Pilanesberg Game Reserve

The toilets in the park is disgusting.

It is an embarrassment to see that they take tourist to the bathroom in the game park. It is disgusting how dirty they are.

Infrastructure Maintenance

I stay quite close to Pilanesberg National park and have been visiting the park from my childhood years. Although there are still a large variety of animals to see it is obvious that the numbers are declining especially the antelope which I presume is due to poaching from the nearby villages, not uncommon if one look at the state of the outside fencing.
What prompted me to write the review is the bad shape the park has fallen into. I remember the days where park maintenance especially roads were priority or so it seemed for the general road condition was kept in good condition. Unfortunately, that this not the case anymore. Also, the picknick sites I visited had visitors probably since there are no safety fences in place or completely discarded. Viewpoints are not getting the attention it should. I have noticed that there was some work done on new bridges, but it baffles me that the park accepted the bad quality work and finishing off concluded.
It is sad to see yet another part of government owned institution that are not receiving the proper attention it deserves and is sadly going backwards day by day.
Just whish our international visitors would put some pressure on the park management to start doing their jobs and look after the park.
PS. The decline of the park infrastructure cannot be blamed on COVID-19 like everything else as the decline has been observed for the last few years now.

More like a small safari park, with no feeling of being 'wild'. I won't be visiting again.

The wildlife is abundant

The roads are in horrific condition and beyond repair. I would not recommend traveling with a standard sedan. Pilanesberg Center is a must see. Road from Bakgatla needs a complete redo. Wildlife is abundant. Pilanesberg WAS the crown jewel of the North West province. I assume mismanagement and incompetence being the reason for the decline of this once wonderful park. At least the Wildlife is still there.

This is average to other parks - need to get more predators

The hide is fantastic for birding!

No off road, lot of people due to Sun City proximity

Easy to reach and to visit, affordable, interesting

I did not expect plenty of wildlife, being a small park surrounded by civilization; however the variety and the amount of game viewing surprised me. We just missed big cats, but the kind of vegetation does not help easy spots; we could see several interesting mammals, including black rhinos. Birding is really worthy, as the quantity and variety of birds is impressive. Access is easy, roads are well maintained and such that even if the park is crowded, you seldom have to share space with other visitor's cars if an interesting spot is made

In my opinion Pilanesberg is too small to accommodate the number of people who go there.

We weren't impressed by the variety of the wildlife or the number of animals and any sort of bush vibe from the place was lacking.