Three days on the Manyeleti Game Reserve

After our do-it-yourself safari in Kruger National Park, we headed north to the Manyeleti Game Reserve. This is a private game reserve that borders Kruger National Park, so the animals can roam freely between the reserve and the park. We had three action-packed days at Khoka Moya, so it’s hard to sum it up in one post. Instead of a chronological description of our time here, this blog post will be organized by the animals we saw, starting with the Big Five.

Honeyguide Khoka Moya Camp

Before we get to the animal photos (scroll down if you you want to get straight to those) – a few words about where we stayed on the reserve. After a lot of online research, we booked our stay at Honeyguide Khoka Moya Camp. There are two Honeyguide tented camps in the Manyeleti. Khoka Moya is the fully family-friendly option, while the Mantebeni camp has a minimum age of 12 years. The Honeyguide camps offer an authentic bush camp experience.

Although the tents have all the conveniences (e.g. plumbing), there’s nothing like the sound of a lion roaring in the night with just canvas between you and it to make you truly feel like you’re in the African bush. These camps are more expensive than a regular hotel, but they are all-inclusive (including two game drives per day). They are a lot less expensive then some of the ultra-luxury safari camps in other nearby reserves.

We knew we were in for an intense wildlife experience as soon as we arrived at the camp. We had to wait (at the bar, of course) half an hour to get to our rooms while a group of buffalo enjoyed the camp waterhole.

Buffalo at the Honeyguide Khoka Moya Camp – Manyeleti Game Reserve

During our stay at Khoka Moya we ended up seeing three of the Big Five at the camp waterhole. As well as the buffalo that greeted us when we arrived, we had a group of elephants come through the camp one lunch time.

Elephant at the Khoka Moya Camp waterhole – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Most excitingly, we had an after-dinner visit from a lion.

Lion at the Honeyguide Khoka Moya Camp waterhole – Manyeleti Game Reserve

The food and drinks at Khoka Moya were up to the usual game lodge standard, and the service was friendly. However, the main reason for being there was the wildlife experience, and the game drives did not disappoint.

Game Drive – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Lachlan tries out the spotter’s chair – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Read on for pics of the incredible amount of wildlife we saw on our game drives.

Big Five – Elephant

On our first game drive we headed for a large waterhole. Reaching the waterhole, we came across a large group of elephants who had gathered to drink.

Elephant – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Elephant – Manyeleti Game Reserve

After a while the herd decided they had drunk their fill and moved off. It was then that we noticed a very young elephant in the group.

Elephant – Manyeleti Game Reserve

The other times we saw elephant they were away from the water foraging and eating trees. It’s amazing how much damage a herd of elephants can do to the small trees they like to eat. They rip them apart.

Elephant – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Big Five – Rhinoceros

Not far from the herd of elephant we saw on our first drive was a solitary rhinoceros. It was also enjoying the cool of the evening at the waterhole.

Rhino – Manyeleti Game Reserve

We came across a few more during our time on the reserve, but they were definitely less plentiful than the elephants. Poaching is always a concern with these guys, and the rangers work with the South African authorities to try to prevent it. Unfortunately, they are not always successful, and rhinos continue to be lost.

Rhino – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Rhino – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Big Five – Lion

On the Entebeni Safari Conservancy we didn’t see any lion, although we spent time trying to track one that had reportedly moved onto the reserve. Our guide there told us not to worry because we’d see plenty of lions (and much more) on the Manyeleti Game Reserve. He was not wrong, starting with our first game drive, where we came across this battle-scarred warrior.

Lion – Manyeleti Game Reserve

This was just the beginning. The next day we came across the whole pride (including some very cute cubs) hanging out at the site of a kill.

Sleepy Lions – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Lion – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Lion – Manyeleti Game Reserve

The most exciting lion sighting was when we came across some lions defending their kill from a large group of hyenas who were looking for an easy meal. One hyena managed to grab a tiny morsel (which was then fought over by a group of its friends), but mostly it was an uneasy standoff. We knew this was a very special sighting when we saw that our tracker had his phone out taking pictures.

Standoff Between Lion and Hyena – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Hyena – Manyeleti Game Reserve

In another very special sighting, we came across a mother and her cub on the move late one evening as were headed back to camp thinking our wildlife viewing was over for the day.

Mother Lion and Cub – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Lion – Manyeleti Game Reserve

With lions being the main attraction on the reserve, it was fitting that our last sighting on our last game drive was a pair of bachelor brothers moving in to try and claim some territory in the area. The guides seemed interested to see how this would turn out, with the potential for some clashes between them and the existing population.

Bachelor Brother Lions – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Big Five – Buffalo

On our first game drive, we saw four out of the Big Five, with the last sighting for the evening being buffalo. They were traveling in a typical large herd.

Buffalo – Manyeleti Game Reserve

The other time we saw buffalo was one evening when we came across an even larger herd right around sunset.

Buffalo at sunset – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Buffalo – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Big Five – Leopard

This was the Big Five member we were most excited to see in South Africa. We went on safari a few times when we lived in Africa for a few years in the early 2000s, seeing pretty much everything except leopard. The closest we came was a glimpse of a paw as it dragged a freshly killed baboon up a tree.

We had to wait until our second game drive before we saw a leopard, but it was an excellent sighting, right out in the open. We followed it for a while until it disappeared into some impenetrable brush.

Leopard – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Yawning Leopard – Manyeleti Game Reserve

We had a couple more leopard sightings during our time on the reserve. The most memorable was when we came across a leopard keeping guard under a tree where it had stashed a kill. We got to see it play with some leaves (like a giant kitten) before it climbed back up the tree when it decided to go back up for a bit of a chew.

Leopard – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Playful Leopard

Leopard

Other Wildlife

Although the focus of our games drives was the incredible frequency of Big Five sightings, we also saw other things. We saw plenty of birds, including an unusual daytime sighting of a spotted eagle owl.

Grey Heron – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Spotted Eagle Owl

Because we spent quite a bit of time at sights where lions had killed some prey, the birds we saw most often were vultures.

Vultures

We also saw the usual assortment of antelopes, although they seemed to be a bit shy compared to other reserves. I guess this is understandable given how many predators were roaming the place.

Impala – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Waterbuck

Wildebeest

There were also a fair assortment of animals which aren’t part of the Big Five, but are iconic safari sights in their own right.

Giraffe – Manyeleti Game Reserve

Zebra

Hippos

Warthog

Sundowners

As well as the wildlife on display, each evening we stopped to admire an amazing sunset. Of course we marked these sunsets with a beverage, in a scenic (and safe) spot chosen by our guide.

Sunset

Sunset

Summary

We had an amazing experience on the Manyeleti Game Reserve. We saw an amazing amount of game, with multiple sightings of all of the Big Five. The guides and staff at Honeyguide Khoka Moya Camp were great, and the deluxe tents provided comfort and an authentic African bush experience. If you’re looking for a family-friendly private game reserve experience, we’d highly recommend following in our footsteps.