The purpose of this trip was particularly important to us.
Our grandchildren are leaving the country, and we wanted to give them the opportunity to experience South Africa’s wildlife and create a wonderful memory of their visit.
Unfortunately, because of these circumstances, they have not had the wildlife experience we specifically planned and paid for.
This is incredibly disappointing for us as grandparents.
Chris
ZA
Visited:
October 2021
Reviewed: Oct 18, 2021
Email Chris | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The gravel roads are the worst of SANParks and not suited for sedan vehicle at all. Shame on you!!!
Don't go there, the gravel roads are so bad all attention needs to be on driving the bad road condition's , it's impossible to do game viewing at the same time. Sedan vehicles should not be allowed to enter the park!!!!
Luca Fraschina
CH
Visited:
March 2018
Reviewed: May 23, 2018
Email Luca Fraschina | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Wonderful place and very professional Guide in Marataba Safari Lodge.
Visitor
Scenic zero big 5
Beautiful but a complete lack of animals in the Big 5 section...not even common animals.
johan van moorhem
BE
Visited:
February 2017
Reviewed: May 20, 2017
Email johan van moorhem | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
For lovers of nature and relax
Staying at Tlopi tented camp it felt so relaxed, surrounded by pure nature, observing birds and wild animals drinking at the waterpool, fabulous sundown and sunset and a clear starfull night. It felt so nice this solitude yet richness of nature. The safari from gate to the camp was a wonderful ride with all the zebra's, impala's, monkeys around. The accomodation was with all the comfort the visitor needs.
Raffaella
IT
Visited:
August 2016
Reviewed: Nov 28, 2016
Email Raffaella | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
brunogarennealabadi
FR
Visited:
September 2006
Reviewed: Sep 18, 2016
Email brunogarennealabadi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Marakele- worth the trip
Marakele , has been one of my favourites national park i've been to .
the park in , 2 parts : once is more rocky mountain, with stunning view on surrounding, and the other part more flat .
The wildlife for ones who loves mamal has been great : kudu, white rhino, antelope is really lovely.
The tented camp is great and well situated , You can enjoy, very early morning , animals coming to drink, while you'll hear sometimes fishing eagle.
i overall rate it as excellent, and also considering that kind of camp and price range.
Bert
ZA
Visited:
November 2015
Reviewed: Mar 25, 2016
Email Bert | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
If you are in the vacinity it may be nice to spend two or three hours here. It's in quite a nice part of the country as far as the scenery goes. But please keep in mind this is a subjective rating and others may have had a greatly different experience.
jean-boris
FR
Visited:
May 2015
Reviewed: Nov 21, 2015
Email jean-boris | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Greatest experience ever
Every thing during our stay was fantastic. From the accommodation (tlopi tented camp) to the warm welcome from every employee we met, not forgetting the wild life and great sceneries.
Thanks to our guide Tinyiko, we almost saw all the big fives. We had the chance, the first evening and next morning at the camp, to see a group of more than 20 elephants of all ages, come and stay two hours by the pound side, drinking, bathing, playing. It has been the most beautiful show we ever saw.
The evening dinners cooked on the braai was perfect, with the wild as soundtrack for this three nights / four days stay.
We would highly recommend this national park to anyone dreaming of wildness, peace and beauty.
Marakele National Park is a hidden gem with magical scenery and good selection of wildlife.
Marakele has a predator section and a non predator section. Camping is allowed at designated camp sites in the non-predator section. There are no fences around the camp sites so animals are free to walk through the camping area. This might sounds both exciting and scary, but what I noticed is that many campers are
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not used to this and do not respect the animals right to be there and try to chase them away when they come sniffing at the strange smells we humans bring. But its a lovely experience to see giraffes and rhino walking through the camp and the ability to grab the camera to get amazing photos. Additionally, Bontle Camp, where I stayed, has a waterhole alongside a wide plain that provides hours of peaceful wilflife entertainment where one can spend hours sitting and staring through binoculars. The non predator section has an abundnace of wildlife ranging from many species of buck, to more rare sightings of rhino and giraffe. Monkeys, babboons and warthogs are fairly prevalent too, as well as plenty of zebra and ostriches. There should be ample opportunity to spot most of these animals while driving through the park over the course of a few days.The non-predator part of the park covers a small region of fairly flat savannah. The predator section takes you into the larger part of the park which is situated among some of the mountains making up the Waterberg mountain range. Most of the animals from the non-predator section can also be found in the predator section, but because of the larger area, sightings become more rare here. In addtion to the above, it is also possible to encounter lions, elephant and leopard. But these are rarer and they were mostly hanging around the single large dam which I, as a resident of the Bontle camping site, was off limits to me. But the most notable thing when driving into this part of the park are the high mountain peaks and craggy cliffs creating some amazing landscapes. The single tar road ends in a very beautiful scenic climb up one of the mountains ending at the top near a radio relay station with some spectacular views. Here you can also spend a while looking at the family of white backed vultures that fly gracefully around the valley and often come to glide above the viewpoint giving birders and photographers some great opportunities.
There is only one tarred road in the park. For the most part it is reasonably maintained except where it starts to rise up the side of the mountain leading up to the view point where you can encounter some tricky potholes. All other roads are dirt tracks of varying conditions. Most roads can easily be accessed by normal cars but some of the roads in the predator section are certainly uneven and can be very bumpy, and in some cases my require some careful navigation. There are a couple of marked 4x4 roads and certainly I wouldn't recommend low clearance cars trying them, but only the 4x4 track in the north eastern part of the park requires a capable 4x4 and a driver with some experience.
Overall the park is a lovely place and was not very busy when I was there, which is perfect. The guards and game rangers were friendly. Animals in the non-predator section were plentiful but the predator section was less eventful in this regard. But the spectacular scenery made up for that. Many of the local bird species appear in the park, of note are rollers, vultures and hornbill. Places like Pilanesburg probably have a higher density of animals, but Marakele has better scenery and certainly has its own charm that should not be ignored.