Pilanesberg Safari Adventure: A Day Full of Thrills and Surprises

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The basics of the Safari

I booked this tour to Pilanesburg National Park almost 5 months in advance, because I really wanted to do a Safari for the first time ever (does the Kilimanjaro Safari in Animal Kingdom counts? lol). When I was looking for things to see in Johannesburg I did not see this park at first. Websites mostly recommended the Kruger National Park, but I was afraid of how far it was. You would have flight or spend days doing this tour, maybe one day I would do that. But with this RTW, time was not my friend. I looked for safaris closer to JNB and found the one in Pilanesberg National Park. The park is located on top of an inactive volcano, with prominent hills that look so different from anywhere around, and 572 square kilometres of total area. The price was paid only directly to MoAfrika Tours and it costs around 140 USD. The pick up time and hotel were arranged on WhatsApp very easily from the US, and then the day before the tour I messaged again just to confirm time and hotel.

I woke up very early, got ready and at 5:40 am I went down to the lobby and they were already waiting for me. I was the first person to be picked up on this van. Then they picked up a friend I made in JNB, and then they started picking up around 10 more people.

Starting the tour

A couple was complaining about the van arriving to their hotel too late, when in reality the company gave us a range of time for the pick up, at approximately 30 min. After some time we were then transferred to a bigger bus that to be honest was the most uncomfortable experience of the day. This bus drove around 2:30 hours from Johannesburg to the park, not without stopping at a gas station store to let people buy food and drinks.

We then were split in some trucks, and thankfully the complaning couple was not in our group lol.

After some safety instructions, we departed and started what they call the game, which is basically playing with their knowledge of the park and luck to try to see as many mammals as possible.

We had literally just left the starting point and we immediately saw an elephant COMING DOWN FROM A HILL. I had no idea elephants could or liked to climb hills, I was in shock of what I was looking at at the moment.

We waited very respectfully and quietly and the elephant got down the hill, and passed right in front of us. I will never forget this experience.

The guide explained how the plants have defensive mechanisms that prevent the elephants and other roamers to eat the whole plant, so they have to bite, and then go somewhere else to continue eating. They eat 150 kg of food a day, and spend 80% of the day feeding. That’s a lot.

We spotted the first family of spotted of impalas next. And next to them it was a group of rhinos. We were having luck today.

Something was bothering these animals, because they started to run. Everyone was expecting something to happen. The guide said it was probably a feline, like a leopard trying to hunt. We even spotted some zebras after the apparent attack.

A bit later the impalas calmed down and let us see them calmy this time.

One hour into the game we saw the first giraffe.

And some zebras decided to accompany us for a bit on the road.

The leader had to make sure that everything was safe for the other members of the group to continue.

More antilopes were spotted while we continued the game.

The geology of the park was very different for me. In fact, other guests that had been to other safaris in the region, agreed that seeing mountains during a safari was odd, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Another white rhinoceros…

And 2 hours into the safari we finally see a giraffe closer to us.

And it was not alone, there was a cub with them.

The leader got super close to the car and this animal was very impressive upclose, you can feel that a kick could kill anyone.

Break in the middle of the day

They finally left with their baby and after we were dropped off to this wooden structure by the lake. There were bathrooms in here, and we could see the turtles (I guess begging for food?). There were also a lot of fishes in the water.

We were expecting to see hippos in this area but the view was still amazing.

We got back into the truck, and at 12:00 PM we were taken to the restaurant for an included in price lunch.

One animal I had seen a couple of days ago was the Guinea-fowl. Very beautiful turkey-like animals.

As we were seated we noticed that the restaurant had a block of salt right in front of it, and it attracted all kind of animals. In the minutes we were there, zebras, antelopes, and giraffes came to try the salt. I had mixed feeling about “feeding” these animals.

This is where they took us to have lunch, I liked this building a lot, it had a full grocery stores, bathrooms and different souvenirs.

The menu was not the biggest but was fair. I ordered the chicken sandwich. We were seated next to two local girls from Pretoria, and they were crazyyyy lol. The told us their stories in the city, and how they managed to be drinking during the entire safari.

The end already?

We had one hour to eat and then we had another 2 hours of the tour. We continued and the first animal we spotted was the Warthog. But everyone called them Pumba.

We saw some other rhinos in front of us. Unfortunately, all the rhinos in this habitat had their horns removed. Even in a smaller park like this, poaching was inevitable.

Just when our tour was coming to an end, and elephant came out of nowhere and gave a show to all of us.

After that elephant, and almost marking 3 PM, a wildebeest was relaxing in the shade, by itself, and when it spotted us went into hiding.

And just at the very end of the safari, the driver took us to a hippo spot where we were able to see some, although not fully out. It was super hot outside and many animals were in the shade or in the water.

We started a long way back to Johannesburg and on the way we stopped in Chameleon Village, where we could go to the bathroom and buy souvenirs.

Around 6-6:30 PM we were all dropped off at our hotels. The tour was over.

Tips

Some recommendations I have for this tour:

• Bring sunblock, hats, sunglasses, and long sleeves. I wore my hoodie all day not only because it was chilly in the morning, but also because it was very sunny in the middle of the day.
• Wear comfortable clothes and shoes. Even though there’s not a lot of walking, the terrain can be tricky when you actually need to walk.
• Bring water, snacks and any food you need. During the 6 hour safari there is only one stop for lunch.
• Bring cash for tips.
• Bring sleep masks if you want to sleep on the bus on the way there or back.

The next day was my last day in Johannesburg, see it for yourself.

Please post any questions below.